The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘Avengers’ co-director Russo savors lessons
Of little dreamers in each high school football stadium this week, many will learn lessons of team play.
The dreams begin this week. In cities such as Mentor and Lakewood and more hopes are as high as ever. In particular, a mega lid-lifter has the Cardinals traveling to play St. Edward at Lakewood Stadium on Aug. 29 in a rare Thursday night high school football opener.
Somewhere in the crowd among what will surely be a packed stadium will be little dreamers — wide-eyed boys hoping to become Mentor’s next Mitchell Trubisky one day. Others will dream of suiting up for the green and yellow of powerful St. Edward, the defending Division I state champion.
Not all will grow up to be stars. Not all will be good enough to be a starter on their future team, but all could learn a lesson by just being a part of a team.
That’s because team work plays a huge role on every walk of life. It could be managing a family — big or small — a team of co-workers, or even leading a group of hundreds to help create the biggest box-office film of all time.
Mayfield Village native and Benedictine graduate Anthony Russo — one half of the Russo brothers (Joe is the other) — codirected four Marvel Studios films to solid reviews and incredible box-office returns.
“There’s such a sense of discipline and focus and team building (with high school football) — that’s all essential to pulling off movies, especially Avengers movies.” — Anthony Russo, “Avengers” codirector and former Benedictine football player
The latest and greatest box-office effort was last spring’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which brought in a record $365 million on opening weekend and eventually overtook “Avatar” as the No. 1 film of all time with a total take of $2.796 billion.
The Russo brothers are Hollywood power hitters, but it didn’t happen over night. They worked their way through Hollywood, determined to make it big.
The story of Anthony Russo should inspire kids of all ages who would rather watch Spider-Man sling his web than Baker Mayfield throw touchdown passes.
High school sports — football in particular — has real value and helps mold life skills beyond 12th grade.
Russo is a great example. Back in the day, the 49-year-old loved the game and believed in the lessons installed by legendary coach Augie Bossu and at the time Bengals assistant Art Bortnick, who eventually won two state championships as head coach. Bossu, who died in 2008 at age 91, won three state championships and an Associated Press crown.
Russo played offensive line at the school in the late 1980s. As a junior, he started at offensive guard.
“I was one of the few juniors who started, but I did rotate with a senior,” said Russo during a recent interview with The News-Herald. “That was my role that season.”
The Bengals played in a Division II state semifinal during Russo’s junior season of 1987, and that game — Beny lost, 20-6, to eventual state champ Akron Butchel — was a small part of the bigger time capsule for Russo.
“That was a really amazing experience for me to play under Augie Bossu, Art Bortnick,” he said. “The tradition there at Benedictine was so powerful and big.”
Football was a serious endeavor for Russo, who said, “It was something I devoted myself a lot to, and I really enjoyed it.”
The next fall, Russo was the starting center for the Bengals and won the Mr. Benedictine Award. According to the school, it’s the “highest honor that can be bestowed upon a graduating senior from Benedictine High School.” The winner shows “character, scholarship, athleticism, leadership, service, Christian ethics, and his school pride.”
Flash forward more than 30 years, and the Russo brothers have taken their director careers to superstar level, starting with 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” The hits kept coming, and the box office receipts kept getting larger. It continued with “Captain America: Civil War,” then “Avengers: Infinity War” and finally “Endgame.”
Some questioned if the Russos could pull off the enormous task of including so many superheroes in the Avengers films. That’s where Anthony’s experience in high school football came in handy, and he is absolutely serious.
“There’s such a sense of discipline and focus and team building (with high school football)— that’s all essential to pulling off movies, especially Avengers movies,” said Anthony. “There’s this idea being a team is essential to what my brother and I do. We’re a team. We work in partnership. When you work in partnership, you have to believe there’s something bigger than the two of you. If you don’t have a successful partnership than it just breaks down to individuals at that point.”
There you have it from one of the most successful directors in Hollywood history. Fans love state championships, records and powerhouse teams, but high school football isn’t always about those things.
It’s about discipline. It’s about focus. It’s about team building.
A player who suits up in pads and cleats does not need the football skills of Trubisky or directorial IQ of Anthony Russo to work on those three things, and a path to success.
Reach Podolski at MPodolski@News-Herald. com. On Twitter: @mpodo