5 Tidbits From the Captain America: Civil War Press Conference
It’s one thing to be excited when it’s announced the stars of your favourite superhero franchise are coming to town, it’s quite another to actually get to see them face to face. Well, face to many faces, more accurately. The Southeast Asia Press Conference for Captain America: Civil War was a microcosm of the region and beyond, with representatives from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and even from Vietnam and Australia turning up for the event this morning at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre.
And although it was a pretty short press conference lasting no more than 30 minutes, here are 5 little tidbits we managed to glean from the lips of the movie’s co-director Joe Russo and the stars of the film, Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan.
1. Captain America: Civil War is ‘heart-breaking’
One word to describe the movie? #SebastianStan 'heart-breaking' #TeamCap
— Marvel Studios Singapore (@MarvelSingapore) April 21, 2016
Sebastian Stan seemed just a little less engaged as co-stars Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie during the press conference. My guess is that he’s already feeling the fatigue of a whirlwind worldwide press tour that’s only just begun. After all, they had just flown in from Beijing, where the movie premiered earlier this week.
But when Stan was asked by host Glenn Ong what was one word he would use to describe the movie, he called it ‘heart-breaking’, most likely referring to the bitter divide between #TeamCap and #TeamIronMan in the movie. In our upcoming review of the movie, we mention that we didn’t quite experience the depths of the emotional stakes involved, but for you Stony fans (you know who you are…) I guess ‘heart-breaking’ is appropriate.
For what it’s worth, Evans said ‘record-breaking’ and Mackie said ‘butt-kicking’, both of which we definitely agree with.
2. The ‘rivalry’ between #TeamCap and #TeamIronMan makes for pretty hilarious stuff
When asked how #TeamCap prepares for press conferences like these, Mackie immediately jumped in with “Yes, lah, yes, lah.”
“The reason why the four of us have to be sent on this tour together is we try to get to know the culture that we are in, and eat the food, and meet the people. Whereas #TeamIronMan? They’re more about… going and being pampered. They go from the press conference to the spa, from the spa to their jet,
“We are more about mingling, we hitchhike. Everybody hanging on to me while I put on a jet pack. It’s really more so about learning stuff about the people. Eating stingray and chilli crab and learning “yes lah” or “no lah”. Stuff like that we really enjoy.”
3. Anthony Mackie loves being Anthony Mackie
If there was one clear star of the press conference, it was Anthony Mackie. At one point, he snarkily jumped in to imitate the Australian accent of a journalist asking a question, even though the journalist shot him right back down after that with “Nice try.”.
But later when The Straits Times journalist raised the issue of Falcon’s “bird suit”, Mackie started firing on all fronts.
“If mine is described as a ‘bird suit’, then Tony’s should be a ‘Coca Cola can’… Scarlett Johansson, I would describe as… ‘perfect’… so he’s (as he pointed to each member of #TeamIronMan) Coke can, perfect, trash can, magic marker, Michelin tyre.”
It was nice to see Mackie not take the opportunity to shame his co-star Johansson, perhaps recalling the flak that he got for some sexist comments early last year, as well as the PR nightmare that was co-stars Jeremy Renner and Evans using extremely misogynistic terms to refer to Johansson (albeit, jokingly) during the Avengers: Age of Ultron press tour.
4. Chris Evans really, really likes the relationship between Cap and Black Widow
When asked who Cap would’ve preferred to be romantically paired with, Evans had a rather thoughtful answer.
“It’s tricky because in the comic book, he follows a certain plot line where there is a relationship with (Agent 13 / Sharon Carter) Emily VanCamp, and it certainly follows in the lineage in terms of where Cap considers his home to be with Peggy Carter (his earlier romantic interest), and Sharon Carter is kind of an incarnation of what he sees as something familiar.
“But the way the Marvel Cinematic Universe has unfolded, I have always felt that it’s tough, because I would say Black Widow, but we’ve established such a nice platonic thing.
“You have two characters from very different worlds, Cap and Black Widow, who have very different backgrounds and found a kind of comfort in one another in times of distress. I always thought that would be a very interesting dynamic to pursue but at the same time it’s very sweet and very pure that they have kept it platonic, and they have found something else besides an intimate relationship to lean upon.
So, I dunno, I guess this is a long-winded answer of me saying ‘I don’t know’.”
5. Captain America: Civil War is an “incredibly important” movie in the MCU
The final question of the press conference was an appropriate closer, and one that our upcoming review will touch on a little. How important is Captain America: Civil War to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Co-director Joe Russo had this response:
“Winter Soldier changed the external structure of the Marvel Universe with the dissolution of SHIELD. I think this movie changes the psychology of the Marvel Universe in a very significant and important way. The rammifications of Civil War are not over, they’re going to carry over significantly into Infinity War. So this movie is really setting up the two defining films of Phase I, II and II – the Infinity War movies, and puts all of the characters in a very, very complicated place. So I think, it’s critically important, probably the most important Marvel movie to date.”
And that’s that! Though it was just a short 30 minute encounter, it was such a pleasure to see the co-director and three of the stars from #TeamCap in person. Be sure to catch them on the Blue Carpet this evening at 6pm at Marina Bay Sands’ ice skating rink. And don’t forget to watch out for the response by #TeamCap to Paris and the Eiffel Tower choosing #TeamIronMan! It’s happening tomorrow night, 8pm at the Helix Bridge.
