He’s a tricky character, similar in a sense to Superman, that flawless character—no drinking problems, no hidden demons—that’s almost so good that modern audiences might be somewhat cynical about this do-gooder.
McFeely: That’s what makes this movie different. You’re absolutely right. He’s the least angsty of the Marvel Universe…his big characteristic, the man out of time—“What happened to the values I knew, the people I loved”—all that; that’s saved for “The Avengers” and going forward. So what we concentrated on was the 98-pound scrawny guy who gets this impressive gift. It doesn’t change his brain. He’s still who he was when he was raised.
In terms of Steve Rogers and his patriotic gung-ho attitude, it’s a tricky thing to connect that feeling with modern audiences.
McFeely: We definitely wanted to honor the period and the guys who fought during the period. Maybe it would be different now, you know, war breaks out and depending on who you’re fighting, is everyone going to sign up and say, “I’ll go over,” but in 1941-42 after Pearl Harbor, people raised their hands and said, “Yes, I’m going to go do that.” It was the thing you did. And we wanted to honor that. We weren’t sure we had to explain it much. I think you just bought into it. Part of it is Chris’ delivery and part of it is the period and the tone we set it in.
Once Chris Evans came aboard, were there certain modifications made to the script to accommodate what he would bring to the role?
Marcus: Chris was really committed to that sort of straight Steve Rogers. In writing it, we had certainly reflectively given him a few more wise cracks than he needed. Chris was like, you know, “You don’t need it and it doesn’t fit the character.”
McFeely: He was very clear on his version. He wanted to honor 70 years of comics in the same way we did. Sometimes we would come up with a killer line and he would say, “Yeah, but is it a killer line for Steve Rogers?” And I would say, 80 percent of the time, he was spot on. It was a pleasure to have him do it. And he’s so likable.
Marcus: It works so well with his character. You’ve got a guy who is an orphan and who has been bullied. Wanting to go and prove himself and also prevent other people from going through what he’s gone through his whole life slots in perfectly with WWII.
One of the best things about
Captain America is that he never needs to be updated. What I mean is that most characters have to be modernized, but with this character there is no need. He can go back, tell more stories of his actions in WWII and the personality doesn't have to change. The frozen arc is actually very helpful. If and when there are and will be more Marvel movies featuring Cap they can wake him up in any future time, and he'll still be Cap. It's really quite the luxury.
I mention this because you see it with Superman. The newspaper industry is a dying business, so now they have to update the character and make him a freelance writer/blogger, whatever. Now it's now a dramatic change, and modernization is good, but it does change the viewer's perspective of the character slightly.
Basically I'm just glad that
Captain America in the future will never really change from the character that I grew up to read and love.
Captain America: The First Avenger focuses on the early days of the Marvel Universe when Steve Rogers volunteers to participate in an experimental program that turns him into the Super Soldier known as Captain America. As Captain America, Rogers joins forces with Bucky Barnes and Peggy Carter to wage war on the evil HYDRA organization, led by the villainous Red Skull. Starring Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Tommy Lee Jones, Hayley Atwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Stanley Tucci and Hugo Weaving, the film releases July 22, 2011.
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