With less than a month to
go before the release of Marvel Studios’ second superhero summer blockbuster
Captain America: The First Avenger
, anticipation is already high for the movie
based on Marvel’s mightiest hero. In the film, actor
Chris Evans
(
Fantastic
Four
) plays Steve Rogers, a physically unfit U.S. Army soldier in World War II,
who volunteers for a secret military operation that transforms him into a
super-soldier in order to defeat the Red Skull (
Hugo Weaving
), a mad man working
with Hitler. The film will act as a jumping off point for
The Avengers
, which
is currently shooting and promises to bridge elements together from all of the
Marvel universe films including
Iron Man
,
Iron Man 2
,
The Incredible Hulk
,
Thor
, and
Captain America
.
One of those key elements
is Howard Stark, father of Tony Stark, who was played by
Mad Men
actor
John
Slattery
in
Iron Man 2
. This time around actor
Dominic Cooper
will play a
younger, 1942 version of
Iron Man
’s dad who is supposedly the man that Steve
Rogers will turn to for help creating his famous red, white, and blue costume.
Last night while on the red carpet for his new film
The Devil’s Double
, which
is currently in competition at the
L.A. Film Fest
, I caught up with the
impressive young actor and took the opportunity to ask him about playing Howard
Stark in
Captain America
.
I asked
Cooper
if he
studied
Robert Downey Jr.
’s performance as Tony Stark to get an idea for how he
should approach playing Howard. “Yeah of course, what a wonderful sort of
representation to know who you son is going to become,” replied
Cooper
. “It
gave me an idea of how slick he should be, what a wonderful entrepreneur and
inventor the man should be. Then you think of the period of time that he grew
up in, so it was wonderful. It was just amazing to be part of that Marvel
world.” I followed up and asked the actor to describe the WWII setting and look
of the film. “It is very slick. It looks incredible, the mechanics of it,” he
said.
Finally, I asked
Cooper
if he would like to collaborate with Marvel again in the future on another
project. “Yeah. I think they’re an incredible company and they make brilliant
films.”
Captain America: The First Avenger
opens in theaters on July 22nd.