When Scarlett Johansson
first sees Chris Evans at our
photo shoot, she lets out a
shriek of joy. It’s as if she’s
spotted a long-lost relative,
and, in a way, she has —
Johansson and Evans first
met in their late teens on the
comedy “The Perfect Score,”
played a romantic duet in
“The Nanny Diaries” and went
on to land lead roles in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe,
which reached a crescendo
this past spring with “Avengers:
Endgame.” This winter, both
successfully pivot away from
superheroics: Johansson plays
an actor suffering through
a difficult divorce in Noah
Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,”
and a mother in Holocaust
Germany in Taika Waititi’s
satirical “Jojo Rabbit.” Evans,
far from the virtuous Captain
America, is the snobbish
grandson of a famous novelist
in Rian Johnson’s tantalizing
murder mystery “Knives Out.”

CHRIS EVANS: I just did see “Marriage
Story,” and it’s phenomenal.
I’ll be shocked if you’re not showered
with awards, but what made
you want to tell that story? It’s
heavy. It’s dark.
SCARLETT JOHANSSON:
Probably 10 years ago, Noah and
I tried to work on something else
together. We kind of developed for
a little bit, and then it didn’t end
up being right, and by the time it
was ready to shoot, I was kind of
past it. It wasn’t the right fit.
I’m sure you’ve probably had
that experience before, where you
feel like maybe something didn’t
work out professionally and
you’re like: “Well, there goes that
relationship.” That’s never happened
to you?
EVANS: No.
JOHANSSON: Yeah, right. I was so
surprised when he called me years
later to meet and talk about something.
It totally came out of the
blue. I met with him in New York,
and it was like no time had passed
at all. We kind of shifted right into
this moment where he pitched me
this story a little bit, and I myself
was actually in the middle of going
through a divorce. It was such a
strange coincidence.
EVANS: How much of the script
was on the page already prior to
signing on?
JOHANSSON: It was nothing. It
was just a concept.
EVANS: Wow! Did you have input?
Because one of the things that is
so tragic about it is that, when you
think of a divorce story, you imagine
much more about contentious,
prickly, almost enemies. But a lot
of the movie, there’s two people
trying to make it work.
JOHANSSON: When I received
the script, we’d spoken so much
about our relationships — and
what it was like to be single parents,
and our families — and all of
that stuff kind of made it in there.
It’s complicated, right?
EVANS: It’s heartbreaking.
JOHANSSON: I know even when
we were doing all of the “Endgame”
and “Infinity War” stuff, you were
prepping for “Knives Out” already.
EVANS: Yeah. We were doing the
reshoots for those last couple of
bits. I don’t know if you were there.
You were so in and out, because
you died. If you haven’t seen it —
JOHANSSON: Maybe too bad! I
was talking to Noah while we were
doing “Infinity War” and “Endgame”
stuff. It was something for
me to hold on to during those
often tedious days of whatever. All
that action storytelling that we
have to do where you have to be in
it for these little segments of time.
EVANS: There’s a lot of things
about those movies where it’s not
just the actual filmmaking process.
It’s very start, stop, start, stop with
little bits and pieces of the action.
Plus, it’s roles that we’ve played for
a really long time, really familiar.
No disrespect to those movies — I
love those movies — but to come
off of them and have a completely
different approach to find a character,
to collaborating with other
artists, it’s just unchartered waters
coming off a Marvel movie. It’s just
exciting to get a change of pace.
JOHANSSON: How does it work
with Rian?
EVANS: He’s wonderful. He knows
what he wants. I love the idea of
writer-director combos, because
when a bunch of people read one
piece of material, we all have a
subjective opinion on what to interpret.
When you have a writer-director,
they can say: “No, this is exactly
what I meant.” Rian is very task
attuned. Two takes and you’re done.
JOHANSSON: Really?
EVANS: Which, as an actor, you’re
terrified, because if you give me 50
takes, I’ll take them.
JOHANSSON: How come you
don’t ask for more?
EVANS: It takes me a couple of
days to get comfortable on set
to do that. Because if you ask for
more, and they don’t get better, it’s
going to be harder to ask for more
in the future.
JOHANSSON: That’s a funny way
of looking at it.
EVANS: Yeah. It’s a really insecure,
egoic way of looking at it.
JOHANSSON: I feel if you have
an idea for something, and this is
probably good advice for actors
that are kind of coming up or
starting out in film, you should
ask for another take. Or you feel
maybe you have something else
in you that you’re curious about,
you should ask for another take
because it will haunt you forever.
EVANS: Sure.
