action — and daringly defy film relationship tropes. By Gina McIntyre When it comes to the superhero spy game, an easy facility with falsehood can get you far. Which helps explain the unlikely friendship that develops between Chris Evans’ unfailingly forthright patriotic hero and Scarlet Johansson’s ethically dubious operative in Marvel’s latest comic book adventure, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. “She made a life based on lies and deceit and malleable morality, and Cap couldn’t lie if he tried to,” said Evans, seated beside his costar in a sparsely furnished chamber at a Beverly Hills hotel. “These aren’t two characters that you would necessarily know had so much in common,” Johansson agreed. “They’re deceivingly similar. They’re having this huge identity crisis. ... ‘What do I want? Why do I want it? What do I need from someone else?’ We started to say, ‘Maybe they see the reflection in one another.’” Captain America: The Winter Soldier was conceived as Marvel’s answer to the gripping thrillers of the ’70s — The French Connection, Three Days of the Condor — though perhaps its closest modern-day comparison would be to The Bourne Identity, if Jason Bourne occasionally wore a red, white and blue spandex suit and could safely sky-dive out of an airplane without a parachute. The $170mn production has the requisite car chases, explosions and a third act brimming with CG spectacle, but the film also has far more on its mind than cheap visual thrills. Drone technology, government surveillance, corruption and the unchecked consolidation of powers are all engines that power the narrative. (Tackling Big Issues seems to have become de rigueur in Hollywood blockbusters of late — Elysium, RoboCop, even Noah has a topical bent — but Captain America might be the only movie to update Cold War paranoia for the Edward Snowden age.) The movie, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and directed by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, has received near universal praise in advance of its opening, with critics responding to its mix of intrigue, action and emotional performances, as Evans and Johansson guide Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff through a setting that challenges them both to reevaluate choices they’ve made and where their loyalties lie. Vulnerability is a rare luxury for characters who essentially seem indestructible, but the scenes in which Cap and Black Widow let down their guard and flirt with the idea of taking their friendship in a less platonic direction were the most satisfying for the actors, longtime friends offscreen. “It’s nice for Chris and I to get to do dramatic work together,” Johansson said. “We work well together, I think, and admire one another as actors, and we’re used to being able to throw the ball back and forth because we’ve done that in the past in other films that we’ve done. We’re also older actors now and more comfortable taking our time. You can wait for the emotion to come and let the moment happen.” In person, the duo has an easy manner not entirely dissimilar from their action movie counterparts’. With his off-duty beard and a frame more slender than Steve Rogers’ robust build, Evans alluded to his struggling to reconcile himself to his celebrity — even suggesting a future when he works predominantly behind the camera as a director. Johansson, hair tied back and snacking on peanut M&M’s, signalled her readiness to dive back in for another mission. Evans and Johansson first appeared on screen together 10 years ago in the high school heist film The Perfect Score, about seniors out to steal the answers to the SAT. That was before his first turn as a superhero in Fantastic Four — he played another Marvel hero, Johnny Storm, also known as the Human Torch — but just after her memorable performance in Sofia Coppola’s 2003 romantic postcard Lost in Translation. They also both appeared in 2007’s The Nanny Diaries — she starred in the chick-lit adaptation; Evans played the love interest character dubbed the Harvard Hottie. It was Johansson who originated her current Marvel persona first, in 2010’s Iron Man 2, while Evans arrived in Joe Johnston’s 2011 World War II-era Captain America: The First Avenger, which chronicled the beginnings of the hero, who was co-created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon and made his comic book debut in 1941. Captain America and Black Widow originally teamed — as part of a group that included Thor, Iron Man and the Hulk, among others — to battle an alien invasion that threatened to destroy Manhattan in 2012’s The Avengers. It was during the extensive global press tour that anticipated the release of Joss Whedon’s $1bn-plus hit that Johansson, 29, said she first became aware of the plan to partner her character with Evans’ in The Winter Soldier, but she initially couldn’t picture the pairing, given Widow’s flexible mortality and Cap’s unwavering code of honour. The push-pull between Cap and Widow leads to a complex, screen dynamic that at moments threatens to tip into romance, but their relationship ultimately is painted as nothing quite so black and white. — Los Angeles Times/MCT Pitt wants Kings of Leon Actor Brad Pitt, who is planning to marry Angelina Jolie later this year, is hoping to book the Kings of Leon to play at their wedding. He is hoping the band, which includes brothers Caleb, Jared, Nathan and cousin Matthew Followill, aren’t on tour on during that period, reports contactmusic.com. The rockers have a few British dates lined up for the summer, including headlining Isle Of Wight festival in June, and Brad is hoping they can make “dates work”. “Brad ended up partying with Kings of Leon recently. He spent most of the night talking to Caleb and he sounded them out about playing. It will happen if they can make the dates work,” said a source. Pitt and Jolie met on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith in 2005 and raise six kids together. They got engaged in April 2012. — IANS Parker gets fiery on Twitter Actress Sarah Jessica Parker got furious after a relationship expert used online microblogging site Twitter to insult her children. She tweeted against author Sarah Symonds in a series of angry messages, reports contactmusic.com. “I’m certain there isn’t a woman on this planet who would support your specific kind of cruelty. No apology, no explanation... You should be ashamed... I hope more people join me in voicing their objection to and holding accountable, uninformed and unkind women like yourself who find pleasure and delight in attacking other women,” she posted.Symonds’s post which triggered Parker’s rant was deleted from her page. That angered the Sex and the City star further. “Your anonymity doesn’t diminish your outrageous and vulgar tweet. And your deletion only reveals your cowardice,” she added. Parker has twin daughters Marion and Tabitha, who were born through a surrogate. Symonds is best remembered for alleging in 2008 that she had an affair with married celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. — IANS FURIOUS: Sarah Jessica Parker. Lupita Nyong’o to Actress Lupita Nyong’o has become the new face of luxury French beauty brand Lancome. The Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave actress has just signed up to become the new ambassadress of the brand, and in that capacity, she will appear in its September 2014 campaign, shot by star photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. “I am truly honoured to join the Maison Lancome, a brand with such a prestigious history and that I have always loved,” contactmusic.com quoted her as saying. “I am particularly proud to represent its unique vision for women and the idea that beauty should not be dictated, but should instead be an expression of a woman’s freedom to be herself,” she added. — IANS
to play on his wedding day
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BONDING ONSCREEN: Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.Captain America characters charge into
