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How Brie Larson, classic introvert, became 'Captain Marvel': 'I want to grow'



#CaptainMarvel  #CarolDanvers  #JudeLaw #BrieLarson 

This weekend, Captain Marvel's early days as the Earth-bound pilot Carol Danvers will be revealed as she takes on a violent intergalactic Kree-Skrull war.

It was during an early sparring scene with Jude Law, who plays Larson's Starforce commander, that directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck saw the actress begin to harness her supersized powers.

“She kept Jude on his toes, oh, my God,” Boden laughs. “I remember the first day that Jude got to set and went to stunt training with her to learn that scene, and him being like, 'Oh, I better up my game.’ ” 

Jude Law technically plays Brie Larson's Kree mentor in "Captain Marvel," but directors say she came on set prepared to kick butt.

Much has been said of Larson’s nine months of physical prep: 250-pound deadlifts, pushing a Jeep up a hill, hanging tough in a F-16 as Air Force pilots simulated a dogfight. “I was fine! I puked the entire time, but I was fine,” she laughs. Working with her now-viral cat star was “weirdly the biggest obstacle of the movie,” she acknowledges. (She’s highly allergic.)

What does Captain Marvel mean to her? Though she feels slightly silly saying it out loud – it’s such superhero talk, honestly – “the thing that I thought was my weakness was my greatest strength," she says. "My introversion, the thing that made me go, ‘Well, I couldn’t be a superhero,’ is the same thing that I think makes this story important to me. Because I’m saying, ‘I’m flawed, I don’t know how to do this, I’m still figuring it out, I’m learning, I want to grow.' But I’m committed to myself.”


You can see it in her posture. In past interviews, Larson was prone to curling up on a couch; she would actively take up less room in front of strangers. Today, the newly platinum blonde star sits ramrod straight in her double-belted marine blue pantsuit, her legs firmly planted wide. She leans forward, looking you directly in the eyes. She is ready.


“It's a combination of what martial arts has done for my brain and what learning how to own my body in this new way has done for me,” says Larson of her newfound confidence. “And also just getting to embody Carol for awhile. Your brain starts to explore new ways of being. Then, when the movie was over, I was like, this new baseline feels better for me."



"Brie Larson says playing Captain Marvel, her introversion, \"the thing that I thought was my weakness, was my greatest strength.\""
But as Larson's star climbs, her personal life is increasingly off-limits. Previously engaged to musician Alex Greenwald, questions about her romantic life prove prickly. “I like saying no” to personal topics, she says. “So I don’t have a problem with that.”

How does this captain kick back? “I usually have some sort of craft hobby," she says. "I started knitting again. During 'Captain Marvel' I was needlepointing."

A pillow of a cat? “It was not. I was doing abstract needlepoint,” she chuckles. “Which is very on brand (for me).” 




Andrea Mandell,Contributing: Brian Truit, USA TODAY , March 6, 2019 

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