SHE Can GO Her OWN WAY

HOLLYWOOD has a WELL-WORN PATH for "serious" ACTORS. But since WINNING the OSCAR, BRIE LARSON has BECOME one of the industry's stealthiest SUPERSTARS by REFUSING to stick to the SCRIPT.

- CARINA CHOCANO

Recently, Brie Larson went to see a friend who was starring in A Streetcar Named Desire in London. As they left the theater together, the security guard told the actor that there were fans outside waiting for their programs to be signed. Larson stood near him as he did so, unbothered and, to his surprise, unnoticed. She recalls, "I was just standing there, and he was like, How is this possible?'"

Despite the fact that she is Captain Marvel, star of the first female-led superhero franchise in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and despite the fact that she is an Oscar winner, and despite the fact that she has been acting since she was six, Larson, now 33, is still rarely recognized in public. "If I'm checking out at the grocery store, I don't get recognized," she told comedian Mike Birbiglia on an episode of his podcast. "I get 'Are you friends with my cousin?' I am the classic face of 'friend of your cousin."

Larson, though, is not just content with her relative anonymity; she needs it to feed her soul. "I want to be in reality. I love reality. It's all I want," she tells me. "My biggest fear is to not be in reality. It matters so much to me. I don't wear super-flashy clothes when I'm out in the world because I want to stay in reality. I'm very good at confrontation in my relationships because I want to be in reality. I want to be in what's as close to what's true as possible."

IT'S NOON ON AN OVERCAST DAY in February, and Larson and I are ensconced at a bar in London starting in on our first of three cocktails. Larson, who lives in Los Angeles, is in London shooting additional scenes for The Marvels, the upcoming Captain Marvel sequel, at Pinewood Studios, "hanging from wires in a superhero suit, fighting imaginary aliens."