The Chris Evans & Chris Hemsworth photoshoot for USA Weekend

Photos by Timothy White, Stockland Martel, for USA WEEKEND

Source: USA Weekend

Hanging out with Chris Evans & Chris Hemsworth

by Brian Truitt for USA Weekend

Hanging out with Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth at our exclusive duo superhero cover shoot in New York City, only one thought comes to mind: Man, I need to get to the gym.

But back to our superhero mash-up. Two of this summer's biggest guys (we mean that literally and figuratively) shared the love, just for USA WEEKEND's Summer Movie Preview. You may not know them yet — Evans burned up the big screen as the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movies, and Hemsworth is an Aussie hunk in his first major starring movie role.

But you will soon, when the two actors duke it out at the box office for the season's hottest, or coolest, superhero: Hemsworth, 27, as the title thunder god of next month's Thor (May 6) and Evans, 29, star of Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22). Also sharing the credits: Oscar winners Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins in Thor and Tommy Lee Jones in Captain America.

And though we thought they were in the kind of shape that most mortal men envy, both Chrises were in the process of rebuilding into Marvel-ous, super-bod condition to film the reprise of their roles in the ultimate comic hero smackdown, the movie The Avengers. Meaning that unlike most celebrities at a photo shoot, who barely touch the elaborate spreads laid out for them, these guys couldn't get enough. They made several trips to the buffet table for presumably muscle-building chicken, fish and fruit.

Even more unusual about the occasion: the security guard. And he wasn't protecting our famed superheroes. He was guarding the comic characters' gear — Thor's hammer and Cap's shield — lest it be assaulted by the enemy (or overly eager fan).

Fortunately, we were able to get up close and personal with the stars themselves. After the shoot, we sat down for a man-to-man chat. Here are excerpts:

What went through your mind the first time you put on your colorful costumes? Hemsworth: Holy [expletive]. I walked onto set, and Anthony Hopkins and I were in our full get-up. We looked at each other and he said, “Well, there's no acting required here, is there?” It was like being a kid playing dress-up, but the costume's worth more than your house.

Evans: It's all still terrifying. It's a lot of responsibility and a little nerve-racking. As actors, you make movies for the audience — you really can't act without an audience, otherwise you'd be crazy. And this is such an important thing for the audience, you really want to make sure you get it right.

Who are your personal heroes? Evans: This sounds cliché, but it's so true: my parents. They've done everything right when it's really hard, and they've been very selfless. To me, there's something about a hero that should be selfless. It's a very tough thing to do, to put yourself last, and they've done that consistently.

Hemsworth: I grew up surfing, and I idolized Kelly Slater for years. As a young kid, I had a theater studies thing I had to do on a Sunday at school, which I wasn't happy about. That was my surfing day. [One Sunday,] my dad had come back from surfing, and he goes, “Guess who I surfed with today?” I was like, “Who?” “Kelly Slater.” I remember my eyes literally watering because this guy was a god to me. They couldn't have told me anything worse. That I missed that opportunity was heartbreaking.

Did you feel silly doing any of the superhero stunts? Hemsworth: Some of the wire gags and hanging upside down. I'm a pretty active person, but some of that stuff, I was like, “God, get me down from this thing.” It's hard work! It's like you're an actor one minute and an acrobat the next, spinning upside down backward for certain things and just wanting to throw up. But it all looks good once it's up there on the screen. We know you worked out hard, but did you enjoy getting out of shape, too?

Evans: As soon as we stopped shooting, I stopped going to the gym. Oh, my God, I never wanted to see another weight in my life! I completely just dove into a bowl of lazy for about two months. Hemsworth: It was really weird because you almost become addicted to it. Then all of a sudden the hand brake is pulled and you're allowed to relax. There's a part of you that doesn't really want to, because it's used to doing this, but you do need to rest.

How cool has your personal life been lately? Evans: Well, it's not not cool [laughs]. It's fun.

Chris Hemsworth, what did your new wife think of your physical transformation? Hemsworth: Some girls love more muscles, some girls less. She likes it if I'm sort of generally healthy. Physically for women, it's usually less of a concern than it is for men. We tend to be a bit more superficial.

What's your superhero workout tip for America? Evans: If you want to die, you're doing it right. I've always worked out my whole life. But I go to the gym and I'd leave feeling good. That's not a workout. You want to leave the gym contemplating killing yourself. If that's what you're thinking, then you're having a good workout.

