Brie Larson Talks Captain Marvel, The Bear, Room | Spacecon 2025

Captain Marvel herself. Get on your feet. Make some noise for Brian.

Hello everyone. How's it going?

All right. Oh, please. [Applause]

Let's have a chat. No, it's just be 30 minutes of them screaming their heads off for Oh, really? That's an interesting way to

spend your time. We could do that. I think it would be valuable to them as well as myself. How are you?

I'm doing well. It's been great to meet. I'm sure a lot of you out here I've met over the last day and a half and that's

part of why I love coming to these things. You know, something like Captain Marvel goes out in the world and you

might think that I understand what it means to you, but I don't because I'm not there in your chat with your

friends. I'm not there with you after the movie, after you walk out of the movie. So, this is my time where I get

to learn about how you've taken these stories and made them your own. And I really appreciate this time together.

Well, um, snowball question first. Um, this may or may not be your first time

in San Antonio. How's it going for you so far? I've eaten queso three to four times a day.

Queso for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Um, last night I went to I believe it was called Otto's Ice House.

Um, not just great queso, but also a great hot dog and a soft pretzel, which

are all my favorite foods. glad that you're uh being able to get

out cuz I know y'all's schedules are sometimes so jam-packed and we're really so proud of our city and you've come on

arguably the best weekend in town because we have a lot of celebrations going on around the city. So, right now,

passions are high. Uh the city is lovely and we're just celebrating really our

culture and the culture of Hispanic individuals all over. So, it's wonderful. I've noticed that it's really

beautiful and the evenings are so nice and warm. You see everybody hanging out. It's wonderful. You literally came on the best weekend

because it was not like this temperature wise. That's what I like. Well, maybe we have you to thank for bringing the California weather, I think.

Oh my gosh, you guys have it so good. Um, you might or consider or maybe not

consider having ties to San Antonio. I once heard a story that your mom tuned in to see the Selena movie starring

Jennifer Lopez. Any fans of Jennifer or the Selena movie?

Now, that was mostly filmed here in San Antonio, so I'm not sure. You're probably aware of that.

I knew that. And I heard that experience had a huge impact on you. Uh, how much of that do you attribute to your acting

aspirations? And let's be honest, you probably haven't remained a big Selena fan since then.

Oh, yeah. I just watched Selena like 4 days ago. I love Selena and I love JLo. Um, that movie was a turning point for

me. My mom took me to see it in the theater and it was when I identified what I wanted

to do clearly and I just remember going home and crying a lot and saying to my mom that's what I wanted to do when I

grew up. But I don't think be Selena. How many of us female or males also had

those same dreams? I want to be like Selena. Raise your hand. Make some noise.

San Antonio was her second home and uh my parents because I was really too

young to understand when she was around performing um kind of how much she meant to not only the city but the music

itself and so they kind of tell me you know what she meant and how her shows

were. I've been a work musician for a long time and so I kind of watch her

live shows and take separate things from it. everything that they did, not only

her but the band itself, they were so good and so tight as a group and just

watching her, you can just learn so much from not only singing vocally, but also

the things that um she would do to keep the crowd hype and energized and stuff.

So, literally when I'm yelling at you guys, some of that is because [Applause]

new tricks on how to keep people engaged. So you don't understand sometimes the impacts that some people

have on uh your life, but she's one of those where like she's continuing to

inspire people to this day. So I'm so I was so happy to find out that you're

still a huge fan. Favorite song?

[Applause] Let's all break down the song right now.

Uh you recently embarked on a book tour. A lot of you in the house tonight have your own copy.

Party people in the house. Party people tag team uh is described as

an entertaining cookbook with over 100 recipes for any occasion. First, what inspired you to write a cookbook with

your friend Mcroom? And secondly, what in the multiverse is a hot dog

appreciation festival? Um, this book is kind of a long time

coming. Uh I had so I grew up cooking. I come from a family that we cook all the

time. Dinner together was always very important. My mom's also an event planner. So I grew up having really

elaborate parties like twoday scavenger hunt Indiana Jones birthday party. Um

and so I had been thinking the reason why I love making movies is I love

bringing people together. I love having something for people to connect over. And as I was working on chemistry with

my best friend Courtney McBroom, she Thank you. She is a fellow Texan from

Witchah Falls. And um so we do have her queso recipe in the book, which is how we met 10 years ago was over her queso.

