Actor Chris Evans’ mother, Lisa, has said in a new profile that he was hesitant about taking on the role of Steve Rogers/Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, and she had to convince him to do it. Lisa Evans told Esquire that her son was afraid of losing his anonymity.
“His biggest fear was losing his anonymity,” Lisa said. “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.’”
“He would call and ask for my advice,” she added. “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.’”
Evans first played Captain America in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. He reprised his role in two further sequels, and four Avengers films, before seemingly retiring from the role in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Marvel president Kevin Feige had previously said that he was hesitant about casting Evans in the part, because the actor had already played a superhero in the ill-fated Fantastic Four films. “We thought, OK, well, he’s that character. Let’s keep looking,” Feige had told The Hollywood Reporter.
{{/usCountry}}Evans first played Captain America in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. He reprised his role in two further sequels, and four Avengers films, before seemingly retiring from the role in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Marvel president Kevin Feige had previously said that he was hesitant about casting Evans in the part, because the actor had already played a superhero in the ill-fated Fantastic Four films. “We thought, OK, well, he’s that character. Let’s keep looking,” Feige had told The Hollywood Reporter.
{{/usCountry}}Evans had previously told THR that he’d turned down the offer twice. He’d said, “Getting the offer felt to me like the epitome of temptation. The ultimate job offer, on the biggest scale. I’m supposed to say no to this thing. It felt like the right thing to do. You see the pictures, and you see the costumes, and it’s cool. But I’d now woken up the day after saying no and felt good, twice.”
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