Chris Evans Gives Mr. Beaks A Little PUSH!

If you only know Chris Evans from his brash portrayal of Johnny Storm (aka The Human Torch) in the FANTASTIC FOUR movies, you're missing out. Though he's quite comfortable with letting his natural charisma and good looks do the heavy lifting in studio movies like THE FANTASTIC FOUR and CELLULAR, he's steadily complemented those mainstream efforts with a number of impressively layered turns in less commercial fare like SUNSHINE, LONDON and the very odd FIERCE PEOPLE (where that effortless charm mutates into something deeply fucked up). It's not a staggeringly brilliant body of work just yet, but the range on display and willingness to muss up that pretty boy image is admirable. Now comes Paul McGuigan's PUSH, a superhero-ish yarn in which Evans plays Nick Gant, a telekinetically-abled young man on the lam from nefarious government types who want to exploit his nascent powers for evil. Though the film appears to rely heavily on his movie star reflexes, McGuigan's insistence on location shooting (in Hong Kong) and practical f/x (augmented by CG when absolutely necessary) gives Evans and his costars the opportunity to react to something real rather than the usual greenscreen environments. And the actors - at least Evans and Fanning, from what I've seen - respond with lively performances that imbues the film with a live-wire intensity. For Evans, PUSH is also an opportunity to pick up another franchise (or, judging from his FF comments below, replace a stalled one). At the risk of giving away the ending, he certainly sounds upbeat about the possibility. He's also rather enthusiastic about getting cast as Lucas Lee (aka "Evil Ex-Boyfriend #2) in Edgar Wright's SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (based on the glorious graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley). And while the blue tights might be retired for now, he makes it clear that he wouldn't say "no" if Marvel Studios required Johnny Storm's services again.

Mr. Beaks: Sorry we didn't see you at Butt-Numb-a-Thon this year.

Chris Evans: Ah, yeah.

Beaks: We'll have to get you down there sometime.

Evans: Absolutely!

Beaks: I was actually going back over old interviews, and I forgot that I first met you on the set of CELLULAR.

Evans: Oh, no kidding!

Beaks: There was a smallish group on a set visit [at the Santa Monica Pier], and I remember the producers being really excited about your work. Dean Devlin said, and I quote, "I haven't been this excited about a young actor since Will Smith!"

Evans: (Laughs) Well, I paid him to say that, so...

Beaks: (Laughing) And it was soon after that you got the role as the Human Torch and everything took off. But when you're doing a film like that, and people are expressing this confidence in you... I mean, you have to feel that. Does that impact how you handle yourself on set? Do you let it get in your head at all?

Evans: That's a really great question. Obviously, it's never ... when you're aware people are banking on you to deliver... tricky question, tricky question. Yes, there is an intimidating element to it, but you can't let that be the motivating factor on a daily basis. If you do, you'll second guess yourself and you won't trust your instincts; you won't trust what has enabled you to get where you are. So certainly I think all actors have days where they beat themselves up unnecessarily, and it can be easy to slip into a very insecure place and panic about the expectations of other people. But I think if you do that, it's a slippery slope, and you'll start to change your approach to acting - and that could be more detrimental than any botched performance could possibly be.

Beaks: But I also imagine that as you get a few movies under your belt - and some decent reviews, and realize people like you - that you get into a real groove. That you come on to a film with a certain confidence.

Evans: Sure, yeah. I've made it a rule of thumb to not read reviews because whether they're good or bad, I still somehow have a way of beating myself up. I think all actors are head cases, so I try to avoid reading them. I find the times that things feel the best are when you have a good rapport with your director: when you're on a set, it's a safe environment, you feel comfortable and confident and you can explore and you really don't think at all about the expectations of other people or how you'll be perceived. I think it's safer to operate in a cocoon and just kind of create with your director and hope for the best.

Beaks: How did PUSH come to you? I know there are some franchise aspirations for this film, but was it just a standalone script? How did that work?

