Jeremy Allen White has no regrets about shrugging off a Marvel meeting.
The “Shameless” and “The Bear” star, who leads A24’s upcoming WWE biopic drama “The Iron Claw,” confirmed to GQ UK that he did, in fact, meet with Marvel executives for an undisclosed role. However, White “had an attitude” about joining the MCU, and is steadfast in sticking to indies at the moment.
“I had a meeting for a kind of Marvel-y movie, and I had an attitude,” White said. “I think I played it all wrong.” He said he told the Marvel executives, “‘Tell me about why should I do your movie,’” which did not come off well. “They were like, ‘Fuck you,’” White recalled, “and I was like, ‘Right on.’”
Yet, according to White, fellow actor Riz Ahmed immediately asked him upon their first meeting, “When are you going to do a Marvel thing?” Nowadays, that’s the question targeted at rising stars.
“I am confused at how the pinnacle of an actor’s career has ended up in that place,” White said, adding, “They get really good filmmakers to do those movies and obviously they get really good actors to do those movies.”
As for his botched meeting, White summed up, “I played it the way I wanted to play it,” noting that he prefers leading a “$25 million drama that I think most actors want to make.”
White concluded, “I’m just buying myself more time and being able to do what I really love to do. And that’s very much how I view these things.”
White’s comments echo those of fellow indie darling Paul Mescal, who admitted he would “struggle” if he was contractually obligated to a franchise like Marvel. “I think sometimes you have to make a decision to let that go for five, 10, 15 years and that would be really sad,” Mescal said. “I know that if I make that decision, I’m not going to wake up in five years’ time and be surprised I didn’t get time off to go to Turkey and make an independent film for two months.”
