-Our first guest tonight is a talented actor
you know best as Sam Wilson
from the "Captain America" and "Avengers" franchise,
as well as the critically acclaimed
Disney+ series "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier."
He can be seen next in "Solos,"
which appears on Amazon Prime Video on May 21st.
Let's take a look.
-It's wrong. -What?
-What? Really, what?
Look, everything, alright? Everything is wrong.
-I read that every reunion is different.
-Don't call it that.
-What do you want me to call it, Tom?
-I don't know, but it's not a reunion.
-Hmm. -I shouldn't have called.
Alright? I should have never called.
-I wouldn't be here if you hadn't called.
-That's what I'm saying. My nose isn't...
Uh, I have a...
And your neck, it's all, like, [Bleep ] necky.
-We're identical, Tom.
You think this is easy for me to meet you for the first time?
-Well, [Bleep] it must be easy for you.
If you think you look like me,
it must be like winning a [Bleep] jackpot.
-Please welcome back to the show Anthony Mackie.
How are you, Anthony? -[ Chuckles ]
What's up, my man. How is it going?
-I'm doing well. So, we both have young kids.
And, look, I get it.
My kids aren't gonna want to watch a show like this.
But I assume -- you're in the superhero game --
that your kids would go crazy to watch your work.
And yet they're not into the Marvel stuff.
-[ Chuckles ] No, not at all.
We're a board-game family, so I had to force them
to watch "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,"
because it's World War III over here
when we play our board games.
We've ripped up many a Hungry Hungry Hippo,
going at it over board games.
But they got to see it.
-Hungry Hungry Hippos, I'm just gonna say,
my wife's all-time least-favorite game.
Like, marbles everywhere. It's just a mess.
-It's a mess. -She despises all those hippos.
-And it's even worse when you have to
continuously fix the hippos. -Yeah.
-And then the dog gets the hippos,
the dog chews the hippos, you have to order a new one.
It's always a problem.
-I will say, for as much as we play it,
when one of the hippos gets broke,
I thought, at this point, it would be better fixing them.
And every time, I feel like I'm starting at square one.
-[ Laughs ] It's impossible.
We have Sebastian Stan on the show,
and he said that neither of you really knew the extent to which
"The Falcon and the Winter Soldier"
was going to be a series, but you ran into each other
at the same hotel, and based on that,
started to piece it together. -Yeah, we were --
And I had no idea where he was, because he lives in New York.
I live in New Orleans. So, I come down to the lobby.
And I see him in the lobby, and I'm like, "Uh,
what are you doing here?" He's like, "You have a meeting?"
I'm like, "Yeah. You have a meeting?"
He's like, "Yeah." Like, "Ah, you're gonna do it?"
I'm like, "I don't know." [ Laughs ]
It was, like, this amazing Texas standoff
for about five minutes.
Then, we stood outside waiting for our cars,
and neither one of us said anything.
I was like, "Alright, see you after your meeting."
He's like, "Yeah, you too." [ Both laugh ]
-I know it's pointless to try to get any information
about "Captain America 4," which was just announced.
But this is interesting to me.
I assume someone like you
would find out via some secret back channel,
but you were actually just in the supermarket
when you got word. -Well, that's the funny thing.
I thought, being upgraded to the suit and the shield,
I would be the first guy to get information,
you know, get a phone call, "Hey, Anthony.
This is what we're thinking. What do you think?"
But I was literally -- When I go to the grocery store,
I have my same guy that I go to, and I've known him forever.
And he'll close his line until I get to the front.
And I just, like, go through, right?
So, I go up, and he's like, "Yo, is this real?"
And he had the announcement about "Cap 4" on his phone.
But I still haven't heard anything from Marvel.
I have no idea what's happening. -[ Laughs ]
-As long as I know I'm not fired, I'm happy.
-That was a clip we showed
from your new anthology series, "Solos."
This obviously seems like a nice change in tempo,
change in pace for you.
And it's sort of been -- being an anthology show,
it must feel a little bit more like your theater roots
than playing the same character over a series of films.
-Oh, 100%, and that's why I wanted to do it.
This whole piece, "Solo," is,
with Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman,
it's just such an amazing cast,
Nicole Beharie.
And to get the opportunity
to play yourself against yourself
is something a lot of actors don't get the opportunity to do.
And it's such an amazingly dramatic
but humbling experience.
So I was excited to be a part of it,
'cause it was like doing a play.
It was 35 pages of me running my mouth.
So, it was -- It was an experience.
-How did you enjoy working with Anthony Mackie?
How was he -- -You know what? You know what?
I think I know why people like me so much now.
I'm a pretty dope dude. [ Both laughs ]
-Show up on time, know your lines.
That's what everybody says. -Know your lines, everything.
I'm not -- I always brought myself something back
from craft service. I gave myself notes on stuff.
It was great, man. I would do every movie with me.
-Well, I hope you know I'm not just blowing smoke.
You guys have amazing chemistry. -[ Laughs ]
-The two Anthony Mackies, just absolutely amazing.
-No, we had a great time together.
There's nothing like answering yourself
when you're talking to yourself. -[ Laughs ]
-You -- I read -- And again, like I said,
I know you have a background -- a theater school background,
that you will still go back and read Shakespeare
for pleasure and relaxation. -Yeah, that's my thing.
You know, with good jobs,
you get gifts from your agents and managers.
So, you know, I got, like, the first folio.
I got the original edition.
I got all these different editions.
So, it's interesting to see, you know, the difference
every time a new edition came out
and how those words would change
the meaning of a monologue or a play.
So, I always go back just to keep up on it,
'cause you never know
when you're gonna get that phone call.
You know, "Shakespeare in the Park, man."
You got to prepare -- That's a lifelong preparation.
You know?
-I'm heartbroken to tell you this.
The other Anthony Mackie got it. -[ Laughs ]
-Hey, to be a true New York actor,
you have to do "Law & Order"
and you have to do Shakespeare in the Park.
That's the two requirements.
-If you can tick those two boxes.
How young were you the first time you Shakespeare?
-The first time I did Shakespeare,
I was in ninth grade, so I was 14.
I was 14 years old. My teacher, Ray Frizell,
gave me a play to read, and I was --
I went to public school in New Orleans at the time
when New Orleans was the worse place on Earth.
The teachers were more about keeping kids in school
than introducing them to stuff. And this one teacher
really just opened my eyes to the world of literature
and introduced me to Ibsen and Chekhov
and all these different aspects of culture
that I had never heard of.
And Shakespeare -- I was blown away
that this white dude 500 years ago
could write a play that I could relate to today.
-You mentioned you were in New Orleans.
And we have talked about being NFL fans
in some of your recent visits. -[ Laughs ]
-And you -- I mean, I guess one of the downsides
of being a Saints fan is, they're so good
that they never really have a particularly high draft pick.
But did you enjoy their draft, as it were?
-You know what? I will say --
And I give -- If nothing else fails,
we have the smartest draft selections out of everybody.
If they just rate everybody on their GPAs,
we literally broke the -- we have --
we drafted a whole team of accountants.
[ Both laugh ]
I'm very happy about the dudes that we drafted.
We have a damn good lineup this year.
-That's good. I wish you the best of luck.
Thank you so much for being here, Anthony.
And congrats on everything. -Thanks a lot.
Good to see you, man. -Good to see you, too.
"Solos" premieres on Amazon Prime Video
on Friday, May 21st.