How the Russo Family Switched From Superheroes to America’s Opioid Crisis With ‘Cherry’

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SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter | Mia Galuppo
January 25, 2020

For their adaptation of Nico Walker’s semi-autobiographical novel — their gritty follow-up to the ground- and record-breaking ‘Avengers:  Endgame’ — directors Joe  and  Anthony Russo homed in on addiction and PTSD, tapping their younger sister, Angela  Russo-Otstot, to co-write the script in this family affair: “You have to submit the ego to the collective.”

After wrapping the biggest film franchise of all time with Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, Anthony and Joe Russo wanted to go back home. Set in their native Ohio, Cherry, out Feb. 26 via Apple TV+, is their first non-superpowered project in more than a half-decade. Tom Holland stars as a young Iraq veteran, known in the movie as Cherry, whose battle with opioid addiction leads him to become a serial bank robber. For the personal project, the Russo brothers teamed with their sister, Angela Russo-Otstot, who co-scripted the adaptation of the semi-autobiographical novel by Nico Walker, who wrote the book while serving a prison sentence for bank robbery.

The siblings talked to The Hollywood Reporter about how social media — for better and worse — influenced the movie and their hopes of appealing to Gen Z audiences.