By Lucy Joliff
Elm Staff Writer
In a 2022 Vanity Fair profile, “Succession” star Matthew Macfadyen was asked if he planned on following other British actors into the big-money world of superhero and sci-fi blockbusters.
He had a very clear answer: “I’ve done one big film like that, and it was a green-screen thing. It’s ass-paralyzingly boring, just acting to tennis balls and dots on the screen. You’re doing it for the money,” Macfadyen said.
Barely six months after that interview, Macfadyen was announced as part of the cast of “Deadpool 3” alongside Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and Emma Corrin of “The Crown,” according to Deadline.
Macfadyen, who won both an Emmy and a BAFTA for best supporting actor in a drama for the third season of “Succession,” is the latest in a long line of critically acclaimed actors to take on a role in a superhero movie.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a history of casting serious dramatic actors in one-off roles, often as villains. This pattern goes all the way back to its very first outing in 2008’s “Iron Man,” with Jeff Bridges’ turn as the evil Stark Industries CFO Obadiah Stane.
The following decade and a half features countless other examples, including two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett as Hela in “Thor: Ragnarok” and Russell Crowe as Zeus in “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
It does not appear to hurt any of their careers; in the years since “Iron Man” Bridges appeared in many more big-budget action movies, and was nominated for two Oscars. Blanchett was nominated for another Oscar this year, for “Tár,” while Crowe will star later this year in the horror movie “The Pope’s Exorcist.”
Robert Redford, who has an Academy Award for best director, appeared in 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” as the corrupt politician Secretary Alexander Pierce. However, in 2018, 82-year-old Redford announced he was retiring from acting to pursue directing and producing full-time.
“In my mind, I’m pretty committed to retiring from acting, and moving but not stopping — just moving into new territory as a director and producer,” Redford said to The Salt Lake Tribune.
His final live-action movie appearance to date came less than a year later. In “Avengers: Endgame,” Redford briefly reprised his “The Winter Soldier” role, appearing on screen for under a minute.
One actor who declined to return for a superhero role was Hugo Weaving.
Weaving is no stranger to blockbuster films, appearing in “The Matrix” and “The Lord of the Rings” franchises. In 2011, he played the villainous Red Skull in “Captain America: The First Avenger.”
However, upon the film’s release, Weaving knew that he did not want to return to the MCU.
“I think I’ve about had enough,” Weaving said to The Baltimore Sun. “I’m not sure how many more [big budget franchise movies] I’ll make. It doesn’t feel to me as though they’ve been the majority of my work, though that’s probably the way it seems to most other people.”
Despite this, Weaving went on to reprise his “Lord of the Rings” role in the first part of “The Hobbit” trilogy in 2012.
Weaving is not alone in his distaste for acting in blockbuster films. There is a long list of actors who publicly stated they will never sign on to a big budget superhero movie.
Jon Hamm is among them. When speaking to Radio Times in 2014, the “Mad Men” star said that he believes the contracts involved with superhero films to be “draconian.” Additionally, he revealed that he turned down several superhero movies, and does not regret it.
“For me to sign on now to do a superhero movie would mean I would be working until I am fifty as that particular superhero,” Hamm said. “It’s a lot of work at one thing which is not necessarily the reason I got into the business, which is to do many things.”
Timothée Chalamet, who starred in a number of dramatic roles in his career so far, shared with TIME Magazine that one of his mentors had given him some advice on the subject.
“One of my heroes — I can’t say who or he’d kick my ass — he put his arm around me the first night we met and gave me some advice,” he said.
“No hard drugs,” Chalamet said, “and no superhero movies.”
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Photo caption: Hugo Weaving worked with Chris Evans on “Captain America: The First Avenger” before retiring from superhero films.