Anthony Mackie Ate Dirt When Trying To Land As Falcon For The First Time

Anthony Mackie admits he totally ate dirt while landing as Falcon for the first time in Captain America: Civil War. Mackie joined the MCU as Sam Wilson/Falcon in 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where he first teamed up with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and got his first taste of the superhero life. Since then, Mackie has appeared in five other films, with the most recent being last year's Avengers: Endgame. Mackie admitted last year his initial contract with Marvel is for 10 films, which would signal he still has four more to appear in.

However, that might not be the case based on Mackie's next MCU appearance, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Mackie, along with Sebastian Stan, will headline Marvel's first foray into the world of Disney+ later this year. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a six-episode series that will explore Sam and Bucky's (Stan) next adventure following the events of Endgame. While most plot details are still being kept under wraps, one thing is clear: Sam will be adjusting to his new role as Captain America, though he'll be facing some pushback from the United States government.

Mackie recently appeared on an EW panel for Julliard alumni in honor of the new documentary Creating a Character: The Moni Yakim Legacy. During the panel, Mackie spoke about how he used the lessons he learned from Yakim at Julliard when working in the MCU. Specifically, he used these lessons when creating the way Sam would land while flying around as Falcon. Unfortunately, the first time in Civil War didn't go very well:

The first day — I think we were doing Civil War, and there's the scene where [Vision] shoots Rhodey out of the sky and I land to see if he's okay — I'm supposed to land, so they pull me up like 30 feet off the ground and I'm on a pendulum, so I'm supposed to pull my legs under me and land to a stop. I didn't realize how much my lower body weighed, so I pull on the ropes to try and bring my legs under but I can't get my core in, and I literally land face-first in the dirt and bounce for about 10 feet. I have grass and mud all in my face. The crew is just dying laughing. Everybody is dying laughing.

Mackie also shared that he studied birds in order to emulate their flying styles, though clearly it took some time mastering the landing. Falcon's high-flying moves are often a highlight of the action scenes he's involved in, and it'll be interesting to see how he incorporates the Captain America shield. Fans already got a glimpse of Sam practicing with the shield in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's brief Super Bowl promo, and they're eager for more.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was one of the many ongoing productions affected by the coronavirus pandemic, meaning the cast and crew were forced to halt work back in March. Mackie said there isn't much left to film, but some wonder if the show will be delayed from its August premiere date. So far, Marvel hasn't confirmed any kind of date shift, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is aiming to get back to work in the coming weeks. Hopefully the production delay won't cause too much of an extra wait, as fans are quite excited to see Mackie's newest MCU adventure.

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Source: EW