With directorJaume Collet-Serra’sBlack Adamgetting ready to open in movie theaters next week, I recently sat down with Noah Centineo (Atom Smasher) and Quintessa Swindell (Cyclone) to talk about making the highly anticipated DC movie. During the short but fun conversation, they talked about the high body count, what people would be surprised to learn about the making ofBlack Adam, deleted scenes, and filming the motion capture work and stunts.
As most of you know,Dwayne Johnsonand his team have been working on theBlack Adammovie for a decade and the film is the first time Black Adam has been featured in a movie. In the film, you’ll see his 5000-year-old origin story and why he was imprisoned after using his powers for vengeance. Now freed in the modern world, he’s ready to unleash his unique form of justice, but he’s challenged by modern-day heroes who form the Justice Society: Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Atom Smasher and Cyclone.
The film also starsPierce Brosnan,Aldis Hodge,Sarah Shahi, andMo Amer.Black Adamwas produced byBeau Flynn,Hiram Garcia, Johnson andDany Garcia.
Check out what Noah Centineo and Quintessa Swindell had to say in the player above, or you may read our conversation below.
COLLIDER: I want to start with, and I’ve been bringing this up in all the interviews, Dwayne has talked to me for years and years aboutBlack Adamand what he wanted to do. But with all of his recent movies, he’s a little more family-friendly. I wasn’t sure he was really going to kill people. I wasn’t sure he was really going to go for it. And he totally goes for it. He kills everyone.
NOAH CENTINEO: Oh, yeah.
And so can you talk about that? Dwayne does not pull any punches in this as far as Black Adam.
CENTINEO: I think we have one of the highest body counts.
QUINTESSA SWINDELL: Do we, really?
CENTINEO: Yeah. Of all super… In the genre.
SWINDELL: Really?
CENTINEO: I think so. Outside of (he does the Thanos snap)… That was a pretty high body count, obviously.
That’s a universe that doesn’t exist.
CENTINEO: That doesn’t exist.
Not that’s not real.
CENTINEO: I’m just snapping my fingers. That’s all.
SWINDELL: We know don’t even know what that is.
CENTINEO: Just snapping our fingers.
SWINDELL: And you see it’s been building up for DJ. He’s like, Ah, I’m going to let it out one day.
CENTINEO: That’s true.
SWINDELL: When I do…
CENTINEO: He needs to just let it out. And it’s dangerous.
I love learning about the behind the scenes and the making of a film. This is one of these massive movies with tons of moving parts. What do you think soon to be fans ofBlack Adamwould be surprised to learn about the actual making of the movie?
SWINDELL: Wow.
CENTINEO: Surprised to know about the making of the movie. Dude, we all hung out on-set, off-set, and we still continue to hang out to this day. The chemistry that you may feel on screen comes from a very real place. It’s not fabricated, it’s not even really acted.
SWINDELL: Yeah.
CENTINEO: For me, it fueled the entire movie making process.
SWINDELL: That we really, really enjoyed making it and I think has been a highlight of a project for all of us.
CENTINEO: A thousand percent. We all agree, we all feel that way. We all talk about it.
SWINDELL: So we can hypothetically do another.
CENTINEO: We would like to. Right. If you want us to, let us know.
I’ll say it right here in the interview. I am going to be shocked if this movie does not get a sequel. Literally shocked. Just you can take it to the bank. I’ve seen at least five movies so I know what I’m talking about.
CENTINEO: Hey, that’s a lot.
SWINDELL: At least five.
CENTINEO: You got me beat.
Looking at what you had to do in the movie and all the stuff that goes on set, was there a day in the shoot that you had circled in your calendar in terms of, ‘Oh, this is going to be a pain in the ass day’?
SWINDELL: For me, I never knew when the day was going to come, but because this schedule shifted pretty commonly. But it happened to be the last day of when we were wrapping and that was my Cyclone day where I did all of my stunts.
CENTINEO: Whoa.
SWINDELL: It was everything in one day. And so I was just like, okay, okay, okay. What’s the choreography? How are we going to do it? Do we have the right type of flooring to do this, that, and a third? But that was incredible. That was the day I loved the most and felt this project the most on that day.
CENTINEO: Wow.
SWINDELL: In a very beautiful way. What about you?
CENTINEO: Mo-Cap. Never done it before. Performance Cap. It was my first time ever doing it and I knew it was going to come, but I was never dreading it. I was just like, that’s the day where I get to explore a completely new medium. Never done it before.
SWINDELL: Sick.
CENTINEO: It’s like so fun.
I’m curious with motion capture, was it something that at the end of the day you’re like, ‘Oh, this isn’t that bad’? Or were you like, ‘Oh, I don’t need to do this anytime again soon’?
CENTINEO: No, I would love to do more. Oh, I would love to do more of it for this character for sure. And then I can imagine if I played a lizard, or a cat, or ‘Q’.
I’m going to switch real quick because otherwise I’m going to watch you two laugh for the next minute.
CENTINEO: No, it’s totally fine.
SWINDELL: I love it so much.
So obviously every movie has deleted scenes.
CENTINEO: Yeah.
Was there a scene for each of you that you were sad, that you were sad to see go?
SWINDELL: I was so upset. There was some… At the end of the day, this film does what it’s supposed to do and is the way it is because it’s just, it’s perfect. But there was a little bit in the beginning with my character that I was just like, no, it would’ve developed it a little bit more. But I think where everything is at now just truly will set up a foundation and have people be interested to dive into all of the characters and really see how we build things out. So it’s good. Can’t give too much.
And for you?
CENTINEO: I really like that scene that you’re talking about.
SWINDELL: Because, it was kind of both of us.
CENTINEO: But I really liked your cues or Cyclone’s part of that. I thought that part was sick, but I agree. This film is what it is.
Well hopefully the Blu-ray.
SWINDELL: Fingers crossed.
CENTINEO: Can’t wait to see it on Blu-ray.
Yeah, I’m talking about the deleted scene. But anyway, listen.
CENTINEO: Oh.
No, I’m just specifically talking about that. But on that note.
CENTINEO: I thought you said the whole thing like, that’s crazy.
SWINDELL: You said Blu-ray I was like, oh.
CENTINEO: They still making Blu-Rays?
Congratulations for real. It’s going to be a huge hit. Thank you for your time.
