Actor Anthony Mackie has recalled his first meeting with the late Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer recently. Both actors played superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Mackie said that he was impressed by Boseman even in their first meeting, which happened, by chance, in 1998.
In an interview to ET, the actor recalled, “It’s funny, I have a lot of memories of Chad. I cared about him dearly, as a friend. The first time I met him was in 1998. I went down to Howard (University) and he was directing a play there. My girlfriend at the time brought me into the theatre to check out the Elizabeth Catholic collection, and he was in the black box in an office chair spinning around the room.”
He continued, “She was like, ‘Hey Chad, I want you to meet my classmate at Juilliard, Anthony.’ He goes, ‘Wait, I’m concentrating. Don’t break my vibe.’ He just spins around the room, I was like, ‘It’s nice to meet you, man.’ He’s like, ‘I’m almost there!’ [Laughs] Once everything kind of took off for him, I was like, ‘Remember the first time we met?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to talk about it. I was going through a lot at a young age.’”
Mackie, who is expected to take over the mantle of Captain America in future Marvel projects, spoke about the importance of Black representation recently, and seemingly called out Marvel Studios for not doing as much as it could. “When The Falcon and the Winter Soldier comes out, I’m the lead. When Snowpiercer comes out, you’re the lead. We have the power and the ability to ask those questions,” Mackie told actor Daveed Diggs in a recent episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors series. “It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white. But then when you do Black Panther, you have a Black director, Black producer, you have a Black costume designer, you have a Black stunt choreographer. And I’m like, that’s more racist than anything else. Because if you only can hire the Black people for the Black movie, are you saying they’re not good enough when you have a mostly white cast?”
{{/usCountry}}Mackie, who is expected to take over the mantle of Captain America in future Marvel projects, spoke about the importance of Black representation recently, and seemingly called out Marvel Studios for not doing as much as it could. “When The Falcon and the Winter Soldier comes out, I’m the lead. When Snowpiercer comes out, you’re the lead. We have the power and the ability to ask those questions,” Mackie told actor Daveed Diggs in a recent episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors series. “It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white. But then when you do Black Panther, you have a Black director, Black producer, you have a Black costume designer, you have a Black stunt choreographer. And I’m like, that’s more racist than anything else. Because if you only can hire the Black people for the Black movie, are you saying they’re not good enough when you have a mostly white cast?”
{{/usCountry}}Also read: Future Captain America actor Anthony Mackie slams Marvel’s ‘racist’ hiring practices
Mackie will reprise his role as the Falcon in the upcoming Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Solider. Boseman’s final film is Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, due out later this year.
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