Anthony Mackie's career has hit a meteoric rise since his breakthrough role in The Hurt Locker, and rightfully so. He's a terrific actor, and he'll be playing his biggest role yet in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Mackie plays Falcon, a flying superhero who assists Captain America (Chris Evans), but like with most Marvel movies, details on the character are being kept tightly under wraps.
During an interview with Steve for Mackie's new film, Pain & Gain, the actor did reveal a few details about how he joined the project, why he signed on, the physique the role requires, and more. Hit the jump for what he had to say. Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens on April 4, 2014.
Sometimes there's a long and arduous audition process for roles, especially in high-profile films. But for Mackie, Marvel came to him, and after meeting with the filmmakers, he felt there was an understanding on how to approach the character:
I was offered Captain America. It was just a straight offer. I met with the directors and the producers and talked to them and we were kind of on the same page about what it is we thought the character could be and they really were interested in my input and my ideas. And after that, they… I think we were both… we both realized at that meeting that we were both on board to do the movie.
While Mackie has been in blockbuster movies before, he feels like Captain America will give him the visibility to pursue more personal projects:
I mean, you know, you do the Marvel movies to garner you the ability to do the movies that you really want to do - the other movies, the smaller movies, you know. So it depends on what exactly you want to do. You know, doing a movie like Captain America - that puts your name in the mouth of everyone in this country and in the living room of everybody so, you know, once that comes out then you can go to the studio and tell them the kind of movie you really want to do.
Since filming is now underway, Mackie is set for filming in Manhattan Beach and Cleveland. The actor had bulked-up for Pain & Gain, but now he's slimmed down a bit to meet the physical requirements of a modern superhero:
Well, it's more so a cardio thing now. I mean, you know, if you're a super hero… I didn't want to get too bulky. You know there's a lot of limitations to how big I was for Pain and Gain, whereas with this I just want to be fit, you know. I just want to be in shape to where I can go in and do all the stunts and all the things I feel like I would need to do to bring this character to life. So, it all depends. I met with the studio very early on and I told them I was going to throw on some weight and get bigger and they said, "No, no, no, no don't do that. Stay a smaller weight and we'll figure out something character-wise." So, you know, that's kind of what it turned into.
Look for our full interview with Mackie next week. Until then, here's everything we've posted on the Captain America sequel.
