Anthony Mackie Wrote Marvel Letters Asking to Play Black Panther, Joined MCU Not Knowing It Was for the Falcon Instead: ‘I’m Like, Really?’

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” almost pulled an “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” by opening with an extended sequence featuring a de-aged version of its main star. “Dial of Destiny” de-aged Harrison Ford to mixed results for a 25-minute opener. “Dead Reckoning” director Christopher McQuarrie ultimately nixed an idea to de-age Tom Cruise because the technology just isn’t convincing enough yet. “Originally, there had been a whole sequence at the beginning of the movie that was going to take place in 1989,” McQuarrie told GamesRadar+ and Total Film. “We talked about it as a cold open, we talked about it as flashbacks in the movie, we looked at de-aging.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director In a new video interview with GQ magazine, Harrison Ford revealed that he pushed back against Indiana Jones’ iconic costume when he first saw the plans for his character during the development of Steven Spielberg’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981). The costume included a leather jacket, a bullwhip and a pinch-front fedora that Ford stapled to his head during production so that it would not fly off during action scenes. Ford told GQ he still has the staple scars. “It was presented to me as an aspect of character in the first film,” Ford said about Indiana Jones’ costume. “My questions about it were many. Why am I wearing a leather jacket in the jungle? Isn’t it hot here? Why am I carrying a whip? What am I going to do with a fucking whip? I’m going to whip people?”

For years, the idea of films and TV shows based on video game franchises was ridiculous, as almost every single one of them was terrible. However, in the 2020s, that has changed.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director A July 2000 clip from “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” has gone viral on social media for featuring the eponymous late night host making a joke to Harrison Ford about the actor playing Indiana Jones when he’s 80 years old. That panned out to be somewhat true in the recently-released “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which opened in theaters just a few weeks before Ford turns 81 years old. “People will never get tired of that genre,” O’Brien told Ford at the time. “When you’re 80 you could just do ones where they bring the treasures to you.” Ford burst into laughter, with O’Brien adding that an “Indiana Jones” movie starring an 80-year-old Harrison Ford could be titled, “Indiana Jones and the Comfortable Bed.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Harrison Ford roasted Conan O’Brien on a recent episode of the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast after the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” icon discovered O’Brien had “Han Solo” written down in his notes for the interview. The two men were playfully arguing about Ford’s ancestry, which led O’Brien to consult some info he had jotted down prior to the interview. “I refer you to this piece of paper right here,” O’Brien said. “That says, ‘Born and raised in Chicago to an Irish German father—'” Ford leaned over to take a look at O’Brien’s notes and then interrupted the host when he realized they included a reminder that Ford played Han Solo in the “Star Wars” franchise. Along with Indiana Jones, Han Solo is Ford’s most iconic character.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Rebecca Romijn’s tenure as Raven Darkhölme/Mystique in the “X-Men” franchise included four feature films (and an uncredited cameo in a fifth) and two male directors who went on to be accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate set behavior. Bryan Singer directed Romijn in “X-Men,” “X2” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” while Brett Ratner took over filmmaking duties on “X-Men: The Last Stand.” Several men have accused Singer of sexual assault, while various “X-Men” actors have called Singer unprofessional on set. High profile actors such as Olivia Munn, Elliot Page and Natasha Henstridge have alleged Ratner sexually harassed them and/or acted rudely toward them on set. Despite many actors coming out publicly against Singer and Ratner over the years, Romijn has never joined the chorus of voices. Why? She told The Independent in a new interview that she’s remained silent because she has nothing else to add on the topics.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Harrison Ford just wrapped up his tenure as Indiana Jones in the franchise’s fifth installment, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which opened in theaters just a few weeks before the actor’s 81st birthday. Tom Cruise hopes to have the same longevity when it comes to playing Ethan Hunt in Paramount’s long-running “Mission: Impossible” franchise. Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald at the Australian premiere of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” Cruise said he wants to keep making “Mission: Impossible” movies until he is Ford’s age. Cruise just turned 61 years old on July 3, 2023. “Harrison Ford is a legend; I hope to be still going. I’ve got 20 years to catch up with him,” Cruise said. “I hope to keep making ‘Mission: Impossible’ films until I’m his age.”