Um but anyway, we started working together on the show. She did all food styling for lessons in chemistry. And we

realized that what the show was saying was so in line with how we live our life. And we had been throwing so many

parties over the 10 years of knowing each other that we kind of wanted to stand on a bit of a soap box and say

like parties deserve some mad respect. And for the people that um aren't used

to hosting or maybe are nervous about hosting, we wanted to create something that was a guide book so that you could

welcome people into your home. um and break bread. Like we're it's it's a

wonderful thing to be alive and to be together and I'm sure you're feeling it. Like an event like this is all about the

people. Like this doesn't exist without all of you. And that's what a dinner party is too. So um that's our book and

um oh and the hot dog festival appreciation festival. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I almost forgot.

Um Courtney is actually the president and founder of the hot dog appreciation club. That's a thing. It's a thing. I

mean, honestly, anything can be a thing. She made it a thing. And um she started a hot dog appreciation festival. Um this

last summer was our fourth year. And uh it's exactly what you think. People wear

hot dog paraphernalia. We grill up a lot of dogs. We do hot dog trivia. Um and we

vote. We do a vote on if a hot dog is a sandwich. And so far, democracy is alive

and well and it is not a sandwich. It's its own thing. Thank you. You guys agree to that?

We can say that because Courtney is not here to defend herself. Okay. So, you are against it being a

sandwich and Courtney is for Yes. And it's confusing cuz she's the president.

Is there like a veto process? Like what is the process to like get somebody out of that position? Well, basically we do

the vote every year and the idea is that like listen, we got a year until the

next festival. We just had it a couple weeks ago. So folks who are out there sitting there stewing cuz they're like it is a dagel sandwich. Now's your time.

Start campaigning. Convince me otherwise. You got a year. See if the next vote. This is democracy.

There's a great place in San Diego. So you can toss it to Courtney. Um Bio Dog.

Anybody ever been to Bio Dog? No. Just me. Okay.

They they had a Texas location for quite some time. Uh but things happen in the economy. Um but they have infused

different genres of cuisine, uh Mexican, Chinese, all these different things into

their hot dogs. And so if you're ever in San Diego, find Bio Dog, order one of

like three or four and don't look at it. Just eat it. And I promise you

it'll be it'll change your life. First time ever had a scrambled egg recommendation. Kind of hard. Don't look

at it. Just eat it. Trust me. Just it'll be fantastic. Can we talk about the bear?

Yeah. I don't know if you heard him. Can we talk about the bear?

My goodness. Uh the cameos for this show are filled with star power. They're so iconic and from an outsers's

perspective, I imagine feels kind of like a badge of honor to be involved in the series. From an actor's perspective,

what is it about the series that attracts so many individuals like yourself and what was it like going

head-to-head with Natalie Pado? Uh, I think you know they just the show

is so iconic. The characters are so iconic and everything is so complex and

nuanced and deep and real and it's everything that you want out of a show and everything you want out of a working

experience. And getting to spend a week with all of them was an absolute dream. I I have to say for a show that's so

about such a dysfunctional family, it is the most loving and functional set I have ever been on in my life. Um, they

eat great food. They're kind to each other. Um, everybody shows up completely prepared and it's a lot of

improvisation. I mean, most of the stuff I'd say that is in my episode is just stuff that we improvise. Chris would

just come up to us to me and Abby and early on I was like, "Am I supposed to know exactly what our fight is about?"

He goes, "Oh, no, no, no. This is about everything." And that's why if you really like watch some of our fights,

even I am like, "What am I talking about? What was I doing? I was talking about something about whipped cream. We didn't have cell phones then. I don't

know. I was making stuff up, but it's funny. Um, and so the idea was that Abby

and I didn't talk ahead of time about, but we kind of created our own madeup list of things that we were mad at each

other over so that when the day came, we could, you know, just try and make each other laugh really.

Uh, yeah, I'm sure because I'm laughing as therapy. Also, when your face came onto the screen, I screamed loud. And I

had just done that because Josh Hardy was on it. So, I screamed for him cuz I'm a huge I screamed for him, too. That's for a

year. That's tough. And I actually forgot I I put on my bear season 3 socks that they gave you.

Sorry, I don't want my foot in your face. Um, the scariest pair of socks I've ever

owned. I was like kept putting them on and then would leave the house before the show came out. I was like, "Oh, wait, no. What if somebody sees that

little that little bit of my ankle? You guys are fantastic. And uh I imagine

because the two of you are hilarious and you're just barking at each other like Al um Chip and Dale that it must took

took you guys forever to get through some of those scenes. No, they move really fast. Super super fast. Usually just like two takes of

everything. And that's part of it kind of is the feeling of being in restaurant kitchen is like when you're on that set.

