Chris Evans might look like he has it all together, but inside, he struggles with anxiety like the rest of us. In fact. his anxiety was so bad, it almost prevented him from taking the Captain America role.
During a recent episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, Evans explained that he initially turned down the role.
He explained that when he was first called to audition, he was going through a weird time in his life. He was experiencing mini panic attacks on set and questioning if he wanted to continue acting.
They were enough to throw me a bit and enough to make me a question, like I said earlier, if I was on the right path. Sometimes it takes a little bit of a nightmare to wake you up. I really started to think, ‘I’m not sure if this is the right thing for me. I’m not sure if I’m feeling as healthy as I should be feeling.'”
So when Marvel called him up wanting him to audition, he thought about it for a day, and then turned them down.
But Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige really wanted Evans. He invited Evans to a meeting at the studio, and while it went well, Evans left still thinking he was going to say no.
I left Marvel. I said, ‘You know, I’ve said no to this a couple times and I woke up feeling pretty good. I’m going to stick to my guns’. I called my team and I said, ‘Look, I’m passing. Thank them but no thanks.’
But still, Feige wanted him, so he offered him the part without having to audition. He gave Evans the weekend to think about it.
I took the weekend and I went to a few different therapists. I had never really been to therapy before. Just, you know, talked to a few different people.
I had a lot of people just say to me—they understood where I was coming from—but they said it sounded like I was making decisions based on fear, which is not untrue. They said, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t live life that way.’
So he took the role and now he’s happier than ever. He claims it was the “best” decision he’s ever made.
And while most of us can’t relate to the specific situation of starring in one of the biggest movie franchises in history, we can relate to the feeling of wanting to turn down an opportunity out of fear.
Whether it’s fear of failure, the added pressure, or just general anxiety, we’ve all felt it.
Sometimes you need to say “yes” to move forward in life. Even when it scares you.
