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Joe Johnson, director of the upcoming Marvel Comics adaptation of Captain America: The First Avenger starring Chris Evans sat down with Film Journal to talk about bringing the beloved superhero to the big screen, the challenges they faced with making muscle bound Chris Evans into a “90lb weakling” and even dishes on his desire to make a sequel to his 1991 cult classic, The Rocketeer.

On the difficulties of making Chris Evans into the pre-serum Steve Rogers:

J.J.: We used two major techniques. Most of the shots were done by an L.A. company called LOLA that specializes in digital “plastic surgery.” The technique involved shrinking Chris in all dimensions. We shot each skinny Steve scene at least four times; once like a normal scene with Chris and his fellow actors in the scene, once with Chris alone in front of a green screen so his element could be reduced digitally, again with everyone in the scene but with Chris absent so that the shrunken Steve could be re-inserted into the scene, and finally with a body double mimicking Chris’s actions in case the second technique were required. When Chris had to interact with other characters in the scene, we had to either lower Chris or raise the other actors on apple boxes or elevated walkways to make skinny Steve shorter in comparison. For close-ups, Chris’ fellow actors had to look at marks on his chin that represented where his eyes would be after the shrinking process, and Chris had to look at marks on the tops of the actor’s head to represent their eyes. These marks then had to be digitally removed in post-production.

The second technique involved grafting Chris’s head onto the body double. This technique was used mostly when Chris was sitting or lying down, or when a minimum of physical acting was required, although the body double was an actor in his own right. Unfortunately, the body double also proved to be too large and we usually had to shrink his element before we could graft Chris’s shrunken head onto the body. Both techniques were time-consuming and immensely complicated for the visual-effects team, but the end result is quite amazing.

On the challenges faced with shooting a comic book period piece:

J.J.: Period comic-book adaptations can be more challenging for action sequences and pop-culture references, especially in trying to reach a younger audience. I always try to be true to the period while making a film that feels contemporary in its style. Both Captain America and The Rocketeer take place in roughly the same period—the late ’30s and early ’40s. I’ve always loved the visual elements of the period: the cars, architecture, clothing, and the overall sense of style that we seem to have lost. As a society we used to seem to care what things looked like. We took care to build beauty and passion into the world around us, and decisions didn’t seem to be based on the bottom line.

Joe also was asked if he had any other comic book properties that he would like to develop for the big screen and, sure to make our head honcho happy, he divulged that he would like another stab at The Rocketeer:

J.J.: I’d love to make a sequel to The Rocketeer. The film didn’t do as well at the box office as we all hoped, but it has endured and generated a following. It was great fun and I’d love to re-explore Cliff Secord’s world. If there are other comic-book heroes who have as human a story as Steve Rogers, I’d be interested. Too many comic-book movies rely on spectacle when the story is weak. With Captain America, we got the story firing on all cylinders first so the spectacle was fully justified. More than anything, I want everyone in the audience to sink into the alternate reality of the 1940s, enjoy the ride and come out of the theatre humming the Captain America theme. The movie is a helluva lot of fun.

Click on over to Film Journal for the full interview. Captain America: The First Avenger hits theaters on July 22, 2011. Stay tuned to BigFanboy for your chance to see the film before everyone else.

What are your thoughts? Are you impressed by the visual effects used to make Chris Evans into a skinny weakling? Are you looking forward to Captain America: The First Avenger? Would you like to see Joe make a sequel to The Rocketeer?

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