Joe Johnston Explains Why He Cast Chris Evans As Captain America

chris evans in captain america the first avenger
(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Presumably Joe Johnston is losing his mind in preparation to start filming First Avenger: Captain America, now that he's actually managed to bring Chris Evans on board to play the title role. So it's beyond me how Ed Gross, of the fansite Earth's Mightiest, managed to snag an interview with the guy, but it happened, and he's not just explaining how they brought Evans on board, but how they'll portray him both as "98-pound weakling Steve Rogers" and the bulky and heroic Cap.

"I can't divulge how we're going to do it, but the performance will be Chris Evans from beginning to end. An actor playing Captain America has to embody that backstory and let it inform his understanding of his new self."

As for casting Evans, it pretty much happened exactly as we guessed-- he wasn't part of that drawn-out casting process at all, but was brought in based on his previous work:

Chris didn't audition at all. I was already familiar with everything he'd done and was championing his cause, not that I had a fight from the Marvel team. They were fans of his as well. He came in to the art department to say hi, saw all the jaw-dropping art and designs on the wall and reacted the way I'd hoped he would. It was really his wonderful enthusiasm for everything he saw that cinched the deal. We have some of the best designers and illustrators in the industry working for us and the art is just incredible to wander through. He will bring the perfect balance of dramatic performance and physicality to the role.

What's most interesting about this article isn't his gushing over Chris Evans-- that's generally what you do when a movie star signs on to your superhero movie-- but his promise that Evans will play Cap through all his iterations, and that they "can't divulge" how it will happen. Given recent news that the Green Lantern's costume may be entirely CGI, pretty much anything seems possible. Are we going to see some Benjamin Button technology to digitally add and remove rippling pecs from Evans' body?

Katey Rich

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend