The girl who stole Cpt America’s heart

CHRIS EVANS is looking tough-guy fit: honed and toned with biceps bulging. He’s Captain America on screen, the last dude you’d expect to get misty eyed over his leading lady. Unless that lady happens to be a ten-yearold girl by the name of Mckenna Grace. The pair star together in the independent movie Gifted. Evans plays Frank Adler, the uncle who cares for niece Mary (Mckenna), whose mother is out of the picture. Mary’s a mathematical genius, while Frank, according to Evans, is a ‘lumbering gorilla’. ‘I don’t think he knows how to convey emotion properly,’ he said sadly. Uncle and niece muddle along — with a bit of help from a neighbour (Octavia Spencer). Mary is soon hailed as a maths prodigy; and then a tug-of-love battle begins, as others seek to take the child from him. There’s no denying Evans, 35, and Mckenna have great chemistry. It’s difficult for the camera to lie when adults act with children; and sometimes there’s a palpably uncomfortable vibe. But not in Gifted. ‘Mckenna’s a force to be reckoned with: a real firecracker . . . very wise for her age!’ Evans enthused. ‘She’s a fresh new soul who made it very easy for everyone — and she tells jokes!’ You hear this kind of gush all the time; and normally I’d put a stop to it. But in this case I happen to know that the people on Gifted got on very well. Evans puts it down to the time spent rehearsing before director Marc Webb rolled cameras. ‘There was time to develop a bond, and trust built very quickly. That’s the key. We trusted each other. ‘Mckenna’s mum was with her and we all hung out and ate together when we could,’ Evans told me. He got on well, too, with Lindsay Duncan, who has a key role in the picture which opens here next Friday. ‘The crew would burst into applause after scenes with Lindsay. That normally never happens! I felt like I was back in the theatre at summer camp,’ he joked. Chris and his siblings did shows at school and in community theatre in the colonial town outside Boston, Massachusetts, where they were raised.

‘Each of us probably did about 20 plays; and by the time I was 16 or 17 the woman who ran the theatre retired and my mother took the gig,’ he told me.

Although he’s soared as a movie star, Evans believes it’s important to return to the stage when he can. Next March, he will appear alongside Michael Cera in Kenneth Lonergan’s The Lobby Hero, as a police officer.

Lonergan has perfected the art of drawing drama out of real life (an ability that earned him an Oscar for his last film, Manchester By The Sea). As Evans continued chatting, it occurred to me that he has just the chops for a Lonergan character.

I mention Anthony Hopkins’ mantra about not being able to play real life if you don’t live it (Nicole Kidman says it a lot, too).

‘That’s exactly it!’ he said. ‘You don’t want to look back and say: “Yeah, life was great, but I f****** missed it.” Or: “I was there, but I wasn’t.” You know, this business can become more about binary and maths and having a cold heart if you’re not careful.

‘So I do step away occasionally. I go home to Massachusetts to rest.’

AND he takes his rescue dog Dodger with him. Evans said he had a DNA test done to determine his breed, and when it came back it said ‘part Boxer, part Lab, part Pit Bull . . . and part Pomeranian’. The idea clearly tickles him. ‘I mean, who knew?!’

He has recently finished filming Avengers Three and is about to start shooting Red Sea Diving Resort with Ben Kingsley and Alex Hassell for Gideon Raff, one of the creators of Homeland. It’s about how Israeli secret operatives rescued Ethiopian Jews from camps in Sudan.

And after that, he will don the Captain America suit again, for Avengers 4. It’s the final picture in his contract with Marvel, but from the twinkle in his eye it’s clear he might be persuaded to pick up that shield again.

‘Captain America is fun to do — and Marvel have the Midas touch,’ he told me. ‘It has been the gift that keeps on giving.’