Before he signed on for Nate Bargatze’s THE BREADWINNER, Jeremy Latcham had already made a name for himself by producing movies marked by redemptive, biblical values.
“Even at Marvel, like if you read the the History of Marvel book or whatever, there’s like this bit about my grandparents in there because when we were making the first Marvel movies, I’d always be like, ‘I don’t know if my grandma would like that, you know?’ And that became like a guiding light of like as we were developing the movies, I just had this sense of, ‘I don’t know if my grandma would like that,’ and that became the stand-in [to determine if a movie] is going to work for regular people that are outside of the bubble of Hollywood. What does this [movie] say for a regular family?” Latcham said.
At the Movieguide® Awards Gala, Latcham shared more about how that conviction impacted the Marvel studio at large.
“In 2008, Marvel Studios made our first film, a small film called IRON MAN starring Robert Downey Jr. The Monday after it came out, my grandmother called me from Perkins, Oklahoma, and she said, ‘Honey, the sermon on Sunday was about IRON MAN. It was about a story of redemption and how we can all relate to that,'” he recalled. “It was at that moment that I knew we’d done something that resonated around the world, that my grandmother in Perkins, Oklahoma, a town of 5,000 people, could feel the story of redemption that traveled around the world and that we could all be lifted up by heroes. I think we kept that with us at Marvel, and, hopefully, we’ll keep it with us for a long time as we continue making movies.”
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Earlier Marvel movies, especially, held to Latcham’s drive for biblical and moral values and redemptive arcs.
“I think people do want inspiring movies,” he previously told Movieguide®. “I think that’s something that’s important to people. I’m glad that the movies that we make naturally fit that bill. History is rooted in comic books and comic books are rooted in heroes, and heroes are about doing the good thing and doing right. That’s what our movies try to do. That’s what we celebrate.”
He also told Movieguide®, “We [at Marvel] love that we are recognized for making films that connect with audiences all around the world, for our good values, for being about families, for themes of being a hero, being a good community member and helping people around the world.”
Latcham has three more movies currently on his slate, and Movieguide® commends him for sticking to the values that we hold dear.
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