It's about like every second counts. Be prepared. Rapid fire. Um yeah, you have

to be ready. You mentioned Dysfunctional Family. Uh you're not um they're not unfamiliar

with that. You were on my wife's one of my wife's favorite shows, United States Atari. Anybody else?

My goodness. Uh, you played Kate Gregson on the United States of Terra series. Is

watching the the incomparable Tony Colette go to work and bouncing between these drastic personalities

firsthand better than any drama school ever. Yeah. I mean, well, I'm biased cuz

it was my drama school. Low key barely have a high school education. So, dream big, folks. Um, but I was 18. I just

turned 18 when I got that job. I was a homeschool kid and all I did was watch

movies as I did my school work and she was my dream. She was my icon. She was,

you know, the you can't be what you can't see. She was that for me. Like I was like, "Oh, I can be an interesting

character actor." Like I don't think I'm like a movie star, but I can do interesting characters forever. And so

to get that opportunity to play her daughter um and then to do my first

scene with her and for her to be like, "You did good. Um it just was amazing.

So I basically got 3 years of watching, you know, the best character actor of

her generation in my opinion. Um just flip between characters. And the thing

that she taught me from such a young age that just stayed with me was that she

doesn't like stew in the character. She's in the character. She's out. She's doing the scene and then she's dropping it. She's talking to you about what

you're going to do for dinner. And that really inspired me. I realized how cool it is to not get stuck in a character. I

always thought that the actors that were like the method actors that are like please, you know, call me call me Mr.

Lincoln or whatever. Like that that was the pinnacle. But I realized for me I actually I think it's really nice to be

able to be so confident in what you're doing that you can go in and out and it's just fluid, you know, no problem.

Would you ever because I imagine there's there's definitely not a lot of roles where Tony is having to bounce from

personality to personality, change your motivations or emotions or thought process on a dime. Would you ever do

something like that? Does that like really challenging you or something you aspire to do maybe?

Yeah, I mean I'm always looking for a challenge. So um and I don't know what that next challenge will be until it

comes. So, of course, anything that feels anything that gives me the feeling of like, oo, that seems really

vulnerable. That seems really scary. That could go sideways. I'm like, that's probably what I should do. Stick with that. So, you like doing

things are out of your comfort zone that might be scary. For anybody who might be

on the fence about something in their own life that is either scary, challenging, they're unsure of

themselves, they might or may not lack the self-confidence. What would you kind of give them advice about that maybe

you've experienced about? Well, for me it's understanding why I'm

resisting something or why I'm afraid of it or why it makes me nervous. There's a lot of reasons, you know. Um, I was

offered the role of Captain Marvel and I was really nervous about saying yes to it and um I had to sit down with I

literally sat down with a piece of paper and wrote down why it made me so scared to say yes. And what I realized in doing

that was it had nothing to do with Carol, had nothing to do with the film or the opportunity itself. I was really

an an introvert and I was very worried about all the things that would come

after. I was worried about lack of privacy. I was worried that I would be able to have a voice or be I'd have

stage fright doing something like this. And I felt like I'd let people down um and I wouldn't be a person anymore if I

did it. And once I broke it down, I was able to go, "Okay, looks like I need a

therapist." And and I was able to say, "Okay, well, I

know when this movie is coming out. I got a couple years." So that gives me 3 years of a runway to figure out what

matters to me in my life, what I'm going to protect, what's going to be private for me, and to also make sure that I

always have the right to go to the grocery store. I have the right to go to the art museum because I want to keep playing real human beings that you

relate to for the rest of my life. And for me, the only way I feel like I can do that is if there are parts of my life

where I just get to be, you know, the person that's like annoying you in line.

Like I want the right to be that, you know? So once I was able to figure that out, it like I was able to do the thing

that I love and like take the big bite that I was afraid to take. So, I'm going to use this my specific example,

whatever that is for you, but I'd say if you can break down what it is that makes you scared, you can understand, okay, what are the parts of this that I can

actually work with and what are the parts that are just like, okay, actually this is a no. It really helps me make

decisions. [Applause]

Welcome to the church of bridge. Can we talk about the room?

[Applause] Boss.

