When it was announced that Chris Evans was possibly hanging up his shield as Captain America, there were also some other murmurs that the actor might “retire” from his profession entirely.
The Captain America rumors were eventually set straight by director Joe Russo (the actor’s appearance in the latest Avengers: Endgame trailer also speaks to the fact that Cap is here to stay, at least for now), and Evans has been cast in a handful of upcoming projects including an Apple series called Defending Jacob, in which he plays a dad whose teen son is accused of murder; and Knives Out, an Agatha Christie–esque whodunit costarring Daniel Craig, Lakeith Stanfield, and Michael Shannon. But Evans went one step further to clear the air in his recent cover interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
For starters, the word “retire” irks Evans, who told THR, “I never said the word ‘retire.’ It’s a really obnoxious notion for an actor to say they’re going to retire—it’s not something you retire from.”
However, there is one part of Evans’s past that he is willing to retire from (or at least “chill out” on, in his words), and that would be marijuana. “I’ve chilled out on weed. I used to love it, but now I think it’s the one thing that gets in my way,” he admitted.
Evans further opened up about the effects weed has had on his productivity. “It zaps your motivation. I think apathy kind of bleeds in, and you start to think, ‘Well, I’m not apathetic, I just don’t feel like doing that.’ And it’s like, no—you would feel like doing that if you weren’t stoned. And, you know—I’m 37. I can’t be smoking weed all the time. That’s crazy,” he said.
While the lines between the actor and the heroic character he plays have blurred a bit on social media, when it comes to acting as a role model of sorts, it does seem like Captain America’s goody-two-shoes energy has rubbed off on Evans.
