Do you remember Before We Go, a romantic drama starring Chris Evans, Alice Eve, Emma Fitzpatrick, and Mark Kassen? And if you do (impressive!), did you know Marvel’s erstwhile Captain America also directed it? 10 years after the release, Evans confirmed to an excited New York Comic Con audience that he’s ready to get into the director’s chair again as soon as possible.
The actor took the stage at NYCC for a 15-20 minute panel to talk a little bit about his private life, his career ambitions, and most importantly, his dog. The ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike meant he couldn’t talk about the MCU—no matter how many people were in fabulous Cap cosplay in the audience—or any other projects. He did, however, express his desire to helm another film, even as early as next year if the right script comes along.
“I directed a film 10 years ago. I loved it, but you learn how much it demands. There are months of prep and post-work. So it has to be a script where, for the director, it’s the first thing you think about when you wake up and the last thing you think about before sleeping,” Evans said. “I was eager to get the chance when I did, so I took a bit of a broken script hoping to fix it. Now I know it needs to be something you need to make, it’s not enough to be curious [about directing]. It has to be a deep passion. And I’m not a writer, unfortunately, but I am on the hunt to find something soon.”
In a similar vein, Evans also said he’s looking to do his next Broadway play next year, five years after his stage debut in Lobby Hero. “Again, it has to be a passion because the commitment of doing eight shows a week is massive. It can’t just be something you love to do, it requires real commitment.” A fun fact he did reveal is that he went to high school with Succession’s Jeremy Strong, our favorite expert method actor (sorry, that’s not going to go away), and both of them did Shakespeare plays together. “I was just trying to keep up with him,” Evans joked, but it’s probably true.
The rest of the brief panel was devoted to Evans talking about his love of autumn, stories about his dog Dodger, and oh yeah, he also confirmed he got married to Portuguese actor Alba Batista earlier this year. Still, all we’ll be thinking about is a teen Strong and Evans duking it out as Shakespeare characters.