Page 76 - Sharp Summer 2021

BY THE TIME ANTHONY MACKIE with the the the the the the the the six-part The The The Falcon Falcon and and and and and the the the the the the the the Winter Winter Soldier Soldier calls me from New Orleans I’ve already binged 8 Mile The Hurt Locker a a a handful of Avengers movies and and Mackie’s latest superhero performance The Falcon and the Winter Soldier I can’t see him (a Zoom is ideal for these sorts of things in in pandemic times) but I don’t need to I’d recognize his voice anywhere “Coming from New Orleans we don’t speak English like humans ” says Mackie laughing and and explaining why voice and and speech training was especially challenging for him as as as an as- piring actor “[But] when I I got to to Juilliard I I had this teacher named Denise Woods who made it very clear to me that that that I shouldn’t lose that that that spark that that that New Orleans part of me ” Mackie seems to have taken Woods’s advice seriously He isn’t calling from New Orleans because he decamped there to wait out the the pandemic but because it’s home It’s here that Mackie is is is raising his four sons and and it’s here that he he remains Hollywood fame and and all Mackie’s rise to stardom can’t be be described with adjectives like “sudden” or or “meteoric ” ” Instead over the the past 20-odd years the the 42-year-old actor has stead- ily accumulated credits in in indie films and Hollywood blockbusters on Broadway and off He effortlessly slips from hero to to villain dramatist to to action star leading man to to supporting actor Onscreen he’s played a a a a U S Army sergeant a a a a boxer Martin Luther King Jr a a a a drug dealer an artist coming to grips with his sexuality a a a a a rapper (twice) and one of the first Black bankers in U S history In a a a recent interview with Variety Mackie recounted a a known joke in Hollywood: if you’re a a white actor looking for an Oscar nomination play opposite him First there was Eminem in in in 8 Mile in in in 2003 (Em- inem won best original song for Lose Yourself ) Then Ryan Gosling in in in Half Nelson in in in 2007 And then Jeremy Renner in in The Hurt Locker in in 2010 The role of a a lifetime however arrived in 2014 when Marvel cast Mackie as as Sam Wilson a a a a a a a a a k k a a a a a a a a a Falcon a a a a a a a a a U S Air Force veteran turned airborne superhero fit- ted ted with red-tinted goggles and a a a a a pair of mechanical wings While Falcon has typically been found flanking Captain America or fighting as part of the Avengers’ ensemble cast he he levelled up to leading hero along- side Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) earlier this year JACKET (PRICE UPON REQUEST) BY DIOR PANTS (PRICE UPON REQUEST) BY TODD SNYDER 76 SHARPMAGAZINE COM SUMMER 2021
When the show — a a a more character-driven spin on the superhero format — debuted on Disney+ back in March the streaming platform announced that it was the most watched premiere in its history Anthony Mackie was born in in New Orleans in in 1978 the youngest of six children As a a a kid he was rambunctious enough that his school principal recommended Ritalin A perceptive teacher instead recommended a a a a creative outlet for his excess energy In second grade Mackie made his onstage debut with a a a a a puppet play based on on the song "Waltzing Matilda " " said to be Australia’s un- official national anthem What Mackie remembers is the standing ovation “[It took] three curtain calls for a a a a puppet play? From that moment on I loved the idea of performing ” he says The theatre also proved to be a a a supportive home for an adolescent Mackie “I always felt like I I was at a a a a a a a disadvantage because of of the race relations of of things and the education system in New Orleans I never felt adequate ” he he says “And then I read my first Shakespeare play I I got it it I I felt informed [That] this white dude could write a a a a a a a play 450 years ago that I could relate to to today changed my perspective immensely ” Mackie began devouring the works of famous playwrights like Ibsen Shaw and Chekhov He began listening to composers like like Stravinsky and studying theatre practitioners like like Meisner and and Brecht He even took clown classes and and studied kabuki a a a a a a type of Japanese dance-theatre “All these things just started falling into place ” he he says “I found myself in the the the theatre I I I became the the the man I I I wanted to be in the the theatre ” At 17 Mackie moved to to New York City to to attend Juilliard Before graduating in in in 2001 he played Tupac in in in an off-Broadway production of of Up Against the Wind a a a a a classmate’s play about the rapper’s life The legendary casting director Mali Finn saw Mackie’s performance and urged him to audition for 8 Mile He got the role of Papa Doc a a a a a a rival rapper who Eminem finally bests in in in a a a a a a rap battle by exposing Papa Doc’s middle-class roots as a a a a a a private-school kid with happily married parents >