Gifted (2017)

Superhero movie star Chris Evans cried when he read the script of Gifted

Captain America's Chris Evans hangs up his action hero costume for a role in the emotional new drama Gifted. He tells Jeananne Craig why variety is key – and how he couldn't imagine a life without acting


16 June, 2017 01:00


IT TURNS out even superheroes cry sometimes. When Chris Evans – aka Marvel's Captain America – read the script for his heart-rending new film, Gifted, he couldn't help but shed a tear.

The actor plays Frank Adler, a single man who becomes embroiled in a custody battle with his mother over his young niece Mary, a brilliant maths prodigy.

"I cried when I first read the script, you cry doing the rehearsal, and during the making of it. It's an emotional thing," confesses Evans, who's en route to Edinburgh to reprise his role as Captain America in the new Avengers: Infinity War film.

Boat repairer Frank has been raising seven-year-old Mary, played by talented newcomer Mckenna Grace, on his own since the suicide of her mother, also a talented mathematician.

Supporting Frank and Mary's unconventional but loving set-up is neighbour Roberta (Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer) and teacher Bonnie (comedian Jenny Slate, who Evans briefly dated in real life).

But when Mary's frosty and formidable grandmother Evelyn (veteran British actress Lindsay Duncan) comes back into their lives, her plans for Mary threaten to separate uncle and niece.

One of the biggest draws for Evans – whose first cinematic role was the 2001 comedy Not Another Teen Movie – was the complex dynamic between Frank and Evelyn.

"Our scenes were written so wonderfully – this very dry, veiled, loaded exchange, and it's so fun to hit the ball back and forth with [Duncan]," he says.

As for Grace, most recently seen playing US president Kieffer Sutherland's daughter in Designated Survivor on Netflix, she's "unfairly talented for someone her age" Evans adds.

The young actress, now 10, kept the mood light on the set of the film – which looks set to have cinema-goers welling up as much as its stars did.

"When Mckenna's on set, it's a different world compared to when she's not. She's just got a real energy, it's infectious, she picks everyone up," says Evans. The actor has two nephews and a niece himself, and jokes that unlike Frank, he is a "horrible" uncle.

"No – I love my niece and nephew, they're so sweet and I love being back in Massachusetts. It's a nice balance of responsibility, being an uncle. Right when you're at your limit you can say, 'Here you go, I'm going to take off'."

He adds: "I spoil them. Discipline is for the parents."

During the film, we see Mary solving equations that would flummox grown-up mathematicians.

"I'm not Mary by any means, but I did OK in maths at school," says Evans, who attended high school in Massachusetts before taking classes at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre And Film Institute in New York.

"Some of those equations on set were full of symbols I didn't even recognise, I didn't know they had anything to do with maths. It was all over my head."

Frank is kept active mending boats ("Did you believe it? I didn't know what the hell I was doing," Evans admits). But sanding some wood and lifting a few planks around as a flannel shirt-wearing repair man was nothing compared to the gym regime involved in playing muscle-bound patriot Captain America.

While Evans says there was "luckily no gym time on this one [Gifted]," he insists he doesn't mind putting in the hours working out for his superhero role.

"I enjoy it. Maybe not to the extent I have to do it [on Captain America], but it's fun."

The low-key, emotionally-driven Gifted couldn't be further from the action-packed world of Marvel, but that's part of the beauty of acting, says Evans (36).

"You're afforded the opportunity for variety; whatever your creative pursuit or creative appetite is hungry for, you can try and track that down."

Variety was certainly at the fore when Evans recently recorded some tales for the hugely popular CBeebies Bedtime Stories.

"I did a few stories. One was about superheroes having a bad day, it was really sweet and poignant, I liked it," he says. "All the stories had a lot of good night themes – I was kind of putting myself to sleep when I was doing it! Some of the stories were so comforting you just feel like you want to curl up."

He seems a bit flummoxed when asked what he'd be doing if he wasn't acting.

"I don't know. I mean, maybe I would have gone to a directing school and pursued that in a more structured format, but I don't know."

He has already directed, with the 2014 film Before We Go, a romantic drama he also starred in alongside British actress Alice Eve.

"I actually really enjoyed it. It's tough to watch yourself, it's tough to see some of your bad habits I suppose, but also you feel very safe at the same time, because at least you're in control," he says.

"I love acting and I'll never leave that fully, [but] I certainly have an appetite to direct right now. It's tricky finding those projects, but that's what I'm pursuing."

Evans adds: "I'm pretty mercurial by nature, so I don't know. I say one thing one day and the next I change my mind, so it's tough to predict."

:: Gifted is in cinemas from today.

Jack Shepherd
Tuesday 20 June 2017

The Independent Culture


While the Summer box office continues to be dominated by blockbusters, one modestly budgeted movie has managed to penetrate the heart of America: Gifted. Starring Chris Evans — known around the world for playing Captain America — the story of an unorthodox American family struggling to keep itself together has touched thousands, making almost $25 million in the US.

