Talking with the Newest Superhero Evangeline Lilly

I had the opportunity to sit down with Marvel’s newest super hero, the Wasp, played by Evangeline Lilly. You’ve seen her in Ant Man as Hope Van Dyne.  Now there are certain people that you sit down with and fall in love with even more. Evangeline is one of them. She was fantastic!

We talked about the movie, girl power and more. Here’s what she had to say.

on Michael Douglas

She admitted to being ignorant to him. She knew who he was, but never kept up with his career.  So when she first took the role she thought his “big name” was going to help the film. It did help, but as she got to know him it changed how she saw him. “He’s so good.  He’s such a charismatic, present, powerful human being that when he starts to perform, he just changes the molecules of the room.  You’re suddenly transported to the place you’re pretending to be” 

on Fight Scenes

When I think of fight scenes or kicking butt I immediately think about getting into shape. While that’s important Evangeline had a different perspective.  She spent less time on getting her body rock hard and more time on developing visual muscles with her stunt doubles. “We made sure that we didn’t just take a dude and put him in a woman’s body.  I didn’t want to send the message that in order to be powerful and strong and capable and tough, you have to be masculine, and macho, and a dude.  I wanted to show that we are strong because of our femininity, not in spite of it.”

Her character of Hope was emotional and vulnerable. She was also smiling and happy. Evangeline put all that together. When she fought she incorporated grace, elegance, and femininity into the fight.

on Equal Rights

“I think Marvel is just absolutely hell bent and passionate right now about representing women as fierce and capable and as equals to men,” she shared.  I mean Ant-Man and the Wasp have equal billing. She’s not a supporting actress, she’s a co-star.  AND she’s a female super hero!

She told us that she used to want to be Catwoman like Michelle Pfeiffer.   She was obsessed with her because she was so fierce and owned it.  There weren’t very many female super heroes for her and her sisters to pick from.  They usually ended up picking Spiderman or Batman or someone else.

I am sure there are going to be tons of girls look for The Wasp costumes this Halloween. Evangeline shared a sweet moment where her seven year old son was pretending to be The Wasp. “I still get goose bumps when I tell that story.  It chokes me up, because that’s a cultural shift.  For a little boy to pretend to be a female superhero, that’s no small thing. “

on Michelle Pfeiffer

She shared with us she was obsessed with Michelle when she was younger so we asked her how it was to play her daughter. “If anyone in the world says that I can pass as her daughter, I’m going to kiss them forever.” 

She said the greatest thing was that when she met her she lived up to everything she had hoped. She even went on to sh say she’s perfect. “She’s perfect, like, there’s no flaws.  She’s nice.  She’s generous.  She’s smart.  She’s funny.  She’s intelligent.  She’s considerate.  She’s talented, and of course, she is the hottest sixty year old you’re ever gonna meet.”

She joked that she had to bite her tongue everyday because she totally wanted to ask her to be her mentor.  

on Being More Than a  Pretty Face

I learned that Evangeline Lilly got into acting kind of by accident.  Growing up she was more of a brainiac which makes my nerdy heart love her even more. She found her identity in that. She was on student council, the soccer team, and in plays. She was very much an overachiever.  She had her abilities and her intelligence.

As she hit puberty and things changed she decided she just wouldn’t stand out. “Don’t be super smart.  Don’t be talented.  Don’t stand out, because if you do, you’re just gonna get hurt”  She spent about five years kind of dumbing herself down and trying to pretend to be a wallflower. My heart hurt as she told her story because it’s similar to mine (that aspect) and trying to be something you’re not can cause a lot of pain.

In her 20’s she was scouted but kept turning them down because she felt she was more than that. Someone finally asked her what she was afraid of.  Her answer was “I’m not afraid of anything.  I just don’t want to be defined by being a pretty face and that’s why they want me on camera.”  The other person’s response was, “I think you’re afraid of your own greatness.” 

That response changed everything for her.  She didn’t realize how much she had been hiding and not allowing herself to shine.  So she decided she was going to let her light shine. One of the ways she did that was taking up an agent on their desire to put her in auditions.  She just wanted toexercise my brightness she told us – to be bold and bright.  “I’d never really thought about the fact that auditions can lead to jobs.  That hadn’t factored in.  It was just like, ‘I’m just gonna go out and just shine!”  And the rest is history.

Evangeline truly does shine. Make sure to grab your tickets now and check her out as The Wasp.

Ant-Man and The Wasp hits theaters on July 6, 2018!