Note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Anthony Mackie was eager to enter the demolition derby-style world of “Twisted Metal.”
The Marvel actor — who stars as John Doe, an amnesiac driver transporting goods across a war-torn nation — told TheWrap that he and his team were looking for a “different type of energy” than his previous projects when he signed onto the PlayStation video game adaptation for Peacock.
“It was actually about me just being able to show a different side of myself. This business can bog you down and you lose that lighthearted side of yourself if that’s what you’re pigeonholed into,” he explained. “So my team and I would look for something that was more comedic, something that I could just run around and have fun with.”
Mackie said he played plenty of PlayStation while growing up in New Orleans. One of his first video games was “Twisted Metal.”
“I remember it just being insane, fighting and blowing stuff up. It seemed like it would be something that would make a great show,” he added.
Stephanie Beatriz stars alongside Mackie in the series as a new character named Quiet, John’s axe-wielding passenger riding shotgun.
Similar to Mackie, Beatriz was introduced to “Twisted Metal” at a young age. She recalled playing “Twisted Metal” and other video games with her friends when she was growing up outside the suburbs in Houston, Texas in the 90s.
“A lot of what our time was spent doing in middle school was hanging out, drinking too much Mountain Dew, eating pizza and playing video games,” the actress told TheWrap. “And ‘Twisted Metal’ was definitely a part of that. Those games were really coveted.”
She was immediately drawn to the Peacock show’s writing from executive producer and showrunner Michael John Smith.
“I raced through all of the scripts maybe in one day. We spoke on the phone about the tone of the series, and then he sent me all the scripts and I was ravenous to be a part of it as soon as I hit the middle of the first script. I couldn’t stop reading them,” Beatriz recalled. “It was ultimately the writing that pulled me into it and the way that he created this world and the stories of these characters and how raw and dark and gallows humor-filled it was, because that to me is the funniest stuff. There were all these other amazing things attached to it. But once I read the script, I just wanted to be a part of it so badly.”
In addition to the writing, Mackie praised the “Twisted Metal” creative team.
“It really felt like we were putting together something special,” he said.
Beatriz described the adaptation as a super high octane, aggressively fast-paced action comedy that’s a “weird mix” of “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “Looney Tunes.”
“It’s a really fun ride,” she said. “One of the things I think MJ captured so well in the arc of 10 episodes is that you do feel the thrill of the gameplay while you’re watching the show. The action, especially, propels the story forward. It’s not just action for action’s sake. It propels the story in a way that makes the episodes kind of fly by.”
“There’s a lot of beats and moments in the show that I think play really well, and I think audiences will enjoy simply getting to know these characters and the extreme reality in which they live,” Mackie added. “I think the world was brought to life so refreshingly by our writing team, and our design team did such a good job with so little to work with. I’m excited for audiences to see the world we created.”
Mackie also praised the work of wrestler Joe Seanoa, who plays the video game’s infamous killer clown Sweet Tooth (The character is voiced by Will Arnett).
“[Seanoa is] basically doing commedia dell’arte work. He was doing some amazing, amazing work knowing that he wasn’t voicing a character,” Mackie said. “He still learned all the lines and played with us 100% in that world physically and verbally. Stuff like that you don’t get to see on any other show. So to see that is really, really impressive and I’m excited for people to know that I fought Samoa Joe and survived.”
Beatriz called Seanoa’s performance as Sweet Tooth “horrifying, but also so funny and so deranged and so unhinged and so beautiful.”
“Because he memorized all the lines, he has a comedic timing instinct that you’ll see throughout the show. He’s really f–g funny because he threw himself into it 120%. Will Arnett’s vocal performance on top of that is just phenomenal. At certain points, I was watching it thinking like, ‘I know this is two different people, but they’ve meshed together and melded together into this hilarious monster that is just so good.’ We’re so lucky that Joe was part of this because he’s terrifying and he’s also just the sweetest, most lovely person. He’s like a family man. He’s super proud of his kids and he talks about his wife and then he puts on that mask and it’s just absolutely shudder-inducing.”
In addition to Mackie, Beatriz, Seanoa and Arnett, the series stars Thomas Haden Church, Neve Campbell, Richard Cabral, Mike Mitchell, Tahj Vaughans and Lou Beatty Jr.
Smith, Mackie, Arnett, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (“Deadpool,” “Zombieland”), Marc Forman (Electric Avenue), Jason Spire (Inspire Entertainment), Peter Principato (Artists First), Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan from PlayStation Productions and Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst serve as executive producers. Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions and Universal Television serve as producers.
“Twisted Metal” premieres with all 10 episodes Thursday on Peacock.
