Actor Chris Evans
© Josh Gordon
Mania Exclusive Interview: PUSH Star Chris Evans
By: Rob VauxDate: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Chris Evans' primary claim to fame these days is Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four movies. His other genre ventures include the criminally underrated Sunshine and the recent CG-animated version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He returns to science fiction next year with Push, in which he plays a telekinetic on the run from a sinister government agency. He spoke about the project, and the travails of being a Human Torch, to the press at this year's San Diego Comic Con.
Question: So talk a little bit about Push and the character you're playing.
Chris Evans: I play Nick Gant. He's a mover, which is just an easy way of saying he's telekinetic. His father was a mover, a very powerful mover who the Division killed when Nick was about eight years old, in front of his very eyes. No mother, no brothers or sisters. He's gone to Hong Kong to escape, to hide, to kind of turn his back on the world. He's given up to some degree and he doesn't use his power a whole lot. We see him using it at the beginning of the movie for gambling purposes--a dice game--but other than that, I think he tries to avoid his power. I think it brings up painful memories.
Q: What was shooting in Hong Kong like?
CE: The first three weeks were awesome. After that . . . well, if you've been to the city, you know. Paul McGuigan calls it a character in and of itself. We had to shoot there; it’s got so much style to it. The architecture, the people. I was going to say the smell, though obviously you won't be able to smell it. [Smiles.] But for the actors, there's a lot to play off of.
Q: What's wrong with the smell?
CE: Overall, nothing, but we were in some fairly not-nice parts of town. It was so crammed down there, and everything looked run-down. The buildings looked like they were getting ready to collapse. But it does give you a great sense of the world these guys are living in.
Q: What was working with Paul McGuigan like?
CE: It was great. He was a photographer by trade originally, so he really has an eye for the job. Even if you had mapped one thing out and you change your mind at the last minute--you say, "I'm not going to walk over there, I'm going to walk over here"--you can see his brain working and saying, "I still know how to shoot that." He can do it with style, and make it interesting and unique, and it shows. He had some really weird lighting set-ups that made you wonder what it was going to look like, and then when you see the final cut, you see what he was going for and it's amazing.
Q: What's the difference between characters like these and characters in X-Men or The Fantastic Four?
CE: Certainly, there's some similarities. The characters in Push are very reluctant heroes. They're very human and their abilities aren't developed. You see the growth of their abilities throughout the film. And they're being hunted for their powers. The X-Men deal with prejudice, but these people are actively on the run. They've all tried to hide their powers. I think one way or another, those powers have brought them all grief.
I guess the biggest difference is that these aren't iconic characters, which changes how you research the part. With The Fantastic Four, you could go and do your homework with forty-plus years of comics. These characters need to come from somewhere else, from the script or from the actors. They don't have special names, they're not Wolverine or the Human Torch. You're Nick and you just happen to move stuff.
[Smiles.] Also, we have much more comfortable costumes in this one. No tights. Just jeans.
Q: What kind of effects work was involved here?
CE: Paul wanted to avoid computer-generated effects, partly because of the budget, but if you do them right, practical effects just look better. Especially with telekinetics. If I'm supposed to send a table flying across a room, it looks much better if you actually have a table flying across the room. They really did a good job of devising these gadgets and rigs to make everything very tangible and real. The set-up was a bitch--you do it once and then it's going to take about twenty minutes to set it all up again--but it really pays off.
Q: What do you in that down time?
CE: Nothing really. This wasn't exactly a glamorous shoot, so there were no trailers or anything like that. In a lot of ways, though, that's better. With big budget shoots, you finish the shot and everyone kind of goes and hides in their trailers, and eats and sleeps and relaxes. Here, we were kind of forced to stay on set, and you end up making relationships with people you probably wouldn't be able to on another film.
Q: Was there a physical toll at all?
CE: To a certain extent. It wasn't exhausting, but it was a more physically exerting film than most. With Fantastic Four, it's all huge stunts and green screens. I got to do fight scenes here and I've never really done those before. All my fight stuff before has been fireballs and such. This was real hand-to-hand combat. You're going home with bruises and cricks in your neck, the whole nine yards. It was a lot of fun, though they had to bring in the stunt men for a couple of scenes. There was one bit where my character gets launched into a wall and hits the ceiling. I looked at it and said, "Can I try it?" There was a gigantic unison "No!"
Q: One of the great things about Sunshine is its emphasis on the characters--on real people in this big action-filled landscape. How do you make sure that you're creating a compelling character amidst all the action?
CE: It comes first out of the script. The script gives you a platform to develop relationships. The actor and director can take it from there--even in something like The Fantastic Four, you have to believe it's true or else the audience won't believe it--but the script has to lend itself to real stories. Real arcs. The great thing about this script is that it had the special effects and the eye candy, but it really focused on nice scenes between the characters. A lot of this film is people who don't know one another meeting and growing in their relationships. With Fantastic Four and Sunshine, you dive right in. Everyone has a history, everyone has a past. You might go through some turmoil in those relationships, but with this film it was a lot of meeting and developing together. The script really lends itself to that.
Q: You've said elsewhere that there isn't going to be another Fantastic Four movie. How about TNMT?
CE: I don't know. I would love to do another one, man. That was such a fun gig. It just fell into my lap. They said, "Hey, do you want to do Casey Jones?" and they said it like, "You don't really want to do this." I was like, "Are you kidding me?!" I grew up on that stuff. I would love it if they had another one. That was a good movie! Maybe one of the best movies I've made.
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