That’s so great that you and Geoff are long time friends!! Thanks for taking the time to answer my question! I really appreciate it! You do an amazing job as Icicle!
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Hi… that role came to me as something of a beautiful surprise. I had recently moved back to London and was struggling a little. The previous two years had been the slowest of my career and I was starting to question my place within the industry. Then I got this call from my manager in LA asking if I wanted to be in West World. The creator of the show, Joan Nolan, had just offered me this part. I burst into tears. It was in many ways the validation I needed to keep going and pursuing this dream. When I was on set, I spoke with Jon and Lisa Nolan and told them how much it meant to me that they offered me this part without an audition, and I asked them why they did. They said that, when they were creating that character, they kept saying that they loved the energy I brought to an episode I did of Person of Interest several years before and so offered it to me s a result. It meant the world to me…
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Hi… I can’t say that I’m that familiar with all of the other ice villains. Though I love the fact that this version of Icicle can generate his own ice. He doesn’t need a freeze gun. I think he’s most like Mr. Freeze, as both are fueled by the love/loss of a woman. For me, that pain and sadness is in everything Icicle/Jordan does. He is consumed by it and driven by it.
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Wow, thank you for that info, so happy for you that that role came at the right time, and without an audition! And now you are lighting up the screen in Stargirl.
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That’s awesome how life will come full circle like that sometimes. Congratulations. And you’re nailing the role of Icicle.
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Hi… I loved Make It Or Break It. That show was so beautiful.
I always loved DC and , as a child, the Richard Donner Superman Movie was EVERYTHING to me. I watched it so many times and loved every single aspect of it - the mythology, the powers, the humor, the vulnerability. As I grew up, though, I started to identify more with the Batman mythology and he remains my favorite character in the DC canon.
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I do have a question now!
Mr. Jackson, what do you think of Jordan and Cameron’s relationship in the show?
1:21pm
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oh, and I LOVE the response that people are having to the show. As a child I would have been glued to my TV waiting on the next episodes of a show like this. The fact that I now get to be a part of that for others is an amazing honor
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I always wanted to have a crack at Lex Luthor
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I wasn’t familiar with the character and so took to the internet to find out what I could. I quickly realized that the version Geoff has created for this show is very different to every other iteration of the character that has come before it, so I decided, instead of trying to honor those versions, I would commit myself to this one and honor what Geoff created.
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I love it. He’s so complex. He truly believes that he is the hero of the story. He truly believes that he is doing something good for mankind. And when you hear his justification, it’s hard not to understand where he’s coming from.
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Awesome I think you could be a great Lex.
Thanks for answering.
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Thank you. Sleepy Hollow was so much fun to work on. I loved getting to be the face of the Headless Horseman. And I feel that Jordan isn’t too dissimilar in many ways. He has these incredible powers, but he also feels this burning hate for the way he has been wronged, and will do everything in his power to right that wrong.
But to answer your question, episode 3 was a real treat for me for obvious reasons. getting to play that backstory gives Jordan/Icicle something that is rare in “villains”. It makes the audience care and empathize for the bad guy, and that creates conflict in the viewer… again, not too dissimilar to Abraham Van Brunt
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Hi… I like playing interesting and complex characters. It just so happens that they are usually on the more villainous side. Heroes usually have a certain line that they won’t cross. Villains are often unbounded.
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Hi! Neil, I loved what you did on Stargirl, as well your other work; especially the “no man is island” video - cute dog, by the way. There is a quote from Shakespeare company, villainous company, “hath been the spoil of me” . Do you think part of the immoral actions of your character is due to the company you have kept? Dragon King, Tigress and Sports-master? Without them, maybe he might have even become a JSA member, or an honest hero, instead of a hero that is forced to be villain to make the world a better place?
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Icicle’s powers and look are all CG. I am there beneath it all, so it’s my movements and facial expressions, but the amazing visual effects team overlay “Icicle” onto my performance. What we talked about early in is that Icicle is so powerful, and his appearance is so imposing, that we wanted my movements to be very controlled and minimalistic, very calculated.
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Hello Neil! I love the new show star girl. You are doing a chilling job playing Icicle. My question is, what is your thoughts on Rick Tyler. The new Hourman.
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Hi… I’m glad you’re liking my interpretation of him.
Tapping into that pain and sadness wasn’t a difficult thing for me. I feel like we have all known our own degrees of pain and what it feels like to have something or someone taken from us unjustly. All the emotion needed was in the context of his backstory, so I just leaned into it. I talked to Geoff a lot about the color of Icicle. Obviously his physical color is blue, but I also like that as a metaphor. He is deeply deeply sad, so I wanted that sadness to wash over everything - as if taking every scene he’s in and painting over it with a blue wash. He takes no joy in killing and in many ways he wishes he didn’t have to, but after his wife died he was thrust onto this path and he will see it to the end.
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You’re absolutely right - Geoff and I remained friends ever since Blade and he called me last Jan and asked me to come on board to play this character, which, for me is a double honor. Firstly to be offered such a great role is amazing, but for it to be in Stargirl, which Geoff is so personally invested in, means the world.
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