Evangeline Lilly felt under pressure making a Marvel movie following the success of ‘Black Panther’.
The 38-year-old actress stars alongside Paul Rudd in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’, but she’s admitted to feeling anxious about the release of her own movie after ‘Black Panther’ proved to be a huge success with fans and critics.
Asked whether she felt a sense of pressure, the actress confessed: "I would love to be cool enough to say no, but at the beginning, when we were shooting … I’m trying to remember the chronology of it, but I think ‘Black Panther’ was shooting at the same time. And you could just feel how cool that was going to be. He was the first African American to be a titled superhero in the MCU, and then I was going to be the first female.
"Of course, ‘Black Panther’ became an international phenomenon, and I am not above admitting that a part of me just went, ‘Eek. I can’t do that. I don’t know how to do that. What? Am I supposed to do that?! Is that what they expect me to be and do?’
"And then you get over yourself and realise that a job’s a job. You just have to go to work and do what you do. The results are not in your hands, and everything else has to be let go off, and that’s not the point anyway."
Evangeline briefly retired from acting earlier this decade before she returned to star in ‘The Hobbit’ franchise.
But the actress – who is also due to star in the next ‘Avengers’ movie – admitted she wrestled with the decision to join the Marvel cast.
She told Digital Spy: "When I realised that I really wanted to do it – which at first I didn’t think I did – then I was faced with a dilemma, because when I took the job on ‘The Hobbit’, in my mind I was just making an exception for Peter Jackson and doing this role that was a fantasy of mine since I was a little girl. And then I was going to bow right back out and it was just going to be a moment.
"And I realised that I really think I want to become an Avenger – who wouldn’t? So then I basically had a ‘come to Jesus’ talk with myself. ‘Honey, it seems to me that this industry is not going to leave you be, you are not going to leave it be. You’re going to continue to dance. So if that’s the case, you either have to make your peace with it or you have to draw a line in the sand right now and tell Marvel no.’
"And, as you can see, I decided to make my peace with it."
Evangeline Lilly felt under pressure making Ant-Man and the Wasp
