Chris Evans attended TIFF to promote his directorial debut, Before We Go. (He looked really good even though I don’t always dig him with a beard.) Chris also stars in this movie about a young woman (Alice Eve) who misses the last train to Boston and spends the night exploring NYC with a handsome fellow (Evans). The movie sounds like Before Sunrise if the Ethan Hawke character was really built. I haven’t seen any TIFF reviews yet, but the movie should do respectably well based upon Evans’ name alone.

I was torn on how to approach this post. There’s some shallow stuff I’ll talk about in a minute, but I’d like to focus on the man’s words. You guys know by now that Chris Evans interviews are a huge treat for me. He’s a delightful mess of neurotic tics and harmless mood swings. Sometimes I grow irritated when he appears ungrateful, but he always redeems himself. Chris is a terribly anxious person. He often blurts out words before fully digesting how they’ll be perceived.

Media appearances are difficult for Chris, and he’s promoting his movie at TIFF all by himself. He’s doing a great job of it too. Chris gave a talk for Variety Studio that you hardcore Evans fans will appreciate (follow this link to watch). That interview doesn’t have any standout quotes (although he takes Variety to task for zeroing in on his retirement quotes). Chris also sat down with MTV’s resident Marvel fanboy, Josh Horowitz. Here are some excerpts:

How he ended up directing: “The fact is, doing these Marvel movies gives a certain amount of international notoriety and awareness. And that awareness is what affords you the opportunity to greenlight a movie. If you can greenlight a movie by itself and get it on its feet, why not try to direct? I’ve wanted to direct for years, but I never went to film school, and I have no right to be directing. It was very lucky that this Marvel universe has given me such an opportunity to take that chance and let other people, producers take a risk on me.”

Where he learned to direct: “It’s awful to say, but I feel like you learn more from the bad directors than you do from the good. I love the directors that know what they want … when a director knows what they want, that’s what breeds allegiance.”

What happens in Cap 3? “It’s this giant web of plot, where everything is connected to everything else … that’s the beautiful thing. and especially for the fanboys who understand these plotlines. With Cap 3, we’re going to continue this excitement. What do I think about this, what can I say about this? You wanna give something! Marvel doesn’t disappoint. Whatever you’re hoping for, you’re probably going to get.”

Will Winter Soldier or Falcom become Cap? “Who’s handing off the shield? Don’t take my job from me prematurely dude. I’m sure it’ll happen at some point, all good things have to come to an end. But I’m really happy playing the character.”

[From MTV]

I’ve criticized Chris in the past for making statements and backtracking. These quotes could be seen the same way, but I’m cutting him a break. He seems genuine, and he’s realized the fandom loves him as Captain America. Chris knows that he’d make few waves as a director without his Cap notoriety to help him land the gigs. He is grateful. Maybe he’s always been grateful and had issues expressing himself. It happens.

Now for that bit of shallowness I promised. Remember the “Chris Evans is a Dorito” meme? There’s another meme about how Chris grabs his own rack when he laughs. All the time. He gets excited and does it to male costars too. He went wild on Mark Ruffalo once. I’m not gonna link the Tumblr meme, but you can google it. (Sebastian Stan also does a perfect imitation of the Evans rack grab.) Now there’s a brand new meme that spawned from this MTV interview. I feel dirty passing on the news, and Chris has enough neuroses already. Here goes — Chris got a little handsy “down there” out of nervousness. It all happens very fast (at 2:40) in this video. Yes, there are slo-mo gifs already.

Here are a few more photos from TIFF. Robert Downey Jr. was there to premiere The Judge. RDJ’s suit is covered with embroidered cherry blossoms.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & Pacific Coast News