LaMonica Garrett Talks the Monitor, the Anti-Monitor, Crisis on Infinite Earths and More

Last fall, fans of The CW‘s Arroverse were hit with major news when it was announced that LaMonica Garrett had been cast in the role of Mar Novu/The Monitor for last season’s “Elseworlds” crossover event. For many fans, that casting felt like a major tease that some take on Crisis on Infinite Earths was coming — a tease that turned out to be real when it was announced at the end of “Elseworlds” that Crisis would, indeed be coming to the Arrowverse. Since then, Garrett has reprised his role as The Monitor several times across The CW’s DC-inspired shows, but fans were stunned again earlier this year when it was announced that the actor will also be taking on The Anti-Monitor, the central villain of Crisis in comics and a sort of “spiritual twin” to The Monitor.

Now, with fans having recently gotten their first official look at Garrett as The Anti-Monitor just a few weeks ago and the Arrowverse shows rapidly working their way to “Crisis” — with The Monitor himself showing up to guide Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) on Arrow and inform Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) of his impending death in the much-anticipated event on The Flash — ComicBook.com recently had the opportunity to sit down with Garrett to talk about all things Monitor, Anti-Monitor, and his upcoming film, Clemency. We also got him to reveal what he thinks The Anti-Monitor’s favorite snack might be as well as his own favorite comic book villain — and it’s a choice that just might surprise you.

On playing both the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor

ComicBook.com: What is it like getting to play both the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor?

LaMonica Garrett: It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of work that goes into it, but it’s the fun work that doesn’t feel like work. But yeah, I’m having a great time with both characters, and they’re so uniquely different that it’s just, you know, it’s fun to bring both of them to life.

Do you feel that one is more challenging than the other?

I feel the Monitor as a challenge just because it’s the dialogue, his stillness. Like, sometimes you want to move and you want to, you know, with gesture you want to do different things and he’s just so still in what he does. And that’s a challenge for me, because the actor in me, I’m the opposite of that. So it’s just reminding myself when I am the Monitor. Just, it’s all with what he says, it’s his presence, and it’s in his eyes, and just let everything fall, and that’s a challenge.

On preparing for both roles

How do you even begin to prepare to play characters like the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor who are similar but also very different?

Well like with any character, I would start from a base point of you know, what does this person want? And what’s going to happen if he doesn’t get it? And to me that’s the base of any character, any scene. Like that’s what drives the story, and the friction comes in is where your objective as the character coming head-to-head with someone who has a polar opposite objective, and I think that’s where magic is made in film and television. But that’s how I approached both of them, and I get to keep asking questions like, where did he come from? You know, What was he like? What’s his family like? You know, it drives the stakes up. It kind of peeks in through, like things, little unique things that they might do that are different from other characters, because the more questions you ask, the more you know, things reveal themselves. And then finally when you get the script it opens up a whole new world. So I bring what I prepared along with what they wrote and you know, hopefully it works.

And you get magic.

Yeah. That’s the best case scenario, to get magic. Sometimes it doesn’t work that way.

On the Anti-Monitor not wearing the iconic helmet

So we’ve recently gotten our first official look at the Anti-Monitor, and if my memory serves, you’re a comic book fan. As a fan of [Marv] Wolfman and [George] Perez, what did you think about the decision to put the Anti-Monitor in to the [Geoff] John’s era face paint, or the facial stuff as opposed to the helmet that many fans are more used to?

Part of me was, you know the helmet, I think the helmet plays better on page than it does on screen, because the helmet, it’s more like an android, like he’s more machine-like. And on paper, you know it’s intimidating and it looks really, you know, this big giant android just devouring universes. But it lacks connection on the screen. So there’s something to be said about looking into a character’s eyes on the screen, and with the helmet you just don’t get that. As a fan, like part of me would be like, Oh the helmet would be awesome, just sticking true to what crisis was in 1985. But I think for the screen, just having that connection, like if you’re choking someone, and you bring them close to your eyes, and you two are eye to eye, that is more memorable than you know, this big helmet, machine like just throwing people around.

