Exclusive Interview with Chris Evans #CaptainAmericaEvent

 

One of my favorite things about interviewing big stars is when they prove that they are just as human as we are. Chris Evans was a stand out interview for me because he is so down to Earth. He came in the room smiling and left smiling. And that smile is infectious. We were all laughing and giggling. He may be Captain America but he makes jokes like he was just a normal guy on the street. Except being amazingly attractive and beyond talented. We were interviewing Paul Bettany about his role as Vision in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War movie and Chris Evans just walks on in to the room we were in and tells us hello. Best end to an interview EVER! Him and Paul hugged and laughed together. It was great. Just typing up our interview makes me want to see the movie again which will be in theaters on May 6th!

Chris Evans even played with the toys and figures we brought with us. I love when superheroes get to play with their own action figure. Or even super villians like that time I interviewed Corey Stoll from Ant-Man and he was so fascinated that he was a toy now. But back to Chris Evans. He was joking with Paul Bettany that he brought his A-game to their very quick photoshoot and that he looked all GQ while Chris is just wearing a long sleeve shirt. Trust me Chris. You both looked amazing no matter what. I want to share some of my favorite interview questions and honestly every single one we asked was so great.

We asked him what it was like putting on the uniform again and becoming Captain America once more. He answered in a great way that shows that he experiences doubt in his roles and still goes on to rock them.

Chris Evans – I feel good now, I didn’t in the beginning. In the beginning it was terrifying. Don’t all our brains just manage to go to the most negative thing possible? Whenever there’s something in front of us, you just focus on what the worst possible outcome could be. 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.

We also asked about how he felt moving into a darker theme with Cap. The movie has such a thriller/psychological darkness to it and we are used to seeing Cap being the light in the darkness. It was weird to be but everyone has their boundaries and Cap finally met his.

Chris Evans – 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.

So well put. He is very articulate. I wish everyone could have been in the room with us because even with serious questions there was such an air of humor going around. I have to say that I was extremely proud of him when we asked how he felt about Disney threatening to boycott Georgia if they passed the anti-LGBT bill they had been talking about.

Chris Evans – 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.

There is a scene in the movie where Cap is holding onto a helicopter and trying to stop it from flying. It was like holy bicep city and I think people may have swooned in the movie theater when it happened. Chris told us that he actually did hurt his arm doing that scene. The helicopter was fake but it was moveable and they were moving it and he really did pull something in his arm and he says it was still messed up to that day. He was flexing while laughing because we asked what the hardest scene to shoot was and someone mentioned that scene.

He told us that the hardest scenes to shoot were the ones with Robert Downey Jr. He had absolute respect in his voice when talking about RDJ and I was amazed by his answer.

Chris Evans – I think it’s harder doing scenes with Downey, because he’s such a force. He’s so good and he owns the oxygen. He comes in the room and he’s powerful and 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. 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 match him. He’s scary because he’s so good. He’s just good at anything he does. He changes things on the fly so you just want to try and keep up sparring wise so that you can kind of hang with him. Those scenes were the most terrifying.

 

We asked Chris what his favorite superhero was growing up and I swear to you that all of us were hanging on his words when he started talking about his big sister. I have two big sisters and I know exactly how he felt growing up. I would have done anything for them to play with me because they were so much older and cooler than anything.

Chris Evans – Oh I didn’t have one. I had an older sister and I think anyone who has, you know, siblings.  It’s funny like 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 my sister, me, and then my brother. You know, whatever Carly wanted to do, we did.  So we, you know, My Little Pony and Care Bear that was it. I’m like you- just being in Carly’s room was a big deal. Just being in Carly room, you’re like (stage whisper to his younger brother) don’t mess it up, don’t- just sit here whatever she gives us to play with, that’s what we’re playing with.  And she’d give us the fuzzy the My Little Ponies, the cheaper plastic ones.

Like most of the ones that we had, we were like fine, okay.  You know, it was My Little Ponies, Cabbage Patch, Care Bears.  I wasn’t cool enough to- I didn’t have a brother being like, GI Joe, you know, I, was, you know, 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! It’s not untrue, it’s really sad

 

He was such a hoot to be around. So real. One of the last questions we asked him was kind of an existential one. We asked him who he would want to have dinner with. I think people can really judge you by who you choose for that question and Chris knew that. He debated a couple of people but then he settled on JFK.

Chris Evans – Dinner or a conversation with someone from history.  Um, that’s tough, that’s tough.  Um, it’s tough, I mean, because you don’t want to get too, I don’t want to get too caught up in like pretension.   I might say someone like, Gandhi, I might say someone like Lincoln.  But I think maybe for me, maybe someone like, maybe JFK. I would just be really interested, because, because have you guys been watching those things, the Race to the White House thing, on CNN right now, anyone watching those? So good.  And it really is- 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.  You know, and I think JFK was one of the last guys that felt to me like he’s speaking like a human and it feels like a man talking.  And he was tackling enormous issues of the time.  So and I think it’s a real interesting, uh, 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, I, I mean like look.  They shot him you know what? I mean in the end they got him.  So to me he is one of the most interesting characters that I can think of. I’ll say JFK.

He was such an amazing interview. I wont ever forget it. He took a photo with us and I am like peeking over his shoulder. I was in the front but we also took a photo with Paul Bettany and I wanted to be right beside him so I was stuck back there. I am not tall. But it was cool to be standing right there. He was still making jokes while we were out there in the bright sun taking photos.

Captain America: Civil War opens in theaters on May 6th! Are you going opening weekend? Make sure you follow the #CaptainAmericaEvent hashtag to see more interviews with the stars and directors!