Anthony Mackie talks Falcon, ‘Captain America Winter Soldier,’ being ‘intergral’ in the story and not ‘bulking up’
Captain America: The Winter Soldier will add Anthony Mackie to the Marvel family as Cap’s sidekick Falcon. During interview with Collider promoting Pain & Gain, Mackie spoke about casting and the role thus far.
“I was offered Captain America,” reveals Mackie. “It was just a straight offer. I met with the directors and the producers and talked to them and we were kind of on the same page about what it is we thought the character could be and they really were interested in my input and my ideas.”
Falcon concept art for ‘Winter Soldier’
The Real Steel co-star is excited about the project and the opportunities will be birthed out of the role.
“You do the Marvel movies to garner you the ability to do the movies that you really want to do,” says Mackie. “The other movies, the smaller movies. Doing a movie like Captain America – that puts your name in the mouth of everyone in this country and in the living room of everybody.”
Speaking to BlackFilm the actor said: “I’m happy to say that I’m in a good deal of the movie and I play an integral part with Captain America taking down the Winter Soldier. It’s great.
“They started the shoot two and a half weeks ago and once I finished doing press for Pain & Gain, I go in and join them. I’ve been doing combat training and fitness training just to get prepared.”
“It’s going to be something and I’m excited for it.”
His role in Pain & Gain may have been the first step, but Mackie had to beef up a bit for the role.
“I didn’t want to get too bulky,” he explains. “There’s a lot of limitations to how big I was for Pain & Gain, whereas with this I just want to be fit, you know. I just want to be in shape to where I can go in and do all the stunts and all the things I feel like I would need to do to bring this character to life.
“I met with the studio very early on and I told them I was going to throw on some weight and get bigger and they said, ‘No, no, no, no don’t do that. Stay a smaller weight and we’ll figure out something character-wise.’ So, you know, that’s kind of what it turned into.”
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens in theaters April 4, 2014.