Absolutely.

Just for storytelling. The story you know on the screen. So I think that’s the reason they went that direction and as the actor, I’m glad they went that direction because I’d hate to be hidden underneath the helmet, you know?

On the intense process of becoming the Anti-Monitor

Speaking of that makeup, that is some intense makeup. How long does it take to get into that, and then also to get back out of it?

It’s a little over two hours, and that’s why this was the most challenging job I’ve ever tackled, because, say you know, we have a start for 5:30 for the cast and the crew, and you know, everyone starts getting there. The work starts at 5:00, 6:00. I got to get there at like four o’clock.

3:45, 4:00. So, and the days we were doing, they’re long days, and you’re playing two characters. So there are some days where it takes two hours to get into it. I’m there at like 4:00 AM, and then at 6:00 we’re ready to shoot, and we’ll work, you know, with the Anti-Monitor for six, seven hours. And then the second part of the day I’m doing scenes as the Monitor. So it takes about 20, 25 minutes to take everything off Anti-Monitor, then I’m sitting back in the chair again and it takes about an hour to put in the braids and the prosthetic beard for the Monitor. So that’s another hour and some change in the chair. And then a second part of the day where you’re doing Monitor, so it’s like 15 hour days. And, you go home and it’s like, all right, see you guys back here, you know tomorrow at 4:00, 4:30 AM. It was wash, rinse, repeat, you know.

So, that was a challenge. Yeah, that was a challenge in itself. And then you’ve got the work and the, you know what you’re doing during the day. But just physically getting up and sitting in the chair is a practice of patience that I’m glad my yoga kicked in.

On being surprised by Crisis on Infinite Earths

So Crisis is arguably one of the biggest, most well known comic book stories of all time. It’s one of my personal all time favorites as a fan. Obviously the Arrowverse is going to do things a little bit differently just because it’s the Arrowverse. How much did you know about what the Arrowverse was doing with Crisis before you went into being a part of it?

I had no idea. Like I didn’t even know I was playing the Monitor until I was about to get on the plane going to Vancouver to start my fitting process, because the whole audition process, you know, they’re throwing out these vague comments that aren’t really, you don’t know who you’re playing. They’d leave it open in case someone might get their hands on it. So, I didn’t, you know. After I got it, and I learned that I got the role, I call my agent like, “So who’s the character? What am I doing?” And they said it was the Monitor. I’m like, “Oh wow.” And immediately you think Crisis, but this was, you know, it was Elseworlds and I didn’t know there were leading up to Crisis. But, when you introduce the Monitor, you would think like, that’s coming.

But I just, in this business, I’d never assumed anything anymore because it never turns out the way you think it’s going to be. So when the end of Elseworlds they said, you know, they announced on TV that Crisis was the next one, that was the first time I’d seen or heard of that. And then I really got excited. Yeah. I didn’t know that Crisis was going to be the next crossover when we did Elseworlds.

On his favorite Arrowverse experience so far

That’s incredible. Yeah. That was a very exciting reveal for everyone it sounds like.

Yeah, they really kept that under the hat. Like right when they revealed that, my phone started ringing and I’m like, “Oh wow.” Like the actor’s like, “Oh great. You know, I got more work coming, because I didn’t know it was going to extend into the next year.” but you know, the comic book fanatic was like, “They’re going to tell this story.” And they’ve been sending it up for years, but you know, it’s like seven, eight years later and now they’re going to do it, and I’m a part of it. Like that was amazing.

That is amazing. What has been your favorite Arrowverse experience so far?

I’ve had a bunch of them I think last year on Elseworlds. There was a moment when the Monitor met Flash, both Flashes, Arrow and Supergirl, like in the middle of the street. Like this confrontation when they all first met for the first time.

