Brie Larson made personal sacrifices to be Captain Marvel
It took months before Marvel Studios formally announced who would be playing the buzzed about role of Captain Marvel, and it took Brie Larson months to decided whether or not to take it. In an interview with Net-a-Porter’s Porter magazine, the Oscar winner revealed what ultimately swayed her to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“I spent months thinking about whether or not I was going to do the film and I realized that it was a chance to tell a story on the largest scale possible,” she said. “I know it is going to make me lose some of the things I love most about my life, but I think it’s worth it.”
Larson will portray Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel, a film set before the events of the first Iron Man movie. Samuel L. Jackson will return as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury — this time with both eyes — in a story involving the strongwoman battling the aliens known as Skrulls.
The comics envisioned Carol as an Air Force and C.I.A. service member whose DNA is spliced together with the alien Kree race, granting her superhuman strength, invulnerability, flight, and the power to launch concussive energy blasts from her hands. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige teased that, when Captain Marvel comes on the scene, she’ll “be by far the strongest character we’ve ever had” in a Marvel film.
Larson evolved from an indie-star-to-watch to one of the most in-demand actresses in Hollywood, since she won the best actress Oscar in 2016 for the film Room. But landing a major role in a Marvel Studios film is another level. Larson told The Hollywood Reporter in a 2016 interview how much she values her privacy. “I can’t help but trip out about how similar my life is to Room,” she said. “It’s me wanting to stay in my own little bubble and remain anonymous and invisible and at the same time needing to step up to this hand that I’ve been given.”
The Glass Castle star previously said of accepting the role of Captain Marvel, “Ultimately, I couldn’t deny the fact that this movie is everything I care about, everything that’s progressive and important and meaningful, and a symbol I wished I would’ve had growing up. I really, really feel like it’s worth it if it can bring understanding and confidence to young women — I’ll do it.”