You know an interview is going to be awesome when Chris Evans (a.k.a Captain America) asks if he can sit in the audience when we interview Anthony Mackie who plays “Sam Wilson / The Falcon” in Captain America Winter Soldier.
As soon as Anthony Mackie walked into the room (where he thought he would only be chatting with mom bloggers) and says “That is one ugly mom” (to a dad blogger) and laughs, I knew we were in for a treat.
Not only does he have a great sense of humor but you can tell he loves life and acting. It is blatently apparent that he appreciates the opportunity he has been given as “The Falcon” both professionally and as a symbol. Here’s what he had to say…
How do you feel about being cast as The Falcon?
When I first started acting I was like, there are two things I want to do. I want to be a superhero. And I want to do a Western, preferably with Clint Eastwood. And then Morgan Freeman took my role in UNFORGIVEN…When I got this call, I kinda put things in perspective. I feel like a lot of people are famous for different reasons. Some people are famous because they’re handsome. Some people are famous because they’re British. I’m very happy that I’m famous because I can act. And I feel like this is a job I got because I deserved it.
How do you feel about being the first African-American superhero?
It’s funny you should ask that. [LAUGHS] It’s cool. When I was a kid, I really didn’t have a person I could look at, other than my dad, and be like, “Hey, I want to be that guy and fly through the window.” You couldn’t be like seven years old and say, “Who do you want to be for Halloween?” “Shaft!”
So [LAUGHS] you know, it’s really exciting. When I first got this role I just cried like a baby because I was like, “Wow, next Halloween, I’m gonna open the door and there’s gonna be a little kid dressed as the Falcon.” That’s the thing that always gets me. I feel like everybody deserves that. I feel like there should be a Latino superhero. Scarlett does great representation for all the other girls, but there should be a Wonder Woman movie. I don’t care if they make 20 bucks, if there’s a movie you’re gonna lose money on, make it Wonder Woman. You know what I mean, ’cause little girls deserve that. There’s so many of these little people out here doing awful things for money in the world of being famous. And little girls see that. They should have the opposite spectrum of that to look up to.
What is your relationship like with Chris Evans?
Chris and I have a very good relationship. It literally got to the point where we would show up on set and we were like seven-year-olds. I mean, we had that first day where it’s like 35-year-old men in costume. Then the next day, we started making fun of each other. It just turned into this thing, where it became infectious…So you know, once we got over our suits, we had a good time.
What was it like working with Scarlett Johansson?
You know, Scarlett is just a regular chick. It’s weird, you expect her to be a diva or high maintenance or catty. Or just so — an actress. But she’s a regular chick and she’s really low maintenance and cool and fun to be around. She just goes with the flow. I guess that comes with being extremely talented. I feel like a lot of people compensate for not being talented with being *witchy. But she’s really talented. She’s a very really down to earth, fun, cool, just regular chick.
What did you do to train and prepare for this film?
Salmon, chickens, tunafish, asparagus and a cup of brown rice at noon. Every day, for three months…So you know, me and my homeboy Jack Daniels stopped talking. No more pizza. Me and my girlfriend Haagen Dazs broke up. She’s French, it was crazy.
Then I show up and Chris looks like a Greek god. I’m feeling good about myself. I’m like Spandex ready and I show up and he’s like, Captain Tiny *Butt and I’m like, “Dude, how’d you get your *Butt that small?”
Did you contact any previous super Hero actors for pointers?
No. I did not want to mess up my experience. I completely wanted to come into this naïve, ignorant and not knowing anything. So when I showed up…I was like, you know, don’t kill my vibe.
The Falcon goes back to the ‘60s. Which versions of the Falcon did you go back to for the character to draw on?
I commend Marvel for putting the Falcon in this movie because the Falcon’s history is something very unique to the comic book world. Usually in comic books they’ll introduce a character, if it doesn’t hit they’ll just let him fall off into the sunset. But with the Falcon, Marvel made a unique choice to get him right. So he had about three or four different incarnations in the life of the comic book.
I tried to stay away from the source material because I felt what the writers gave me was the introduction to the Falcon. So I just took what I had in the script, and worked primarily on that. I felt like the military history he had, and the relationship he has with Steve in this movie, is much more important than who he was in the comic books. Because I felt like if that relationship was grounded in truth and it worked, the rest of the movie would work.
I really just focused on, what exactly are the side effects and repercussions of PTSD [Post-traumatic stress disorder]? How exactly do you overcome that? And when it’s overcome, is it like drugs, is it a work in progress everyday? Or is it like something, once you’re over it you’re over it and I’m good. Or is it person to person stuff like that?
I just asked a bunch of different questions along those lines. A lot of my research came from soldiers I’ve met during Hurt Locker and from doing charitable work with the Navy and stuff. So I just emailed a bunch of guys and got a lot of stuff online, a lot of videos. Lot of depositions with soldiers coming back and just talking about their experiences and where they are now. I just used that stuff and tried to ground him in the history that was him, as opposed to the history that was the comic book.
