Major Updates on 'Captain America' from Director Joe Johnston

Director Joe Johnston has been out talking to press this weekend for his new movie "The Wolfman" and most of the discussion has ended up focusing on "The First Avenger: Captain America." Johnston spoke with Collider and gave them a lot of details about the direction they're heading with the film. Additionally, ComingSoon confirmed (as did AICN) that the villain in Captain America will be Cap's arch-nemesis Red Skull.

Although the actor who will play Steve Rogers has yet to be officially selected, the direction Marvel Studios is going with will be similar to Kenneth Branagh’s "Thor." Johnston will have an unknown actor as the lead, supported by a strong and familiar set of actors, meaning this movie will launch someone’s career as we’re seeing with Chris Hemsworth whose playing "Thor."

When asked in a press conference about this, Johnston responded with “No. We’re looking for a complete unknown.” Next he was asked to clarify about not casting an A-list type star for the role.

“I hope not. I hope it’ll be somebody we discover and whose never been in…well he’s probably been in something…you won’t know who he is or recognize him. We’ll surround him with more prominent names. That’s who we’re looking for. Will we find him? I don’t know. It’s tough.”

Johnston told Hero Complex about the kind of actors they're looking at to portray Captain America.

"Well, we're testing five or six guys," Johnston said. "The youngest is 23 the oldest is 32. Most of the guys in the war [are] just kids, 18 or 19, but we want to go a little bit older. We have to have somebody locked in before I leave March 1 for London."

Johnston also told Collider that he's definitely casting an American in the role as well.

"I don’t think we could make without an American playing the part."

Johnston also went on to talk about how they're shooting the movie and a little bit about the style of it.

"We're definitely going to shoot it in a different way than any of the other Marvel pictures have been shot. What I'm trying to do is look at the comics - most of the new ones like the Brubaker series - and to interpret that sort of visual style into a film in a way that I think has been tried before… It always looks a little too on the nose it looks like oh they're shooting a comic book movie. I want to try something a little bit different."

And, of course, there's some talk about the villain and that we can expect Red Skull in it. ComingSoon spoke with Johnston about why they're setting it in WWII and going for the origin story on this.

"Virtually the entire story except the bookends are in World War II because we all recognize we have one chance to tell the origin story of how he became Captain America, you can't tell a modern story and then go back and tell the origin story. If you're going to do it, let's do it. Let's do it first. Everyone wanted to tell an origin story. There was a version where it was a modern story and it didn't work."

Johnston also explained that the film will justify the hero's stars-and-stripes costume by having him as a morale-boosting troops entertainer for the United Services Organizations.

"The costume is a flag," the director said, "but the way we're getting around that is we have Steve Rogers forced into the USO circuit. After he's made into this supersoldier, they decide they can't send him into combat and risk him getting killed. He's the only one and they can't make more. So they say, 'You're going to be in this USO show' and they give him a flag suit. He can't wait to get out of it."

"It was never in the comics because they didn't really need it. In comics, he puts on the costume and the reader just justifies because of the nature of the medium."

He continued: "So he's up on stage doing songs and dances with chorus girls and he can't wait to get out and really fight. When he does go AWOL, he covers up the suit but then, after a few things happen, he realises that this uniform allows him to lead. By then, he's become a star in the public mind and a symbol. The guys get behind him because he embodies something special."

The character later modifies the stage costume to a sturdier, more armored version.

"This approach, it's the only way we could justify ever seeing him on a screen in tights, with the funny boots and everything", Johnston said. "The government essentially puts him up there as a living comic book character and he rips it off and then reclaims some of its imagery after he recognises the value of it. We think it's the best way to keep the costume and explain it at the same time."

That's about all the good stuff on Captain America for now. But you can head over to Collider, Hero Complex, and ComingSoon for more quotes from Johnston and updates on the movie.

How do you feel about the film after hearing Johnston’s words?

"The First Avenger: Captain America" is set for release on July 22, 2011. The character will then appear alongside "Iron Man," "Thor" and others in "The Avengers" team-up movie in 2012.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Live for Films, The Geek Files, First Showing, Screen Rant