Source: USA Weekend

Chris Evans on being the star-spangled superhero of ‘Captain America’

by Brian Truitt for USA Weekend

Our comic book superheroes are an all-American bunch, but a majority of them are played by actors not from around these parts. Green Lantern star Ryan Reynolds is from Canada, Christian Bale (aka Batman) and Henry Cavill (the new Superman) hail from Great Britain, and Aussies Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth play Wolverine and Thor on the big screen, respectively. Fittingly, the one guy who is American is the man wearing the red, white and blue togs of Captain America. In Captain America: The First Avenger (directed by Joe Johnston and coming out in theaters July 22), Chris Evans — a native of one of the original 13 colonies, Massachusetts — stars as Steve Rogers, a scrawny weakling who’s rejected by the U.S. military in the 1940s but then signs up to be a test subject for a top-secret super-soldier serum. Now supersized, Rogers becomes an American hero during World War II, taking on Hydra and their evil Nazi leader, the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). I ventured up to New York City for an exclusive cover shoot with Evans and Thor star Hemsworth, his on-screen pal in the upcoming superhero team-up The Avengers (co-starring the likes of Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson), for this weekend’s summer movie preview. I’ll have more from my interview with Hemsworth tomorrow and Monday, but read below for what Evans had to say about being Captain America and check him out in action in this trailer.

One of the striking things in the movie is you coming out of the military pod and looking crazy buff post-serum. How much training did you endure to get into that condition? Ugh, so much training. It was tough. I’ve always been in the gym and worked out and things like that, and I’ve had to get big for other films, but nothing like this. They flew a trainer over from London – I was in Boston working on a film, and we did three months prior to shooting. We were working out every day for just about two hours, sometimes twice a day, and it was just grueling. I’ve never trained like that in my life. I’m just getting back into it now and gearing back up and trying to get big again.

So, lots of eating? Lots of eating. That’s the hardest part. You’d think that would be the fun part, but sometimes you’re full. You just don’t want to eat. I have to. I’m a naturally skinny guy, so to try and get mass like that, it’s not easy. I have to make sure I’m taking in a lot of protein.

In the Marvel comics, Cap is a guy who went from the 1940s to modern times when he’s found encased in ice by the Avengers. Assuming part of that will be in The Avengers movie, your Cap will have to live in a world that’s very different from what he’s used to. Yeah, at least there’s some meat on the bone. You want to play a character that has conflict – that’s what makes a character appealing to an actor, getting to find an arc and a reason, something to chew on. And that’s a lot. If you woke up one day and it was 50, 60 years in the future and everyone you knew had passed away and the entire world around you is different — you don’t have a friend, you don’t know anybody, you don’t know anything — that’d be a lot to take in. It’s exciting as an actor to try and tackle that.

What’s this I hear about a “Captain America song”? There is a Captain America song, but I don’t sing it. Initially in the film, when he becomes Captain America, long story short the serum is destroyed and they can’t reproduce the experiment so I’m the only super soldier there is. The U.S. government won’t allow me to go to war because it’s too risky and they can’t afford to lose me, but they use me as a propaganda tool and they send me on a USO Tour. So there’s a whole Captain America song, and they try to make him a little bit of a celebrity to try and sell bonds. There is a Captain America song, and there was a week of shooting, and I had that song in my head. I couldn’t stop humming it! It was so annoying. But it’s a funny sequence actually.

They Benjamin Buttoned you a little bit and digitally made you a 98-pound weakling at the beginning of the movie. What was it like seeing that part after you’ve just gone and worked out hard for three months? Well, it wasn’t that foreign to me because that’s what I looked like for a big chunk of my life. [Laughs] When I saw it, I was like, “My family is gonna die.” This is what I looked like for all of all middle school. Up until maybe sophomore year, I was a pretty skinny kid for a long time. It looks pretty normal. It was a crazy process doing that stuff. They went back and forth on the type of technology they were going to use. Initially, they were just going to do body shrinking, and then they thought, “Well, maybe we can get another skinny actor and put Chris’ head on it,” and I really, really was against that. I said to Joe, “Look, I know we want this to look good and this effect to not be distracting from the film, but it has to be my performance. I don’t want to share this. Your body is a huge piece of the acting puzzle, and I don’t want to have somebody else’s body tell the story that I’m trying to tell.” So they did some tweaking and they did a bunch of tests and we went back to the initial plan to shrink my body. Anytime my body’s completely still, if I’m lying on that bed or if I’m sitting in a chair not moving, it was easier for them to put my head on a smaller body. But anytime there was movement or action or acting involved, Joe and I were pretty adamant about saying, “Look, you’ve got to shrink me down.” And they did. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I’ve seen a couple different scenes of the shrunken stuff and it looks amazing.

And we’ve seen how the Red Skull looks now, too. Oh, that looks so badass. You’d be talking to Hugo on set and he’d be wearing that thing, and you kinda want to just touch it. It looked so good! It didn’t look fake — it looked like there is a man with a red skull standing next to me who is evil.

