Captain America: The First Avenger is an upcoming 2011 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Captain America. The film is being directed by Joe Johnston, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans as Captain America. The film will be the fifth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Captain America: The First Avenger first began as a concept in 1997 and was scheduled to be distributed by Artisan Entertainment. However, a lawsuit caused disruption to the project and it was settled in September 2003. After Marvel Studios received a grant from Merrill Lynch, the project was set up atParamount Pictures. Directors Jon Favreau and Louis Leterrier were considered to direct the project before Johnston was approached in 2008. The principal characters were cast between March 2010 and June 2010. Production of Captain America: The First Avenger began in June 2010 and filming took place inLondon, Manchester and Liverpool in the United Kingdom, and Los Angeles in the United States. The film was converted to 3D in post-production.
The film is scheduled for release on July 22, 2011
Premise
In 1942, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is deemed physically unfit to enlist in the U.S. Army and fight the Nazis in World War II. Volunteering instead for Project: Rebirth, a secret military operation, he is physically transformed into a super-soldier dubbed Captain America. With sidekick Bucky Barnes(Sebastian Stan), he fights the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), Hitler's treacherous head of advanced weaponry, whose own plan for world domination involves a seemingly magical object known as the Tesseract.
Cast
- A sickly young man who is enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States war effort. Evans said he declined the part three times before signing a six-picture deal with Marvel, explaining that, "At the time, I remember telling a buddy of mine, 'If the movie bombs, I'm fucked. If the movie hits, I'm fucked! I was just scared. I realized my whole decision-making process was fear-based, and you never want to make a decision out of fear. I can't believe I was almost too chicken to play Captain America". He ultimately agreed to the role, saying, "I think Marvel is doing a lot of good things right now, and it's a fun character. ... I think the story of Steve Rogers is great. He's a great guy. Even if it [were] just a script about anybody, I would probably want to do it. So it wasn't necessarily about the comic itself." Evans also said the film will include humor, finding a "happy medium" between "glossy" and "fantastical" Spider-Man and Fantastic Four films, and darker films like The Dark Knight. On this aspect, he compared The First Avenger to Iron Man.
- Tommy Lee Jones as Col. Chester Phillips:
- In the early comics, Phillips recruited Steve Rogers to join Project Rebirth, the secret experiment that created the Super Soldier known as Captain America. The character will be updated for the film. Jones described his character as "the one you've seen in a thousand movies: the gruff, skeptical officer overseeing a team of talented, slightly sarcastic, specially talented soldiers".
- Captain America's nemesis and Adolf Hitler's head of advanced weaponry, whose own plan for world domination involves a magical object known as the Tesseract. In the film, Red Skull is also the commander of the terrorist organization HYDRA. Weaving stated that he patterned Red Skull's accent on those of Werner Herzog and Klaus Maria Brandauer.
- The father of Tony Stark, who worked on various government projects dating back to the World War II era.About the role Cooper stated, "It's an opportunity where you can see his future because I know the guy who becomes my son and I see myself as an older version in Iron Man 2 which is great for an actor to have those tools. All I know of him is that he's a fantastic engineer and inventor and a very slick Howard Hughes type that's into aviation and women!" Rogers, unsatisfied with his USO-issued Captain America costume, turns to Stark to design a sensible ensemble made of sophisticated fabrics.Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan:
- A former circus strongman and a corporal in the Howling Commandos, an elite special unit of U.S. Army Rangers, known for his marksmanship with rifles and for his impressive physique. In an interview with MTV News McDonough stated that he is already growing Dugan's trademark mustache and plans to wear the character's signature bowler hat. About his role in film he remarked, "Oh, I'm going to see a lot of action. [I'm] the go-to guy, so I'm very happy with that".
- Derek Luke as Gabe Jones:
- An African-American member of the elite Howling Commandos combat squad of World War II.
- Stanley Tucci as Dr. Abraham Erskine:
- The scientist who created the Super Soldier Serum. In an interview with Screen Crave Tucci stated that what drew him to the role was the opportunity to do a German accent, which was something that he always wanted to try and that it was "really well written".
- A freedom fighter during World War II and the love interest of Captain America. Regarding her preparation for the role Atwell remarked, "We've got a fabulous crew and team of people working with us and I'm training at the moment six days a week to make her a bit more military and make it convincing that I could kick butt. But it's great fun and I'm really looking forward to doing it". About the character Atwell stated, "I likened her character to that famous Ginger Rogers quote. She can do everything Captain America can do, but backwards and in high heels. She's an English soldier through and through, although she always looks fabulous. She might stand there with a machine-gun shooting Nazis, but she's obviously gone to the loo beforehand and applied a bit of lipstick. She doesn't need to be rescued. That's exciting to me – her strength". "I think she's quite stubborn, a slightly frustrated woman who struggles with being a woman in that time. But more importantly she's a modern woman and she sees something in Captain America that she relates to, and becomes kindred spirits. He treats her very differently to how she's been treated by lots of men, in this kind of dominated world she lives in. So she's very much a fighter."
- An orphan who befriends Captain America and becomes his sidekick. Trade sources said Stan has signed on for "five or six pictures. Stan revealed that he didn't know anything about the comic books but watched a lot of documentaries and films about World War II in preparation for the role, calling Band of Brothers "very helpful". About the role Stan stated, "Steve Rogers and Bucky are both orphans and kind of like brothers. They kind of grow up together and look after each other. It's a very human, relatable thing.... I also wanted to look out for how their relationship changes once Steve Rogers becomes Captain America. There's always a competition and they're always one-upping each other. I paid attention to how Bucky is affected by Steve's change and suddenly Steve is this leader".
- Toby Jones as Arnim Zola:
- A biochemist for the Nazi party during World War II.
- The Red Skull's top assassin.
- Kenneth Choi as Jim Morita:
- A Japanese-American member of the Howling Commandos. Choi stated he was last actor to audition for the part and read sides from Saving Private Ryan during his audition. About his preparation for the role Choi said, "[I] did a lot of WWII research especially in regards to the "Nisei" soldiers, or Japanese-American soldiers. I wanted to get as much true, real-life information for a guy "like" Jim Morita fighting in WWII. I felt that if I had built a "factual" basis for him, I could then let go and permit the character to exist in the Marvel Universe which allows for a lot of imaginative circumstances.
Samuel L. Jackson will reprise his role as Nick Fury, the director of the super-spy agency, S.H.I.E.L.D.. Natalie Dormer has an unspecified role in the film. Stan Lee will have a cameo appearance in the film.