If you’re a 90s baby like myself you were blessed to purchase the original PS1 and most likely got it with Spyro, Crash Bandicoot and Twisted Metal. Twisted Metal was all action, all chaos, and now it's a series starring Anthony Mackie, Neve Campbell and Stephanie Beatriz.
We sat down with our main hero Anthony Mackie to discuss what fans should expect from this new series.
Anthony, I know you’ve had experience with video game roles in the past but this one is very different, how do you prepare for a role in a game that doesn’t really have a blueprint?
Well, this role was really different because it was more about the world that we were creating and the content that we were placing inside of it. I didn't have to research the game at all. I've known Twisted Metal my entire life and I played it as a kid, however, I sucked at it and never won a battle.
I was pretty familiar with the game but this was more about John Doe and creating who I wanted him to be and how I wanted him to exist in this world that we were putting together. How naive can I make him, that you don't feel sorry for him, and think he's dumb? Because that's a very fine line you have to walk. It's like, “oh this guy's an idiot” as opposed to “this guy is so cute I just wanna hold him and make sure he's OK.”. There's a childish boyish aspect to him that I wanted to capture because the audience is basically John Doe's copilot. He's experiencing a lot of this world for the first time, just like the audience. Every time he experiences something new so does the audience. We're going on this journey together.
John Doe definitely has that “ignorance is bliss” aura about it, where everyday is a school day for him so you love discovering new things with him
I based him on my best friend. My best friend, he's amazing, he's never had a bad day in his life and every time something happens that he doesn't like he's just like, “come on, bro, what are you gonna do?” and I'm like “good point” and then he says “Don't let it mess up your day.” And I'm like, “oh, good point.” And John Doe is 100% him like that sweet innocence where it's like every day you wake up is a blessing so enjoy it.
I need to drink whatever your friend's drinking, I need that kind of positivity. Twisted Metal franchise as a whole is really popular and it's one of those big PlayStation staple games. You have familiarity when it comes to joining something with an already established fanbase, did you have any apprehensions doing that again?
I didn't have any apprehension simply because of the team we were able to put together. We got A-list talent for every single position on this show. Also, Twisted Metal is very unique. It's very different in the way that it's a property that has no story, no background, no nothing. The whole game is you shooting at somebody and somebody shooting at you. We don't know where they are. We don't know why they're doing it. We don't know anything. So the dream of a creative is to be given a property like this so that you can create the world around it. That was the biggest draw I think for everybody, we all knew the characters, but why were these people here? You know, it's like being the five-year-old in the backyard with a stick, you see dragons and you're fighting a war, but nobody else sees it. That's kind of the embodiment of being a creative and being an actor. So this was very easy and very fun because it gave us the opportunity to go back to that.
Yes, I did think this was a dream project for most. You have a template and a baseline but the characters are all you and what you put into them. So I’m excited to see the reception because I think you’ve pulled it to a place many won’t be expecting.
Well, thank you. That’s what is so fun because when you look at things like Barbie, when we saw the Barbie, I was like “I know exactly what that movie is.” She has a horse, she has a Corvette, she has a boyfriend, she has a nice house, she has a dog that she carries in her purse, she’s blonde, I know exactly what this movie is. For them, there were so many things they had to hit because the name and that brand is so established. As opposed to this where it’s like as long as we blow some shit up, let's move on from there. As long as you blow shit up everything else around there we can fit in.
And the blowing-up stuff was nailed down for sure
hahaha.
You mentioned Barbie and I’ve thought about how all these old-school games and toys are being made into different art forms for the adults who were once children playing with them, 10 to 20 years ago. Seeing them again, and bringing up old memories is healing for the inner child. So I wanted to ask what have you done recently to heal your inner child?
That’s a great question. I don’t know but I know what will heal my inner child. If they make a movie of Thundercats, I have to play Mumm-Ra. That’s what it is, I want the little tights, I want the whole shebang, I even want the pointy ears. I want to be the blue dude and I would do it for free. I feel like that’s the movie they have to make, if you can make Barbie you have to at least do Thundercats, they gotta do it.
Okay we’re going to start that campaign, let’s make sure Thundercats gets done and I’ll remind people you said you’ll do it for free
I’ll do it for free, or I’ll donate all my money to little blue people to pay for college.