The Hollywood actor, who formerly played Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Chris Evans, has come out in agreement with Quentin Tarantino, who once stated that the real stars of the superhero franchise were the characters, not the actors.
Speaking about the subject in November 2022, Tarantino stated: “Part of the Marvel-isation of Hollywood is… you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters…But they’re not movie stars. Right?”. Continuing, he added, “Captain America is the star…Or Thor is the star. I mean, I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times, you know, but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star”.
Almost a year later, Evans made reference to Tarantino’s comments in an interview with GQ, stating: “That was the beauty of working on Marvel films. You never really had to be front and center. Even in your own films sometimes. Quentin Tarantino said it recently and I was like, you know, he’s right. The character is the star. You’re there, but you don’t feel the burden of it”.
A considerable number of actors from the MCU came out in defence of their own artistic integrity when Tarantino made those comments in 2022, with such stars as Robert Downey Jr, Anthony Mackie, Simu Liu and producer Kevin Feige making public statements.
Samuel L. Jackson, one of Tarantino’s closest collaborators, also released a statement, going against the director: “It takes an actor to be those particular characters, and the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, asses in seats? What are we talking about? That’s not a big controversy for me to know that apparently these actors are movie stars. Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can’t refute that, and he’s a movie star”.
Tarantino is preparing to release what is billed to be his final film, The Movie Critic.
Take a look at Evans as Captain America in a clip from Avengers: Endgame, below.
“He’s right. The character is the star” Evans says of the Marvel franchise. Read More