Did having two Fantastic Four movies under your belt help in knowing at least the fervent, comics-loving fanboys you’d have to deal with? Sure. It’s great to get an experience of the press tour and the craziness and the workload after filming. Filming is one thing, but all movies are relatively similar. The work comes in the form of press. You go all over the world and you don’t sleep and it’s just answering a lot of the same questions thousands of times and trying to promote this thing you’ve worked on so hard. But the good thing about Fantastic Four is everyone wanted to talk to Jessica [Alba]. No one wanted to talk to me! [Laugh] It was great! I got to sit in the background and be there, but not have to really carry the load. This is obviously different. It’s nice to have had a little taste but yeah, it’s gonna be nothing close to this.

Do you enjoy that extra responsibility? No! My God, I hate it! [Laughs] I almost didn’t do this movie because I hate that so much. It’s just not for me. I don’t know, it’s a strange thing to talk about yourself. You have to look at it as a job, you have to look at it as work. If all of a sudden you stop – at least if I stop — in the middle of an interview and look at myself, I become very uncomfortable, very nervous. It just feels strange. I feel false, it doesn’t feel right. This movie is a lot of that – it’s gonna be a lot of press. I have a little bit of an anxiety issue. I wasn’t making whatever movie I wanted to make – you still have to struggle — but I was very happy, very content, with what I was doing. I’d make a movie every now and then and I’ve made a good living and I got to do what I loved and I managed to stay out of the public eye, and I was very happy. This was one of those things where it was like, “Alright, if you do this, there’s really no off switch. There’s no rewind. You’ve got to make sure you’re ready and that you really, really want this.” A lot of times, people only see the good part and they forget how tricky it can be. For some reason, I only saw the bad. [Laughs] When I first got offered the movie, I just only saw the negatives and ran from it.

What changed your mind? The fact that I was scared. I said to someone close to me, “I was offered this movie and I think I’m going to say no.” And she said, “No, you’re not. You’re going to do this movie.” I said, “Why?” And she said, “Because you can’t live your life based on fear.” That’s a really good point: I think I’d end up having more regret if I didn’t do it because I was scared than if I did it, and whatever comes, comes. At least I wasn’t a coward.

So what happened in sophomore year that beefed you up? Did you get into sports? I did play sports, yeah. I think I just started caring a lot about girls and saying, “Alright, maybe I should try and work out, I guess.” I think that’s what you’re supposed to do. And I had a lot of buddies who played sports and everyone was always in the gym. So around 14, 15, I started working out a little bit. There was a summer when I was going into my senior year of high school, I lived in New York City and I interned at a casting office – that’s how I kind of jammed my foot in the door. But that summer, I had no friends, I was 17, I couldn’t go to a bar, I lived in a s***hole in Brooklyn, so I’d go to work and then I’d come home and sit in my room all night. I just did the prison workout — pushups, pull-ups, little dips on my chair — for the whole summer. At the end of that summer, I think that was when my body changed a little bit.

Between The Avengers and the Captain America sequel in the works, have you figured out what else you’ll be doing not involving a costume or a shield? I have a movie [Puncture] that’s coming and will go to the Tribeca Film Festival. It’s a little indie. It’s nice to get independent films in there. It’s a completely different feel. Sometimes in movies like [Captain America], there’s a lot of money involved, and as a result, everyone is paid a lot of money to make everything look perfect. You’ve seen these movies – it’s art, it’s gorgeous. But as a result, it’s very tedious. Some days, you really sit around, and you go home and you’re like, “Man, I spent maybe 60 percent of my day sitting on my ass.” A little indie movie, you go go go. You’ll burn through seven or eight pages in a day. On a film like Captain America, you might get a page. With the indies, you come home and you really feel like, “I made a movie today. I went to work and I worked and I was an actor for a living and I was told I had to be ready all day. There was no rest. I had to be there.” You really feel like you got your hands dirty. Sometimes this just feels a little slow, so it’s nice to get back to some indies.

With Cap, you are in the spotlight and the star. In The Avengers, there are at least seven A-listers involved. Do you feel a little more comfortable with that situation? Oh, I can’t wait. [Laughs] I’m hoping they only want to talk to Robert and Scarlett. Please! That’s all I was thinking about with The Avengers: Just get through Captain America and then I can disappear into the background come press time. The movie’s one thing – obviously you want to act and it’s fun to make a film and play a role, but come press and interviews, I have no problem being way in the back seat and trying to let everyone else take the heat.

