Anthony Mackie says shooting The Falcon and The Winter Soldier under COVID measures is kinda 'awful'

The coronavirus has had an intense impact on the entertainment industry, delaying productions, pushing nearly all theatrical release dates away from 2020, and infecting cast and crew that dare to go back to shooting too early. There's also a downside nobody talks about: shooting under COVID-19 precautions just isn't any fun at all.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Disney+'s live-action Marvel series starring two of its MCU actors (Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan) teaming up, went back to Prague to finish up its interrupted production this fall — and the implemented changes were certainly a culture shock to some working on the show.

For Mackie, who will be taking on the mantle of Captain America for the first time since the events of Endgame, these had quite an impact. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, the actor explained how things took a turn upon the productions return to Prague.

“Everybody’s very afraid of each other. The food is bad because they have to pack it up somewhere else and bring it to us in Ziploc bags. Yeah, it’s awful. You’re literally living in quarantine. It’s not like the NBA bubble where they had a barbershop and friends to hang out with,” Mackie said. “No, if you get within six feet of somebody, there’s some little Czech dude coming and poking you with a stick saying, ‘You have to move.’ So it’s rough.”

Bagged lunches? Safety measures!? Certainly not as carefree as other Marvel productions where script secrecy was probably the biggest concern weighing on anyone involved. Mackie's tongue-in-cheek first world problems are just the latest update to on-set behavior from those working in the genre world. Jurassic World: Dominion's hotel-rental strategy, The Walking Dead's proximity sensors, and seemingly every set's policy of testing multiple times a week haven't made sets perfectly safe (just ask Robert Pattinson), but they're certainly trying.

Maybe other AAA productions need more Czech checkers keeping them honest?

Showrun by Malcolm Spellman, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also stars the likes of Emily VanCamp, Daniel Brühl, and Wyatt Russell. It looks to hit Disney+ in 2021.