Anthony Mackie can never forget the “worst director” he ever met!
During his appearance on Variety’s Know Their Lines’ recent episode, the Captain America: Brave New World actor recalled a terrible instance, sharing how he almost lost his role in the Oscar-winning film, The Hurt Locker.
Mackie played the character of Sergeant J. T. Sanborn in Kathryn Bigelow’s 2008 war action thriller film, The Hurt Locker.
While speaking to the interviewer, the Twisted Metal star shared the backstory behind his casting in the movie, revealing that because of a terrible director’s unreleased film, he almost lost his role in the 2009 Oscar-winning film.
“‘Hurt Locker’ is probably one of the most important acting experiences I had. We shot that in 2007, and I remember I was doing a movie in North Carolina with quite possibly the worst director to ever direct. Ironically, because of that the movie never came out,” stated the actor.
He explained that due to delays on another film, he had to drop out of The Hurt Locker, and the role was offered to someone else. However, that actor declined the offer over low pay, which made the team wait for him to finish, and he got the part.
“I was doing this movie that never came out with this awful director, his name was Dan, I won’t say his last name, and we go over by six months. I was supposed to leave to do Hurt Locker. Kathryn was like, ‘I’m sorry. Maybe the next one’. So, they go and offer it to another actor, and he said no,” Mackie recalled.
The 8 Mile actor added, “So they came back to me like, ‘Look, we’ll wait, if you leave the day you wrap’. That movie literally started my career, because one dude said it wasn’t enough money.”
Anthony Mackie was last seen in Captain America: Brave New World, which was released on February 14, 2025.
