Clark Gregg has played Agent Coulson in several of the Marvel superhero movies, and just hours before I got the chance to briefly talk to him at Comic-Con, he was asked by Joss Whedon to reprise his role in The Avengers (if he seemed distracted, he apologized -- it was just because he really wanted to call his mom and tell her the good news).
Still, while Gregg is best known as an actor, he also has talents behind the camera: He wrote What Lies Beneath, directed the Sam Rockwell comedy Choke, and is currently writing a project for director Curtis Hanson. Did he ever consider following in the footsteps of Marvel helmers like Whedon, Jon Favreau, and Kenneth Branagh, I wondered?
You've written and directed movies before. Have you ever thought about directing a movie in the Marvel canon?
I've thought about it more than they have. Yeah, I wrote and directed Choke, this small indie comedy from the Chuck Palahaniuk book of the same name, and while there was a medieval village [in it], I don't know that I was the first choice for Thor. I would really be into it! I certainly watch what Ken and Jon Favreau do in terms of the scope and visual effects, and I'm fascinated by it. I feel like there's probably one that's more character-y, smaller, that I'd kind of love to get a crack at. At some point, I feel like I want to just show up with a spec script for one of my favorites of their heroes. What do you think?
Maybe one of those short films Marvel is supposedly making about their other heroes would be good for you.
[Long pause] OK, I don't know about that, but now I really want to know about it!
Go talk to Kevin Feige about it!
We will have dinner [tonight], and I will be talking about that. At one of the other interviews, someone suggested that I could play Agent Coulson's grandfather in Captain America, and I will be pitching that hard at dinner. [Laughs]