IT TURNS out even superheroes cry sometimes. When Chris Evans – aka Marvel's Captain America – read the script for his heart-rending new film, Gifted, he couldn't help but shed a tear.
The actor plays Frank Adler, a single man who becomes embroiled in a custody battle with his mother over his young niece Mary, a brilliant maths prodigy.
"I cried when I first read the script, you cry doing the rehearsal, and during the making of it. It's an emotional thing," confesses Evans, who's en route to Edinburgh to reprise his role as Captain America in the new Avengers: Infinity War film.
Boat repairer Frank has been raising seven-year-old Mary, played by talented newcomer Mckenna Grace, on his own since the suicide of her mother, also a talented mathematician.
Supporting Frank and Mary's unconventional but loving set-up is neighbour Roberta (Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer) and teacher Bonnie (comedian Jenny Slate, who Evans briefly dated in real life).
But when Mary's frosty and formidable grandmother Evelyn (veteran British actress Lindsay Duncan) comes back into their lives, her plans for Mary threaten to separate uncle and niece.
One of the biggest draws for Evans – whose first cinematic role was the 2001 comedy Not Another Teen Movie – was the complex dynamic between Frank and Evelyn.
"Our scenes were written so wonderfully – this very dry, veiled, loaded exchange, and it's so fun to hit the ball back and forth with [Duncan]," he says.
As for Grace, most recently seen playing US president Kieffer Sutherland's daughter in Designated Survivor on Netflix, she's "unfairly talented for someone her age" Evans adds.
The young actress, now 10, kept the mood light on the set of the film – which looks set to have cinema-goers welling up as much as its stars did.
"When Mckenna's on set, it's a different world compared to when she's not. She's just got a real energy, it's infectious, she picks everyone up," says Evans. The actor has two nephews and a niece himself, and jokes that unlike Frank, he is a "horrible" uncle.
"No – I love my niece and nephew, they're so sweet and I love being back in Massachusetts. It's a nice balance of responsibility, being an uncle. Right when you're at your limit you can say, 'Here you go, I'm going to take off'."
He adds: "I spoil them. Discipline is for the parents."
During the film, we see Mary solving equations that would flummox grown-up mathematicians.
"I'm not Mary by any means, but I did OK in maths at school," says Evans, who attended high school in Massachusetts before taking classes at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre And Film Institute in New York.
"Some of those equations on set were full of symbols I didn't even recognise, I didn't know they had anything to do with maths. It was all over my head."
Frank is kept active mending boats ("Did you believe it? I didn't know what the hell I was doing," Evans admits). But sanding some wood and lifting a few planks around as a flannel shirt-wearing repair man was nothing compared to the gym regime involved in playing muscle-bound patriot Captain America.
While Evans says there was "luckily no gym time on this one [Gifted]," he insists he doesn't mind putting in the hours working out for his superhero role.
"I enjoy it. Maybe not to the extent I have to do it [on Captain America], but it's fun."
The low-key, emotionally-driven Gifted couldn't be further from the action-packed world of Marvel, but that's part of the beauty of acting, says Evans (36).
"You're afforded the opportunity for variety; whatever your creative pursuit or creative appetite is hungry for, you can try and track that down."
Variety was certainly at the fore when Evans recently recorded some tales for the hugely popular CBeebies Bedtime Stories.
"I did a few stories. One was about superheroes having a bad day, it was really sweet and poignant, I liked it," he says. "All the stories had a lot of good night themes – I was kind of putting myself to sleep when I was doing it! Some of the stories were so comforting you just feel like you want to curl up."
He seems a bit flummoxed when asked what he'd be doing if he wasn't acting.
"I don't know. I mean, maybe I would have gone to a directing school and pursued that in a more structured format, but I don't know."
He has already directed, with the 2014 film Before We Go, a romantic drama he also starred in alongside British actress Alice Eve.
"I actually really enjoyed it. It's tough to watch yourself, it's tough to see some of your bad habits I suppose, but also you feel very safe at the same time, because at least you're in control," he says.
"I love acting and I'll never leave that fully, [but] I certainly have an appetite to direct right now. It's tricky finding those projects, but that's what I'm pursuing."
Evans adds: "I'm pretty mercurial by nature, so I don't know. I say one thing one day and the next I change my mind, so it's tough to predict."
:: Gifted is in cinemas from today.
