Chris Evans was absent from the Cannes premiere of his latest film — but with good reason.
Honey Don’t! had its world premiere on May 25 at Cannes. The film is slated to debut in theaters this August.
Despite Evans’s absence, his co-stars Charlie Day, Aubrey Plaza, Margaret Qualley, and writer-director Ethan Coen all appeared on the red carpet to promote the film.
Evans shared a message to followers days later via Instagram explaining his absence.
“I wish I could’ve been with my incredible cast and filmmakers at Cannes,” he wrote on his Instagram Story, “but it was my mother’s 70th birthday and there are some things you just can’t miss! Congrats everyone!!”
Honey Don’t! follows a private detective, Honey O’Donahue (played by Qualley), who gets mixed up with a cult leader (played by Evans) and Plaza’s cop character.
The Avengers star has previously spoken about his relationship with his mother, Lisa Capuano Evans.
Speaking to Esquire in 2020, Evans called his mother “a nut — she’s a character in a movie.”
She recalled in that same article how Evans’s “biggest fear was losing his anonymity” when he took the Captain America role.
“He said, ‘I have a career now where I can do work I really like. I can walk my dog. Nobody bothers me. Nobody wants to talk to me. I can go wherever I want. And the idea of losing that is terrifying to me,’” Capuano Evans said.
She also recalled giving her son advice. “Look, you want to do acting work for the rest of your life? If you do this part, you will have the opportunity. You’ll never have to worry about paying the rent. If you take the part, you just have to decide it’s not going to affect my life negatively — it will enable it,” she said she told her son.
Evans hasn’t played Captain America since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame but rumours have persisted that he’s set to reprise the role, potentially in a villainous capacity, in the fifth Avengers film, set for release in 2026.
Speaking to Esquire in January, Evans disputed that he’s returning for the blockbuster: “That’s not true, though,” said the 43-year-old. “This always happens. I mean, it happens every couple years – ever since Endgame. I’ve just stopped responding to it. Yeah, no – happily retired!”
Honey Don’t hits theaters August 22.
