Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson Discuss Nervous Beginnings with Marvel. It’s no secret that it takes a great actor to portray a great superhero. It’s also true that even the best of the best have had their concerns when taking on their would be iconic roles, but in an industry that is always flowing and evolving, it can be hard to know if a role is worth the risk.
For the original six Avengers, there was plenty of cause to be worried. In an unprecedented move, Marvel planned to change the game for superhero movies with Avengers, and made way for large scale, large cast films that fans would enjoy for decades to come.
Two of the original six, Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America) and Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow) sat down with each other and Variety for an Actor on Actor interview. The discussed multiple topics including their time with Marvel, Scarlett’s new movie “Marriage Story” and Chris’s new film with Rian Johnson, “Knives Out”. In this article we are going to focus on their conversation around their time with Marvel, but if you have to time to watch or read the full interview we highly recommend it! (Link to Variety‘s full interview can be found at the bottom of this article)
The two started by talking about their next projects, post Avengers: Endgame, and compared how different the filming process is between Marvel and other, more independent projects.
Johansson: I know even when we were doing all of the “Endgame” and “Infinity War” stuff, you were prepping for “Knives Out” already.
Evans: Yeah. We were doing the reshoots for those last couple of bits. I don’t know if you were there. You were so in and out, because you died. If you haven’t seen it —
Johansson: Maybe too bad! I was talking to Noah while we were doing “Infinity War” and “Endgame” stuff. It was something for me to hold on to during those often tedious days of whatever. All that action storytelling that we have to do where you have to be in it for these little segments of time.
Evans: There’s a lot of things about those movies where it’s not just the actual filmmaking process. It’s very start, stop, start, stop with little bits and pieces of the action. Plus, it’s roles that we’ve played for a really long time, really familiar. No disrespect to those movies — I love those movies — but to come off of them and have a completely different approach to find a character, to collaborating with other artists, it’s just unchartered waters coming off a Marvel movie. It’s just exciting to get a change of pace.
Johansson and Evans continued talking about their new projects, as well as the first few films that led to a career of working together and discussed how nervous they were when they first took on their roles as Natasha and Steve. Chris turned the conversation to how they went from “The Perfect Score” together to being in the “biggest movie of all time.”
Evans: Having “Avengers” be the biggest movie of all time —
Johansson: Is it the biggest movie of all time? Wow. We really do need to go on vacation.
Evans: We’ve been trying to organize this “Avengers” vacation. We deserve a little victory lap. It’s not just wonderful because you get to be a part of a pop culture phenomenon, the same way “Star Wars” impacted me. But I think what really will stay with me is the fact that the people we got to work with, truly there is not a bad apple in the bunch.
Johansson: It’s funny, because I remember back in “Iron Man 2” days, I think you had just finished filming the first “Cap.” It was so interesting that you and I were coming together again. We had no idea what we were making. It was just impossible to know what a phenomenon the Marvel Cinematic Universe or “The Avengers” would be. You jump at the chance, but having been through it myself with a partner that I was with, who also had another big iconic superhero thing he was working on, it’s the pressure. You don’t know how it’s going to go, right? It seems ridiculous now, but it could be career-ending.
Evans: Yeah. I feel unbelievably lucky to have been a part of something like that. It will be one of my treasured memories of life. Even when we went on to do “Avengers,” the first one, I think everybody was feeling very uneasy about the concept. It was just so absurd. It was a big endeavor. If this doesn’t work, the pipe dream that we’ve been hearing about could derail very quickly.
Johansson: Were you shocked by how well the first “Avengers” did?
Evans: After that, I knew there was a chance this could be something big.
Johansson: Would you come back?
Evans: To Marvel? Wow. [jokingly] Everything clicks when I get up. Recovery is not the same. You never say never. I love the character. I don’t know.
Johansson: Not a hard no.
Evans: It’s not a hard no, but it’s not an eager yes either. There are other things that I’m working on right now. I think Cap had such a tricky act to stick the landing, and I think they did a really nice job letting him complete his journey. If you’re going to revisit it, it can’t be a cash grab. It can’t be just because the audience wants to be excited. What are we revealing? What are we adding to the story? A lot of things would have to come together.
Johansson: It’s not obvious.
Evans: It doesn’t feel, at this time, that would be a thing.
Johansson: I wasn’t there for the last third of the film or whatever. I actually had no idea what was going to happen. I don’t know how it worked, exactly, if it was scripted. It was such a beautiful cathartic ending, and I loved that for Steve. I think he deserved that. It was all his happiness.
Evans: It’d be a shame to sour that. I’m very protective of it. It was such a precious time, and jumping onto the movie was a terrifying prospect to me. I said no a bunch of times, and there’s a million and one ways it could have gone wrong. It almost feels like maybe we should let this one sit.
You can watch or read the full Actors on Actors interview between Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, thanks to Variety, by CLICKING HERE.
Do you enjoy getting to hear the actors speak candidly about their experiences? Were you surprised to hear there was nervousness by most of the cast when they signed on to be a part of the MCU? Do you hope they will return for more adventures, or should Marvel respect the character arcs already in place? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
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Featured Photo Credit: Variety
