Game of Thrones alum Ciaran Hinds revealed in May that his Justice League character would be constructed digitally, but it wasn’t entirely clear what that meant for his performance as Darkseid’s second-in-command Steppenwolf. Now, however, the actor reveals he never actually met his co-stars on the set of the DC Extended Universe film.
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Appearing on the BBC’s Michael Ball Show, Hinds commented on his lack of interaction with the film’s other stars, saying, “I don’t know whether they’re all afraid to come and meet me — no, no, they weren’t, really. Because it’s imaginary, you do it with green screen, … That was another challenge, you could say, yeah. But it was quite fun. And they’re very encouraging in what you do, suggesting ‘Over here, look over there, imagine that, do this here, they’re coming at you now.’”
Hinds also talked more about the process of creating his costume, which was recently unveiled in a toy tie-in. “I didn’t even have a costume when I was doing it,” he said. “It’s all done in motion capture. So, they stick a helmet on your head, they put two cameras around, and they capture all your expressions, facial expressions. So basically, they’re going to concoct some kind of construction and they will use my facial expressions – eyes, mouth, voice – they’ll turn into this murderous, avenging Steppenwolf from the planet Apokolips, apparently, who’s bent on hell on Earth.”
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Although the 64-year-old has been performing on camera since the 1980s, this is his first time playing a motion-capture character. Hinds enlisted the help of his friend Liam Neeson, who played a giant talking tree in the 2016 film A Monster Calls, for his performance.
Created by Jack Kirby, Steppenwolf was introduced in 1972’s New Gods #7. The villain is inhumanly strong and nigh invincible, having survived an encounter with Doomsday, who was able to kill Superman. The uncle of Darkseid, he’s an esteemed general in the army of Apokolips.
Arriving Nov. 17, Justice League stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Willem Dafoe as Vulko, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta and J. K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon.
(via Screen Rant, Reddit)