The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is home to some badass female characters. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders), the list goes on and on. But Captain Marvel, in theaters now, marks the first time a MCU woman has ever been center stage in her own movie. And it’s about time.

Set in the 1990s, the film features Academy Award winner Brie Larson as Carol Danvers (known as “Vers” to some), an Air Force Pilot who, after an explosion, becomes Captain Marvel and finds herself caught in the middle of an intergalactic war. Not only is she Marvel’s first solo female lead in a film, she’s also one of the most powerful heroes in the entire universe, full stop.

It makes sense, then, that the team behind Captain Marvel is made up of some powerful women. Anna Boden directed and wrote Captain Marvel—along with her partner, director and writer Ryan Fleck—and the film boasts several female producers, writers, department heads, and crew members. We spoke with four of the women behind Captain Marvel about their careers, what it was like to work on this groundbreaking Marvel film, and more. Check out our conversations, below.

Pinar Toprak, film composer

Toprak was born in Instanbul, Turkey and has been studying music full-time since she was a young girl. “I’ve always wanted to score film,” she tells Glamour. “I moved to the United States for it, when I was 17 years old. I didn’t even know English when I first moved here.”

Determined nonetheless, Toprak gained admission to the Berkeley College of Music and graduated in two years. “I felt like how Carol feels when she arrives to Earth in Captain Marvel,” she says. “It was an entirely brand new experience to try to master, to say the least.” After graduation, she moved to Los Angeles, received a masters degree in composition, and landed an internship at the Paramount Pictures Music Department. In the early aughts, she began working for the legendary Hans Zimmer, who’s produced music for The Dark Knight, The Lion King, and other blockbusters.

But even with all her knowledge, Toprak still found she had to keep proving she could write for action and sci-fi as a woman—but she pushed through. “I love comic books, in general, I love fantasy, and I grew up watching Westerns,” she says. “But for me, it’s not really about the genre. It’s about the story.” Now, creating music for action and sci-fi projects has become what she’s known for: She has credits on Syfy’s Krypton, video games like the massively popular Fortnight, and films like Justice League and, of course, Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel marks the first time a woman has scored a film for the Marvel cinematic universe, and the accomplishment is one Toprak holds closely. “It means everything to me,” she says. “It means that my dreams were possible, and my efforts were noticed.” Working for Marvel was a huge step for Toprak, and she was relieved to find the creative executives at the company, as well as her Captain Marvel team, were receptive to all she had to offer. “They’ve been really wonderful with being open to ideas, because I heard a very high-risk score from the start,” she says.

The “high-risk” score Toprak had in mind was a mix of musical homages and throwbacks one might not expect to hear in a movie debuting in 2019. She wanted to match the energy and feel of the scores accompanying the action films in theaters during the events of Captain Marvel—’90s classics like Bad Boys and Heat. “Even when I brought that idea, the idea of having the homage to the nineties action films, they were just game for trying anything,” she explains. “Of course, Marvel is a well-oiled machine, so they like things done in a certain way, but I had a pretty large playground to play in. It was wonderful.”

Source link