New York Comic Con 2010THE THING
An Interview with Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
by Wilson Morales
October 9, 2010
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje talks about overcoming the stereotype of Blacks dying first in horror films.
Over the weekend, while attending the 2010 New York Comic Con, Universal Pictures brought down a teaser trailer to their upcoming film, ‘The Thing.’
Shortly afterwards, director Matthijs van Heijningen came stage with actors Joel Edgerton, Adewale “Adi” Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ulrich Thomsen and Eric Christian Olsen and discussed thieir roles in the film.
‘The Thing’ serves as a prelude to John Carpenter’s classic 1982 film of the same name.
What role do you play in the film.
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje: I play a character named Derek Jameson . Basically, I’m Sam Carter’s (played by Joel Edgerton) buddy and his co-pilot and we ferry the scientists to and from Antarctica. It’s an interesting position that we are in because we’re practical and just trying to do the job while others are looking to make a buck, and we get stuck in this place. Then, the scientists ask us if we can stay another day to help them ferry back what they discover. That’s when the trouble starts. I like to think that my character has a sense of humor amongst the fear and the horror. It’s a fun character for me.
Were you a fan of the original film and was it important to educate yourself on that film?
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje: Yeah, I’ve also been a fan of John Carpenter since ‘Assault on Precinct 13’ and ‘The Thing’ and I don’t normally like to look at films before I want to come in with a fresh take and with a prequel, it gives you license to take the film somewhere else. Definitely, you know where this may go and that the audience has expectations. Because the film is a prequel, we had more latitude. I like the angle that Matthijs (van Heijningen Jr., the director), came with by adding a Norwegian cast because they were speaking the language and as an actor, it makes it more relevant, and it gives the film a different dimension. I wasn’t daunted and after I spoke with the director and I got an idea where his direction was, I was inspired. That’s what I like about the film; that it’s an ensemble but there are all these arcs and relationships, like the one I have with Carter. This is just a great piece for an actor.
Can you talk about working on the set in Antarctica and was it really cold?
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje: Actually, the set was great. If you shoot in those conditions, you can’t really act or speak. The temperature was that cold. What the production team did was create a white foam in this quarry, and we had these big chunks of ice and follow them through these mashing machines and they would spread the ice through the quarry. They really did and amazing job with the set. It made it easy for us because even though we had all those clothes, we were still sweating our asses off. When we shot some of it in Toronto, Canada, and we started at the end of winter, and it was just going into Spring, we got the froth coming out, we thought we would be in dange of the snow melting at some point. But, it was a fun set to go work on.
After the panel, Blackfilm.com got a chance to speak with Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje in depth about the film and overcoming the stereotype of Blacks dying first in horror films.
‘The Thing’ opens on April 29, 2011.
