If you give Chris Evans an opportunity, he’s going to take it. This week the star of Captain America: Civil War is celebrating the release of his first film behind the camera, a romantic drama called Before We Go, in which he co-stars with Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness) as strangers who spend one eventful night together in New York City, and get personal in the process. He had an opportunity to direct a film and he took it, and if you give him the freedom to be honest in an interview, he’ll take that too.
I sat down with Chris Evans at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills to find out more about his first foray into directing. What I got was straight talk about why his first film is only about two people talking, his anxieties about turning his interests into a job, an explanation about why he doesn’t pay attention to critics, and a confession that maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t deserve to be directing a movie at all.
But, as Chris Evans is quick to point out, that’s just his opinion. Before We Go is now playing on VOD, and arrives in select theaters this weekend.
Crave: You seem to have a smile on your face. Has it been a good day?
Chris Evans: Yeah! You’re my last interview. [Laughs.]
Well let’s go nuts with this one then. What has everyone been asking you so far?
“Why did I pick this project?” That seems to be the go-to one and I have a horribly candid, embarrassing… well, it’s not a bad answer but it’s the truth! You know? You’ve got to give the truth. It’s because look, I like this project. I wish I could say I read the script and it was the only script I thought about and I just felt passionate about the story. The fact is, being a first-time director, not everyone’s going to give you a chance. You know what I mean?
First you’ve got to find a script that’s available, that no one else is doing. You’ve got to find a script that’s manageable, something that you can handle. You’re not going to, your first time out, do some sweeping epic. And you’ve got to find producers that are crazy enough to give you a shot. So this kind of… all the moons align and it just kind of felt like, you know what? I’m okay with my first time out just trying to get my feet wet. I’m not trying to set the world on fire.
RADiUS-TWC
That’s an interestingly pragmatic answer.
And that’s the problem! I think in these interviews it’s tough to say, because being an artist, being a creative person, you kind of want to say every outing, every single thing you do is born out of a dire need. It’s like, I’m okay saying this is one movie. This is one movie in hopefully a chain of movies, and this is essentially my film school. I’ve never done anything before so I’m okay aiming here and just trying to learn and educate and get my feet wet, and take the knowledge from this one to the next one.
I keep using this quote someone else said, “If it’s your first time in the kitchen you’re not trying to whip up a soufflé, you just don’t want to burn the house down.” I’m just trying to learn and this movie was wonderful for me in the sense that I didn’t feel like I was drowning. It would really be a lousy experience to realize ten days into filming that I bit off more than I can chew, and I certainly have the bug. I can’t wait to do it again.
It’s a smaller project, yeah, you weren’t shooting in millions of locations on a giant budget, but every movie is hard. Was there a moment when panic sets in, “oh god we lost our location,” anything like that?
Every night we were panicked about not getting hit with snow. We shot in December in New York City so every night we’re just like, “Man, please no snow…”
Thank god for global warming.
I know, right?! See? It’s helping me out. Yeah, if we get hit with snow our continuity is obviously fucked. No, I mean for me it was more about maybe… oh god, how honest do you go…?
“If I were a songwriter I wouldn’t write my song for a critic. If I were a painter I wouldn’t paint my picture for a critic.”
All honesty all the time.
I mean maybe in the editing room you think, “Man, maybe we could have aimed a bit higher.” You know, the script was very… I like simple. I do like simple. I think there’s beauty in simple. Some of my favorite movies are simple movies, and there was a beautiful simplicity to this story that I actually found to be sweet and romantic and touching, without trying to reinvent the wheel. There may have been a time in the editing room when you think, man, maybe we could have aimed a little… you know, pushed the ceiling a bit more. But that’s okay. Again, it doesn’t all have to be here right now.
There’s a journey to this and I think if you get caught up, I think that’s how a lot of artists start to lose something. If you start doing your work for the expectation of someone else, if you start doing something because you think someone else is going to judge you for not stretching, or whatever it is, you know what I mean? I’m perfectly okay recognizing this is a process and I don’t pretend to know everything. I need to learn a little bit before I start swinging for the fences.
RADiUS-TWC
I’m curious. You mentioned that this is your film school. Does that mean you’re going to really pay attention to all the reviews, and look at how people are responding to your first time out and what you can do differently next time?
Well, I don’t think film school… I mean, forgive me if you actually are a critic…
I am a critic and I went to film school.
Okay, but I don’t think you make things… like, if I were a songwriter I wouldn’t write my song for a critic. If I were a painter I wouldn’t paint my picture for a critic.
Of course not.
You do it because it’s something you are inspired to do. Whatever I’m inspired to do tomorrow is what I’m going to follow myself to do. I think film is the one business where you have a lot of voices. I don’t think there are as many critics in the music world. There aren’t [as] many critics in the art world. The film world, everyone gets a voice and everyone has an opinion, and if you start… I’m trying to be happy in my life and I think a big piece of that is going to come when I’m on my death bed [laughs], is looking back and knowing that I did things for me, and I think it’s very easy to go online and start reading the millions of people who have a voice, who have an opinion, just because they… we’re probably not going in the right trajectory here…
You’re fine.
But listen man, anyone can go to film school, dude.
“Somewhere along the way, in your profession, you start losing a hobby and gaining a job.”
It’s true.
I’m just saying, that doesn’t, in my opinion… listen, I didn’t go to fucking film school. I have no right to be here! The only reason I’m here is because I throw a shield around, and I’m sure that’s probably what you think but regardless I put it out there and went for it, and you know what?
