Chris Evans tapped into role as real-life uncle for 'Gifted'

Chris Evans also discusses his Captain America role and taking on Broadway.

ByABC News
April 7, 2017, 9:21 AM

— -- Actor Chris Evans sat down with "Good Morning America's" Michael Strahan to talk about his upcoming feel-good family movie, "Gifted," as well as tap-dancing and the rigors of playing a super-hero.

In "Gifted," Evans plays a single man named Frank Adler who raises his child prodigy niece, named Mary. Evans said that McKenna Grace, who plays his math-whiz niece in the film, created incredible on-screen chemistry portraying what truly felt like the relationship of an uncle and niece.

Noting her uncommon maturity for her age, Evans said McKenna, who will turn 11 in June, is "going on 40."

"There's one scene in particular we had on the beach where she's crawling all over me and I always said to the director, 'You know, what my nieces and nephews do, they not only use you as a jungle gym but I have a nephew who will just walk up to me and put his arms out ... and that says he wants to be swooped around,'" Evans recalled. "And you have that kind of shorthand familiarity."

In addition to his acting skills, Evans recently showed off his tap dancing moves, which he told Strahan he hopes to show off in his future work.

"I think I might do a [Broadway] show next March but I would love to do some sort of a film," he said. "As of late musicals are doing so well and there's always been rumblings of a 'Guys and Dolls' remake, maybe a 'West Side Story' remake."

He continued, "Those movies I love. I grew up on those types of movies."

Swapping his tap shoes for his Captain America shield, Evans, the star of "Captain America: Civil War," explained how he executes a fight scene on the big screen.

"If you're working opposite a stunt man, easy," he said of the process. "If it's two actors, you both kind of acknowledge, listen, this could go south and let's just go slow."

Evans joked with Strahan about the experience of portraying Captain America in a movie versus Strahan's past career as an NFL star.

"You're wearing this really bulky, less than comfortable 'cap' suit and you're just sweating," Evans said of his time on a movie set. "And by the fifth day everybody's sore, everybody's bruised and banged up ... although what am I saying you played in the NFL."

"I'm like, 'Everyone just is in so much pain in their trailer drinking their coffees with their ice packs, it's really exhausting,'" Evans said, to which Strahan replied, "It's all relative man."