Much of the film’s success comes down to director Marc Webb, who made the leap from indie comedy 500 Days of Summer to The Amazing Spider-Man back in 2012. Following the release of 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, though, Webb seemingly disappeared from UK cinemas, concentrating on TV shows such as Limitless and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. And although you may conclude the critical reaction and cancellation of the expanded Spider-Man universe may have been reason, Webb optimistically says that wasn’t the case.

“I think I’ve been pretty busy,” he tells me over the phone, citing the delayed release of Gifted, the two TV shows, and work on the upcoming The Only Living Boy in New York as filling his schedule.

Interestingly, Gifted was being filmed when a certain President wasn’t a realistic consideration for the post. How times have changed. Of course, people's political opinions were still turbulent across the country, and despite the film’s intrinsic links to blue-collar American life — a highly politicised group in recent years — Webb avoided making any political statements.

“The climate when we were making it was quite different,” he says. “Our expectations for what was going to happen into the future were quite different. I’m from Wisconsin, I spent a lot of time in Montana growing up, which is also in the movie. I relate to that world. People look down on it because it’s not very sophisticated. It’s not that way at all. It’s a different world view.”

One of the script’s many draws was the family around which the film is based. Evans plays a single man who looks after his incredibly intelligent niece. Their neighbour, played by the ever-wonderful Octavia Spencer, acts as another parental figure.

“That’s what happens in central America,” Webb says, explaining why he wanted to develop a feature focussed on a non-traditional family. “You have an African-American woman and a white guy, and an adopted daughter and they form a unit. That’s a really beautiful thing that I thought was a valuable to put into the world.

“It’s a sweet movie. It’s not a cinematic masterpiece but it celebrates good things. It’s got a big heart, and it was fun to make. Audiences really appreciate that and it’s actually something quite rare to find in the cinema. It’s a different facet of American culture in a really positive way.”

One of the main reasons Gifted connected with audiences so well is because of Evans. As Webb says, the actor comes with “a certain baggage” thanks to Captain America, but that was perfect for the role. “We needed someone who had a little bit of darkness while also having some humour, plus a little sarcasm, all of which fit Chris perfectly.”

Evans, Webb says, has something most other American actors lack at the moment: a certain masculinity. “It’s a weirdly tricky thing to find young, male, American actors like Chris. There’s Chris Prat and Chris Pine. Then there are lots of Brits and Australians who are masculine. There’s maybe a darker quality to their masculinity. As a director, it’s an interesting thing to go out and search for those actors. Maybe Americans come off as a little sensitive, I don’t know.”

He explains how America actors, at times, can take themselves a little too seriously, while the British system “puts a real value on training, the way America doesn’t always do.” There’s also the matter of social media and the Internet that removed the mystique surrounding actors.

“Just think about Pink Floyd,” he says. “I didn’t know what they looked like. Now I know who every guy is dating. Not because people are advertising it necessarily, but because that’s available online. The Daily Mail throws it in your face and we’ve all become part of this culture. It breeds a certain familiarity. We’ve lost that mystique. Makes it hard to find another Jack Nicolson.”

Luckily, America remains ahead when it comes to comedy, Webb praising Judd Apatow and his masterful ability to find the “wise-cracking humorous type” of actor. Those comedies, however, have become more the domain of Netflix and Amazon Prime, somewhere Gifted may inevitably end up.

“Thinking about 500 Days of Summer, it was easier to get people to go out and see movies back then,” Webb says. “Even then, to get people to see a movie you need to create a certain level of urgency that’s difficult to achieve.

“The world has evolved, it’s changed. And as hard as it is to get people to see movies, there’s so much amazing television. It’s OK. I’m not complaining about it. But I do think this movie, it’s edge comes from how warmly the audience has accepted it. And the critics have been OK with it. Well, they kinda shrugged. Audiences, at least here in America, have really embraced it. For a modestly budgeted movie, it’s had a life that’s exciting.”

Webb’s budget hasn’t always been small, though. Both The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel had budgets of over $200 million (compared to Gifted’s $7 million). Following the second instalment, the studio was expected to launch a Spider-Verse — featuring a sequel and Sinister Six — to compete with Marvel’s very own Avengers. However, both projects have since been shelved by the studio, who instead decided to team up with Marvel to produce the Tom Holland-starring Spider-Man: Homecoming.

The Amazing Spider-Man director remains proud of their outcome

Asked whether he was surprised by the cancellation, Webb replied: “I think that was a surprise. There was so much conflict inside the studio, so many things behind the scenes.” However, the director concludes: “I really think Spider-Man belongs in that Marvel universe. I wasn’t upset about it at all. It would have been hard to make another movie without Emma, frankly. It’s in really good hands now, and it’s hard to feel bad about that. It’s pretty cool, I can’t wait to see this movie.”

Despite the conflict behind-the-scenes, Webb would return large scale pictures, but “under certain circumstances.” He continues: “I would know how to do it in a bigger way. I like big movies. I had a really good time doing those movies. It depends on the movie itself.”

Whether the director returns to big-budget pictures or not, no doubt his optimistic outlook will seep onto the screen. Gifted is currently showing in UK cinemas.