Cinema’s three greatest-ever actors, according to Chris Evans
When you’re a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you can pretty much do whatever you want, and that applies extra if you’re one of the original pillars of the franchise like Chris Evans.
Since he burst onto the scene as Steve Rogers, Evans has been a bona fide A-lister, wherein across his ten (soon to be 11) different appearances in the franchise, he delivered killer lines, defeated iconic enemies, and shared the screen with a metric ton of superstars.
If you think his non-Marvel movies are lacking in star power, then think again, as his role in the first Knives Out movie put on the same bill as two Oscar winners, Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Plummer, as well as several other top stars. He might have thought it was rubbish, but he ticked off a number of other big names on Ghosted, yet, for all his famous friends, there are three names that Evans would love to work with.
In an interview with Black Film way, way back in 2004, he was asked about the actors he considered inspirations, and he named two stars who would be considered all-time greats, while going into detail about a performer who often gets overlooked.
“Gene Hackman is so good,” he said, “Of course, everybody says Al Pacino, but of course, the guy’s amazing. Who else? Val Kilmer. Not that many people say that, but you can watch that guy in Tombstone, and you watch him in The Doors, and you watch him in Willow, and they are three completely different human beings, right down to the most minute detail, posture, voice, everything; he’s a chameleon, and you know, that’s the idea behind acting.”
It’s not hyperbole to say that both Hackman and Pacino are two of the best to ever do it, such that I could sit here and list their best movies and be here until 2028, but you already know the ones I’m going to say.
It’s clear from these choices that Evans is a fan of the New Hollywood era of the 1970s, as both these actors helped revolutionise the industry by dragging it into modernity, proving that without them, going to the movies today would be a very different experience.
As for Kilmer, Evans has clearly been a fan for a long time, once saying he could probably recite the entirety of Tombstone off by heart, showing just how devoted the latter is to his work. He’s also absolutely right about how seldom he was recognised for his talent, for so much was made of his personal life and on-set behaviour (and later his illness and retirement) that his abilities were often overlooked. His turn as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors is utterly transfixing and is easily one of the best performances not to be nominated for an Oscar.
Unfortunately, as we lost both Hackman and Kilmer in 2025, Evans will never get the chance to complete his dream trio, but there’s still a possibility he might work with Pacino one day, and even if he doesn’t, the impact all three men have had on his life has been more than enough already.
