Director Joe Johnston recently spoke about his upcoming film Captain America: The First Avenger and unsurprisingly, he thinks it's going to be great.  "Maybe I’m somewhat biased — I was there [when we made it]", says Johnston, "but, seriously, it’s funny, it’s exciting and there’s great visual effects.  The movie is going to be something more than people are expecting. This movie is going to surprise some people."  Johnston says that the way Captain America is going to set itself apart from other superhero movies is its time period.

Hit the jump for what Johnston had to say about his star Chris Evans.  Captain America: The First Avenger opens in 3D on July 22nd.

Johnston, whose previous credits include The Rocketeer and Hidalgo, said to Hero Complex about working with Chris Evans:

"All actors bring something unexpected to the role because they have to translate what’s on the page and make a real character out of the black-and-white text that’s there in the script. I hadn’t worked with Chris Evans and I wasn’t really that familiar with his work and I didn’t know what to expect. I was blown away by the subtlety that he brought to the role.  It was really exciting to watch him. He added layers to the character that were not on the page and layers that were not in the comic books. He made Steve Rogers into a real flesh-and-blood character and it was fantastic to watch."

Obviously, Johnston isn't going to say anything like, "I sincerely regret making this movie and I hope Chris Evans burns in hell."  However, I do think Johnston is the right man for this project.  While he's more of a journeyman director, he's able to conjure a sense of old-fashioned adventure when working within the confines of a period movie like The Rocketeer or Hidalgo.  As for Evans, while the main criticism I hear from fanboys is that he's "too jokey" or "too modern" to play a classic character like Captain America, I would point those fanboys to Danny Boyle's Sunshine.  While the film goes to shit in the third act, Evans displays an old-school, earnest heroism throughout.  If Captain America is going to "surprise" us, I think it's only in that some people aren't giving the director and the actor enough credit.

Of course, after seeing Iron Man 2, the question I want to ask Johnston is, "How much Avengers set-up were you forced to shoehorn into your movie?"

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