Throughout cinema history, there have been some iconic nude scenes that have transcended the bounds of the films in which they appeared. Our weekly column Anatomy of a Scene's Manatomy will take an in-depth look at these scenes, their history, their deeper meanings, and their legacy. This week, future Captain America Chris Evans gives us a sneak peek of what America's ass will look like with Not Another Teen Movie!
If it seems like Chris Evans has been around forever, it's because he pretty much been around forever in terms of stardom. He broke onto the scene with 2001's Not Another Teen Movie, shot when he was only 19, and now he's twice that age and one of the most famous men on the planet. He has had a talent for tenacity throughout his career, constantly rebranding himself and turning into something of a chameleon whose charm could translate to any genre. True, he's mostly known for his work in the comic book genre, but even through those bombastic movies he's managed to carve out more than one niche.
Evans' first brush with comic book movie stardom came when he played the cocky Johnny Storm in the 2005 Fantastic Four movie, as well as its 2007 sequel. According to the old rules of Hollywood, once an actor had become fairly recognizable and synonymous with a particular comic book character, it was often very difficult for them to play a different role, even if it's several years down the road. This made it all the more shocking when, just three years after Rise of the Silver Surfer, Marvel announced that Evans would be joining their cinematic universe as their new Captain America.
In fairness to Evans' acting abilities, Captain America Steve Rogers is about as different a comic book hero from Johnny Storm as Superman is from Aquaman, but there was still a stigma against playing another comic book character in the same "universe." Also working in Evans favor is that he had made a few other superhero/comic book adaptations in that three year break between Fantastic Four and Captain America. In 2008, he made the film Push about people with superhuman abilities and in 2010, he appeared in two comic book adaptations, The Losers and Scott Pilgrim vs The World. In other words, it was clear that he was at home in this genre and was also clearly handsome and muscular enough to be believable as Cap.
Evans time as the Star Spangled Man came to an end with last year's Avengers: Endgame and his reputation is now fairly stellar. He's also made a bunch of interesting non-comic book related projects like Knives Out and Defending Jacob, helping to further bolster his reputation as someone who can do pretty much anything. While the ending of Avengers Endgame obviously gave Evans' portrayal of the character the send-off he deserved, another scene is honestly a more fitting tribute to his legacy.
While sneaking around the events of the first Avengers movie, Tony Stark says something derisive about Cap's ass in his old suit, prompting Ant-Man to declare that it looks great and is, in fact, "America's ass." This line then gets a perfect callback several minutes later when 2023 Cap fights 2012 Cap...
While I'm not suggesting that we focus on this particular exchange as a microcosm of Evans' time as Captain America, it brings the focus to something that movies didn't do too often which is to comment on the fact that Cap is a stone cold fox. Sure, he hasn't got the brawn and oozing masculinity of Chris Hemsworth's Thor, but he harkens back to a classic American stereotype of the square-jawed WWII veteran. It's almost like having a crush on your grandpa because he was a much hotter and more muscular version of yourself.
Two decades earlier, though, Evans seemed like he would just be another one of those pretty boy actors with a smug attitude. This was, of course, based solely on his looks and the kinds of roles he was playing early in his career. 2001's Not Another Teen Movie was his first substantial role in a major studio movie and while he was actually quite good spoofing basically every character Freddie Prinze Jr and James Van Der Beek had played to that point, there was no indication that he'd be an American icon 20 years later.
And who knows, perhaps if Evans had a notion that he might one day become a hugely popular actor, he might have said no to doing this particular scene from the film. In a simultaneous spoof of She's All That and Varsity Blues, Evans' hunky football jock Jake Wyler attempts to seduce the nerdy Janey (Chyler Leigh) by recreating Ali Larter's infamous whipped cream bikini scene from 1999's Varsity Blues. Of course, because this is a spoof movie, they add a banana sticking out of his ass in for good measure...
It's not a particularly subtle or even very funny joke, but it proves that Evans was pretty fearless as an actor right out of the gate. It also gives us a pretty good look at his ass, long before it was America's ass. If nothing else, that's worth the price of admission all by itself!
Catch up with ALL of our other editions of Anatomy of a Scene's Manatomy...
—Oliver Reed Alan Bates in Women in Love
—Ewan McGregor in Velvet Goldmine
—A Pair of Stars are Born in Y Tu Mamá También
—Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant
—Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises
—Jason Segel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall
—Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game
—David Bowie and Rip Torn in The Man Who Fell to Earth
—John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig and the Angry Inch
—Ross Lynch in My Friend Dahmer
—Rocketman vs. Bohemian Rhapsody
—Bruce Willis in Color of Night
—Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu in Bertolucci's 1900
—Louis Garrel in Godard Mon Amour
—Henry June and the NC-17 Rating
—The Gay Cowboys of Brokeback Mountain
—Eddie Redmayne in Danish Girl
—Tom Cruise in All the Right Moves
—Christopher Atkins in The Blue Lagoon
—Sylvester Stallone in The Italian Stallion
—9 Songs Combines Real Music with Real Sex
—The Naked Men of A Room with a View
—John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus
—Ben Affleck's Abnormally Smooth Dick in Gone Girl
—Joseph Gordon-Levitt inMysterious Skin
—Will Smith in Six Degrees of Separation
—Richard Gere in American Gigolo
—Ralph Fiennes and Matthias Schoenaerts in A Bigger Splash
—The Naked Gay Men of Love! Valour! Compassion!
—Jude Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley
—David Naughton in An American Werewolf in London
—Cillian Murphy in 28 Days Later
