A large part of the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be attributed to the actors the studio found to play the iconic comic book heroes. Robert Downey Jr. is such a perfect Tony Stark it will be difficult to ever see anybody else play the part. Likewise, Chris Evans made Captain America feel like he jumped off the pages of the comic book, and we can apparently thank the actor's mother for talking him into taking the part.
In a recent profile in Esquire, the magazine talks not only to Chris Evans himself, but also his mom, Lisa Capuano Evans. In the interview she reveals that her son wasn't entirely keen on taking the MCU role at first. He was very aware of just how big a star it could make him, and he wasn't sure that he wanted that. His mother, clearly the pragmatist, told him to look at the benefits of playing Steve Rogers rather than the risks. The mother of the soon-to-be Captain America said...
His biggest fear was losing his anonymity. He said, ‘I have a career now where I can do work I really like. I can walk my dog. Nobody bothers me. Nobody wants to talk to me. I can go wherever I want. And the idea of losing that is terrifying to me.’ … I said to him, ‘Look, you want to do acting work for the rest of your life? If you do this part, you will have the opportunity. You’ll never have to worry about paying the rent. If you take the part, you just have to decide, It’s not going to affect my life negatively — it will enable it.'
Chris Evans wasn't entirely plucked from obscurity when he became Marvel Studios' Captain America. He'd had plenty of acting work, some of it in high profile films, some in much smaller movies, and it seems that exactly what the actor he wanted. He was a successful working actor who didn't have to deal with the notoriety of widespread fame. Becoming Captain America was going to change that. It was going to make him a movie star.
However, Chris Evans' mother Lisa saw playing Captain America as a benefit rather than a curse. While the role would bring frame, that fame would bring money, and with that money would come freedom. The actor would never need to take a job just to pay the bills, making him free to take only the work that he really wanted to do as well as do really anything else that interested him.
It seems that it was a win-win for everybody involved. Chris Evans gets to take his post-Marvel career in basically any direction, and we got an awesome Captain America that fans are going to love for generations to come. Seven movies got to tell a complete story for the character that came to a satisfying conclusion. Captain America will carry on, in one form or another, but Chris Evans can now go do whatever he wants.
So remember, listen to your mother.
