Chris Evans doesn’t need Hollywood: I ‘run away’ from leading man roles

Chris Evans doesn’t need Hollywood: I ‘run away’ from leading man roles

Chris Evans is over Tinseltown.

The Marvel star said that he is perfectly happy not acting around the clock and would rather focus on the world around him.

“There are some people that you meet and you just think, ‘Man, that’s a movie star,’” Evans, 42, told GQ for their October cover story, adding that he believes he isn’t one of them.

“I love to act,” continued Evans. “But it’s not something that I couldn’t live without.”

“I don’t pay attention to myself at all,” laughed the Boston native. “And just, you know, question why black holes exist, that brings into perspective a macro understanding of the fact that I’m even here is a miracle.”

“It’s like shooting a bullet with another bullet. I mean, the fact that any of us are here is unbelievable,” continued the “Captain America” star. “And that kind of just brings me a sense of deep peace. And I don’t have any more thoughts or questions about my own career.”


Marvel Star Chris Evan said Tuesday that he is perfectly happy not acting around the clock and would rather focus on the world around him rather than on the one in the studio.
Marvel Star Chris Evan said Tuesday that he is perfectly happy not acting around the clock and would rather focus on the world around him rather than on the one in the studio. Stevie Dance/GQ
“I could just make furniture for nobody and be happy,” claims Evans who added that he doesn't want to
Stevie Dance/GQ

According to Evans, he would much rather pursue his own interests rather than acting.

“I could just make furniture for nobody and be happy,” he noted, adding that he doesn’t want to “occupy too much space in an industry that I’ve already poured 20 years into.”

“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,” mused the Hollywood hunk. “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.”


“There are some people that you meet and you just think, Man, that’s a movie star,” Evans, 42, told GQ for their October cover story adding that he believes he isn’t one of them. Stevie Dance/GQ

The “Ghosted” actor hasn’t stepped foot onto a movie set in months. “I haven’t worked all year and I don’t plan to which has been lovely,” he told the outlet.

Due to a scheduling error last year, Evans filmed three movies back-to-back — which he massively regrets.


“My girlfriend that I’ve had for a while when we began dating,” recalled Evans “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.”chrisevans/Instagram
Evans would later go on to marry 26-year-old Alba Baptista in a private ceremony several months later.
Evans would later go on to marry 26-year-old Alba Baptista in a private ceremony several months later. chrisevans/Instagram

“My girlfriend that I’ve had for a while when we began dating … 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,” he recalled. “And even when that year was happening, I was like, man, never again.” (Evans would later go on to marry 26-year-old Alba Baptista in a private ceremony earlier this month.)

Even though the “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” actor enjoyed filming the movies, the experience was exhausting.


Evans later stated that he would
Evans later stated that he would “would run away from the leading man role every time if I could.” Stevie Dance/GQ
“Someone like Robert Downey Jr. walks in the room and he owns the oxygen,” explained Evans.
“Someone like Robert Downey Jr. walks in the room and he owns the oxygen,” explained Evans. “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. ” Stevie Dance/GQ

“I think as much as you try to keep the experience of making a film in a vacuum and isolate it from all the kind of egoic narrative that wants to break through, be emotionally accessible and vulnerable and take risks, you can’t help but be aware of yourself,” he told GQ. “And as a result, there is a little egoic voice in your head that is aware of your past, that is measuring your future. It’s considering the story of yourself, which I think is fundamentally unhealthy and, for me, starts to erode some of my joy.”

As for taking on another leading role in the future? “[I] would run away from the leading man role every time if I could,” he revealed. “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. Whatever needs to be said. That’s fine. Because as an actor, there’s two sides to the profession, isn’t there? There’s the thing you do on set and then the things you do after. And it’s that after stuff that I still struggle with.”

He concluded: “And it’s that after stuff that some people are just phenomenal at and some people are just born to do it. I say: Let ’em. I’m not trying to fit into that box. So if a good supporting role comes along, I’m jumping at it. Just like ‘Knives Out.’ I’m happy to be in an ensemble. I don’t need to carve out some sort of leading man niche for myself.”