Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Chris Evans shares his thoughts on his Captain America character, his initial reluctance to take on the role, and why he’s not ready to return to the MCU anytime soon.
In an interview with GQ in the October issue, Evans says he somewhat agrees with Quentin Tarantino’s comments last year that Marvel characters are the stars and not the actor who portrays them. “Part of the marvel of Hollywood is that you have all these actors who are famous for playing these characters, but they are not movie stars. Captain America is a star,” Tarantino said in a November 2022 interview with Mediaite, and Evans agrees.
“That was the beauty of working on the Marvel movies. You never had to be front and center,” Evans said. “Sometimes even in your own films. Quentin Tarantino said that recently and I thought, you know, he’s right. The character is the star. You’re there, but you don’t feel the burden.”
He also revealed his reluctance to take on the role at first. “At first I was really scared to take on the role,” he says. He was almost 30 at the time. “I remember in my late 20s there was a real shift in how I felt on set, how I felt promoting movies: a little more anxiety, a little more insecurity. You always end up asking: Is this what I should be doing?”
Evans left Los Angeles when 2019 ended Avengers: Endgame, the seventh of seven films in which he was contractually obligated to portray Captain America. He hasn’t ruled out returning for another Marvel movie, but says it probably won’t happen anytime soon.
“I never say never, just because it was such an amazing experience,” Evans said. But I am also very expensive with him. It’s something I’m very proud of. And like I said, sometimes I can’t believe it even happened. And I wouldn’t want a black eye if it was like a cash grab or if it didn’t live up to expectations or if it just felt like it didn’t relate to the original thing. So in the foreseeable future.”
He also admits that he is ready to “just maybe behave a little less in life. I have a lot of other interests. Look, I have by no means climbed any mountains in this field. I have no Oscars and I am in no way lumped in with other names that are on top of the mountain. But I also feel very satisfied.”
