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Google PlayAna De Armas and Chris Evans are fighting for opposing teams in Netflix’s The Gray Man, hitting theaters on Friday, July 15.
Ryan Gosling stars in the film as a skilled former CIA mercenary, Court Gentry, also known as, Sierra Six, who is on the run after he accidentally uncovers some dark agency secrets, making him a target worldwide. Six is hunted around the globe by his psychopathic former colleague Lloyd Hansen (Evans), who also puts a bounty on the mysterious operative’s head adding even more international assassins to the chase. Armas plays Agent Dani Miranda who is on Gentry’s side, and together, they attempt to evade Evans’s character through a wild, endless chase filled with adrenaline, action, and intense fight scenes.
The action thriller film, based on the first installment of a best-selling 2009 book series by the same name, was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. Evans and the Russo Brothers began working together during their times in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starting with 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and later reunited in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. With that behind them, the group joined forces once more for The Gray Man, giving Evans a chance to explore his villain side after playing a superhero for so long.
The film joins other big-budget Netflix spy blockbusters like Red Notice and 6 Underground, but no one knows how to make an action flick quite like the Russo Brothers. Complex caught up with Ana De Armas and Chris Evans for a quick virtual chat and the pair talked about working with the directors, creating a dance out of the fight scenes, and how Evans found clarity in playing the bad guy. Check out our interview below, and catch The Gray Man in theaters now or stream it on Netflix on Friday, July 22.
What do you think they brought out of you as an actress? What’s the best thing that they taught you?
AD: I mean let’s start with just writing a character like that. That’s the best. That’s the best gift they actually gave me. They just gave me the freedom to explore during the rehearsal times, what I was more comfortable with and what I wasn’t, and then they built my fights, my scenes around that.
The fighting scenes in this movie are intense. What does that teach you about control and knowing how to move in a way that you don’t hurt yourself or somebody else?
AD: Oh my gosh. You have to create this unity on set and you have to match the other person’s energy. And you need to be very careful and give the other person the space to also feel safe and go at their own speed and at the same time [they] give you the energy and the push that you need to perform your part. Like Chris says, it’s like a dance you all have to be in sync, and of course, we do have incredible stunt teams and stunt doubles that do the most dangerous parts of it but for the most part? [laughs] We did it! It was just a lot of work and it takes days and days, weeks to shoot just one scene. And then the result is amazing but it’s intense.
