Marvel new show Wonderful man is now streamingand it shows us what’s happening in Hollywood while the Avengers are save the multiverse. Simon Williams (Yama is my Malay II) and Trevor Slattery (Mr Ben Kingsley) are teaming up to take part in a big-budget superhero movie, and to make it more authentic, the series tapped two famous actors to not only make an appearance, but also to play themselves.
These actors are Joe Pantoliano, star of Matrix, Bad Boys, The Sopranos, and more, plus Josh Gad, star of Frozen, jobsand the next Space balls 2.
Talk with Weekly entertainment, Wonderful man filmmakers Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest explained how and why each actor joined the project.
These reasons contain some spoilers for Wonderful man so, better to drop this warning.
Gad appears in the fourth episode of the series, “Doorman”, which tells the story of the person with superpowers who made it so that no actor with powers could ever appear in a movie again. Gad plays a particularly slimy exaggeration of himself as the star who takes the doorman, aka DeMarr Davis, under his wing, much to their detriment.
“There was always a celebrity character that DeMarr could be associated with in this episode, but Josh was the first person we asked,” Guest told EW. “And once he said yes, we had to write to him specifically. And he jumped in with both feet. It was so much fun working with him on set.”
“Obviously, he’s so funny and he’s a bit of a Disney icon,” Cretton added. “To be able to take someone like that, who is known for being so charming and wonderfully sweet and supportive, and have him play a bit of an alter ego, in many ways he’s kind of playing the devil in this episode. He’s taking someone who was very happy with his life, who was very happy with where he was, and he planted this seed of power, like ‘You’re better than that.’ He planted this seed that creates a bit of a monster that ends up in a very tragic place. But because it’s Josh Gad, it’s really funny and really fun to watch.
Yes, yes, it is.
As for Pantoliano, he plays one of Trevor’s bitterest rivals, appearing in several episodes, including the finale. His casting was similar to how Gad came on board.
“We had a roster of actors who are some of the best actors who may not be household names, but there was such love from every single person at Marvel toward so many of these people who have meant so much to so many of us,” Guest said. “And Joey stood out among the crop and was the first person we called.”
And once the actor affectionately known as “Joey Pants” agreed, the role became right for him again. “The wonderful thing about him is that he has so much to say about [acting and Hollywood]” said Guest. “He wrote several books. He will tell you out loud about acting and his thoughts on why he got into the business and where his love of acting comes from. And we put all that into the script, and it’s really amazing.
See Pantoliano and Gad in all their MCU glory in Wonderful man, which is now on Disney+.
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