DeWanda Wise was originally chosen to play Maria Rambeau, Carol Danvers' best friend, in the 2019 film “Captain Marvel.” Wise later mentioned she withdrew because of other filming commitments. However, in an interview with Collider released on Sunday, the star of “Jurassic World Dominion” revealed that one of the primary reasons was the way Marvel actors work, which she described as “my own personal nightmare.”
“I haven’t spoken about this before and it’s not good news, but when I was close to doing ‘Captain Marvel,’ a crew member told me, ‘Yeah, you know how it is, these movies, you hit your mark, you say your line, you go home,'” she explained.
“When I heard that, I thought, ‘That is my own personal nightmare. That sounds crazy and terrible to me,'” Wise added.
In 2022, DeWise told Collider a different reason for leaving the project. She initially stated that leaving “Captain Marvel” was out of her control due to an existing TV role and said, “It wasn’t a choice. I committed to ‘She’s Gotta Have It.’ When you commit to something, you commit to it.”
“And it just so happened that when they decided to essentially expand the role in ‘Captain Marvel’ a little longer, a little larger, it conflicted with a very specific moment that we were shooting in Season 2, a very special episode that we shot that I would not trade for anything in the world when we shot in Puerto Rico.”
She also expressed personal disappointment at not being able to film the “Captain Marvel” part. “That was experientially, spiritually, personally one of the most remarkable and life-changing moments of my life. So it was painful. It was painful to be told no at the time.”
“It wasn’t something that I didn’t have to grieve and process and be like, wow, this was a really big opportunity that felt like, at the time, that it was taken from me, but now of course, when you play it back and you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m playing a pilot. Here’s why. Here’s why. That’s why this didn’t happen, so that I could do this in this way.'”
Thankfully, DeWise went on to portray pilot Kayla Watts in “Jurassic World Dominion.” Her comments on “Captain Marvel” followed her explanation for how she approaches acting in blockbuster films the same way she does any other role, still seeking the “emotional truth.” She described it as “the Viola Davis school of acting,” mentioning her deep commitment to her role in the “Hunger Games” franchise.
Watch the interview with DeWise in the video above.
