I was invited by Disney on an all expenses paid trip to cover the CaptainAmericaEvent. All opinions are my own.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR opens in theaters everywhere on May 6th! I have seen it and it is sooooo good! A must see!
As a quick note, Captain America is among the best movies to watch on 4th July for some red, white and blue inspiration!
One of the highlights of my #CaptainAmericaEvent trip was being able to interview Chris Evans (who plays “CaptainAmerica”, but you already know that)! He was way different than I thought he would be in person. I’m actually not even sure what I was expecting, but he was so funny and totally the type of guy who would be so fun to be friends with. And of course, he was extremely handsome in person (the camera doesn’t lie people) so naturally I also enjoyed the view very much. But I digress, here are the highlight of our interview:
Obviously it looks like there’s a lot of fun on set. Do you guys play pranks?
Chris Evans: You know, everyone wants there to be pranks and it’s not so much pranks as it’s just a camaraderie. You know I mean? When you’re on set, you’re a little tired, to be honest. Like the truth is you really are there to work. Really. You know, certain movies I’ve done, comedies where everyone is a little more loose. On these movies there are people who are really there to work and so you don’t want to diminish their experience or disrespect their process. So for the most part on set, you’re not tame, but we still have fun. Days when it’s just me and Paul, we’re giggling a lot more. There are certain actors who really are austere in their approach and you really want to respect that. Off set is where the real disaster happens [he laughed].
When you put the uniform back on and the costume back on, how do you feel?
I feel good now, I didn’t in the beginning, in the beginning it was terrifying. When I began the movie, it was just like all the things that could go wrong and how this could be a mistake. And over the course of five or six movies now, it feels great. It really does. The Russo Brothers and Marvel and everyone has made it such a wonderful environment. And they’ve proven themselves time and time again to be great filmmakers and now, it’s like a point of pride when you see the suit. You’re excited to get the suit on and you’re very honored and humbled that you get to have some sort of a connection to it. Because it is bigger than you. Captain America will live on, there will be other Captain Americas, there will. And it will live on, a lot longer than I will. So it’s just nice to kind of have a little place in its lineage.
This movie is a little darker than the others have been, so how does that feel to transition into a darker role?
It was nice. Because I think for the most part with Cap, the trickiest thing about the character is that he’s just a selfless guy, he’s not one of these brooding characters where you can kind of as an audience member connect to his conflict and struggle. He’s very selfless and I think to some degree it can feel vanilla. I think it can feel boring. His goal has always been doing what other people need. I think in this movie it’s the first time he kind of did what he wants and that’s a little bit of a departure for him.
But it’s nice because it’s motivated by family. Cap woke up seventy years later and everyone he knows is dead. And you have Bucky this one guy, this one person who is the remaining chapter of his life before. So you’re pitting his current family with his old family and you can’t ask any man to choose that. It’s like taking the friends you went to high school with compared to the friends you met in college, these are two worlds, you’ve got to try and somehow find a way to blend. For Cap, Bucky is his only remaining thing. And it’s the first time he’s really kind of said I’m choosing me. Over you. And it’s tough for him but I like that. It gives him a little bit of conflict because he can be a little boring.
Tell us about the helicopter flexing scene.
My arm to this day is not the same. Because it’s a fake helicopter obviously, you know, and we did the first couple things and, you’re holding and the helicopter was still so you’re just faking nothing and you’re like, ‘let’s drift the helicopter’. It’s on a rig, so you can actually move it. But then they did move it and it actually required, you actually have to hold. I did something, not like I’d get any sympathy out of you any way [We all laughed]. But I really did bang something up. It was a trick scene, those scenes, they’re good scenes.
What was the hardest scene to shoot?
I think it’s harder doing scenes with Downey [speaking of Robert Downey Jr. who plays “Iron Man”], because he’s such a force, you know what I mean. He’s so good and he owns the oxygen, and he comes in the room and he’s powerful. The spine of the film is that conflict. There’s a limited amount of scenes where it’s really just us, when we’re not fighting, just us talking. That’s the framework for the conflict. And if you don’t invest in those moments, the conflict is going to be sour and fall flat. So those few scenes that we have where it’s just him and I were really intimidating to make sure you want to, match him. He’s scary because he’s so good, he’s so good. He’s just good at anything he does. And he changes things on the fly, so you just want to keep up sparring wise, that you can kind of hang with him. So those scenes were the most terrifying.
We’ve seen the movie’s fight scenes, do you think anyone on Team Cap would be a good face off for Captain America?
