.

Newsday

I SUNDAI

JULY 17,2011

""$

o
t! l! l!
G

Steve ftcgens,

superhero alter *gs, always dses the right thing, and Chris Evans is the right guy to play hlm
BY FRAI{K TOVECE

hero he and artist |ackKirby would together develop for "Captain America Comics" #l (March l94l). It wasn't until the 1960s that Kirby and writer-editor Stan Lee put Rogers front and center with soap-operatic angst, and made the character grapple with exacdywhat a "Captain America" represented

inmoderntimes.
"I think a lot of what Steve Rogers is about is this kind of
old-time, old way of thinking," star Chris Evans,30, says by phone from Albuquerque, where he's reprisinghis Captain Americarole in the next Manrel movie,'The Avengers." "It was fun playing the Human Torcb,"
he says, referring to his much

Specicl to Newsdcy

Artists Joe Simon, who later lived on long lsland, and Jack

falutin'Pri-

eneralAmerica"?Toohigh-

Kirby created Captain America Comics. This is the first issue, which came out in March 1941.
guy he was born as." Unlike ClarkKent or Bruce Wayne, who were often integral to Superman and Batman stories, Steve Rogers began as iust a nominal secret identity.In late 1940, writer-artist |oe Simon (who later lived in Mineola and Woodbury) had simply wanted an iconic American - one who could go after Hitler immediate-

vateAmerica"?

Nobodywould

listentohirn
But "Captain America"? Now that sounds like aleader who's still one of the gnrnts on the ground - part ofthe duality that permeates "Captain America The First Avenger," opening Friday neophyte and leader, weak man and strong, ordinary citizenand national symbol, all occupying the same body. 'We tried to write the Steve Rogers story," says co-screenwriter Stephen McFeely, refer-

different superhero inthe "Fantastic Four" movies. "He's abit of a iackass, but he's fun Steve Rogers is more of a straight shooter. When you're breaking downthe script and tryingto find the purpose behind the words, it's nice to kind of live in
the head space ofamanwho iust does things for the right reason not for praise, not to showpeople that he's agood

o q o T' It 3 o
tr

lywhile the United

States

wa-

marubut justbecause it's the right thing to do." Ofcourse, that's not the hardest thing to do in a movie set

vered over entering the war whenhe sketched out the super-

duringWorldWar tr (with

o N

s
J

:)

ring to the civilian identity of Marvel Comics' star-spangled superhero World - who, in a experiWar II "super-soldier"
ment, is metamorphosed from a scrappy 98-pound weakling to the peak of human physicality. Yet despite such Charles

t
o

z f
V\

t
ttl

Atlas wish fulfillment, "He still has to deal with all the issues
he came with," says screen-

ElEli

trailer for "Caotain America"

See a

present-day bookends, as in "Saving ltivate Ryan"). In this orignstory, Cap earnshis stars and stripes fighting the unambiguous good fight against the Nazis particularly grotesque mastermind the Red Skull (Hugo Wedving) - alongside amultiethnic Soup. Though unnamed, they're Marvel's "Sgt. Fury and his Howling Comrnandos," minus

"They're called the Howling Commandos in the script, but

no one says that out loud.' Director foe fohnston $ays at one point they were to bg called the Invaders igniting off-base

NickFury.
"They,are commandos and at one point they do howl," writer Markus says with a chuckle.

lrJ

= z

ilLi.

writing partner Christgpher Markus. "He still has to be the

-

"1ffi

/movies

.t
i

!l

"t
I

i.,,. irl

i:ii

Evans, above, as Captain

America and, left, as Steve Rogers in "Captain America: The First Avenger"
fan speculation that the samename Marvel superhero team would appear inthe movie. Evans almost didn't appear, having turned down the role, he says, three times. "ft was a nine-picfure commitment," he explains, "and just thinking about the magnitude ofthat job and the lifestyle change if the movie were a success, it was just scary." Marvel Studios offered a more palatable six-movie deal he eventually accepted - three Captain America and three

Avengers films

he still said no. Why insist on him? "We interviewed and screen-tested probably 12toli guys," says fohnston, whose period drama "October Sky" (1999) and under-

but initially

chemistry tions.

from both direc-

"I finally got this feeling," Evans says, "that if I'm not

rated comic-book adaptation "The Rocketeer" (1991) helped land him the directing iob, "and we liked a lot of them. But we always came out of the meeting or the screen test saying,'Oh, if only he were 4 inches taller, or if only his voice were a little clearer, or if he only didn't do that funny thing with his face.' " It sounds as if the studio just simply wanted Evans. Casting do.s ,:r:entuall-v come down to

doing it just because I'm afraid of it, that's no way to make a decision. I thought,'Maybe this is exactly what I need to face, and for better or worse it'll shape who I am.'And I endgd up pulling the trigger, and looking back now, thank God. Thank God. I think I'd be miserable right now seeing the trailers and the press, and really upset with myself for being a coward." Which seems, aptly enough, like exactly what Steve Rogers

sil fi rchenar
B,fl-qpq doesn'1

America: The Fi Barry Gibbs hac

shields manufac variants.
Besides the

S' 'S

gets it

tri

America first usr were three modr

circular shield. "' which was made

beauty shots," hG for day-to-day ur

would

say.

i..:t;

hcn a ncr-'ded on-screen object cloc',.^:': c.<ist, tht-' prop ma:itci gets it madc. And for "Captain Amc::icli: Thc Fii'sr Avenger," tirar rlcant Rrri"v {}ibbi; irlcl lt', irave fourtypcs of :;hie'1,1s iriiriiii.l:icirrrcrl, plus a couple oi
varizint:,.
BesiCers the r,",ere

u'ork. We thcn creatcd a lighte-r shieicl thi

war; altrminiim-faced w.ith a fibcrglass

back, for usc on a daiiy basir and which doe sn't pull the costuiLr dclil,n r,l,hcn strappcd to it. And then q'c had a stunt shici,.l ;r'ia,,J,: of' polyurctilanc,
<,'f :i s,'niht:tic i"rbbcr." A softer version of that was uscd for specific stunts, such as thosc involving hitting, "and we macle an ultrasoft one we ptlt r-r11 [star Chris Evans'l back, so ttrat if thert' r"verc an ar:,.rident, it u'culdn't htrrt him."

rvhich is sort

trianguiai sliielel Captain

America first uses, says Gibbs. "50, therc ttiice mrii'lcis of the more farniliilr ciri,'ular shield. "\,i'ir iiad the'hero sl.lield,' r.virich was made of aluininum, fol'rtiri' beauty shots," he r:xpi.r;ns. "it's too heavy

ftir Cay-io-day usc bitt

ili'r,-:

lor <:lose-up

FMNK

TOVECE