Actor Chris Evans almost didn’t star in “Captain America.”
Evans claimed he turned down multiple requests to audition for the role due to his anxiety during Monday’s episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast.
NEW PODCAST: An hour with @ChrisEvans covering his theater roots; panic attacks that almost led him to abandon acting; what convinced him to take on @Marvel‘s Captain America anyway; his acclaimed new @AppleTV limited series DEFENDING JACOB; and much more
https://t.co/CQSllbrkF9 pic.twitter.com/HigactU3uV— Scott Feinberg (@ScottFeinberg) May 25, 2020
“All of a sudden your hobby becomes your job,” Evans said about his quick rise to fame. “Anxiety comes with that.”
Evans said he first started having panic attacks back in 2010 while filming “Puncture.” The panic attacks made him question if acting was the right role for him. Evans later would worry that the role of Steve Rogers in “Captain America” would be too prominent for him and increase his anxiety. (RELATED: Dan Crenshaw Showed Chris Evans His Glass Eye- Twitter Declared War On Captain America)
After turning down the audition several times, Evans ended up with the part.
“It was the best decision I’ve ever made,” Evans said.
“To be honest, all the things that I was fearing never really came to fruition,” he added.
Do we think there could have been a better actor to play the part of Captain America? It definitely would have changed the entire role, but I think that we could have had a successful movie with Chris Hemsworth or Christian Bale.
I’m glad that Evans was able to handle his panic attacks so that we could have the best version of “Captain America.”