“CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLIDER” Our Interview With (Property Master) Russell Bobbitt
“CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLIDER” Our Interview With (Property Master) Russell Bobbitt
Do you remember last Spring when I was posting about my trip to LA for the IronMan 3 Red Carpet Premiere? What I didn’t tell you is while I was there, I was able to interview Russell Bobbit (Property Master) on not only Iron Man 3 props but the Captain America: The Winter Soldier shield prop!
I have to be honest, when it was my turn to get my picture taken with the prop, I was soooooo… nervous! I also thought it would be much heavier than it was; so much so I swung that shield around so fast–and ALMOST knocked it into my teeth. No joke! Although it is a heavier rubber material, it was so much lighter than I imagined.
I am so in awe of Russell Bobbitt’s job. He gets to make all of the props for these movies and be a part of the excitement that goes along with it. His title of “Property Master” couldn’t be more on target as in my eyes, he is truly a master of his talent!
You are probably thinking, get on with the interview Willis! So here it is:
Interview with Russell Bobbitt on Shield for Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Question asked by a fellow blogger:
Yes, can you talk about the shield. How do you design it — or come up with the making (of the shield).
Russell :
So for this, obviously this is “Captain America 2” so I’m the first one to establish the look of this thing. In our movie we have four different looks because he goes into different scenarios, different missions. He applies different material — Marvel materials that help make the shield stealth in different situations. So we have four different styles. In theory in the Marvel lore, there’s one shield.
So in this movie we have a couple surprises with the shield. It will appear that there are different shields. But it’s only one shield. That one shield I have to make 50 of them to accommodate all the different scenarios. I have hard rubber, soft rubber, fiberglass, metal too, depending on if there’s an insert on it. I use a metal one ‘because it looks the best’. This one that you’re gonna hold and play with; it’s the hard rubber one. It’s the next to the best. (side note from me–I thought hard rubber meant —heavy, hard rubber, therefore almost hitting my teeth with it when I swung it around). I am gonna give you this one because it’s lighter than the heavy, heavy metal one.
RUSSELL: We need so many shields because we do different sort of things, you know, if he’s walking around and it’s on his back, I can put a really clean nice heavy one on him. When we photograph them from behind, it looks shiny and new like metal. When he takes it off and starts fighting with it, obviously we can’t hit each other with metal shields or the boys won’t be able to play very long So I make soft ones to accommodate the different scenarios.
I have never been able to hold onto a prop that was or will be used in a movie, let alone have my picture taken with it. So this was just another awesome experience that would not have been possible without Disney inviting me to LA this past April!
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CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER releases in theaters everywhere on April 4, 2014!
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