Interview With Anthony Mackie, AKA “The Falcon”

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While on our visit to LA, we were able to chat with the very funny Anthony Mackie.  I was laughing so hard I was holding onto my chair so I wouldn’t fall off of it (yes, I’m graceful) and was gasping-breathing.  Read on to hear him talk about his hatred of diets, his insane workouts for this film, his sad breakup with Jack Daniels, and why flying sucks.   This is my kind of superhero.

Question- How was the whole Falcon costume experience?

Anthony Mackie: It was no fun. The hardest working actors in Hollywood are flying superheroes. I said it, I don’t care what Thor says with his hammer. I don’t care what Wolverine says. If you fly, it sucks.

I loved my costume, I loved everything about it. I love doing stunts. I have the best stuntman in the business. We’ve done like five movies together. And literally it’s like that Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny cartoon, where like the missile is coming and Bugs Bunny’s like paused and then puts Daffy in. And he just takes the brunt of every hit for me. And I love it. [LAUGHS] There’s nothing natural about flying to humans. There’s nothing we do that’s like flying. So my first day on set I walk in, I’m like, “What’s up, yo. Falcon in the building, what’s up?” Right.

And so I get up on like a 60 foot platform. And I’m like, all right, let’s do this. You know, brother in the building. And they said, “All right, stand on the edge of the platform, there’s a jet coming at you. We want you to stand up, turn around, shoot your guns and jump back backwards head first, into this mat.” From 60 feet in the air.

And I’m like, “Whoa!” The first day is usually like walking down a hallway, or eating or something. You know, just to break you in. Not jumping off the platform to your death.

So once we did that, in the scalding heat of the day, I kinda knew what I was in for. And it just got worse from there. It was really painful and exhausting. But Aaron Toney, my stuntman, literally, he fell out of a car at 40 miles an hour. He got messed up on this movie. So kudos to him. [LAUGHS]

Question- What did you do to train and prepare for this film?

Anthony Mackie: Salmon, chicken, tuna fish, asparagus. And a cup of brown rice at noon. Every day. For three months. When I played high school football we used to do these things called two-a-days. Basically at six a.m. you wake up, get ready, go to the gym for an hour. And you do cardio, just like Jane Fonda s*it. And then you come home, and you just rest and eat every three hours. Then at 7 p.m. you go to the gym, and literally lift whatever you can find. For about an hour and a half. And then you go home and go to sleep. And then you wake up and do it again.

I did that for three months. Fitness is a lifestyle, you have to eat a certain way. You have to do a certain thing, you have to live a certain way. So you know, me and my homeboy Jack Daniels stopped talking. You know, no more, pizza. Me and my girlfriend Haagen Dazs broke up. She’s French, it was crazy.

And then I show up and you know, Chris looks like a Greek god. And I’m feeling good about myself, I’m like Spandex ready, you know. And I show up and he’s like, Captain Tiny As$. And I’m like, “Dude, how’d you get your as$ that small?”

When I put my costume on, everybody was like, “Damn, we got to let out the air.” But I made it through it. [LAUGHS]

Question- What was it like the first time you put the costume on?

Anthony Mackie: It was great. The first time I put that costume on, I couldn’t stop smiling. I was running around the room. It’s one of those moments where you just have to allow yourself to enjoy it.

My costume was 45 minutes to get in it. It was like five minutes to get out. But it was fun. I really took every moment to enjoy being a super hero. So yeah, it was, it was a good time.

Question- How do you feel about being the first African-American superhero?

Anthony Mackie: It’s funny you should ask that. [LAUGHS] It’s cool. When I was a kid, I really didn’t have a person I could look at, other than my dad, and be like, “Hey, I want to be that guy and fly through the window.” You couldn’t be like seven years old and say, “Who do you want to be for Halloween?  Shaft!”

So [LAUGHS] you know, it’s really exciting. When I first got this role I just cried like a baby because I was like, “Wow, next Halloween, I’m gonna open the door and there’s gonna be a little kid dressed as the Falcon.” That’s the thing that always gets me. I feel like everybody deserves that. I feel like there should be a Latino superhero. Scarlett does great representation for all the other girls, but there should be a Wonder Woman movie. I don’t care if they make 20 bucks, if there’s a movie you’re gonna lose money on, make it Wonder Woman. You know what I mean, ’cause little girls deserve that. There’s so many of these little people out here doing awful things for money in the world of being famous. And little girls see that. They should have the opposite spectrum of that to look up to.

You know, funny story. There’s this craft store called Michael’s. Look, my sister knits, and she goes to Michael’s. So my sister called me and she’s like, “Oh my God, I’m at Michael’s, picking up yarn. You have a poster at Michael’s.” I’m like, what? She’s like, “There’s a poster, there’s a Falcon poster at Michael’s. I’m like, “Holy s–t!” She’s like, “I’m gonna come and pick you up, and we’re gonna see your poster in this store.” So she picks me up and we go to Michael’s.

We go in, and I see the poster and I’m like, “Oh, this is….” She’s like, “I know, I know.” I said, “I’m gonna sign these posters.” I was like, “That would be amazing, you buy a poster and it’s like, actually signed by the Falcon.” Like, it would blow my mind. So I go to the front, I buy a Sharpie, I run back to the back of the store. And she’s like, “I’m gonna take a picture of you signing it.”

I’m in this store and I’m signing all the posters. The manager comes out, he’s like, “Hey, whatcha doing?” I was like, “Oh man, I’m signing these posters so when people buy ‘em, they’re signed.” He’s like, “Well, people are not gonna buy ‘em if they’re signed.”

And I was like, “No no no, it’s cool. I’m pretty sure there won’t be a problem.” And he goes, “Yeah, but it is gonna be a problem, you’re messin’ up my inventory.” And I’m like, “No, my man, trust me. I mean, I’m the Falcon, that’s me!” And he goes, “Yeah, right. You’re gonna buy those posters.” I said, “What?” He’s like, “You’re gonna buy all those posters or I’m gonna call the police.”

He rolls up all the posters and goes to the front of the store. And I had to buy like 60 Falcon posters that I signed in Michael’s. So that’s kinda how — I’m just enjoying it. Man, I mean, there’s so many bad things that happen to us as entertainers and actors, that I feel like, when something good happens, you should take full advantage of it.

More a statement then a Question- Tell us which Michael’s it was!

Anthony Mackie: [LAUGHS] I’m doing a screening in New Orleans and the first invitation I sent out was to the manager of Michael’s. I’m like, my sister’s getting free yarn. And, and you’re giving me my money back. [LAUGHS]

You can see Captian America The Winter Soldier in theaters now.  Follow the fun on twitter with the hastag #CaptainAmericaEvent

Disclosure- This was an all expense paid press trip from Disney. I was not monetarily compensated for this post, all opinions are honest and my own. Airfare, hotel accommodations, food, and transportation were all provided by Disney.