It’s the 15th anniversary of Captain America: The First Avenger, and what better way to celebrate than to look back on the film’s beginnings with lead casting director Sarah Halley Finn, who has cast all the Marvel Cinematic Universe films since 2008’s Iron Man.
In a new video posted to Marvel’s YouTube channel, Finn opened up about casting Chris Evans in the role of Steve Rogers, A.K.A. Captain America, as well as many other familiar faces.
When Finn signed on to cast The First Avenger, she had recently finished Iron Man. She knew the bar was set high with Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, and when it came to Steve Rogers, she knew “we needed somebody who could really carry not only this particular character, but carry the franchise forward.”
She and her team cast a wide net to find their Steve, but they also knew whoever they picked needed to have a few key qualifications. “The original idea for Steve Rogers was first of all, he would be American,” Finn explained. “There are very many talented British actors, but this character was literally called Captain America, so we did draw some limitations on who we would see.”
Finn and her team drew inspiration from Cap’s portrayal in the comics and the First Avenger screenplay. “He was described as square jawed and athletic,” she added. “He’d have to be noble, reliable, and brave, and very morally centered, which is something that’s actually not that easy to cast. It’s a very subjective quality, but it’s an inherent and essential quality that we were looking for in the actors that we were seeing.”
After going through many actors and screen tests, Finn and her crew didn’t find who they were looking for. Early on, Finn thought Evans might be a good fit, but she knew there was an unspoken rule that he was off-limits, having previously played a different Marvel character, Johnny Storm, in the Fantastic Four films. But after a series of uninspiring screen tests, Finn raised the question in a meeting: “Why can’t we consider Chris Evans?”
“Everyone liked Chris so much as an actor,” she remembered. “Everyone had been fans of his work. And I think because he had so many qualities that were aligned with the character, we actually came away from that thinking maybe we could break our own rule.”
Finn noted that Evans was hesitant to take up Cap’s shield since it would require a new level of responsibility and celebrity. “That hesitance, of course, made everyone want him even more,” she said, “because this was evidence that this was the person to bring that very humility to the screen that we were looking for.”