Anyone on team cap? Um, Scarlet Witch would be trouble, wouldn’t she? She messes stuff up. She would be a problem. We’re lucky we have her, because without her, when you look at team iron man, just even having the Vision. Vision is so wonderful, and Vision is so powerful. And we’d be in trouble without Scarlet Witch, we really would.
Because of your friendship with Bucky, do you think your your friendship with Falcon is changing in this movie?
Yeah that’s been one of the big questions, it’s tricky, because in the comic books, one of these guys gets the shield. I don’t know what Marvel is going to do, what a strange thing. I don’t want to give them the shield anyway [he laughed] but I guess I gotta, you know, which is fine. Listen, it’s not my job to pick, it’s a beautiful relationship. Buck, like I said, Bucky is the friend from old. And Falcon is the friend from today and they’re both great people, both great characters, they’re both great actors. So, I’m thankful it’s not my decision. Whoever, whatever happens happens.
How do you prepare to play a hundred year old person?
Sometimes I feel that way. And maybe I’m not alone in thinking that. Sometimes I feel like I’m five and five hundred. Sometimes I feel like I’m a toddler and sometimes I feel old. I don’t think it’s hard. I hope that doesn’t sound, presumptuous or arrogant in any way. Sometimes I really do feel like an old guy, but then sometimes I really do feel like playing in the sand box.
If you could go back in time, and have dinner or a conversation with someone from history, who would it be with?
I think maybe for me, maybe someone like JFK. I really do think politics is an amazing landscape, I think it’s a really tricky thing to try and go into, to be a politician, even being an actor. Imagine being a politician, where you have to back everything you say. You have to be able to be real, you have to be honest, you can’t be so political. You have to just be a plain speaking human. And I think where politics struggles is, when politicians become too political. And I think JFK was one of the last guys that felt to me, like he was speaking like a human and it feels like a man talking. And he was tackling enormous issues of the time. I think it’s a real interesting dichotomy of being in this austere position of politician at the time when the country needed so much, and he kind of had to marry so many difficult challenges. People really didn’t want him to win either. So, to me he is one of the most interesting characters that I can think of, I’ll say JFK.
What were your thoughts when Marvel threatened to boycott Georgia if they passed the Anti-Gay bill?
I really I thought that was great. My younger brother is gay and he was the one sending me these text messages being like ‘good for Disney’ and it was just a nice thing to read about. I mean Disney spends huge money in Georgia and I’m proud of them. I was so proud of Disney for standing up to that and making a statement and saying ‘listen, this is what we feel, this is what we believe in’. Look, it’s a hate bill that they were trying to pass. I was proud of Disney, I really was, and I was glad it happened, I was glad it worked out. And there are still some states that are messing up. But, I was proud to be a part of the Disney family during that.
As Captain America, you are my son’s favorite superhero. Growing up who was your favorite superhero?
Oh I didn’t have one. I had an older sister. It’s funny, that’s why I want when I have kids, I’d love for my oldest child to be a girl, because I think it softens up the boy. We had a girl, me, and my younger brother. Whatever Carly wanted to do, we did. My Little Pony and Care Bears that was it. Just being in Carly’s room was a big deal. Just being in Carly’s room, you’re like ‘don’t mess it up, just sit here. Whatever she gives us to play with, that’s what we’re playing with’. And she’d give us the fuzzy My Little Ponies. It was My Little Ponies, Cabbage Patch, Care Bears. I didn’t have a brother being like, ‘GI Joe’, I was a lot softer than that. So comic books were not on my radar. I liked Star Wars, which was maybe the coolest thing about me, but that was my dad being like ‘please, please, like Han Solo. And I was like, ‘but Tender Heart Bear [he said in a sweet voice, and we all laughed] it’s not untrue, it’s really sad.
It was so incredible to be able to interview Chris Evans. He was so funny and had us all laughing. He is so cool in person, and it is a memory I will never forget.
Oh, and did I mention that as we were interviewing Paul Bettany (who plays “Vision”), Chris Evans came in the room and the two of them had us laughing so hard. They were hilarious together. Stay tuned for my interview with Paul Bettany, which is publishing on 5/2.
And of course, here is our group photo with Chris Evans.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR opens in theaters everywhere on May 6th!
Purchase your tickets: http://www.fandango.
Watch the trailer…
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“Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” finds Steve Rogers leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps—one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability. Get ready to pick a side and join the nonstop action playing out on two fronts when Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” opens in U.S. theaters on May 6, 2016.”-Marvel
