In July 2018 the heavily anticipated Marvel film ‘Captain Marvel’ was on the tail end of filming in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, one of the many on-location settings for the movie, The film stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, an air force pilot who acquires superhuman powers after an accidental alien encounter. The story takes place in the 90s as Danvers strives to make the world a better place while coming to terms with the powers within her.’
From directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, ‘Captain Marvel’ is filled with a roster of A-list talents including Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Rune Temte, Algenis Perez Soto, Mckenna Grace, with Annette Bening, with Clark Gregg, and Jude Law. During filming Blackfilm.com got the opportunity to sit down and speak with a few members of the star studded cast and discuss their experience being apart of the colossal project.
Read below for our convo with star Ben Mendelsohn, who plays the alien invader ‘Talos’ of the Skrull, about his experience making the groundbreaking film.
I know you have a cool suit on but is it uncomfortable working in this heat with that?
Ben Mendelsohn: Yeah, it’s got it’s moments, but you know, like, it’s not so bad. I mean look, there’s a lot of, you know, there’s a lot of pampering that goes with it. You know what I mean?
Was it difficult for you to makeup the voice? Assuming y0u have a specific voice for this character?
Ben Mendelsohn: No we’re kind of just letting it roll, or letting it Skrull! [laughs] There’s some flutter here and there but It’s pretty straight up.
What kind of preparation goes into playing an alien?
Ben Mendelsohn: I mean I look at the first time [the aliens] make their appearance, they’ve come a long way baby I’ll tell you that. There were these sort of fruity little like tadpole-y looking kind of creations at the start of their life like in ’62. They’ve come a long way. You wanna have an idea of the universe and stuff like that. But really, the main part of it is just trying to land couple of blows while you are out there in suit. That’s actually most of the job.
In MCU Films, the directors have kind of given different tones in Ragnarok 2, Civil War. In your words, how would you describe the tone of this film?
Ben Mendelsohn: Look I actually think it’s really beautiful. Unfortunately I’ve got to come in and do a dirty job[ laughs], but someone’s gotta do it! I actually think that what Marvel does, what the comic books did and what differentiated Marvel was it kind of was a lot more on the concerns of a younger audience. And I think this film is really thematically in keeping with that. I do think it’s really kind of beautiful. I mean unfortunately, I have to come in and kick a lot of ass. Humans, they choose the wrong side, you know? So I gotta slap them around a bit, you know. And we shape shift so it gets complicated, but if they weren’t punks then it wouldn’t have to be this way. But they are and so it’s gonna be this way.
Let me just, for those who may not be familiar I’m like number 3 and number 4 on the call sheet, double pay. I mean that was all part of the deal. It’s like oh you want me to do two? Okay I may have to go evil on you – double charge you.
But so the deal with the Skrull is, if they look at something, if they look at a life form for instance, and they could kind of zone in, kind of like chameleons, they just go bam, okay now I’m you. And I know what you’ve been thinking, I know about your recent history. And that’s it. So that’s what makes Skrulls kind of hard to mess with. We turn up. The thing about Carol Danvers and stuff is, she’s pretty, she’s got all the stuff. With the Skrulls, you’re either going for the heart or the mind. So you’re either gonna go with their mind, or you’re gonna attack someone close to their heart. Humans are vulnerable like that. So that’s the deal.
How perfect is Brie for this character?
Ben Mendelsohn: I don’t think you could think of anyone more perfect. Look, I think that Brie has an incredibly rare combination, she is a heavy weight actor, she has incredible timing as well for comedy, anything like that. She’s tough, you can feel her emotional state. And she’s badass. So she’s kind of perfect. She chose the wrong side! [laughs] But other than that, perfect.
Some of this takes place in space? Do you have an idea of what that looks like?
Ben Mendelsohn: This is all about the Kree and the Skrull war. And the Kree are basically lame, and we’ve shot quite a bit of the stuff so far that’s gonna be in space. And obviously some of those are sets and some of them will be spaceship. But there’s some pretty good sequences happening out there.
Yeah, some of the battle stuff and whatnot that we’ve shot and some of the locations that we’ve used, I think they are gonna be pretty effective. We’ve got a couple of different places in this, cause you know, Kree run a lot. They run away a lot. So we’ve got to go deal with them in a bunch of places.
Is this humor the film too?
Ben Mendelsohn: I think it’s got, yeah there is a lot of humor. There’s a light touch and there’s some pretty good, very marginal stuff in there as well. I think it’s got a beautiful balance to it.
Is this the type of villain that takes himself pretty seriously?
Ben Mendelsohn: Yeah but you know, yeah I think what’s gone on in the whole war between them, it is kind of serious. So there is that. But I think the way we patois at certain points, it’s got a good flow.
Given the fact that these films have such a global appeal, so many different actors who are from across the world, how exciting is it for you to be a part of something that is kind of transformative in the way that the studios are approaching this, including everybody?
Ben Mendelsohn: I think Marvel just seems to keep getting better and better. I mean the last two I saw were Black Panther and Ragnarok, and they are really at the cold phase of pushing stuff forward. For me, it’s very exciting. Skrullem is excellent, it’s good being a Skrull. It’s good. You gotta put all this on, but Skrulls rock.
I can definitely tell what your [character’s] opinion is of humans obviously. What is your opinion of Thanos?
Ben Mendelsohn: I think he clearly wants to be me. [laughs] They just wanna be me! But they can’t be me.
I can see some resemblance.
Ben Mendelsohn: Oh, he totally wishes he was f—ing Skrull, he wishes he was a Skrull, he wishes he was a Skrull!
So you pretty much change Nick Fury’s life? Because we meet the young Nick Fury who doesn’t realize you are out there. So you kind of set this whole chain of events off.
Ben Mendelsohn: Well we do. We turn Nick Fury’s world kind of upside down and it’s kind of a freaky shape shifting kind of a way. But Nick’s a serious guy, again he chose the wrong side but he’s a very capable, capable gentleman.
And you play kind of two roles? You play as a human, and then you play yourself in costume. Which one do you like more?
Ben Mendelsohn: Well, let’s just say this. There ain’t no point being a human unless you can affect some positive change in the world and so you know, I set about to do that. And I like to think actually I’m pretty successful at it when it happens. But clearly that is something that will be felt by both Ms. Marvel and Mr. Fury. I’ma get in their world.
Sam Jackson obviously has been a part of so many of these. But what about him are you most valuing when it comes to this experience working with him?
Ben Mendelsohn: Sam’s just great to be around. I mean Sam is the world record holder in the history of the human race for most money in film. Sam is the guy. And he’s just awesome. When you know you’re gonna be working with Mr. Jackson, you just kind of get a little bit, you know like, he’s just good to be around.
I can imagine you two have some very interesting conversations.
Ben Mendelsohn: Well you know, he’s got me covered. I wouldn’t play poker against him. I’d get my ass handed to me. But you know, this stuff’s a pleasure.
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