Chris Evans Denies Tabloid Reports Of A Nervous Breakdown: “I’m Fine!”
September 14, 2012 by Hollywoodite
Chris Evans has been open about his neuroses, of which he has many, and his inability to handle some of the pressures of fame that admittedly resulted in him getting up and walking out of press junkets when the (otherwise run-of-the-mill) interviews became too stressful. Or he will, for example, sometimes momentarily face backwards on the red carpet as he struggles to maintain composure under the glare of the photographers’ flash bulbs.
He admitted in an interview with Prestige Hong Kong Magazine that: “I’ve made about 20 movies and I’m probably proud of three,” leading people to guess, although he clarified during an interview with Tavis Smiley soon after that he was proud of the three Marvel movies he’d made at the time (Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Captain America). Moreover, he said, he initially turned down the titular role in Captain America, several times, for fear he’d be signing away a decade of his life, commitment, time, and privacy, then buckle whether the movie succeed or failed. And he realised, he told Prestige: “I think the main reason I struggle so much in press, is because I’m usually promoting a piece of s**t. It’s really difficult to find a flowery way to tell people to go see this movie, that your face is all over, that your name is all over, that you’re endorsing. And then you begin to feel like a liar, like you’re transparent. You feel undeserving and it makes the interview extremely uncomfortable, for me at least.”
He went to therapy for his issues. Tabloids like National Enquirer used his own words in stories that made it seem like he was having a nervous breakdown. He wasn’t. He clarifies again while promoting The Iceman during the Toronto International Film Festival.
On how he views the industry and himself as an actor: “Is any of this fun? Not to knock you, but you do these [interviews] and you tell yourself, ‘Well, it’s for this, it’s for that.’ Even right now, I’m like, ‘What am I doing here? What am I talking about? I’m not curing cancer. What the f**k am I doing?’ [Sarcastically:] ‘Well, this is how I prepared for this movie.’ You can’t help but feel… I don’t know. It’s like, who cares? It’s a f**king movie. You don’t need to give a s**t, you know what I mean?”
On his diarrhea of the mouth: “[I]f you think you’re a good person, then you have nothing to hide. It’s such a freeing thing. I tell you what: I used to have a lot of stress and anxiety doing these interviews. And, for me, I’m much more stressful when I feel like I’m trying to be something or just putting on a… anything. Like, if you go into it just being like, ‘Ask me anything,’ I’ll give you the honest answer. [I]f you have an agenda… believe me, I know plenty of actors who do… then you have to tailor your answers and you’re concerned how you appear. And I don’t give a s**t how I come across, because I don’t think I’m a bad guy. And, you know, I’m just gonna tell you what I think.”
On looking forward to work rather than dreading it because Captain America didn’t really make him more famous as a person: “I’m looking forward to it because the movies were so good. Well, I wasn’t happy in the first Cap because, well, not that I wasn’t happy. I was just nervous, you know what I mean? I had taken a role that I was just nervous about. And it was a lifestyle change, and there were a lot of factors on the first Cap. I was just nervous, man. It was a big lifestyle, whatever. And now it’s like, ‘I got it.’ I got it. It’s OK. No one’s f**king kicking down my f**king door. I can still walk around. I can still go to a movie. I think I was just so scared that, like, ‘This is it. I just signed my death warrant; my life’s over. I can’t believe I did this. This isn’t the career I wanted.’ That didn’t happen. None of that sh-t happened. I’m fine, fine.”
On tabloid rumours of a breakdown: “I’m fine! I’m fine! I’m fine. You know, I didn’t have a meltdown and I didn’t lose my f**king mind. And the movies were good. And the biggest thing I worried about was making s**tty f**king movies. I don’t want to make sh-tty movies and be contractually obligated to make garbage. And then be like, ‘This is why you should see a piece of s**t!’ And they were great. And so now, it’s kind of like, ‘All right, well, let’s go try and make this one even better.’ I feel comfortable in the role. I love Marvel and I’m actually, dare I say … excited.” – via The Huffington Post.