‘Captain Marvel’ gave me "larger" platform to contribute to feminism: Larson

Featuring in and as Captain Marvel helped Brie Larson realise a dream she didn't think was possible. The actor says the film gave her a "larger" platform to contribute to feminism, a cause dear to her heart. Larson stars as US Airforce pilot Carol Danvers, who becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes – Captain Marvel.

The 29-year-old actor, who is a vocal women’s rights activist, said it struck her while working on the Marvel film that she would be able to reach out to more people with the message of gender parity, a privilege not enjoyed by an indie movie that she usually collaborates on. "It was really powerful and exciting. And it's also allowed me opportunities 'coz the film is so big, I knew I would be able to share certain concepts on a much larger scale than I'd been able to previously in independent films and even carry that over in the press tours.

"I have never had a press tour like this where we were able to work on reaching parity along the way. I feel so lucky that I made my first blockbuster movie and I just get to talk about feminism all day. I never would have thought that was like a possibility for me. That's like my dream,” Larson told PTI during a group interview. With “Captain Marvel”, which is an origin story set in the 1990s, the actor has become the first woman to lead a standalone Marvel superhero film.

The Oscar winner says she toiled for nine months before she started shooting and the inherent connect with the story made her get up every day, even when she felt like giving up. "I think you have to have something that kind of transcends the movie, that keeps you going, that gives you fuel every day. Because it takes too long to make it and I trained for nine months. Then the shoot was 75 days. It's almost a year to go at something really hard every single day.

"It's very easy to burn out. So you have to have something that's kind of in the pit of your stomach that is this undeniable thing that you can remind yourself of. That makes it feels important, that makes it feel more that just making a movie,” she adds. Larson, who shot to fame with her role in "Room", says it was important to her that all female characters in the film got their chance to shine.

"For me, getting female complexity on screen, making sure that we had a film that talked about all the different kinds of female experience and we get to that not just with Carol, but also with Gemma's and Lashana's and Annette's character,” she adds. The film also stars Samuel L Jackson, Gemma Chan, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Ben Mendelsohn, Clark Gregg, Djimon Hounsou and Lee Pace. "Captain Marvel" hits the screens on March 8 in India.

(With inputs from agencies.)