JOHANSSON: Noah is in stark
contrast to Rian. He’s relentless,
and you can do 50 takes. He only
uses one camera, and he’s very
specific about the words are the
words. Every hesitation, every
unfinished sentence, everyone
talking over one another is all
completely scripted.
EVANS: Nothing is improvised in
that movie?
JOHANSSON: Not a single word.
EVANS: You guys both need
Oscars, because I was like, “Oh, this
is improvised.” It’s like theater.
JOHANSSON: It totally was like
theater. I wanted to ask you about
your experience in theater too,
because you’re so good.
EVANS: It’s like you’re my only
actor friend that actually came
to see the play [2018’s Broadway
revival of “Lobby Hero”].
JOHANSSON: They paid me.
EVANS: Yup.
JOHANSSON: Were you nervous
before you did it?
EVANS: Terrified. After a while,
the process of filmmaking does get
stale. You just want to try and find
a new way into what has become
very familiar. I think what I was
hunting for was that prolonged
period of time within a scene,
thinking it would allow this liberation.
It couldn’t have been more to
the contrary. When you’re onstage
it’s just like, “Man!” — because you
have so much to remember.
JOHANSSON: I didn’t feel that
way watching you though.
EVANS: Original content, it’s not
there very often. That is one of the
best things about “Knives Out.” It
was something that I read that felt
fresh and new. I think this weird
chicken-and-the-egg thing, who
started it? Did audiences only start
going to lowbrow stuff, so that’s
what we started making? Or is
it that we made it first, and now
that’s all we’re offered?
JOHANSSON: Hey, speak for yourself.
It’s interesting, because a couple
of people in the past couple of
days have mentioned to me that
a couple of extremely esteemed
directors have been really vocal
When Scarlett Johansson
first sees Chris Evans at our
photo shoot, she lets out a
shriek of joy. It’s as if she’s
spotted a long-lost relative,
and, in a way, she has —
Johansson and Evans first
met in their late teens on the
comedy “The Perfect Score,”
played a romantic duet in
“The Nanny Diaries” and went
on to land lead roles in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe,
which reached a crescendo
this past spring with “Avengers:
Endgame.” This winter, both
successfully pivot away from
superheroics: Johansson plays
an actor suffering through
a difficult divorce in Noah
Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,”
and a mother in Holocaust
Germany in Taika Waititi’s
satirical “Jojo Rabbit.” Evans,
far from the virtuous Captain
America, is the snobbish
grandson of a famous novelist
in Rian Johnson’s tantalizing
murder mystery “Knives Out.”
Actors on Actors 71
72 Actors on Actors
Actors on Actors 73
about how the whole Marvel universe
and big blockbusters are
really, like, “despicable” and “the
death of cinema.” At first I thought
that seems kind of old-fashioned,
and somebody had to explain to
me, because it seemed so disappointing
and sad in a way. They
said, “I think what these people are
saying is that at the actual theater,
there’s not a lot of room for different
kinds of movies, or smaller
movies, because the theater is
taken up by huge blockbusters.”
It made me think about how
people consume content now,
and how there’s been this huge
sea change with their viewing
experience.
EVANS: I think original content
inspires creative content. I think
new stuff is what keeps the creative
wheel rolling. I just believe
there’s room at the table for all of
it. It’s like saying a certain type of
music isn’t music. Who are you to
say that?
JOHANSSON: What are you looking
for now?
EVANS: Every couple of months,
I decide I’m done acting. This has
been my thing for decades now.
I’m always looking for a way out,
but I do love it. I think TV right
now, those creative minds are
given a bit more freedom. It feels
like movies sometimes get inundated
with studio notes, and all of
a sudden, what was once an original
idea becomes boiled down to
the lowest common denominator,
and then you have no one’s favorite
movie but everyone’s lukewarm
movie. I think that’s why people
may be turning away, and looking
to things like streaming service
shows that actually are innovative.
JOHANSSON: When I read the
script for “Jojo Rabbit,” I had never
seen anything like it before. But
that film found its way through
Fox Searchlight. That studio
doesn’t shy away from stuff that’s
subversive, and they’re happy to
give it a theatrical release. There’s
room for independent film for
sure. I think people want diversity.
They want to see different things.
What I’m actually curious
about: You’re kind of looking at it
as a director, if there’s something
that continues to interest you?
Where is your head with that stuff?
EVANS: I’m trying to direct, but
I don’t have the courage or focus
to write. The hardest thing is finding
material. The good material
isn’t just sitting there untouched.