Source: USA Weekend

Second preview of Chris Evans & Chris Hemsworth for USA weekend

Chris Evans & Chris Hemsworth on the cover of USA Weekend

Captain America’ star Chris Evans on submarine sequences and his uncomfy costume

The first full Captain America trailer arrived some weeks ago and it featured Chris Evans’ Cap getting super-sized with super-soldier serum, slinging shields, beating up Nazis and Hydra agents, facing off with the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), being shot at, and jumping in the water to stop an escaping enemy (played by Richard Armitage) in a submarine. That last part was one of the zaniest sequences Evans had to do, the actor told me last month when he was in New York for our upcoming summer movie photo shoot with fellow superhero actor, Chris Hemsworth of Thor.

“It’s a pretty cool-looking thing actually,” Evans says of the scene. “He takes off and my character runs and dives in and swims after him and grabs the submarine and punches it. It’s this whole underwater thing, and as I was reading it, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve never done a scene underwater. This is crazy!’ And it was. It was like five days in this giant tank underwater. They yell ‘Cut!,’ you swim over to a guy with a respirator and a tank, and you breathe. Then you take it out and he yells again. It was just a crazy thing but it was fun.”

We’ll have more from Evans closer to the April 15-17 issue featuring the pair of Marvel Comics heroes, but read below for what the former Fantastic Four star thought of the 1940s aesthetic of Captain America (in theaters July 22) and his superheroic threads.

Captain America director Joe Johnston is no stranger to action-packed period pieces — he helmed The Rocketeer, of which Evans is a big fan, as well as October Sky and Jumanji, which had old-school scenes in the beginning. “That’s one of the appeals to me,” Evans says of the ‘40s-era sets, music, garb and environment. “I think that’s going to be a good selling point for the film. Joe is so good at creatig that world. You’d walk on set and you’re like, ‘Man, I can’t believe where I am right now. This is wild.’ ”

Evans wasn’t as psyched about Cap’s costume, which to an untrained eye looks leathery and uncomfortable. “It didn’t breathe, no,” Evans deadpans. “I don’t know if they washed it. It was this type of canvas – there were leather straps. It was a lot of layers and pieces and very cumbersome. Every morning you’d put it on and you’d have a little conniption fit in your trailer where you were just like, ‘Arrrgh!’ and then you’d just surrender and say, ‘OK, let’s go make a [freakin’] movie.’ ”

Of course, he did not actually say “freakin’ ” — instead he used a four-letter word not suitable for a family blog, or a superhero for that matter. Evans paused after saying it and laughed. “I shouldn’t be swearing. Captain America shouldn’t swear. But I get caught with these interviews and I start dropping f-bombs! This is why I can’t do interviews!”

Source: USA weekend

Chris Evans: I always feel guilty

Chris Evans wishes he had more time to keep in touch with family members and indulge in pursuits such as yoga.

Chris Evans thinks he often suffers from a guilty conscience due to his Irish origins.

The 29-year-old American actor is of both Italian and Irish descent and was raised in a Catholic environment. The religion famously encouraged adherents to confess their sins on a regular basis.

Chris often feels guilty about his behaviour, and can cite a long list of things he feels bad about which include staying in bed too long.

“Well, I killed a man once. Don’t tell anyone [laughs]. What do I feel guilty about? There’s a list. I should read more, I shouldn’t sleep so late.

“I’m half Irish so I have a lot of Catholic guilt,” he told the British edition of Cosmopolitan.

The talented actor leads a hectic showbiz lifestyle, and often has to travel across the globe shooting films or promoting them. This means he doesn’t always have the chance for pursuits such as keeping fit or staying in touch with family. “I should ring my grandma more, I should go to church more, I should do more yoga, I should eat less sugar, I should follow politics more,” he added.

Source: www.musicrooms.net

Chris Evans: I don't have crazy fans

Chris Evans is pleased to say he doesn’t have any “crazy” fans.

The 29-year-old movie hunk has romanced some of the world’s most beautiful women, having dated actress Jessica Biel for five years before they split in 2006, and more recently being linked to stars such as Ashley Greene.

Despite his dashing good looks, the actor insists he doesn’t receive a great deal of female attention, apart from in more flirtatious environments such as nightclubs. “If I’m in a club, women are bolder. But if I’m walking down the street then people leave me alone. I don’t have any crazy fans,” he told the British edition of Cosmopolitan.

Chris is currently promoting upcoming action movie Captain America: The First Avenger, where he dons a tight-fitting superhero outfit as the title character. The heartthrob admits the role may gain him more attention from the opposite sex once the film hits cinemas, although he doesn’t know whether the attention will be good or bad.

“Will they change for the better or worse? It could go either way. But I’m ready for it,” he mused.

Source: www.musicrooms.net

Chris Evans thinks women who are high maintenance are “hot”.

The 29-year-old American actor stars as Steve Rogers/Captain America in science-fiction adventure Captain America: The First Avenger, which is due for release later this year. Chris has no problem dating a girl who may be perceived as being hard work, as he adores women who take pride in their appearance.