That was memorable to me just because the fact that you know, the comic book fanatic in me was standing across from, you know, the Superman emblem, the Flash, Arrow, and you know, John Wesley Shipp. I used to watch it. That was a surreal moment for me. And I think the other memorable moments probably during this crossover was just, this whole group of superheroes all in one location, like all here for this greater cause. And even when I wasn’t shooting, you know, like the scene wasn’t about me, I would be on set, like just taking pictures and just taking in the moment because it’s huge. You know, to me it’s like TV history that’s being done right now. Not just comic books but just you know, a crossover of this magnitude, with all these shows, and all the characters from, you know, different genres from back in the day, same genre, but different times like the 90’s and 80’s. It’s surreal.

On his new movie, Clemency

You’re incredibly busy. So in addition to Crisis coming up, you also have a movie Clemency. Can you tell me a little bit about what that film is about and who you play?

Clemency, it’s a movie about capital punishment, and it’s pretty much, you know, when you see capital punishment films, the death penalty, you see it through the lens of either the person that’s on death row, or the family that it directly affected, or both families, the victim and the suspects. But Clemency is told, I think uniquely from the standpoint of the effect it has on the prison. Like the administration, the warden, you know, the security guards, like everyone around them that have to follow through with these executions. And my role in the movie is the Major, he’s the executioner.

So a lot of these people, like when you start doing research on this, a lot of the administration, you know, from the, the chaplain to the warden, to the executioners and even just the guards, they suffer from PTSD later in life because of all, you know, sometimes that’s the last set of eyes they’re looking at, and that kind of haunts you later on. Even though it’s your job and you’re not doing anything wrong, if some people believe in a higher power, you’re still killing someone, you’re still taking someone’s life. And you have to answer that to yourself. It’s not man’s laws, but you know, other laws that you live by. So it’s told through that lens. And I think it’s, no matter where you stand on capital punishment, you’ll see this film and get a different perspective. Just another perspective.

You still might believe in capital punishment or you might not, but it will just show you another perspective, and in a unique way that I haven’t seen before. So I think that’s why it’s winning all these awards, and it won best film at Sundance, and it’s got a December release like around Oscar season because of, it’s just impactful. It’s uncomfortable to see and talk about, but it’s one of those things that, you know, dialogue needs to happen.

On the Anti-Monitor’s favorite snack

One of my favorite moments in the Arrowverse last season was that scene in Legends where the Monitor’s enjoying a snack of what appeared to me to be popcorn, while watching those shenanigans go down, and his disapproving face. It was great. Since we’ve seen the Monitor snacking, and I’m guessing we’re probably not going to get to see the Anti-Monitor indulging in a fun carnival like snack, if you had to pick a snack for the Anti-Monitor, what would you choose and why?

I would say black licorice, because it’s black licorice, it tastes disgusting. And it’s black and it’s evil. It shouldn’t even be sold, and it just goes against all the laws of nature, and that’s who the Anti-Monitor is. That’s what he loves. I’m sure that is his snack of choice.

On favorite heroes, villains, and loving John Stewart Green Lantern

Since you are a comic book fan, I got to ask what is your all time favorite comic book story?

Ah, my favorite. My favorite story series is probably the Blackest Night. Green Lantern.

My favorite hero is John Stewart Green Lantern. Like I’m huge into that, and that’s what was also cool about getting this role. Like, the Monitor and Anti-Monitor have a Green Lantern base. Like the Monitor was born on Oa’s moon, and Oa is where the guardians are, like where the Green Lanterns, and like that whole family of everything, and Anti-Monitor, and then you know, in the animated world was originated, you know, opposite the Green lantern.

So that whole world for me, it’s like, it’s just it’s so fitting that I’m here playing these because you know, Green lanterns are my favorite comic book characters. But, okay. What was the other person? Villains.

Favorite villain, because everyone’s got a favorite villain.

Favorite villain. Ooh. That’s a tough one. That’s a tough one. You know, I love Doomsday. I love Doomsday, but Doomsday doesn’t have the fanfare that a lot of other ones have. Like Joker would be the obvious one with Batman. The Anti-Monitor is a big one. I think he’s one of the most powerful to me, and I grew up watching, you know, animated and you know, watching Anti-Monitor a lot, but something about Doomsday, like you killed Superman. Yes. Doomsday, it might have to be Doomsday for me.