Jake Schreier is worth following for his attention to unhappy people, even in a superhero film. We like the care he gives his characters; Thunderbolts\* suggests he needs to give pace and action equal thought.
Fi1m perspective
In Thunderbolts\* (2025), Schreier puts a collection of discarded Marvel characters in a hole and leaves them unsure what they are for. A Russian super-soldier now drives a limousine; a replacement Captain America has been sacked. There are jokes available in both circumstances, but Schreier takes the lack of purpose seriously. We like his willingness to spend time with people who have little enthusiasm for the task ahead. The film is worth an evening if superheroes are your thing, with some patience required.
His first feature, the science-fiction comedy Robot & Frank (2012), showed a sure handling of tone and images. Paper Towns (2015), adapted from John Green's novel, was his first studio feature. Television work including Beef (2023) followed before the move to Marvel with Thunderbolts\*. That is a career moving between formats and kinds of story.
Writers Christopher Ford, Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo are among his collaborators, and the attention to character cannot all be credited to the director. Schreier's use of long takes to convey anxiety suggests a useful instinct for letting a scene develop. In Thunderbolts\*, Florence Pugh is the greater asset. We were moved by its concern with not much wanting to get up, because Pugh gives that unhappiness enough weight to matter amid the superhero business. Schreier is right to give her performance room.
He is less successful at keeping the film moving. The first act dawdles, and the fights are ordinary: neither problem is cancelled out by taking the characters' feelings seriously. That matters in a superhero film, where caring about the people should make the action more involving. His handling of the fights here gives us little reason to recommend him for that part of the job.
Biography
Jake Schreier is an American film and television director. He directed the feature films Robot & Frank (2012) and Paper Towns (2015), as well as the Marvel Studios film Thunderbolts (2025). He has also directed episodes of the series Beef (2023) and other television projects including Kidding and Minx*.
Schreier graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and was a founding member of the Brooklyn-based filmmaking collective Waverly Films. He joined Park Pictures in 2006. He is set to direct an untitled X-Men film for Marvel Studios, scheduled for 2028. Schreier has won a Primetime Emmy Award.