“High maintenance can be hot. I love it when you can tell a woman’s made an effort. I like women to be comfortable in sweatpants and moisturiser, but looking slightly more made up is pretty great,” he told British magazine Glamour.

The actor believes the secret to a long lasting relationship hinges on the initial attraction between a couple. Chris went on to reveal he would terminate a relationship if he thought there was a lack of passion, as that elusive spark fuels most great unions.

“I know straight away if I like someone. It’s all about instant chemistry, if it doesn’t happen early on then it probably won’t happen at all. Do I believe in love at first sight? Hmm… I believe in infatuation at first sight!” he added.

Source: www.musicrooms.net

Captain America in Empire Magazine

Enjoy reading the article about Captain America in Empire Magazine!

And keep your eye out for a movie poster that will be released tomorrow and the tv-spot during the superbowl next sunday!

sources: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/ , http://www.empireonline.com

Empire Magazine's new Captain America cover

New Captain America Picture
Steve Rogers is our new cover star

It's that time of the month, the day we reveal the new Empire cover and its stars-and-stripes covered star, Captain America: The First Avenger. Doesn't he look upstanding and anti-Nazi-y? Roll on World War II, we say.
The film, of course, tells the story of skinny, weak Steve Rogers (Chris Evans. plus a bunch of digital trickery), who is determined to fight in World War II despite constantly being turned down for service on medical grounds, and who becomes a volunteer for a Super Soldier Serum formula which turns him into the ultimate soldier (Chris Evans, plus a weight regime that would kill lesser men). Only problem is the fiendish Nazis he's going to have to fight, led by their ruthless commander Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) and his men.

“Scripts had been developed that took place half in World War Two, half in the modern day and none of those scripts were particularly successful because the costume ended up overshadowing the man,” says Marvel chief Kevin Feige. “So we finally said, ‘If we could make a Captain America movie any way we wanted to make it, how would we make it?’ Well, we’d set the entire movie in the past, in that period, with all of the Marvel trimmings. And so we made the fun, kick-ass Captain America movie we wanted to.”

“I’ve always loved Raiders and the tone that it had,” says director Joe Johnston. “It was period but didn’t feel like it was made in the period. It felt like a modern-day film about the period, which is what we’re doing on Captain America. It will not feel like a war movie. It’s funny where it needs to be and emotional where it needs to be and serious and full of action.”

And he's not just an American hero, argues Evans. “I think he’s the ideal human,” says Evans. “Not just American. It’s what being a good person is. Steve’s managed to overcome all the shortcomings he’s had in life and he does what’s good and what he believes is right.”

Source: http://www.empireonline.com/

p.s.: Thank you again John for the headsup!

First view: Chris Evans in full Captain America costume

The new issue of Entertainment Weekly has a new image of Chris Evans in his costume from Captain America: The First Avenger! My God, he looks great!

Captain America in SFX Magazine

We want more!!!

Captain America in L'Ecran Fantastique

Spoiler Warning: The next issue of French rag L'Ecran Fantastique has an in-depth interview with Captain America production designer Rick Heinrichs, in which he reveals plot points about the film.

The year is 1942, and Steve Rogers is a scrawny lad who desperately wants to fight Nazis for his country but can’t because he’s been deemed physically unfit. His fate — and his physique — is radically transformed when he signs up for Project: Rebirth, a secret military operation that turns wimps into studs using drugs and assorted sci-fi hoo-ha. There’s a love interest (Major Peggy Carter, played Haley Atwell), there’s a sidekick (Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stans), and there’s the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), Hitler’s treacherous head of advanced weaponry, whose own plan for world domination involves a magical object known as The Tesseract (comic fans know it better as The Cosmic Cube).

- 90% of the film takes place during the period 1939-1945, but the beginning and end of the feature film takes place today ...

- As an introduction, we see an exploration team discovered the remains of a giant bomber under the snows of the Arctic. Flashback (true beginning of the film): attack on a village in Norway (Hansberg) by troops from Hydra. Johann Scmidt is present (Skull), who has a passion for Nordic mythology. He looks for an object, the Cube [as seen in the Comic Con footage]

- The Skull is a former Nazi party member who left to found the organization Hydra. His vehicle is a car which is nine feet long, shielded and armed ... Hydra's secret base is located in the Alps, and he worked on controlling the energy of the Cube. The Cube is able to open a portal to "other dimensions of space-time. His "human" face is just a mask hiding his true appearance: Red Skull.
- Steve Rogers is a young man puny victim of mockery by thugs in Brooklyn. The body of actor Chris Evans will be digitally processed to give it that look. Steve is already friends with Bucky Barnes [his sidekick in the film]. Unlike Steve, he was accepted into the army and he was preparing to leave.