What was it like the first time you put the costume on?
It was great. The first time I put that costume on, I couldn’t stop smiling. I was running around the room. It’s one of those moments where you just have to allow yourself to enjoy it.
My costume took 45 minutes to get in it. It was like five minutes to get out. But it was fun. I really took every moment to enjoy being a super hero.
How was the whole Falcon Flying experience?
It was no fun. The hardest working actors in Hollywood are flying superheroes. I said it, I don’t care what Thor says with his hammer. I don’t care what Wolverine says. If you fly, it sucks.
I loved my costume, I loved everything about it. I love doing stunts. I have the best stuntman in the business. We’ve done like five movies together. Literally, it’s like that Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny cartoon, where like the missile is coming and Bugs Bunny’s like paused and then puts Daffy in. And he just takes the brunt of every hit for me. And I love it. [LAUGHS] There’s nothing natural about flying to humans. There’s nothing we do that’s like flying. So my first day on set I walk in, I’m like, “What’s up, yo. Falcon in the building, what’s up?” Right.
So I get up on like a 60 foot platform and I’m like, all right, let’s do this. You know, brother in the building and they said, “All right, stand on the edge of the platform, there’s a jet coming at you. We want you to stand up, turn around, shoot your guns and jump back backwards head first, into this mat.” From 60 feet in the air.
And I’m like, “Whoa!” The first day is usually like walking down a hallway, or eating or something. You know, just to break you in. Not jumping off the platform to your death.
So once we did that, in the scalding heat of the day, I kinda knew what I was in for. And it just got worse from there. It was really painful and exhausting but Aaron Toney, my stuntman, literally, he fell out of a car at 40 miles an hour. He got messed up on this movie. So kudos to him. [LAUGHS]
What’s it like working on a Marvel film?
It’s fun when you go to work knowing you’re gonna make a quality product. Because as actors there’s so many people with daddy issues that mess up movies. You know, it’s like, oh, I’m gonna edit it this way or, I didn’t have a girlfriend in high school so I’m gonna do this. It’s like, Dude, just make a movie!…I feel like working with Marvel is one of those studios where you go to work and you know everybody leaves their stuff at the door and they just want to make a good project.
He also shared a funny story on being “The Falcon”
There’s this craft store called Michael’s. Look, my sister knits, and she goes to Michael’s. So my sister called me and she’s like, “Oh my god, I’m at Michael’s, picking up yarn. You have a poster at Michael’s.” I’m like, “what?”‘ She’s like, “There’s a poster, there’s a Falcon poster at Michael’s. I’m like, “Holy *Moly!” She’s like, “I’m gonna come and pick you up, and we’re gonna see your poster in this store.” So she picks me up and we go to Michael’s.
We go in, and I see the poster and I’m like, “Oh, this is….” She’s like, “I know, I know.” I said, “I’m gonna sign these posters.” I was like, “That would be amazing, you buy a poster and it’s like, actually signed by the Falcon.” Like, it would blow my mind. So I go to the front, I buy a Sharpie, I run back to the back of the store. And she’s like, “I’m gonna take a picture of you signing it.”
I’m in this store and I’m signing all the posters. The manager comes out, he’s like, “Hey, whatcha doing?” I was like, “Oh man, I’m signing these posters so when people buy ‘em, they’re signed.” He’s like, “Well, people are not gonna buy ‘em if they’re signed.”
And I was like, “No no no, it’s cool. I’m pretty sure there won’t be a problem.” And he goes, “Yeah, but it is gonna be a problem, you’re messin’ up my inventory.” And I’m like, “No, my man, trust me. I mean, I’m the Falcon, that’s me!” And he goes, “Yeah, right. You’re gonna buy those posters.” I said, “What?” He’s like, “You’re gonna buy all those posters or I’m gonna call the police.”
He rolls up all the posters and goes to the front of the store. And I had to buy like 60 Falcon posters that I signed in Michael’s.
*** If you see a (*) by a word, it indicates that it was changed to make it more family friendly
Want to read more about what the cast of Captain America had to say, check out my interviews with Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan and Kevin Feige.
Anthony Mackie is so amazing and very down to earth…he even let us sneak in small group pics with him while his rep was speaking. I’ll be cropping everyone else out of it for my FB Profile Pic…LOL.
We also got a group shot as well.
Disclosure: I went on this trip as part of a Disney press trip. All of my travel, lodging and meal expenses were covered by them. No other compensation was received. However, all opinions/thoughts are 100% my own
Just sometimes read this and wish I had exactly what it takes to be a blogger You get to experience such cool things, like this and you can just see the enthusiasm in everyone’s face. Love it!