Um, I remember watching the room, not the room, but the room movie for the

first time. I watched it with my spouse and I went through a feeling that I

rarely feel. I've watched millions of movies as many of you have, but there's certain movies that come along usually

indie projects that really surprise me and not only surpass my expectations,

but like move me um either mentally, spiritually, how what you will. Um,

Momento was the first indie film that did that for me. Any Momento fans in here?

I watched that and I thought what an achievement and so watching the watching room I also had that very same

experience. I was just blown away not only by your performance but the concept

and the the kind of the the tricks for the filming style just

everything worked seamlessly. And so with that experience

um it for you it demanded such an intense emotional vulnerability like what was your process stepping into the

role of joy especially portraying trauma and resilience and how did that experience shape your approach for

future roles? I never talked for a project the same

way after room because I don't actually think I was very kind to myself in that

preparation. So, I'm hesitant to even get to into it. Um, but the main the

good thing that I did was I worked with a trauma specialist. So, every week I sit down with this this incredible man

named Dr. Brier. And um he explained to me about how

trauma is placed in the brain, how it shows up in our lives. And the biggest gift he gave me from those conversations

was understanding that if you are in a stressful situation, you can't process the stress stressful situation until

you're out of it. So for those of you, if you've ever like gone through something and it's not until maybe weeks

later that you're like, "Oh my god, you're having a panic attack." That's normal. That's your brain being like, "I'm safe now and I can now process

this." Um, so in doing that, it really helped us be able to track the story. We

filmed the movie in order. was the only time I've ever done that. We normally film things completely out of order. Um,

and so with that, we were able to kind of track it and and create the shift that I think neither one of us could

have expected until having that conversation with Dr. Brier that you would originally I would have thought

that Joy was having a hard time in the room, but really she was too much in it.

She had to be strong for her son, strong for herself. She almost had to numb herself to what that feeling was until

she was back home in a safe place. You think the safe place is where you would finally feel good, but that's when you

actually have to deal with what's happened. Profound, right?

Um, got to get to this one. Any fans of Scott Pil versus the world?

Is Scott Pilgrim like on a new streamer or something? Cuz I'm just wondering because there was just a lot more Scott

Pilgrim fans this time around. Does anybody know why? Is it just with more time? Like Envy Adams was alive and well

at Space Con. That's all I have to say. If you're looking for another reason

other than it's just an iconic film, I don't know if you're going to find one, but it's just it holds up. It's it's

still relevant. It's still iconic to I think folks and uh Edgar is one of my

favorite directors because of it because when you watch an Edgar movie, you know it's Edgar behind the camera. You know,

it's fantastic. Uh your role as Envy Adams and Scott Pilgrim Versus the World is iconic. I've already said it. The

film itself involves so many young talented individuals who have gone to win multiple awards and have lasting

careers. What was it like stepping into that musical exaggerated world? And what are some of your fondest memories

working on what I would consider the Days of Confused movie of our generation? And I'll explain in a

second. Um, oh, I just have really good memories of it. I think I was only like 19 when

we did that movie, which is very odd to me. Um, yeah, I must have been 19, 20,

19, 18, something like that. Um, obviously we didn't know what we were doing at the time where you're just kind

of on the ride of Edgar's ride and Edgar's vision. It was the biggest film had ever been on, the biggest sets I'd

ever been been on. They built everyone was like, "Oh my gosh, he built a pyramid. This is crazy." Um, there was a

lot of people that I really looked up to on that set and there were a lot of people that were like new just like me.

Um, I remember auditioning for it and saying to Edgar. It was like basically

the night before that I figured out what I wanted to do and how I wanted to make this voice and this character, but I was

too embarrassed to even run lines with my boyfriend in that voice. I was like, "This is probably going to crash and

burn." Um, and so I said to Edgar before I even started, I was like, "Well, if

if I'm going to hear you laugh, you're either laughing at me or with me." But um and so but it worked out great and um

still friends with everybody was sort of on an email thread, you know, good times,

fans, right?

I'll go into my notes from you. Um I I interviewed I'll make this quick. I interviewed a bunch of the uh cast of

Dais for their 30th anniversary, which is I think last year. And Mia Join said,

"Every generation has a Days of Confused where they bring together a group of

young actors, many of which are acting for their first time. Like if you go ask or if you find out the Days of Confu

conf days and confused cast, say that four times fast. A lot of them were just

picked off the street of Austin, Texas. No acting experience. Just somebody walking down Austin saying, "We want to

be in a movie." And so some of those individuals have gone on to be massive stars. And I think Scott Pilgrim is my

generation's gaze of youth. You guys are all so talented. You had longl lasting

careers, award winners, Oscar winners, and winners. And so yeah, I just

consider it like our generation stays confused. Thank you.

