Anthony Carrigan (Barry, Death of a Unicorn) is set to play the villain Metamorpho in James Gunn’s DC movie, Superman. The comic book character is known to be able to transmute his body into a wide variety of elemental compounds and form them at will.
He will work alongside Lex Luthor in the film to stop Superman, but Carrigan went into the role knowing that even a villain has a backstory and full personality.
In an interview with EW, Carrigan talked about getting the role, and why he feels he best connects with Metamorpho, explaining:
“I think the reason why [writer/director and DC Studios co-head James Gunn] called me in specifically was because I really understood on a human level this idea of feeling different, feeling like something that has happened to you feels like a curse,” says Carrigan, who has alopecia areata, resulting in hair loss.
“That was this unspoken thing that James and I understood. Then, once I really started to ask him questions about it, there was this sense that he really wanted someone who was quite tortured with what was going on. The really human quality of struggling with that, I think, comes through.”
Superman will feature “certain elements” that allude to Metamorpho’s backstory, Carrigan mentions— including the presence of Stagg Industries, a company pulled directly from DC Comics that plays a part in the character’s origins. However, fans will meet Metamorpho “in full swing of who he is.”
Adding to his tragic nature, the character arrives in the film’s narrative when Lex, hellbent on destroying the Man of Steel, forces Metamorpho to transform his body into kryptonite in order to keep Superman weak.
“You’re in a situation where it’s having to hurt someone, having to be an agent of the bad guy. And at the same time, there’s this struggle to want to be good,” Carrigan explains. “What the film does brilliantly is it puts you in this situation of, ‘Oh! He has no choice.’ He has to be doing this, and you see how painful it is.”
A self-proclaimed “big fan of practical effects,” Carrigan says his Metamorpho transformation required about five-to-six hours in the makeup chair. “It’s worth it,” he adds. “It’s worth it because you can actually feel the texture of something. Your brain notices the difference.”
How did he cope with that process? “Maybe it’s just the fact that I grew up with two older sisters who would sit me down and put whatever makeup they wanted on me, but I just go into a completely…I don’t know, tranquil state. I am just having a good time. The hardest part, I think, is the last hour.”
Superman opens in theaters on July 11th.
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