- The two friends visit an exhibition in New York, "The world of tomorrow." Among the exhibitors? Howard Stark [Tony's father]. There is a showcasing of anti-gravity boots, which only have a fraction of the energy of the cube. Stark Sr. will create the shield of Cap.

- After his transformation, Steve Rogers is used as a mascot in cinema, theater and performing in a music hall. During a performance (at Radio City Music Hall in New York) Rogers ended his show by hitting an actor dressed as Hitler (reenacting the cover of Captain America comic issue #1).

- He became a celebrity, while remaining down to earth, once sent to Europe, where he learns that Bucky was captured in a weapons factory in the Hydra. During this first mission, he frees a group that will become the Invaders.

- There will be a quick montage with several missions of Captain America: for example the sabotage of a train of Hydra. Cap and his crew rappel down a mountain and atterrisent on the roof of the train.

- The final scene: The Red Skull's purpose is to build a carrier style bomber, containing planes carrying bombs, which are destined for London and U.S. cities. The armament and machinery will be important. Red Skull uses the cube to power these machines (huge tank, bomber). There will be a great battle between the Red Skull and Captain America in the plane which eventually crashed in the Arctic.

- Captain America 2: Heinrichs evokes the possibility of a film blending the past and the present [as the current Ed Brubaker stories show]. Especially at a time of the interview, he speaks of the Hydra as an organization still in existence, and Nick Fury is fighting still fighting against it.

Empire preview of Captain America

Another Captain America preview, this time from Empire Magazine. When bigger scans are available I'll let you know!

Keep an eye on E.T. this week for a Captain America behind the scenes segment!

Captain America in Veronica magazine

(Article is from Veronica Magazine a Dutch tv-program magazine)

Captain America: The First Avenger

FINALLY

It's a strange sensation when you walk on the set of a superheromovie between American soldiers from WOII.

After the succes of the "Hulk" and the "Iron Man"-movies there were more and more voices to finally devote a big blockbuster movie to Captain America. In our country a not so familiar superhero, but in his own country he's been popular for generations. 'Cap' was born during World War II as a feared enemy of the nazi's. Nowadays the propaganda is no longer required so now he is fighting evil in general. The movie about his beginning takes place for a large part in New York during the forties. Filming on location was difficult, but Manchester and Liverpool turned out to be perfect to continue as Brooklyn. The filming there caused some headaches though, because the public filming spots were difficult to keep secret. For example the filming of a car explosion in Manchester was online within six minutes.

When we visit the set, the whole crew has relocated to a couple of studio's within London where work continues to the impressive decors. They work against the clock, while filming on one set, the next is still under construction. It's like we are walking on a construction site, where the walls are hanging full with blueprints of the most fantastic constructions. Some of them are so big that just a part of it is build. Production designer Rick Heinrichs:"The nice thing of Captain America is that it's a mixture of World War II and sciencefiction. Some ideas from then are transported to modern times. We wanted to do justice to history and at the same time to the comic."

That explains why we see American soldiers walking around and girls with prewar curlers in their hair. The male lead in this movie is played by Chris Evans who seems to be more at ease in his military garb then in his futuristic, tight, Captain America suit. Or so he says. Unfortenately we won't get to see this suit.

Captain America will be in cinemas in july 2011.

Source: Veronica Magazine

I translated a part of the article. I apologize for any misspellings or wrong translations.

Deronda

(27-12-2010 Update: I replaced the old scans for better ones)

Flashback

One of my favorite Chris Evans photo's

More details on Captain America revealed

This week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly doesn’t only have a bunch of awesome pictures from Marvel’s upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger, there’s an article too. And the article just happens to reveal several brand new details about the Joe Johnston directed film starring Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci and Hayley Atwell.

First up, are the details of Chris Evans’ deal to play Captain America. He was initially a little scared that they wanted him to sign a nine picture deal, but he ended up only having to sign for six. The nine picture deal included a Captain America trilogy, The Avengers trilogy and then “appearances in three more Marvel movies to be named later.” No word on which three movies got trimmed down.

Obviously, we all know the story of Captain America – a scrawny solider named Steve Rogers undergoes an experiment and becomes a superman. Since Evans got all bulked up for the role, in the scenes where he is scrawny, Johnston will use “clever camera angles, costume trickery and special effects that will digitally reduce Evans’ body or even put his face on a skinny actor”

Since not every population in the entire world is filled with America’s biggest fans, when the film is released internationally, they might drop “Captain America” from the title and just call it “The First Avenger.”

