Captain America’s Chris Evans puts his shield down for Gifted, an endearing family drama in which he stars as Frank, a single man who is raising his young niece Mary (Mckenna Grace). Mary is a child prodigy, yet Frank wants her to lead a normal life until his formidable mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) turns up, declaring she has her own plans for Mary.

Gifted is directed by Marc Webb, who is as much at home directing blockbuster movies (The Amazing Spiderman and its sequel) as he is intimate with character-fuelled dramas (500 Days of Summer).

When Evans first read the script, he was full of praise not only for the dialogue – or, as he described it, “the music of the words” – but also the story. “I love character pieces that involve family drama, they’re very relatable.”

Webb remarks that: “People often think of Chris as Captain America, this sweet all-American guy, and he is all that, but there is a dimension to him that you sense underneath, some melancholy that I think is really beautiful and hasn’t been explored a lot in his work. He’s incredibly skilled and very funny. There were a lot of actors who were interested in Gifted, but Chris had a passion that was singular.”

The casting of Mary was crucial to the success of the film

The casting of Mary was crucial to the success of Gifted, and led to an eight-month exhaustive search for a child actor who according to the producers had to be funny, spunky, pull off the big emotional moments and be credible as a genius. Webb insists there was a good reason for the massive search: “I couldn’t have made Gifted unless I found the right Mary Adler. It was the biggest hurdle to making the movie.”

“We saw hundreds of girls, but when Mckenna Grace auditioned with Evans, their chemistry was palpable,” producer Karen Lunder recalls. Mckenna remembers it was very stressful meeting Webb for the first time. “They had given me the wrong scenes to read, so he just gave them to me in the hallway. I had five minutes to memorise them. But once the audition was over, we just talked and had a fun time. I wanted this movie more than any movie I’ve ever wanted.”

She says that she and Webb had an amazing connection together. Mckenna adds that she also learned a lot from working with Evans. “He was very focused on the set, and sometimes he would sit down and help me with my script.” Evans treated her “more like a friend, like he treats Mary.

I really like that he treated me that way, except he did try not to say bad words around me.”

“The moment that Lindsay Duncan steps onto the screen as Evelyn it’s almost like she was born to play the part,” Lunder says of the Scottish actress.

Duncan reveals that she was attracted by the strong story, and the fact that even though there’s a child at the centre of Gifted, “it isn’t just a cute movie about a cute kid. You can see where everybody stands in this complicated situation fuelled by history. It’s about really difficult stuff, and that’s appealing to all of us as actors. It’s a script people wanted to be involved in.”

She describes Evelyn as: “Someone with strong opinions that set her apart. She has that in her na­ture and, in a way, she’s isolated. But then, as with all good writing, you discover it’s not that simple.”

Rounding up the main cast is Oscar winner Octavia Spencer as Roberta – Frank and Mary’s protective landlady and best friend. “What intrigues me about Roberta is that her relationship with Frank and Mary is an integral part of the story. She’s a surrogate mum to the girl and to this habitually single guy. She’s a sister and a mum, whatever the relationship requires.

“If I were to describe the ana­tomy of Gifted, Mary would be the heart, Frank would be the muscle and the sinew and Roberta would be the spine. It all works wonderfully together; that’s why it reso­nated with me on so many levels.”

Spencer muses on the multiple meanings of the title Gifted: “It is about a gifted child… But to me there’s a whole other side to what ‘gifted’ means. Because Mary is part of Roberta’s life and she’s a childless woman, it’s a gift that she gets to play out that maternal role in someone’s life. It’s also a gift for Frank that he has someone else to bear the responsibility. It’s all about love and what’s best for the child and the blended family.”