It’s tough to find. When I directed,
one of the tricky things was, I
found some little broken-bird
script, and I thought, “Oh, I can
nurse this thing back to health.” In
retrospect, I do think even the best
version of the movie I directed,
there may have been a ceiling
based on the material. If it’s not
on the page, I may have been —
I don’t want to say naive — hopeful
that we could elevate it beyond
what the potential seemed to be.
You know what I’m curious
about? Scarlett, what was it like
meeting for the first time? What’s it
been like working with me? Be nice.
JOHANSSON: I’m trying to
remember. It must have been on
the set of “The Perfect Score” at
some point in our rehearsal. We
had a very at the time in-the-moment
teen comedy, that actually
now is somehow maybe relevant
— about an SAT scandal.
EVANS: It was almost 20 years ago.
JOHANSSON: Yeah, it feels like a
long time ago. We were just children
then.
EVANS: I think we all went out
one night, and you couldn’t get in
the club.
JOHANSSON: Because I was 17.
Yup, those were the days. You’ve
always been such a great actor. You
were great then, and so incredibly
photogenic, and you just came
alive on screen in a way that’s
very uncommon. It was so nice to
work with you, because I felt we
had great chemistry as actors, and
there was a naturalistic approach
that I felt. Then we also got to work
together on “The Nanny Diaries.”
EVANS: Having “Avengers” be the
biggest movie of all time —
JOHANSSON: Is it the biggest
movie of all time? Wow. We really
do need to go on vacation.
EVANS: We’ve been trying to organize
this “Avengers” vacation. We
deserve a little victory lap. It’s not
just wonderful because you get to
be a part of a pop culture phenomenon,
the same way “Star Wars”
impacted me. But I think what
really will stay with me is the fact
that the people we got to work
with, truly there is not a bad apple
in the bunch.
JOHANSSON: It’s funny, because
I remember back in “Iron Man 2”
days, I think you had just finished
filming the first “Cap.” It was so
interesting that you and I were
coming together again. We had
no idea what we were making. It
was just impossible to know what
a phenomenon the Marvel Cinematic
Universe or “The Avengers”
would be. You jump at the chance,
but having been through it myself
with a partner that I was with,
who also had another big iconic
superhero thing he was working
on, it’s the pressure. You don’t
know how it’s going to go, right? It
seems ridiculous now, but it could
be career-ending.
EVANS: Yeah. I feel unbelievably
lucky to have been a part of something
like that. It will be one of my
treasured memories of life. Even
when we went on to do “Avengers,”
the first one, I think everybody
was feeling very uneasy about the
concept. It was just so absurd. It
was a big endeavor. If this doesn’t
work, the pipe dream that we’ve
been hearing about could derail
very quickly.
JOHANSSON: Were you shocked
by how well the first “Avengers” did?
EVANS: After that, I knew there
was a chance this could be something
big.
JOHANSSON: Would you come
back?
EVANS: To Marvel? Wow. Everything
clicks when I get up. Recovery
is not the same. You never say never.
I love the character. I don’t know.
JOHANSSON: Not a hard no.
EVANS: It’s not a hard no, but it’s
not an eager yes either. There
are other things that I’m working
on right now. I think Cap
had such a tricky act to stick the
landing, and I think they did a
really nice job letting him complete
his journey. If you’re going
to revisit it, it can’t be a cash grab.
It can’t be just because the audience
wants to be excited. What are
we revealing? What are we adding
to the story? A lot of things would
have to come together.
JOHANSSON: It’s not obvious.
EVANS: It doesn’t feel, at this
time, that would be a thing.
JOHANSSON: I wasn’t there for
the last third of the film or whatever.
I actually had no idea what
was going to happen. I don’t know
how it worked, exactly, if it was
scripted. It was such a beautiful
cathartic ending, and I loved that
for Steve. I think he deserved that.
It was all his happiness.
EVANS: It’d be a shame to sour
that. I’m very protective of it. It
was such a precious time, and
jumping onto the movie was a
terrifying prospect to me. I said
no a bunch of times, and there’s
a million and one ways it could
have gone wrong. It almost feels
like maybe we should let this
one sit.
“ M O V I E S G E T I N U N D AT E D
W I T H S T U D I O N O T E S ,
A N D W H AT WA S A N
O R I G I N A L I D E A
B E C O M E S B O I L E D D O W N
T O T H E L O W E S T C O M M O N
D E N O M I N AT O R .”
Chris Evans

https://hawk5.dmsukltd.com/Home/WholeArticlePublic/19509133-bd5d-48c3-ad88-3bf0ecd86942