Here Are The Classic Movies That Inspired Marvel's Secret Invasion
When in doubt, steal from the best. Despite all the constant cries for originality from us armchair quarterbacks, filmmaking is an art that thrives on remixing the old into something new. Without storytellers looking back to the past for inspiration (sometimes for what not to do), contemporary works sometimes can't help but feel kneecapped before they ever really get off the ground.
Now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn't ever really tried to hide the classic movies and shows that various directors and writers have attempted to channel. Whether it be Jon Watts' "Spider-Man" movies borrowing heavily from John Hughes or the various "Star Wars" references made throughout Phase Two (oh, and let us never forget the Russo brothers implying that "Avengers: Endgame" somehow has anything to do with the French New Wave movement), the biggest franchise on Earth has become wildly adept at ensuring the present always pays homage to the past. With the newest series, "Secret Invasion," that approach pays off to an even greater extent.
In an interview that will soon be published on the site, /Film's Ethan Anderton spoke with "Secret Invasion" director Ali Selim about the genre classics that were held up when crafting the espionage series. Given the conspiratorial and paranoia themes embedded in a story about shapeshifting Skrulls stealthily attempting to take over the world, it should come as no surprise that Selim pulled from several '70s political thrillers. He specifically namechecks the 1949 noir classic "The Third Man," starring Orson Welles, along with "The Conversation" and the loose trilogy of paranoia movies from director Alan Pakula — "Klute," "The Parallax View," and "All the President's Men" — to specifically figure out, in his words, "shots and lighting and textures."
But that's still only scratching the surface.
Secret influences
"Secret Invasion," which /Film's Josh Spiegel reviewed here, makes no bones about cribbing from the unassailable touchstones of espionage/political thrillers past. In fact, when talking to /Film, director Ali Selim went as far as to say that, when it came to figuring out what influences to look to when creating the style and visuals for the series, "'Emulated' is not the right word. 'Thievery' is the right word." But it's not always just the most obvious and direct one-to-one comparisons, either. Selim also drops some unexpected choices, as well, comparing Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) left on his own to deal with the threat of the Skrulls to the prototypical lone cowboy figure:
"And I think that takes us into a world of the classic American gunslinger walking down Main Street all alone to face the bad guy and face his own fears, and that took us into classic Westerns like 'The Searchers' and even Clint Eastwood's 'Unforgiven.'"
Those who closely observe the series premiere will also notice how much the series is indebted to a wealth of other sources, as well. The camerawork, particularly during action scenes, sure are reminiscent of the shaky-cam mayhem of the Matt Damon-starring "Bourne" movies. Of course, FX's "The Americans" set a high, high bar for spy stories that Marvel would be smart to look to. And, at one point, Olivia Colman's MI6 agent Sonya Falsworth even references "The Circus," a term used to describe British intelligence in several classic John le Carré novels such as "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" and "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."
In short, there was no lack of reference material for those behind "Secret Invasion" to steal in brazen acts of "thievery" to bring it to the next level. New episodes drop on Disney+ every Wednesday.