Exclusive: Anthony Mackie Talks Giving Back Through GAF Partnership and 'Captain America 4'
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The MCU star wants to give back to his community in New Orleans that is constantly being devastated by natural disasters.
Anthony Mackie, best known for his role as Sam Wilson/Falcon and now Captain America, is living up to his new MCU superhero moniker.
The Captain America: New World Order star has partnered with GAF, a Standard Industries company and North America’s largest roofing and waterproofing manufacturer, to help rebuild communities that have been repeatedly hit by natural disasters and left vulnerable to future crises. The initiative will start in Mackie’s hometown of New Orleans.
Mackie's passion to partner with GAF stems from his love of community and his desire to give back to those who are less fortunate.
Parade caught up with the Falcon and The Winter Soldier star to find out how families can take advantage of this partnership, how his childhood summers inspired his desire to give back, and what fans can expect from Captain America 4.
Check out the full interview below:
You’ve teamed up with GAF to help rebuild communities hit by natural disasters, why is this initiative important to you?
It’s important to me for many different reasons. One, it's a great opportunity for me to give back to my community. To do 150 roofs in the 7th Ward New Orleans, which is the ward I live in, less than a three minute drive from my house is where we did the first roof. It reminds me of where I came from and where my family is, where my friends are. You know it’s easy to get complacent and forget you know the background and history that brought you where you are. And you know the 7th Ward is born bred in me forever. And so it feels great to give back to my neighborhood.
When you’re talking about people who are less fortunate. You’re talking about people who live on a fixed income. You’re talking about people who don’t have the opportunity after a major storm to rebuild their homes, specifically to put a new roof on their house. It’s important to go back and help all those people who helped you get to where you are.
What are you hoping to see come out of repairing these communities' roofs?
You see, the 7th Ward is a very unique neighborhood. And it’s unique in America, specifically unique in New Orleans, because it was the only traditional middle class neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. And I say that to say, in the morning all you see is people getting up and going to work and in the afternoon all you see is people coming back home from work. There was a sense of community that we really don’t have any more. On the weekends, my dad would take his time off and if you had a leak on your roof, your gutters were falling over, if you were elderly person, if you were one of those people, he would go and fix it for free. Because that’s what communities do.
With this initiative, GAF has amazingly put a work component to it as well. Where they’re giving young people, at risk people, people who want jobs, they’re training them in the trade of roofing so that if something like this happens again, they can go and repair their communities themselves. I think that’s really important and monumental because no one else is doing that. These elderly people, nobody is helping them. Those fixed income people, nobody is helping them. And it’s up to us to start doing it for ourselves and stop looking for other people to help.
You’re the son of a roofer, what was it like working in the family business in the summer? Did you enjoy helping out?
You know, I hated it as a kid but looking at it now, I really have a fond experience and a great memory of the time I was on the roof with my dad. Most of the time when we were out there working on these roofs, I was telling stories about being on the roof with my dad. And I always tell my kids, I think it’s a lost of reality that the most important things that somebody can give you is time.
You know I don’t remember one birthday present that I got, but I remember that time; I remember that time that we spent together just being out there is just something that you’ll never forget. You’ll never forget that heat. I’ll never forget mopping 500 degree tar, I’ll never forget falling off the roof on St. Charles. I’ll never forget any of it.
Were there any expectations of you taking over the family business? Were your family surprised when you decided to go into acting?
There were no expectations. My dad made sure of it. I’m the youngest of 6, so my dad made it very clear that I wasn’t a roofer early on.
So they weren’t surprised when you went into acting.
No! My dad kind of expected it. He always said he expected me to do something that he could never do. So you know, even though he was the contentment performer, he never saw himself as an actor.
What can fans expect from Captain America 4?
Fans can expect a black dude to be Captain America [laughs]. That’s the biggest biggest shocker I can give you.
If you could pick any Marvel hero to help GAF build roofs, who would it be?
Oh, that’s a good question. I would have to say, I want to say the Hulk because he can like pick things up but he would just break everything. So then I would have to say Vision because he can do everything with his mind. So he could clear off a whole roof and nail a whole roof on with his mind. And Paul Bettany [Vision] is my boy. Sebastian [Bucky Barnes], I don’t think he’ll do well in the heat. Chris Evans, he definitely won’t do well in the heat. So I would say Vision.
How are families who were affected by natural disasters able to get their roofs fixed? What are the steps to ensuring that they can benefit from this initiative?
The website is GAF.com/communitymatters.
You can go sign up. They’re doing 500 roofs across the gulf coast and 150 roofs in the 7th Ward New Orleans.
So it’s something that you can go and sign up for, then they [local nonprofit partners] vet you and come see your house and then, in return, you’ll know if you’re eligible or not.
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