‘Captain America’ Star Chris Evans Announces Retirement From Acting
Chris Evans is leaving acting behind. The “Captain America” star revealed that he doesn’t want to pursue acting anymore, but will continue to appear on Marvel films, where he is still under contract.
The 32-year-old actor first hinted on his early retirement earlier in March after telling Glamour magazine that he planned to take “a little break from acting” when he completed his obligations with Marvel Studios.
However, in a new interview with Variety, it appears that the “little break” that he has been planning to take would be a big one.
Although he isn’t going to leave the entertainment industry behind completely, he is shunning roles that require him to be in front of the camera.
“If I’m acting at all, it’s going to be under Marvel contract, or I’m going to be directing,” he said. “I can’t see myself pursuing acting strictly outside of what I’m contractually obligated to do.”
And he is still committed under the film studio. He has a six-movie deal with Marvel when he joined in 2010 as Steve Rogers, or also known as the patriotic superhero Captain America.
He has completed three films so far – “Captain America” in 2011, “The Avengers” in 2012, and the present “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” He is now set to shoot “Avengers 2” in London, alongside Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye).
But in between his superhero duties, he has found time to direct his first film, “1:30 Train,” which he shot over the course of just 19 days in New York.
“I’ve known for a while I wanted to direct,” Evans continued. “But (time) never really opens up. There’s another movie to do, there’s another acting job. It just got to a point where I was like, you know what – I have to do this.”
While other actors see playing a superhero in films a curse because it might get them typecasted, Evans was actually grateful for the job.
“Without these movies, I wouldn’t be directing. They gave me enough overseas recognition to greenlight a movie. And if I’m speaking extremely candid, it’s going to continue to do that for as long as the Marvel contract runs.”
And even if his directorial debut wouldn’t be successful as hoped, Evans feels confident that he would get another directing job.
“That’s not a luxury that most people are afforded,” he said.
Evans wasn’t always Captain America. He was the Human Torch first. In 2007, he played another Marvel comic superhero, Johnny Storm, the flaming member of the quartet Fantastic Four.
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is currently playing in theatres worldwide.