Anthony Mackie Refused to Take Deadpool 3 Star Hugh Jackman’s Advice, Wanted to Stay Naïve for MCU
Anthony Mackie stepped into the Hollywood entertainment industry in 2002 when he starred in the movie 8 Mile. The very next year, he starred in the LGBT independent film Brother to Brother which won him the Independent Spirit Award. He went on to appear in several other critically acclaimed movies such as Million Dollar Baby, Half Nelson, and Notorious, in which he portrayed the late rapper Tupac Shakur.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is one of the most popular franchises in the world and stars numerous actors to the point that there are hardly any actors who have not been in at least one MCU movie. Anthony Mackie was cast as Sam Wilson aka The Falcon in the 2014 superhero movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier. However, he refused to take Hugh Jackman’s advice before joining the franchise.
Anthony Mackie Was Not Up For Taking Hugh Jackman’s Advice
Anthony Mackie has starred alongside numerous A-listers in the past two decades of his career. From Million Dollar Baby‘s Clint Eastwood to The Adjustment Bureau‘s Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, Mackie has appeared with many popular actors.
In 2011, Anthony Mackie appeared in Shawn Levy’s sci-fi film Real Steel in which Hugh Jackman played the lead role of Charlie Kenton. In an interview with GeekDad, Mackie revealed that he did not take Jackman’s advice before joining MCU, saying:
“I did not want to mess up my experience. I completely wanted to come into this naïve, ignorant and my virginal eyes not knowing anything. It’s funny because Sam [“Nick Fury” Jackson] has done like 15 Marvel movies. And Chris [“Captain America” Evans] and Scarlett [“Black Widow” Johansson,] have done like 6 each. And you know, Sebastian [“The Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes” Stan] has done 3. So I was like, you know, don’t kill my vibe. Like I’m having a good time, we’re doing a Marvel movie, we get the best craft services.”
The Hurt Locker has now starred in several MCU movies himself and has also taken over Captain America’s mantle. In fact, his character has already gotten his own series Disney+.
Anthony Mackie Loved His Superhero Costume
Like every other person in the world, Anthony Mackie too wanted to be a superhero. When he started acting, he had two goals, one of them was starring in a Western, with Clint Eastwood no less, and the second was to be a superhero. He has starred in a Clint Eastwood movie, but it was not a Western. However, he is a superhero now so that’s one thing off his bucket list.
Speaking about his costume in the interview, Mackie said:
“I loved my costume, I loved everything about it. I love doing stunts. I have the best stuntman in the business. We’ve done like five movies together. And literally it’s like that Daffy Duck / Bugs Bunny cartoon, where like the missile is coming and Bugs Bunny’s like paused and then puts Daffy in. And he just takes the brunt of every hit for me. And I love it.”
Mackie went on to say that there is nothing natural about flying to human beings which made it very hard for flying superheroes to act, and so, the actors who play the role of flying superheroes probably have the toughest job in Hollywood.