I didn't write this down, but please let us know like what is something you remember from working on your scenes you

had to perform. Everybody loves your song. What's some of their fondest

memories of actually performing on on the set of stops world?

I think the thing I remember the most is that those boots were like custom sewn.

So they had to be like sewn on to my legs. So you know once they got put on they had to cut them off. Um so I had to

wear those all day. Um I think I blacked out while I was performing as Envy.

Honestly I don't think I knew what the heck I was doing. Just just you know feigning confidence with with a prayer.

All right. because I'm old and because uh I've been getting things easily. Uh who is on bass? I can see his face

in your band. You're off. Yes. Is this a trivia night?

Trivia night. Uh Tennessee Thomas was the drums. No, no, no. Um

[Applause] say again.

No, Ralph. Brandon Ralph. Brandon Ralph. My vegan boyfriend.

Yes. Is Brandon. This is a very serious question, folks. Is he the sweetest guy on the planet?

Yes. I just wanted to confirm that. Confirm.

Absolutely. Uh let's talk about Captain Marvel. Is that okay?

Uh most recently, The Marvel. working on the Marvel involved a major shift to being a solo lead and Captain Marvel's

collaborating closely with two newer characters. How did that dynamic challenge you as an actor? And please

tell us one of your most favorite moments working on the set with Iman Milani and Tiana Paris.

What was the first part of the question? The challenge or memory? Just remember challenges of changing and shifting from

your own solo to being a part of an on something. Honestly, it was something that Kevin and I had talked about from

the beginning, which was my very first conversation about Captain Marvel. I was like, "Well, we have to bring in Miss

Marvel like ASAP." Like, she's such a great character and um such an important

part of the legacy and story of Captain Marvel. Um, but the other thing that we

talked about a lot after the first film was I was like, it's great that Captain

Marvel is so efficient and also I think it's an important message for people to

realize that even the best of us have limitations and not one person can do everything. And I was like, I as a human

being don't want to feel like I'm the difference between the world like collapsing and and being alive again,

you know, like we need everybody. Like it takes all of us and all of our superpowers to make this planet what it

is. And so that felt like a great way to kind of you don't want like a character

that has no flaw and and can do like it got to the point was like well if Captain Marvel's in a fight, she's going

to win every single time every time. Every time. And so it felt like her biggest challenge then would be learning

how to lean on other people. And I think that's real. I think if you're a real can do person, it can be really hard to

like trust someone else. And in this case, you're trusting two women that you

have like your heart is connected to. It's like they're her sisters and so it

feels really vulnerable and you want to step in, but every time she tries to step in, they literally switch places and the other person has to handle it.

So, I thought that the whole metaphor of it was really just really special and incredible and I just I really liked

being sharing that type of responsibility with them. And we love them too, right guys?

Uh mom was here uh it was either last year, she was here last year and we

quickly found out she's one of us. One of us. One of us. Oh honey, she is so you.

Please share with us why you agree. Why I agree? Where do I begin? How do I count the ways? Every girl knows

everything. Um, she was like the one that was

constantly like giving script notes being like, "Yeah, sorry, but according to comic blah blah blah, this wouldn't

work." And we're like, "Okay, I don't I don't read every single one, but thank you." Like she cuz it's not just that

she knows Miss Marvel, it's that she knows like everything. And so she really

is that character in that way. And to have that type of like she's so good.

She's such a talented actress, but she's such a wonderful person and she's so grounded. And I have so many incredible

memories with her. I mean, you you got to have great memories when you're like literally on wires flying through the

air with someone. Um just getting wedgies together, just enjoying your life. Um, but she got really into

crocheting and she crocheted me a bandana and I I really appreciate that. I still wear it.

We absolutely adore her. Fun fact, after she was done with her autographs last

year, all she did was walk around the show floor and look at comics.

I was that money, of course. Absolutely. Well, listen, uh, this has been absolutely spectacular. If you guys

have any questions for Brie, do not hesitate to go meet her at her booth. Please do that. Cannot wait to see you

sometime, hopefully very soon, back on the big screen. Uh, wearing your outfits. Also teaming up with Aman

Milani. Let's do that again, shall we? San Antonio, make some noise. Hello. The

only Thank you so much. Appreciate you.