‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Star James Marsden Opens up About the One Thing That Frustrated Him About Making This 2011 Movie
Marvel is clearly pulling out all the stops for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, reuniting a wave of original ‘X-Men’ stars for the sprawling crossover event. Along with the confirmed returns of Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Ian McKellen as Magneto, James Marsden is back too, reprising his role as Scott “Cyclops” Summers.
Marsden first played the laser-eyed mutant back in 2000’s original ‘X-Men’, a film that helped kickstart the modern superhero movie boom. His character’s love triangle with Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine drove much of the original trilogy’s plot, culminating in Cyclops’ emotional death in ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’.
Though he never reached Jackman’s level of stardom, Marsden has built a genuinely successful career since then, anchoring the hit ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ franchise and earning an Emmy nomination for playing a U.S. president on ‘Paradise’.
But one film from his filmography isn’t something he looks back on with unqualified fondness: 2011’s ‘Hop’, a comedy following the Easter Bunny’s son and his dream of becoming a rock drummer, in which Marsden starred opposite Russell Brand’s CG-animated character.
Much of Marsden’s performance involved acting across from a rabbit that was added digitally after filming, and he’s said that particular way of working was genuinely demanding. He explained that what bothered him most was when the illusion of interaction didn’t work, saying, “I can’t stand these kind of movies where you see the characters and it doesn’t look like they’re interacting.”
He added that he kept pushing the animation team to let him physically interact with his co-star as much as possible, including carrying him, because working without a character that isn’t there yet creates a disconnect that pulls the audience out of the film.
That frustration was about craft, not regret, Marsden was pushing for a better final product, not distancing himself from the role. The technique of blending live performances with animated co-stars stretches back decades, from Gene Kelly dancing with Tom and Jerry’s Jerry in 1945’s ‘Anchors Aweigh’ to the meticulous character work in 1988’s ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’.
With ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ set to reunite Marsden with his original X-Men castmates, it’s a good moment to look back at the range of work he’s built across genres, animated comedies included.
What do you think about actors working with CGI characters?
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