Anthony Mackie is putting his money where his hometown is.
The New Orleans-born actor who now wears the mantle of Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe closed a deal on Friday to purchase 20 acres of land in New Orleans East. It’s believed that the location will be the home of East Studios LLC, a Mackie-led film studio, as multiple sources told the local news outlet NOLA.com.
Any specifics beyond that are unknown at this point, though Mackie has leveraged his Marvel success in recent years to take a more high-profile role on the projects to which he’s connected. He was credited as the executive producer on the 2019 science fiction film Io, and he’s listed as a producer on two more recent streaming projects — The Banker on Apple TV+ and Outside the Wire on Netflix.
Mackie is also set to star in and executive produce Twisted Metal, a comedy reimagining of the classic car combat video game series for Peacock that has him partnering with Deadpool writer/directors Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. He may also still be producing a biopic about celebrity lawyer Johnnie Cochran called Signal Hill, but there hasn’t been much news about that one since 2017.
The Mackie family already has a big presence in New Orleans, including a lengthy history of supporting the city. Anthony specifically has said the 2008 disaster the city faced after Hurricane Katrina prompted him to head home and invest himself in his hometown’s success.
“I loaded up my truck, I moved back to New Orleans, built a house,” he said in a 2011 interview with The Guardian. Upon arriving home, Mackie took note of how the government response and insurance company red tape failed the people on the ground who were still reeling and trying to find their way in the midst of widespread devastation
“Every time I go home now, I feel it with everybody who’s stayed and rebuilt, the magnitude of we did it,” Mackie said in the Guardian interview. “Even when the federal government fucked us, we did it on our own. We’re in a position where we can say we did it without your help, so kiss my ass.”
Mashable reached out to Mackie’s publicist for more details on what the plans for East Studios LLC look like and we’ll update this story if we hear back.