Originally, when conceiving the screenplay, Marvel wanted the story to jump between the past and the present but that was nixed because it didn’t quite work as a straight origin story. So, the decision was made to keep it mostly in World War 2 much in the vein of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The main plot features “Captain America as the leader of a team of elite soldiers from various countries , known in the comic books as the Howling Commandos.” And that mission will certainly deal with the Red Skull (Weaving), Hitler’s head of weaponry and the Tesseract, aka, the Cosmic Cube.

Since Captain America: The First Avenger is the last Marvel film before Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, it has to set up that film. But it’s set several decades in the past. So, the film will begin and end with the classic frozen in ice storyline. Prologue and epilogue style.

We’ve all seen photos of the new costume, but the classic comic book costume with the wings on the head and stuff WILL appear in the movie. Evans wears it during one scene where he’s used as a tool for propaganda. He hates it though and afterwards goes to Howard Stark of Stark Industries to help him build the new, more advanced suit that’s in most of the film.

Captain America: The First Avenger will be released on July 22.

More Captain America photo's

More pics from Captain America have hit the internet...and they look great!!

First view: Chris Evans in Captain America uniform

This week's cover: An exclusive first look at 'Captain America: The First Avenger'

by Jeff Jensen

For fans of superhero movies, the most patriotic holiday on next year’s calendar won’t fall on July 4th, but exactly 18 days later. That’s when Paramount Pictures will release Captain America: The First Avenger, a big budget adaptation of the Marvel Comics shield-baring super-soldier. The new issue of Entertainment Weekly offers your first look at star Chris Evans in the hero’s red, white and blue threads — but you can get a peek at the man in uniform right here, right now.

Our story also brings you to the set of the London-based production, directed by Joe Johnston (The Wolfman, October Sky). During a break in shooting, Evans — on his second tour of Marvel duty, having played the Human Torch in Fox’s Fantastic Four films — explained he was reluctant to accept the call of Captain America, in part because he had already portrayed a Marvel-ous mystery man. Of course, he also worried about the potential cost of failure, but he also worried the potential cost of fame should the movie be a hit.

“At the time, I remember telling a buddy of mine, ‘If the movie bombs, I’m f—-ed. If the movie hits, I’m f—-ed!’” After declining the part three times, Evans took a meeting with Marvel execs and Johnston and was dazzled by their plans for the movie. He still felt wary about suiting up for Captain America — but then he had an epiphany. “I was just scared,” he says. “I realized my whole decision making process was fear based, and you never want to make a decision out of fear.’” Evans signed a six-picture deal with Marvel to play the character, and he has no regrets: “I can’t believe was almost too chicken to play Captain America.”

The movie — which also serves to set up Marvel’s 2012 superhero team-up, The Avengers -- hews closely to Captain America’s WWII-era origins. The year is 1942, and Steve Rogers is a scrawny lad who desperately wants to fight Nazis for his country but can’t because he’s been deemed physically unfit. His fate — and his physique — is radically transformed when he signs up for Project: Rebirth, a secret military operation that turns wimps into studs using drugs and assorted sci-fi hoo-ha. There’s a love interest (Major Peggy Carter, played Haley Atwell), there’s a sidekick (Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stans), and there’s the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), Hitler’s treacherous head of advanced weaponry, whose own plan for world domination involves a magical object known as The Tesseract (comic fans know it better as The Cosmic Cube).

“The interesting thing about this character is that he’s an everyman who in the course of a few minutes become a perfect human specimen. That has to create some interesting personal issues,” says Johnston. “I saw it as an opportunity to make a superhero movie that felt real, that didn’t have to rely on an overabundance of fantasy elements.”

Source: www.popwatch.ew.com

Chris Evans as Captain America

Chris Evans and Evan Rachel Wood Promote Guilty

Gucci’s Frida Giannini launches the brand’s latest fragrance with a pop-art nod to American culture: Hollywood stars, fast cars, and high indulgence

By Rachel Rosenblit August 12, 2010 8:00 a.m.

Graphic novelist Frank Miller is often called a “visionary”—a loaded, hot-air term for many but nearly an understatement for him. He dreams up worlds we’ve never fathomed, like the anarchic, crime-ridden metropolis where prostitutes mobilize in his codirecting debut, Sin City, and refashions history into timeless allegory, as with the 480 b.c. Battle of Thermopylae, sensationalized to controversial effect in 300. His noir-camp aesthetic is gritty, base, and grandiose¬—and when his drawings are brought to life on-screen, he exhausts the most cutting-edge CGI to re-create every outline, every hue. A film conceived by Miller is visual candy in the most magnificent way.

