‘Superhero mentor’ Brie Larson helps MCU newcomers with practical tips

Brie Larson is a “superhero mentor”.

The 34-year-old actress plays Captain Marvel/ Carol Danvers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and she is always happy to “reach out” to newcomers to the comic book movie world because it can be quite a “strange” experience and she thinks there are some useful practical tips she can offer too.

Asked about stories that Brie reaches out to people cast as superheroes during the Hollywood Reporter’s Drama Actress roundtable, Naomi Watts exclaimed: “Wait, you’re a superhero mentor?”

Brie confirmed: “Always. I’m the first person to email everybody because it’s very specific and very strange.

“People are like, ‘I don’t know how to do this.’ Yeah, no one does. Why would you? I’ll say, ‘Train, because you’ll want to be as prepared in your body as you possibly can because it only gets harder as the job goes on. And really understand how to be able to go to the bathroom in your suit.’

“The first Captain Marvel, it was a 45-minute thing to get me in and out of that costume. I can’t stand when people have to wait for me to go to the bathroom, so I’d have to time it out.

“It’s a whole thing and it’s a lot of pressure. And I think it’s a strange thing, especially when you’re a newcomer and you’re tasked with being the most powerful blah blah blah of blah blah blah, and you feel scared. It’s so hard to be the cool, confident one when you’re like, “Do I know what I’m supposed to be doing?”

Brie won an Oscar for her portrayal of a kidnapping victim in 2015’s Room but she admitted she struggled to shake off the “dark” role for over a year afterwards.

She said: “I basically haven’t done anything as dark as Room since Room, because it took me a year to get out of it. And it was really scary. It took me a long time to be able to just do basic things that I used to enjoy in my life.

“So, yeah, you hope that you have the grace of a line producer who’s scheduled it so that there are moments where you can offload.”