Chris Evans’ Marvel career has been spread evenly throughout 6 films in 9 years and each one has involved a major catastrophic world-devouring battle. Played out in epic proportions, the scale of each event was not only significant to the bigger story afoot but also contributed inherently to the progress and evolution of his comic book-adapted IP. But to be the face of a franchise and represent one of its most important characters is already a concept difficult to grasp in its entirety.
When that responsibility arrives with an added burden of global fame and success, it becomes downright unbearable for some actors. In the face of such unprecedented exposure to fame in the decade since 2011, Chris Evans had to reorient his idea of what freedom and privacy would mean in this new world that he helped reshape (alongside Robert Downey Jr., of course).
Chris Evans Talks About Privacy Post-Captain America Fame
Chris Evans is not one to mince words or beat around the bush. In one of his most comprehensive interviews, as eloquently worded as ever, the Marvel star speaks of the possibility of his overnight success and skyrocketing to fame, weeks before his film, Captain America: The First Avenger was scheduled to launch. When asked by Jake Hamilton during a Jake’s Takes interview about some of the reasons why he was so apprehensive about taking on the role, Evans replied,
“Well, it’s a giant commitment. 6 pictures can last 10 years. And I really like my privacy. I like my anonymity. Even though I make movies… the good thing about movies is [that] there’s a lot of freedom built in – you make a film and then you have time off. And if one of those film hits and changes your life, you have the opportunity to run away essentially, if you want to, and take some time and reassess and regroup.
The problem with this movie is, if this movie hits and my lifestyle has to shift and it’s something that I am struggling to cope with, there’s no wiggle room to kind of find my footing again ‘cuz you’ve got to dive back into another film. For me, that was intimidating and at one point, not worth it.”
The actor’s words were futuristic in the sense that he had already looked past the haze of newfound fame and found clarity in imagining a world where he was famous. Although the thought was apprehensive, and rightfully so, Evans stood up to the challenge and came out victorious. Even then, it’s hard to imagine the struggle that he must have gone through for the 9 long years that the Civil War actor had to stay true to his commitment.
Chris Evans Finds Refuge With Friends and Family
Despite spending his early years doing moderately well for himself, the booming CBM industry’s search for a spokesperson for Captain America halted at the then-relatively well-to-do actor, Chris Evans. His grounded nature combined with the perfect physique and a voice to match was an immediate eye-catcher for Sarah Halley Finn, the Yale-educated, Emmy-nominated casting director who gave a face to each superhero of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Also read: “He honestly does it justice”: Chris Evans Says Sam Wilson’s Captain America is Worthy
Talking about how Evans balanced the impending feeling of a dreadful 9-year commitment with his love for anonymity and freedom, the actor claimed:
“People close to me were treating me with kid gloves. I was so apprehensive about taking the job. When I finally accepted it, I had a lot of people in my life throughout the filmmaking process and one of the standard questions was like, ‘Hey, you doing okay? [Are] you okay? You alright?… [Are] you handling it [well]?’ So there was a nice comfort zone that I had with my friends and family throughout that filmmaking process.”
A decade later, the actor has now found his way back to the leisurely shooting schedules where shooting a film is consequentially followed by a rewarding time off from work. In the aftermath of his final MCU film, Avengers: Endgame (2019), Chris Evans appeared in the Russo Brothers’ production, Gray Man and is currently working on Amazon’s star-studded holiday action-thriller, Red One, with Dwayne Johnson and the latter’s Seven Bucks team.
Source: Jake’s Takes