When Anthony Mackie makes his big-screen debut as Captain America in the upcoming “Captain America: Brave New World”, he’ll be joined by Marvel newcomer Harrison Ford.

Anthony Mackie opened up about all things Marvel in a recent interview.

profile.“The first day was so intimidating,” Mackie said. “I was so f–king nervous I couldn’t remember my lines. He’s Harrison f–king Ford.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Anthony Mackie told Inverse that he was so nervous to shoot opposite Harrison Ford on their first day of filming “Captain America: Brave New World” that he forgot the script. Marvel’s upcoming fourth “Captain America” movie finds Mackie’s Sam Wilson stepping into the title role for the first time in a feature film. Ford is a new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, replacing the late William Hurt as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. “The first day was so intimidating,” Mackie said. “I was so fucking nervous I couldn’t remember my lines. He’s Harrison fucking Ford. There is this aura about him. But he dispels that really quickly because he’s such a cool guy. He’s everything a movie star should be. He would say, ‘Let’s shoot this piece of shit.’ And everybody was like, ‘Yeah, let’s shoot this shit.’”

Before Anthony Mackie was Captain America, and even before Falcon, he had his eyes on playing another Marvel character.

MCU fans know Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, aka: The Falcon, who will soon don the Captain America mantle in “Captain America: Brave New World” next year. But if Mackie had his way, he’d be another Marvel superhero altogether: Black Panther.

Anthony Mackie was asked about the allegations against fellow Marvel actor Jonathan Majors.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Anthony Mackie is one of the first Marvel actors to publicly weigh in on the assault allegation facing Jonathan Majors, who joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe earlier this year as Kang the Conquerer in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” Majors’ Kang is the new Thanos-sized villain of the MCU, meaning it’s likely he’s supposed to come face to face with Mackie’s new Captain America at some point in the future. “We’re a country that was built on ‘everyone is innocent until proven guilty,’” Mackie told Inverse when asked by Majors’ alleged assault. “That’s one of the staples of this country. Nothing has been proven about this dude. Nothing. So everyone is innocent until proven guilty. That’s all I can say. It’s crazy where we are as a society. But as a country, everyone is innocent until proven guilty.”

Jonathan Majors is “innocent until proven guilty” in response to the ongoing case against the latter.Majors was arrested on March 25 on multiple charges of assault and aggravated harassment following a domestic dispute with a 30-year-old woman. According to police, she was later taken to a local hospital in Manhattan “with minor injuries to her head and neck”.

Captain America believes in justice. Which is why Anthony Mackie, who is set to play the iconic role, is urging everyone not to rush to condemn fellow actor Jonathan Majors (aka Kang the Conqueror), who faces multiple accusations of violence against several women.

Anthony Mackie will soon hold the distinction of playing not one but two iconic Marvel superheroes, with his previous character — Falcon — picking up Steve Rogers’ shield to become the next Captain America, a transition that will come to fruition in next year’s “Captain America: Brave New World”.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge tried to out-prank each other during the making of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” the latter actor revealed in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. “From the moment we met, it was shithead’s all round,” Waller-Bridge said. “We were taking the piss out of each other all the time, and having a lot of fun. The most extraordinary thing about working with Harrison is that you’re definitely at work — in that his work ethic is so on point, and his discipline is so extraordinary — but because he’s that specific and the foundation of the work is really strong, the rest of it can be really fun. There were a lot of pranks… lots of pranks.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel (“Zama”) was one of several female directors courted by Marvel Studios to direct “Black Widow,” the comic book tentpole centered on Scarlett Johansson’s assassin. Martel revealed in 2018 that she turned down the project after a meeting with Marvel in which the studio told her to focus on character and not the action scenes. In a recent interview with The Film Stage, Martel confessed she never ended up seeing “Black Widow.” “No, no, no — I didn’t see ‘Black Widow.’ I tried to,” Martel said. “They contacted a great number of female directors. I never would have imagined that Marvel could contact and bring together a pool of directors and I would be a part of it; I never thought that would be possible. I would have loved to make a film with them but I would have had to provide something that I would like to see in that world.”