Gifted (2017)

The best part is that he brought along a friend named Scott and they took a picture on the Fox lot.

By Mark Shanahan Globe Staff March 31, 2017

Jenny Slate wanted to try something different.

Before she could be pigeonholed as a comedic actress who’s most at home in small, smart indie films, Slate wanted to do something more mainstream, something more typically Hollywood, something unexpected.

So there she is in a tailored skirt and a collared blouse, her hair in a bun, playing a softhearted schoolteacher in “Gifted,” an earnest Fox Searchlight film about a 10-year-old math prodigy who’s embroiled in a custody battle.

“I read this and thought, ‘This feels like a movie I would have loved when I was young,’” Slate, who grew up in Milton, said in a telephone interview last week. “I kind of miss those movies of the ’90s that weren’t huge blowout films, but were intriguing, medium-sized movies with a good story. Like ‘The Pelican Brief.’ Where did those movies go?”

In fact, “Gifted,” which opens in theaters Friday, doesn’t have much in common with “The Pelican Brief,” the 1993 legal thriller adapted from John Grisham’s novel, starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. But it does have the high shine and straightforward story of a standard Hollywood film, and that’s what Slate was looking for. It also has Chris Evans, who, like Slate, plays against type as the little girl’s uncle, a character more damaged and downcast than the handsome superhero Evans plays in the “Captain America” movies.

Evans said that was a large part of the appeal of making “Gifted.” It gave him a chance to portray someone a little broken.

“I do look forward to exploring other avenues as an actor,” said Evans, who still manages to look like he’s just stepped out of a soap commercial in “Gifted.” “Some of the movies I cherish most are smaller independent films with simple stories and characters that are more relatable than someone with superpowers.”

As an example, he cites “Ordinary People,” the discrete, excruciating family drama that earned Robert Redford the Oscar for best director in 1980.

“I remember the first time I saw ‘Ordinary People’ and thinking ‘This is a perfect movie,’” said Evans, who grew up in Sudbury with a brother and two sisters. “I have a very colorful family and a very complex family, so I like when you find a story that strips away any kind of cinematic device.

“That’s why I respect ‘Gifted,’” he said.

The movie, directed by Marc Webb (“The Amazing Spider-Man”), stars Mckenna Grace as Mary, a whiz kid who lives with Evans’s character after her mother, a renowned but troubled mathematician, commits suicide. Octavia Spencer, a best supporting actress Oscar winner in 2012 for “The Help” and a nominee again this year for “Hidden Figures,” plays a fretful neighbor who helps raise the young girl.

Slate, whose character in the movie discovers Mary’s genius, said Webb was familiar with her past work, including “The Obvious Child,” the well-received 2014 comedy-drama in which she starred as a stand-up comedian who has an abortion after a one-night stand. But Slate nonetheless had to audition for the role
in “Gifted.”

“A lot of times, characters drawn with cleaner lines are played by actresses who are maybe a little more mainstream, who don’t have a color-outside-the-lines part of their personality or way of performing,” she said. “Just because I primarily do comedy doesn’t mean that’s all I want to do. I think it was important for me as an actress to say this is a skin I can slip into quite comfortably. It’s just that I’m not going to do it exactly the way you maybe think it should be done.”

In the movie, there’s a brief romance between Slate’s and Evans’s characters. Off screen, though, the relationship was more complicated. The pair, who met in 2015 while making “Gifted,” began dating last spring, not long after Slate and her husband of three years, Dean Fleischer-Camp, had separated. But Slate and Evans split up around the holidays, and neither has seemed particularly eager to talk about the relationship while promoting the movie. (Slate did tell Vulture.com that she and Evans are not in touch: “We’re not on bad terms, but we haven’t really seen each other, spoken a lot. I think it’s probably best. I’d love to be his friend one day, but we threw down pretty hard. No regrets, though. Ever.”)

For now, that’s all she wishes to say about the break-up.

“It’s always good to say something clearly with self respect and to celebrate the good things in your life,” Slate said. “I think I did that.”

Going forward, Slate has a couple of movies due out this year, including “Landline,” a comedy directed by Gillian Robespierre, who also directed “The Obvious Child.” She’s also making another “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” the popular stop-motion animated short she created in 2010 with then-husband Fleischer-Camp, whom she refers to now as her “dear friend.” And she just published a memoir called “About the House” with her father, the poet and essayist Ron Slate.

“I’ve got a few films circling, but I’m also trying to figure out a good balance between work and living a life that’s fulfilling,” said the actress, who admits she can be “like a ball bouncing around the room” sometimes.

Evans, meanwhile, is revisiting the Captain America franchise in “Avengers: Infinity War,” which is filming now. And, as anyone who follows him on Twitter knows, he’s also keeping a close eye on President Trump. Since the election, the actor, whose uncle is Massachusetts congressman Michael Capuano, has occasionally taken to Twitter to call out Trump — and former KKK leader David Duke, among others — and he plans to keep it up.

“It’s a tricky thing because people love to say, ‘You’re just an actor. Shut up and act,’” said Evans. “But I wouldn’t say to a plumber, ‘You’re just a plumber. Shut up and be a plumber.’ Everyone has a right to give their opinion and voice their concern about what’s happening in our country.”

But Evans also knows that his 5.2 million Twitter followers probably don’t want to be harangued about politics all the time.

“I’m doing my best at once to share my concerns that are sometimes laced with passion but still be sympathetic and understanding and patient with the opposition,” he said. “If you become too argumentative, you not only become white noise but you also completely eliminate the chance for compromise, which is the nature of democracy.”

Considering that America twice elected Ronald Reagan, a onetime Hollywood actor, as president, it’s fair to wonder if Evans might someday run for public office. The answer, it seems, is maybe.

“It depends,” he said. “As I get older, I get a little more interested and concerned and preoccupied with what’s happening. It’s hard to ignore, but no, I’ve not made any firm decisions.”

Mark Shanahan can be reached at Shanahan@Globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @markashanahan