Chris Evans Explained Why He's Stepping Back From Acting
"Ultimately, I really hope to just maybe act a little bit less in my life. I have a lot of other interests. Look, by no means have I climbed any sort of a mountain in this field. I have no Oscars, and I’m not lumped with other names that are at the top of the mountain in any way."
Now in the post-Marvel phase of his career, Chris made three projects last year: Ghosted, Pain Hustlers, and the upcoming Christmas movie Red One. However, he hasn't worked on a movie set at all this year.
"I could just make furniture for nobody and be happy,” he told GQ as part of their new cover story. Citing his previous 20 years in Hollywood, he added that he didn't want to "occupy too much space" in the industry.
"Sometimes I wonder if I’m lacking some sort of — like, I think I’m a very driven person. I have a lot of energy. I wake up early, I get a lot done in a day, but it’s not always focused on acting. Sometimes reading a script is the last thing I want to do," Chris continued, noting elsewhere that he does love to act, "But it’s not something that I couldn’t live without.”
Chris now lives in Massachusetts rather than LA, and asks himself questions like "Am I gonna miss autumn?" before taking on a new project. Indeed, looking back on his work-heavy 2022, he said that he first told his now-wife Alba Baptista when they first met, “I was like: ‘Yeah, I do one movie a year. I try to never work now.’ And then, after, like, a few months of dating, boom, guess what? We’re living in Atlanta for a year. Get ready. And even when that year was happening, I was like, man, never again.”
Ultimately, Chris said that he's not trying to "fit into that box" of a leading man and prefers to take on "ensemble" and supporting roles. In that, he explained that he's different to some of his previous costars: “Someone like Robert Downey Jr. walks in the room and he owns the oxygen. [...] He’s just such a presence, such a force. Magnetic in every way. Let him be the lead. Let him have the mic, let him say the lines."
Chris then turned to Quentin's comments on Marvel last year, when the director said, "Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters. But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or, Thor is the star."
"I was like, you know, he’s right. The character is the star. You’re there, but you don’t feel the burden of it," Chris said of Quentin's words.
On the note of Marvel, Chris said that he'd be open to returning, but that it would be "no time soon." He continued, "Ultimately, I really hope to just maybe act a little bit less in my life. I have a lot of other interests. Look, by no means have I climbed any sort of a mountain in this field. I have no Oscars, and I’m not lumped with other names that are at the top of the mountain in any way. But I also feel very satisfied.”
“I like autonomous things. I’d like to just smoke a joint, put on some music, and like, get into pottery. You know what I mean? Seth Rogen, what he’s doing. It’s good for you, man. You just go to your workshop and make something. And how satisfying, how simple, how quotidian," he added.
