While The Winter Soldier is officially billed as Marvel’s Sentinel of Liberty’s second cinematic solo outing, Captain America 2 is very much an ensemble piece with expat Russian super-spy Black Widow and espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. boss Nick Fury also playing prominent roles. Directed by the brotherly team of Anthony and Joe Russo, the exhilarating, super-heroic techno thriller very much sets the stage for next year’s eagerly awaited Avengers: Age of Ultron. Chatting happily in a London hotel just before the film’s European premiere, Chris Evans and Scarlet Johansson display the same camaraderie that their characters Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff display on the big screen.
Flicks: After appearing alongside the likes of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man in ‘Avengers’, was it a big responsibility to once again carry an entire film upon your shoulders?
Chris Evans: It was certainly an increase in workload. Avengers was a real cushy gig in a way because if you weren’t in a particular fight scene, then you could end up having three weeks off, so that’s nicer in terms of the demands on you. This movie is a lot more tiring and there’s a lot more sweating but you know that Marvel are continuously going to try and out-do themselves and there’s just this constant confidence in their ability to make quality films. Even when it’s at its most demanding and challenging, it’s easy to find inspiration and motivation because you know that you’re a part of something that’s going to be quality.
So is it almost like competition between you, Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth to see who will make the best individual film?
CE: I look at it like being the lone man on top of the totem pole. But it’s like if any one of us wins then we all win because we all get to be in Avengers as well. It’s really all going out under the same umbrella.
With so much riding on it, is it more daunting to headline a big budget blockbuster such as ‘Captain America’ than a smaller, more intimate production?
CE: You try and not make that your concern. I don’t want to seem pathetic or indifferent but as an actor that’s really not part of your job description. You’re there to portray a character and represent their truth. If the movie works out, it works out. But if you start letting that feed into your process, you’re kind of putting the cart before the horse and you can end up getting tangled up a bit.
‘The First Avenger’ concentrated on Cap’s formative days during World War Two but with ‘Avengers’ and now ‘The Winter Soldier’ we find him in contemporary times, so was it interesting playing Steve Rogers as a kind of man out of time?
CE: This film is not so much like those first two movies, which were more about him being like ‘internet!’ and ‘cellphones!’ Now, it’s more about the way society operates as a whole, so he has this fresh perspective. He’s not acclimated to the way things are done nowadays. In coming from the ‘40s to today, it’s jarring for him, which is as it should be because we’re all just used to it and that’s the way that humans now exist. You can get used to anything, even this is like a kind of mob mentality gone wild. For Steve, it’s not naiveté, it’s just new to him and it’s a bitter pill for him to swallow.
The Black Widow has a much more substantial part in ‘The Winter Soldier’ and rumour has it that Marvel are potentially planning her own spin-off. Is it a positive move to have such a strong female protagonist holding her own amongst the testosterone-fuelled male superheroes?
Scarlet Johansson: I’ve certainly had a very good run with this character, although I don’t know if that’s true in general as I’m not familiar with all the various franchises. But I’ve been very fortunate and if there was no substance to this character, there wouldn’t have been anything for me to do really and I would never have done it.
CE: There’s nothing about Scarlet that’s weak or doesn’t fit. I feel like some of the men sometimes feel challenged when Scarlet is around as she has a very strong presence. It’s not just in her physicality, it’s a deeper thing than that as real strength comes from somewhere else. You can feel it when someone like that is in a room, just like the way that she’s sitting here and talking now. She has a really centred way about her, so even though she’s the only woman on the crew, you’d be hard pressed to ever see her miss a step.
Flicks: Scarlet, you previously worked with Robert Redford – who plays leading S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Alexander Pierce – on ‘The Horse Whisperer’ in 1998 when you were 14-years-old. Was it good to collaborate with him again?
SJ: It was nice to talk to him about politics and activism. He’s an incredibly intelligent person and is really delightful and insightful, so it was nice to now talk to him as an adult. He reminded me of what I’d accomplished in all those years since, which was interesting because at some point we all lose perspective and there are always those moments when somebody says to you “wow, then I saw you do this film or that film!”