One world Miller has never dared enter is fashion, let alone fragrance. But Frida Giannini, Gucci’s creative director (and visionary in her own right) had big plans for Gucci Guilty, her new patchouli-based mandarin-lilac concoction for the “daring type—a woman who likes to take risks, not sit around and wait for things to happen,” she says. In Giannini’s four-year tenure, she’s known the payoffs of taking risks. Her fall collection mixed wintry monotones in whites and steel grays with nods to postmodern whimsy: camel hair combined with neoprene, leather woven with fox fur. It drew a fluid line between sensuality and strength: a tight, body-conscious dress with cutouts and, not two looks later, an androgynous-cool tomboy trouser suit. Giannini’s Gucci girl is a lover of classics with touches of flash, a boho hippie beholden to luxury. But where fashion fantasies leave off, the allure of fragrance can pick up, flush with the promise of sense memory, lust, and covetable identity. To capture a milieu of Guilty-ness—worthy of inspiring the most irresistible transgressions—Giannini didn’t want just an ad campaign; she wanted a graphic novel turned 3-D short film, an auteur’s take on fantasy in the guise of a 60-second commercial.
“Frank Miller is absolutely unique,” Giannini says. “He designed an entire city around Gucci Guilty. I received the storyboards directly from him and could immediately see his vision. I could smell the streets in the movie.”

Action: Driving a white ’53 Jaguar, a woman clad in tight black leather speeds across a skyscraper-flanked bridge to the hauntingly remixed electropop of Depeche Mode’s “Strangelove” (“I give in to sin/ Because you have to make this life livable…”). She screeches to a halt, steps out of the car (close-up on her Gucci leather-and-croc platform stilettos), and flashes back to a pulse-pounding encounter between herself and a smoldering stranger in a bar.

The smoldering stranger is Chris Evans, the 29-year-old actor whose classic good looks and carved-from-granite pecs helped casting agents envision him as the chiseled comic book heroes in Fantastic Four, The Losers, and next year’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Evans spent the summer filming What’s Your Number?, a romantic comedy costarring Anna Faris, in his hometown of Boston, where his family and friends still live. “I missed my high school reunion because I was filming the ad for Gucci,” he says, “but I still hang out with every person I would’ve wanted to see. Nobody moved away; they’re all still dating each other. There’s something in the water.” Evans is close with his mom (“She’s quite a lady—a ballbuster. Real Boston”), cries at Legends of the Fall (“every time”), and loves “smelling something and immediately being taken somewhere,” he says, “like, Oh my God, it’s camp! Or—Jesus—third-grade gym!” Evans is a breath of charisma, a first date you’d love to have. But in Miller’s ad, he kills with just a look.

“He’s an exceptionally wholesome, sensitive guy, but his face becomes so powerful in front of the camera,” Giannini says.

“I’ve spent my whole career designing the hero,” Miller says, “and [Evans] seems to fit the shoes beautifully.”

Enter the femme fatale: Evan Rachel Wood, the 22-year-old Golden Globe–nominated actress and star of Thirteen, The Wrestler, and Across the Universe. Choosing Wood to be the Guilty one was a slick move on Giannini’s part: Not only is she “such a talented and beautiful girl,” as Giannini says, but she brims with intrigue, famous for her unsubtly subversive transformation from a perky blond actress with a wide smile to a mysterious pinup girl with a penchant for blood red lips and black tattoos. Now engaged to Marilyn Manson, Wood starred in the singer’s “Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)” video as a wide-eyed fan who has sex with Manson amid a downpour of blood.

“Guilty is about a guilty pleasure,” Wood says. “Full throttle, living in the moment, living dangerously. A girl with a bit of wild side. Scent plays a big role in what you’re turned on by. When you fall in love with someone, and you take a piece of their clothing or smell that pillow—it kills you.”

Wood recently finished filming HBO’s upcoming ’30s-set miniseries Mildred Pierce, a remake of the 1945 film noir starring Joan Crawford, an actress Wood says she’s “idolized my whole life.” Crawford didn’t exactly comprise a tidy Hollywood package, and neither does Wood—but no one could deny either woman’s devotion to her livelihood. By channeling the same fierce integrity that they would bring to a feature film, Wood, Miller, and Evans have lent Gucci’s newest fragrance an inextricable artfulness.

“A guiding rule of mine was that there would be nothing that wouldn’t be gorgeous—the car, the woman, the buildings,” Miller says. “I was on the lookout for the tiniest speck of anything that would’ve looked less than lovely. With Frida on the set, I hardly had to—she’s got an eagle eye. She knows exactly what she wants.”

“I think everyone, in the past, has had a moment—something romantic or sexy or sensual—that lasts for the rest of their lives,” Giannini says. “That’s the provocation for the commercial: the essence of the strong experience. I hope these images will stay in people’s minds for a long time.”

Source: www.elle.com

Photographed by Dan King