There are so many of those comic book actors out there. And it is almost impossible to imagine that some of those comic book actors had zero idea about the characters they so masterfully played on screen.
Edward Norton Says He Would Have Been Comfortable Playing Darker, Grittier Characters Of DC Comics
An accomplished actor, Edward Norton is notoriously picky about the roles he is offered in movies. He agreed to play the Hulk in the 2008 film because it appealed to him. Norton has been a fan of superheroes since ages. He grew up reading the dark and gritty graphic novels of DC comics like Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. His exact words were:
“I grew up on all the graphic novels. Frank Miller. I was obsessed with that stuff, so I think it’s this rich pool of stuff that’s become almost, y’know, a whole modern-day canon of mythic stories for a lot of us, and we kind of all sit around hoping that someone’s gonna make a film—make films out of that type of material that captures how serious it felt for us at that time in our life when—because nobody read comics because they’re cartoonish. They read them because they’re dark and serious and long. That’s what was great about the best ones.”
Jim Carrey Hates Colonel Stars & Stripes From Kick-Ass
Carrey was one of the highlights of Kick-Ass 2. But he was killed early on in the film. And comic book actors like Jim Carrey is not exactly a fan of the Kick-Ass comic books. And after the Sandy Hook massacre, he wanted nothing to do with the movie. He was even vocal about why he thinks Kick-Ass 2 would be a band influence on the viewers:
“My character is a guy that came from a violent background who is trying to turn it around and he uses a gun with no bullets in it. These are things I am considering now because I just feel like we don’t cause the problem, but we don’t help it much either.”
Elodie Yung Believed She Can Play Elektra Without Going Into The Comic Books Much
The actor played the assassin femme fatale in Netflix’s Daredevil. And she was pretty darn good at it too. But there is a fun fact you didn’t know about – Elodie Yung had never picked up a comic book when she went for the audition for the role. And when she finally got the part, she started some light reading but stopped early on. Elodie Yung saw Elektra can be developed in a more realistic and human perspective. To do that, she intended to get out of the comic book cocoon and build the character on her own.
Halle Berry Was Never A Comic Book Fan & She Never Will Be
Comic book actors like Halle Berry made their names pretty early in the superhero genre. She starred as Storm of the X-Men in Fox’s X-Men films. But when asked how she prepared for her role in those Marvel comics movies, Berry responded by saying:
“You know, I didn’t. Bryan didn’t want it. The people who didn’t grow up with the series, he didn’t want us to.”
Even after so many years, Berry still struggles to love the comic book source material that inspired so many people and made studios so much money.
Christian Bale Had No idea About Batman’s Comic Book Stories
There is a fine line between comic books and graphic novels. Christian Bale knows it because he started out as a light graphic novel reader. His interest in comic books is still nascent and he does not intent to read them much. That is even after he starred as the Batman in tan entire trilogy by Christopher Nolan.
“I had first read a graphic novel – I’m not a comic book fan at all, I never have been – but… Got offered Asylum and read it and was really intrigued by it because it was nothing like it seemed in the Batman TV series, nothing like it seemed in the Batman movies either. I thought it was so much more interesting. I read Batman Year One and like the Dark Victory and stuff, and I thought, ‘This is good stuff. There’s a really great character here. The way that they play it is fantastic.'”