I’m going to do it again and it’s not going to be because… You go back to the time in your life when you were a kid. When I was a kid I woke up on a Sunday and I put on plays with my brothers and sisters, and we made movies with my father’s video camera. Not for something. We did it because it was fun! It was what inspired us. It was raw and it was pure and it was beautiful. It wasn’t to make rent and it wasn’t to be congratulated. It wasn’t for validation. It was because it was it. And somewhere along the way, in your profession, you start losing a hobby and gaining a job.
I don’t want my hobby to become my job. I want it to stay pure and the way it stays pure is, it’s not for you. You can critique. I’m sure there’s some great… I’m not saying all critics. I’m sure there’s some great shit there! I’m sure there’s some great shit there.
And you know, I don’t [claim] to be right. I could be wrong. Maybe I’m wrong in not reading things but for me, for my journey to happiness, [it’s] about trying to keep things fueled by the right things. And for me it’s fueled by passion, and I think when you get a little too caught up in the opinions of other people, much like if I were a painter, I’m not going to paint a picture and let someone tell me, “You needed more purple.” Fuck off! I like it this color. I’m going to paint my next picture the same way I painted this one. I’m not going to say, “Well, everyone said I needed more purple. Maybe I’ll use more purple next time.” Fuck you! That’s not why I did this.
So listen, everyone has a different opinion. I’ve probably torpedoed this interview.
RADiUS-TWC
I appreciate your honesty. I do take umbrage at one thing you said: you’re not just here because you threw a shield around. You’re a good actor.
That’s very kind of you. You don’t have to do that…
But it is true though.
Well, listen, plenty of good actors aren’t working. Trust me, I know dozens of guys who are waiting tables. And even if you are a good actor, the only reason I got this movie on its feet is because the way films are made now, I’m sure you know, with these independent films especially, the foreign pre-sale model, you need actors in your movie that will sell overseas. So without Marvel I could be the best actor on the fucking planet, you know what I mean?
Think of some really good actor who’s… Paul Dano or something. I think he’d have a very hard time with someone letting him direct a movie. I think it would be much more of a challenge, and he’s fucking brilliant! He’s brilliant! But that doesn’t mean he’s going to be able to direct something. It’s almost not fair that I got this opportunity. But given this Marvel thing that I fell into, I got the opportunity.
“I think that the habit of looking back is a slippery egoic slope, and this industry is ripe with people who want to give their two cents.”
Who wouldn’t take it?
Exactly, and you know what? I’m going to keep on taking it as long as they keep giving it and I’m going to try and learn, try and take as much as I can, but I can’t let it become a job and it becomes a job when you start listening to too many… in my opinion, I think it becomes a job when you start…
Listen, if I were rational enough to be able to read those reviews and only take the advice they were giving without taking it personally, without letting it affect me on a deeper level? That would be great! I don’t think that’s possible. I don’t think anyone can do that on the planet, so in my opinion I think it’s just a safer thing to kind of keep this pure. Even if everybody hates it, they can hate it, but at the end of my life I’ll look back and say “I did the thing I did when I was ten,” instead of “I walked through every day of filming panicked about what this person [might] say or what that person was going to [say].” It’s not a hobby anymore! It’s a job!
And I’ve done that with acting, it’s happened with acting, and I don’t want to let that keep happening.
That’s a wise move.
Eh, we’ll see.
Speaking as someone who did accidentally let his hobby become his job, and then I started getting anxiety attacks over it…
Anxiety! You see? It’s not fun anymore.
“I could read ten reviews and even if there are ten great bits of information in there, the things I’m going to remember are the negative.”
There’s still passion but it’s not as fun.
It’s not the same. It’s not the raw, pure thing and that’s the problem because that’s the thing, man. Sometimes you want to read those things because there are people who write reviews who are very educated. Sometimes I’ve… listen, when I was acting, like ten years ago I’d read things and go, “Oh shit, that’s good advice, that’s good, that’s impressive” but again, if I were able enough to only read the good not listen to the bad…
Listen, I could read ten reviews and even if there are ten great bits of information in there, the things I’m going to remember are the negative. You remember. It’s human nature. I mean, all of a sudden it just becomes something else and acting is this one art form that you… Like I said […] painting I can do alone in my room. Songwriting I can do alone in my room. Dancing I can do alone in my room.
You do all those things?
[Laughs.] I do a few of those things! But to make films you need a lot. You need so many things and people and it’s very easy to let… you don’t want to change the person you are because of what you need to do your art. And reading too many things and too many opinions and thinking that adhering to those or accommodating other people’s opinions of you will get you [somewhere], it’s a very slippery slope.
And yet at the same time I wonder, is there any sort of mentor? Are there people you look up to, whose advice you sought out…?
Oh sure!
Because that’s someone else’s opinion too…
Yeah, well they’re not giving their opinion as to how you should film. They’ve giving opinions like, you know, I’ll talk to Edgar Wright or the Russos, they’ll be like, “Listen, lean on the people around you. You’ve never directed before. Make sure you respect the fact that you are surrounded by department heads who know what they’re doing. Your production designer, your D.P., your prop master. Everyone around you knows what they’re doing very well. Don’t pretend to know everything. Be willing to look foolish. Ask questions and trust the people that know better.”
That’s a big step. But that’s different than finishing your product and having other people come in there and shoot holes through it. That’s the creative process that’s enjoyable. The aftermath… I know some actors that don’t even look back. I know some actors who finish a movie and don’t even watch it. It’s on to the next thing. I think that the habit of looking back is a slippery egoic slope, and this industry is ripe with people who want to give their two cents.
Top Photo Credit: Getty Images North America
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
