Anthony Mackie found filming Captain America: The Winter Soldier "painful" and "traumatic".
The 35-year-old actor plays Sam Wilson / Falcon in the upcoming action movie, with Chris Evans starring in the title role. Falcon derives from Marvel Comics and the superhero is known for his winged cape.
To give the illusion of flying, Anthony was held up by wires during a majority of the filming. He remembers how difficult it was to give a believable performance while suspended in the air.
"It was all wire work. I did a sh*tload of wire work and it was the most painful, traumatic [experience]. They did this new harness that was leg straps and a torso strap so they could pick me [up] at four points. So if these are my arms, this is my leg, I had a string here, string here, string here. So if I was flying I could do this, I could do that," he explained to craveonline.com.
"Nothing [had to do with my arms]... Literally my core had to be engaged and I had to hold my legs up. I had to put my body in an arch position because that’s how you would fly. There’s nothing natural in the human physical being about flying. So there’s nothing natural in the human physical being about landing, or taking off."
While he acted out a lot of the adventurous moves in the film, Anthony couldn't have done it without the help of his body double. He believes his own struggle with the wirework must have appeared humorous to onlookers during production.
"The stunt team was great, and I literally have the best stunt man in the business. He would rehearse the stuff with camera and rehearse all this stuff and come to me and show me how, because he’s a physical expert. The dude’s a cat. He’s a capoeira and martial arts expert, so he can do all this stuff physically and would come in and set it on me," Anthony recalled.
"So when I get to set I’ll have an 'idea' of what to do. In no way, shape or form am I muscular [enough], in that kind of shape to do it. So that’s where the pain came in. I had a bulging disc, I was bruised. It was really, really rough. And that was just taking off. That wasn’t when they got to me landing. There was a few times I ate it. I always say that this could be a comedy about The Falcon trying to learn how to fly."
