Scott Pilgrim: Chris Evans recalls being heartbroken at the end of filming

The actor says he never had so much fun as he did on this Edgar Wright comedy. It must be said that he played a golden role!

In an interview given to GQ, Chris Evans looks back on his iconic roles, and in particular that of Lucas Lee, in Scott Pilgrim. He tells of the strange way in which Edgar Wright presented him with the role: “The pitch for Scott Pilgrim was very strange, he (Edgar Wright) said ‘Lucas Lee is a movie star but he doesn’t have a lot of talent, and he thinks he’s good when he’s really bad and I think you’d be perfect.’” To the role description Chris Evans mimes a slightly perplexed look “Uh… Okay”.

Scott Pilgrim is an action comedy released in 2010, directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Last Night in Soho) which tells the story of Scott (Michael Cera), a young man falling madly in love with Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) but must first face her seven ex-boyfriends in single combat to hope to date her. Chris Evansin the skin of the bad movie star Lucas Lee plays one of these exes that Scott has to face, who has the particularity of constantly moving around on a skateboard. Here is a little preview :

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“It’s probably the film I had the most fun with, remembers the actor. It was early in my career (…) with a cast of people on the same wavelength.” He recounts with nostalgia: “The actors were very connected. Leaving the set broke my heart.” The actor enjoyed the atmosphere so much that he was ready to “just be there in case you need me”, even when his game was over.

Chris Evans also shares his memories of rehearsals for the film, always with a sweet nostalgia: “It was rehearsals focused on physical actions, a lot of people had action sequences, I had to learn how to skateboard, but the rehearsals were so much fun. You leave and you come back a month later, and you’re too afraid of having missed something so you’re like: ‘What happened guys? You’ve enjoyed yourselves ? Send photos’”.

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He says that even today, 13 years after the release of Scott Pilgrim, the team’s group emails are still very active. He also addresses the flop that the film suffered upon its release: “When I saw it, after the editing just before its release, I said to myself ‘this film is going to be huge’ and strangely no, he didn’t make any waves. A lot of stars have to align for a film to not just be good, but to achieve some degree of success.” Indeed, when the film was released in France in December 2010, it only remained on screen for three weeks for a total of 23,121 admissions, a very low score. Worldwide, it grossed less than $50 million for a budget of $60 (because to properly adapt Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comics, Edgar Wright had obtained a substantial sum from Universal).

Nevertheless, Chris Evans is delighted that the film has had some long-term success: “It’s great to know that it continues to meet new audiences, and it’s even becoming a cult film. This is why we are embarking on the adaptation into an animated series. (…) Edgar just had to say ‘Hey, guys, are you interested?’ and it was a tidal wave to participate in the project.” Indeed, the entire cast of the original film is reunited to dub the animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, which will be released on November 17, 2023 on Netflix. An opportunity for Chris Evans to find his “small family”.

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