With director Michael Giacchino’s Werewolf by Night now playing on Disney+, I recently spoke with Brian Gay about making the Marvel Studios special presentation. If you’re not familiar with Brian’s name, he got started at Marvel as the Executive Coordinator for Kevin Feige. Since then, he became the Co-Executive Producer of Werewolf by Night and is a Director of Production & Development at Marvel Studios. He’s also a creative executive on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the first season of Loki.

So, you’re probably asking what does an Executive Coordinator for Kevin Feige actually do? I wondered the same thing. So I asked:

“I was running Kevin's office. So, I was getting him to where he needed to be, obviously traditional assistant duties, but also helping him get to the right reviews, check in, travel to set with him, attend press junkets, what have you, all things about Kevin. And the thing about that was I spoke to Kevin when I first was hired that job, I said, "I want to learn how to make movies." And he is like, "Well, get ready. This is it," like it's a crash course. Kevin is so hands on with everything that it allowed me to see every step from visual effects, to costumes, to casting, to making deals and agreements, to locations. He really touches it all and was an incredible mentor, but also an amazing storyteller. I mean, I know you've talked to him I'm sure plenty of times. He's incredible at what he does and figuring out amazing stories.”

I cannot imagine the stories Brian must know from his time in Feige’s office. During the rest of the interview, he talked about making Werewolf by Night, how they decided on the run time, what it was like working with Giacchino, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Check out what he had to say in the player above, or you can read our conversation below.

Werewolf by Night is about a secret cabal of monster hunters that meet up at the Bloodstone Temple following the death of their leader. The purpose of the meeting is to decide who will be their new leader and the one who will take possession of a powerful relic. Inspired by horror films of the 1930s and 1940s, Werewolf by Night explores a new corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and also stars Gael García Bernal, Harriet Sansom Harris, Leonardo Nam, Kirk R. Thatcher, and Eugenie Bondurant.

COLLIDER: Let me start with, congratulations on Werewolf by Night. I think fans are going to love this thing.

BRIAN GAY: I hope so. I'm excited to share it. I know it's still a couple weeks away or whatever, but I'm like soon. Let everyone see it. It's exciting.

Well, one of the things that's great about it is it's so different than anything else in the MCU. Do you think this is the beginning of more specials like this coming to Disney+? Every year could there be something?

GAY: We haven't set out a schedule or a master plan or something like that. But I think what's really exciting about the special is it's unique, right? Disney+ lets us do something that doesn't have to be a three hour movie. It doesn't have to be a 10 episode series. It lets us dip our toe in, introduce something, bring out a new character, and of give you what I've been calling an appetizer of hopefully what's more to come with seeing these characters, or at least the ones that lived, continue on in the MCU.

You were an Executive Coordinator for Kevin Feige. What exactly does that mean?

GAY: So, I was running Kevin's office. So, I was getting him to where he needed to be, obviously traditional assistant duties, but also helping him get to the right reviews, check in, travel to set with him, attend press junkets, what have you, all things about Kevin. And the thing about that was I spoke to Kevin when I first was hired that job, I said, "I want to learn how to make movies." And he is like, "Well, get ready. This is it," like it's a crash course. Kevin is so hands on with everything that it allowed me to see every step from visual effects, to costumes, to casting, to making deals and agreements, to locations. He really touches it all and was an incredible mentor, but also an amazing storyteller. I mean, I know you've talked to him I'm sure plenty of times. He's incredible at what he does and figuring out amazing stories.

He's on another level.

GAY: Yeah.

I mean, you can't do what he's done. It's never been done in Hollywood. What do you think would surprise Marvel fans to learn about what goes on behind the scenes in the making of Werewolf by Night and what's just going on in terms of the development of things at Marvel?

GAY: Sure. I mean, one of the things specific to Werewolf by Night, and maybe it's not a surprise, but when I think about it was surprising to me was we hired Michael Giacchino to direct. He is an incredibly talented composer and has brought all his knowledge to shooting this film. And on top of doing an amazing job, he knew how to set tone and the way he did that was with music. So at the start of a meeting, if we're looking at a specific sequence, whether its visual effects or script or something like that, or even ahead of filming a scene, he would just say, "I've got 45 seconds of something I want to play for you." Or a minute and he'd just pull up something. Sometimes it was something he wrote, sometimes it was something from one of his movies, sometimes it was a song he knew and he's like, "This is the tone of the scene." You're like, oh, everyone's on board because music is such an emotional but also a universal language. And so it's something before that working with someone in the background of music that is an incredible asset because you're like, pkay, this scene's supposed to be scary. I need to feel attention here. No, we're going to upswing to a little levity. Oh, we got to drop it back down. And Michael's ability to communicate that with music and his knowledge was incredible.

Because it's on Disney+, there is no mandated run time. Did you guys ever discuss having a longer version of it or shorter version? How did you end up with the run time?

GAY: Are you asking for the eight-hour directors cut?

No, I'm not asking for that. But it could have been an hour and five minutes. It could have also been 40 minutes.

GAY: Right. No, we knew that we wanted it to be a special. And like I said, we're sort of angling for old network specials of the day, which were usually thirty minutes to an hour. And so we were aiming in that realm. Things like Charlie Brown Christmas or Frosty The Snowman are not things that we, I'm saying emulated, but that concept of like, oh, it's a special, you see during a season or around a certain holiday or a certain time of year. And so we just sort of settled on what felt right. It's one night, it all happens in one night. It's quick. You go through it and afterwards you're wondering what's happening next with Jack and Elsa.

I heard the new Ant-Man turned out pretty great. Would you care to comment on that?

GAY: I'd say we're still working on it, but I will say that was an incredibly talented cast and everyone really brought their A game and Peyton Reed is the best person to have at the helm. He has such a great sense of what the comedy should be, but also the stakes and I can't wait. It's a few more months, but I can't wait to show it because I think it's a really great new direction for Ant-Man.

I have heard good things. On that note, have a fantastic day. And seriously, people are going to love this.

GAY: Oh, thanks so much. Glad talking to you.

Werewolf by Night is now streaming on Disney+.