So after much online debate (John Krasinski?) and much back and forth, it appears that Chris Evans has made it to the top of the casting pile for “The First Avenger: Captain America.”
Earlier today it was reported that the list had come down to three players — Channing Tatum (“G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”) a heretofore unmentioned “Gossip Girl” actor, Sebastian Stan, and Evans.
And apparently Marvel Studios chose Evans — who has already played Marvel’s Human Torch in “The Fantastic Four” series — of the trio. According to THR, Evans has been offered the gig, though Marvel and his reps won’t confirm anything yet.
Much like Samuel L. Jackson’s ridiculously long nine picture Marvel films deal, this offer also of course means starring as Captain America three times, plus the “Avengers” films (plural) and potentially appearing in other Marvel films as well.
Apparently one of the complications in this offer is the fact that Evans is supposed to star with Anna Faris in the romantic comedy “What’s Your Number?” and the schedules conflict.
It’s possible Evans could drop out of that role, but evidently he’s committed already which could cause some issues. The actor, known for roles in “Sunshine,” “Cellular’ and “Not Another Teen Movie,” beat out a slew of others, including folks like Ryan Phillippe, Michael Cassidy, Patrick Flueger, Scott Porter, Wilson Blethel, Mike Vogel, John Krasinski and Chace Crawford. Though beat out might be the wrong term.
Marvel seemed to want to go cheap at first, tapping unknowns for the low balling 300K price. When none of these actors tested particularly well with the females being bandied about for the love interest role — currently still being considered are Keira Knightley, Emily Blunt and Alice Eve (“She’s Outta My League”) — Marvel opened up their wallets (a bit) and offered the role to the next tier of more established actors (Phillippe, Tatum and Evans being the guys you don’t have to Google to find out who they are; Phillipe looks like he took this role instead).
However, apparently Evans didn’t have to screen test for the role. Joe Johnston (“The Wolfman”) is directing “Captain America,” which shoots in England in the summer. Marvel would have had to worry about the same actor playing two characters in their universe if it weren’t for the fact that “Fantastic Four” embarrassed almost everybody, audience and actors involved alike. The less said about those two films the better and surely even the fanboys feel the same way. And this move makes sense, because Evans always seemed to yearn for a better comic book role after the ‘FF’ movies were done.
Mostly thanks to Jon Favreau, the road towards “The Avengers” has been fairly smooth so far and the “Thor”/Kenneth Branagh model sounds equally as interesting as “Iron Man.” What Marvel now needs to do is ensure that Edward Norton eventually comes back (the film was mediocre, but he was great in it) and somehow make sure Joe Johnston doesn’t fuck this up.
BTW, Deadline Hollywood brings up some salient points. Evans has been offered the gig, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to take it. As we mentioned above, like Sam Jackson, his deal will apparently cover nine films in total, but apparently the price they’re offering right now isn’t exactly that sweet. DH also says Evans is hesitant to play another super hero, but that simply could be used as a bargaining chip for Marvel to up their offer. So this doesn’t sound like a done deal yet and apparently testing is still happening with other actors.
