Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Netflix decided to wrap up the first week of its new talk show in a big way, and is there anything bigger than a Marvel blockbuster that has already made over $366 million worldwide in like two weeks? The cast of Captain America: Civil War sat down with Chelsea Handler on today’s episode of Chelsea, and things went from fun and lighthearted to serious and a little weird quickly.
As part of her quest to educate herself and the world, Handler decided to tackle the often overwhelming world of superheroes. Does Handler care about your DC or Marvel preferences? Nope. There’s something oddly comforting about watching a big name like Handler apathetically stumble through Marvel’s mythology. If Handler can get away with blatantly not caring about anything related to Marvel, they we simple mortals can be forgiven for forgetting the plot of Iron Man 2. Anyway, Handler opened the show with someone who should be your latest pop culture obsession, Chadwick Boseman, who plays Black Panther in Civil War. (Psst, if you want the low down on Boseman, we have you covered.)
The pair talked briefly about how talented Boseman is (agreed) and the complexity of the Marvel universe before Handler transitioned to the main event of this episode — a filmed cast dinner party with Chris Evans (Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), and Frank Grillo (Crossbones). From there, the segment would jump from the five talking over dinner to Handler learning the intricacies of all things Marvel from the most delightful comic book nerd ever. At first glance, this sounds like a dinner party you wish you were invited to. However, it was stranger than you would expect. For one thing, Sebastian Stan clearly seems apathetic to be there, and Frank Grillo was, for lack of a better word, obnoxious, doing things like screaming “midget” when Handler’s former late night sidekick, Chuy Bravo, was mentioned. Chris Evans and Emily VanCamp were delightful, though.
However, it wasn’t a bad interview by any means — just strange at times. Both Evans and Stan admitted being terrified of Handler because she’s funny and blunt and because they’re smart. Stan slammed Superman and Batman, calling them “silly” (it’s unclear whether or not he was referring to the recent movie or the characters themselves), and if you want to know what these celebrities think about this year’s most discussed Oscar winner, you’re in luck. Everyone took jabs at The Revenant’s superhero feats with the exception of Evans, who still hasn’t seen it. Handler also had a great moment mocking Cap and Buck’s bromance, telling Stan to let her know when he wants to go down on Evans.
But enough about the fun stuff; let’s talk about the weirdness. Most of it came from the rest of the cast reacting to Grillo. For example, after Grillo told a looong story about drinking too much, throwing up blood, and having to go to the emergency room, Evans was in disbelief, saying, “That’s not how it works. I’ve gotten drunk without eating and you don’t puke blood.”
Also, when the topic of Hollywood’s pay gap problem came up, things took a strange turn. Gender pay inequality in movies is always a sensitive topic, especially when Marvel is involved. For the most part, the conversation was smart if not (rightfully) frustrated on everyone’s end. However, when Handler added that black actors and actresses also suffer from Hollywood’s unfair wage wrath, Grillo lamented over the plight of Italians. And then he put “black people” in air quotes.
It was so strange and out of line with the rest of the conversation, I’m not sure if it can be considered offensive. Hopefully, Grillo was just making poorly executed joke, but that doesn’t explain why this moment was left in the cut of the episode that made it to Netflix. Evans immediately called Grillo out on the odd gesturing, so at least there’s that. Evans also proved that he should be renamed Captain Feminism. After Handler and VanCamp discussed the double-edged sword that is complaining about equal pay as a woman in Hollywood, Handler asked the rest of the cast if they felt responsible to defend their women cast mates when that conversation comes up. Evans said yes:
Being a guy, it’s a radically different landscape … I think there is a gender gap that is ubiquitous in Hollywood. I think a lot of times it’s hard to even identify.
However, I think the real champions of this conversation were VanCamp and surprisingly Boseman. VanCamp bluntly voiced the frustration and anger that comes from Hollywood’s and Marvel’s gender discrimination in a way that many of her female co-stars haven’t. However, when the filmed segment ended, Boseman added his insight into the problem, highlighting the plight of black actors and actresses. Boseman also called out Handler for not inviting him to the dinner party. Handler claimed that he was invited, but there was a mix up. Whether or not this was true or a bit, I would have liked to hear more of Boseman’s opinions on Hollywood’s pay gap. If you watch nothing else, check out Boseman’s interviews at the beginning and end of the episode as well as the pay gap discussion around the 18:30 mark.
Photos: Netflix
