Syfy Insider Exclusive

Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!

Sign Up For Free to View
SYFY WIRE Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel: Brie Larson explains how Carol Danvers became very personal to her in BTS featurette

By Josh Weiss
Brie Larson Carol Danvers Captain Marvel

When you're playing a larger-than-life character like a superhero, it can probably be tricky to figure out what makes your onscreen identity tick behind all of those amazing powers and set pieces that come with them. 

In a new Marvel Studios featurette for Captain Marvel, Brie Larson explains how she was able to make the role of Carol Danvers matter to herself, so that it wasn't just a paint-by-the-numbers job that would become even more obscured by the CGI later on. 

"There's a lot of material for me to work with within Captain Marvel to create something that can feel personal to me, like it's mine and I have work to do," says the Oscar-winning actor in the video. "She's the most dynamic character that I've had the chance to play."

"Brie brings strength that comes with human emotion and depth to the character," adds Anna Boden, who directed the comic book movie alongside her longtime cinematic collaborator, Ryan Fleck.

Check it out below:

Larson, who won the aforementioned Oscar for her performance in 2015's Room, knows how to really immerse herself in a character, no matter the circumstances, whether it's a woman abducted and held captive a garden shed, or a former Air Force pilot now gifted with alien abilities. 

Samuel L. Jackson also gets a chance to shine in the featurette, which may or may not have de-aged him just for this minute-long behind-the-scenes look. "Brie understands that these characters are genuine," states Jackson, who plays a young and two-eyed Nick Fury. "When we hit the playground, the games become serious."

Not too long ago, Jackson hinted that Carol would serve as Fury's introduction to the wondrous world of aliens and anything outside the realm of human understanding. When we meet his younger self, he's a bored S.H.I.E.L.D. pencil pusher who has no idea how big the universe actually is, ignorant that the next war might come from the stars.

In addition to Larson and Jackson, the cast features: Jude Law (possibly Mar-Vell), Annette Bening (a yet unnamed Kree scientist), Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau), Ben Mendelsohn (Talos), Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva), Djimon Hounsou (Korath), Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson, also de-aged), and Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser).

When SYFY WIRE visited the set last year, we spoke with the likes of Jackson, Law, Lynch, Mendelsohn, and Fleck and Boden. In particular, Jackson talked about how Fury was a less jaded dude back in the roarin' 1990s, which all plays into the actor hinting that the character's strategic worldview was a tad myopic before he met Carol.

Written by Boden, Fleck, Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Tomb Raider), and Jac Schaeffer (Black Widow), Captain Marvel hits theaters everywhere March 8.