‘It was very very different for me’: Carl Lumbly opens up about working with Anthony Mackie on ‘Captain America: Brave New World’
Isaiah Bradley and Sam Wilson’s dynamic is an important part of both The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and now Captain America: Brave New World. Prior to the film’s release, I spoke with Carl Lumbly about playing the iconic Marvel character.
The character of Isaiah Bradley is one that Captain America fans know well. Taking on the mantle of Captain America after Steve Rogers way back during the Korean War, things were done to Isaiah Bradley by the United States government that makes him justifiably angry at those in power. But he is still there for Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) when he needs him.
Seeing that relationship grow in Brave New World is a beautiful part of the film and I spoke with Isaiah Bradley actor Carl Lumbly prior to the film’s release to talk about the Sam and Isaiah dynamic. For Lumbly, he is proud of actors like Mackie for how they operate in Hollywood and what men like Mackie represent.
“Working with Anthony Mackie is a joy for me,” Lumbly said. “I really enjoy it. And maybe in some ways I have some of the same feelings that Isaiah has. I’ve had a long career and I have my own understanding of what happens in this industry. Anthony has come a generation or two generations, perhaps, after me. And he views and operates in the world in a way that makes me proud because it was very, very different for me, as I’m sure it was very different for those actors before me who came into a situation that was not necessarily prepared for them and had to make their way.”
Lumbly went on to compare Bradley’s relationship to the shield to that of Sam’s and how the characters, in a lot of ways, mirror the careers of both himself and Mackie. “I think Isaiah does not yet quite understand how Sam has the kind of agency and hubris that he has and belief and faith not only in his own capabilities, but faith in the population, faith in the people. And because of his history, he is cautious. He’s reluctant to be in the world. To be in the world is an act of bravery, he looks at Sam and he’s encouraged because Sam is fully in the world and not with, again, not without fear, not without some sense that yeah, there are dangers but with every belief in himself and in people. That’s massive.”
You can see our full chat here:
Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters on February 13.
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