Chris Evans trades action for romance in latest film
In his directorial debut, Captain America star gets sensitive with Before We Go “I’m such a sap.”
That’s a brave statement from an actor who has been making a living in movies as star-spangled superhero Captain America, but Chris Evans, 34, freely admits that he’s a guy’s guy who, deep down, loves love stories.
“I’m out there throwing that shield and knocking people out at least a few times every couple of years, so when I have some down time, that’s not exactly what I’m looking to keep doing,” says the Avengers: Age of Ultron star.
There’s a distinct lack of supervillains in his new movie Before We Go (opens Friday in Toronto), which also marks Evans’ directorial debut. He plays Nick, an aspiring trumpet player who meets Brooke (British actress Alice Eve) late at night, after she misses the last train back to Boston from New York City’s Grand Central Station, kicking off a memorable and revealing night around town for the two strangers.
While Evans has a bunch of action movies on his resumé — from two Fantastic Four films to being a main man in four (and counting) Marvel projects to last year’s critical hit Snowpiercer — he’s certainly got the charisma to be a strong romantic lead, too, says Erik Davis, contributing editor for Fandango.com and Movies.com.
“He’s easy on the eyes, yes, but he’s got a lot of spunk — probably thanks to his years growing up in Boston — and I actually think his humour makes him a more attractive actor than his muscles,” says Davis.
And in Before We Go, Evans — as a director and an actor — “had a very clear vision of what love meant, and he tells us in this movie what he feels is romantic and shows us in his performance what it means to put love first,” Eve says via email. “Different to saving the world.”
Evans has played his share of onscreen romantic interests — before they were Avengers, he wooed Scarlett Johansson in 2007’s The Nanny Diaries, and he was the object of Anna Faris’s affections in 2011’s What’s Your Number?
But other roles, even his super ones, have feelings, too.
“Captain America, this is not a guy who knows what love feels like,” says Evans, who suits up again as Steve Rogers in Captain America: Civil War (out in 2016).
However, adds the actor, who is single, “he wants it, he thinks about it, he knows there’s something missing, but it’s not that he’s ever tasted it.”
He prefers characters such as Nick who’ve had their heart broken after falling hard for a girl and are still trying to patch it up.
“Certain men have never felt love and they’re looking for it and that’s part of their pain and suffering,” he says.
“I like the guys who are struggling because they know a good thing and it slipped through their fingers. There’s a sadness to that.
“As opposed to playing this brooding guy because he never formed that bond, you have the damaged guy because he knows what he could have.”