Evans: Yeah, I got sent the script and I started reading it. I didn't even know what it was about. And then twenty pages in, it just completely grabbed my attention. It's a very intricate plot and a really interesting story, so to say it was a page-turner would be an understatement. I burned through it. So I called my team, and said, "I can't wait to meet with whoever is going to be quarterbacking this thing." And I sat down with Paul [McGuigan], and he had such a great vision for it as far as the palette. He wanted it very natural, very gritty, a lot of hand-held camera work, a desire for limited CGI. If they wanted to do an effect, it was going to really happen; we were going to be playing off a tangible environment and not relying on greenscreens. And when those elements combined, I thought it was a really cool vision that Paul had.

Beaks: When Paul said he was going to do as little CG as possible, obviously that meant more physical stuntwork on your part. How much of that did you end up doing?

Evans: It was a lot, actually, and it was so nice! I'm so used to sitting on those FANTASTIC FOUR sets where it's all mental stamina: you're hanging from a wire in front of a greenscreen for eight hours; it's not as much physically demanding as it is mentally demanding. [PUSH] was a movie where, like I said, the world was so tangible, if there was going to be a fight sequence, instead of it being all CGI, they said, "You know, we're going to strap some pads on you, and you're going to get in there and start throwing some punches!" It was actually a real treat to get your hands dirty on a daily basis and really throw yourself around.

Beaks: I haven't seen the finished film yet, but in the scenes I have seen, you're playing against a maturing Dakota Fanning. She's a little more grown-up than we've seen her before. Was that at all disconcerting to you?

Evans: I said earlier in an interview that it's very intimidating when you meet someone who was born in the '90s and has a more extensive vocabulary than you do. She's wildly intelligent, scarily mature, and there are times where you have to stop and monitor yourself. You'll be having this conversation with her, and after twenty minutes it's as if you're talking to a peer, maybe even someone older than you - and the content of the conversation might all of a sudden skew in a more R-rated direction, and you're like, "Wait a minute! You're a little girl! I can't talk with you about these things!" It's amazing working with someone who is so talented and so successful, and still has managed to keep her heart intact. She's such a good person. There's a genuine sincerity to her, and she deserves everything that she has found.

Beaks: Without knowing how this film turns out, I'm curious if they've approached you about doing further installments in this series.

Evans: They've yet to approach me, but they certainly leave the script open. At the end of the film, it's very, very much left open for a sequel. And there is still a lot of story to explore, so hopefully if the film is received well, I can only imagine that the second installment will be even more interesting.

Beaks: And just working with Paul McGuigan, I know he talked a lot about shooting hand-held on location in Hong Kong, and setting up cameras in side of vans to capture you guys on the street... how did that work?

Evans: It was tough. It was guerilla-style shooting. Hong Kong has a lot of strange regulations about where you can and cannot shoot - especially when you're working on exterior shots on the street. So, yeah, some days we just kind of grabbed a camera, ran out and just started filming until someone started yelling. It was quite an experience, but, again, that tangible world to play off just lends itself to the actors, and hopefully the audience will be the ones who benefit.

Beaks: On to your other franchise: THE FANTASTIC FOUR. Where do things stand with that right now?

Evans: I could be wrong, but I think they've put it to bed. I've not heard anything, and it's been such a long time since the second film. Traditionally, if they are going to be continuing with the franchise, they like to get things off the ground to keep the momentum rolling. But it's been at least over a year now since the last one came out, and I haven't heard anything, so I'm pretty sure we're done. But I don't know for sure.

Beaks: You were such perfect casting for The Human Torch. Would you be open to coming back and playing the character in [a non-FANTASTIC FOUR] film? I don't know what Marvel's plans are, but they seem to be trying to combine franchises right now.

Evans: That would be great. That would be so much fun. I would love to get a phone call and somehow have Johnny Storm appear somewhere... anywhere! I had a great, great time playing him. He's such a fun character. And I'm not going to lie: I loved the blue tights. I had a blast getting into them every day. I was living a childhood fantasy everyday on that set. So if they ever call my number up, I will jump into the suit.

Beaks: (Getting the wrap-it-up signal) What do you have coming up next?

Evans: I'm going to do a comedy with Edgar Wright. He wrote and directed HOT FUZZ and SHAUN OF THE DEAD. Very clever guy. He's doing a movie called [SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD]. It's a very funny film.

It is also, I'm told, incredibly erotic. PUSH hits theaters nationwide on February 6, 2009. Faithfully submitted, Mr. Beaks