Brie Larson Talks ‘Captain Marvel’ Smiling Controversy & How The Film Predicted It

Captain Marvel star Brie Larson and co-director Anna Boden weighed in on the “smiling” controversy and how a scene in the upcoming film predicted it.

When the first trailer was released, some people had complaints about Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers not smiling. In the film, there is a scene where someone tells Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers she should smile, which may have predicted the trailer backlash. Yahoo!’s Kevin Polowy sat down with Brie Larson, where she responded to the “smiling” controversy and revealed the scene wasn’t a direct response to the criticism:

“That was in the movie already, we already shot that. That’s just the depiction of the female experience. That’s just what it’s like. It didn’t really bother me that much when I saw those reactions, that’s just how it goes…This is part of why art that depicts the female experience is so importnat. On one hand, for women and girls, it allows us to go “Oh, I have that experience too.” For those who aren’t in our bodies, they can look at that and go, “That happens to you? We got to do better.”

Captain Marvel co-director Anna Boden, who is Marvel Studios’ first female director, also talked about the scene and the trailer reactions:

“That was always in the script, it’s not an uncommon thing for women to hear. I think you can ask any woman in this room. It doesn’t suprise me at all that it was in social media, but I think a lot of women can releate to that moment.”

Here is a plot synopsis for Captain Marvel:

Set in the 1990s, Marvel Studios’ “Captain Marvel” is an all-new adventure from a previously unseen period in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that follows the journey of Carol Danvers as she becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes. While a galactic war between two alien races reaches Earth, Danvers finds herself and a small cadre of allies at the center of the maelstrom.

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel stars Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Algenis Perez Soto, Rune Temte, McKenna Grace, Clark Gregg, and Jude Law.

Captain Marvel will be released in theaters on March 8, 2019.

Source: Yahoo!