Peacemaker: James Gunn Shares Fun Throwback Photos in Honor of Steve Agee’s Birthday

Happy Birthday, Steve Agee! The comedian and longtime collaborator of James Gunn turned 53 on February 26th. Agee was most recently seen in The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker as John Economos, so Gunn’s birthday posted for his pal included some fun behind-the-scenes photos from their DC projects. In addition to playing Economos, Agee also stood in as King Shark on the set of The Suicide Squad. 

“What many of you may not know about @steveagee aka John Economos aka Dye-Beard is that he’s been one of my best friends for the past 15 years. Shawnee Smith brought him to a party at my house & I thought that night that Steve was one of the funniest guys I’d ever met & I knew we’d be friends for a long time to come. Love you, buddy! Happy Birthday,” Gunn wrote. You can check out his photos in the post below:

Back when The Suicide Squad was in production, ComicBook.com‘s Brandon Davis paid a visit to the set and spoke with Agee and his co-star, David Dastmalchian (Polka-Dot Man), about Agee’s work as King Shark.

“I’m doing what Sean Gunn did for Rocket, is doing the motion capture,” Agee explained. “But it’s really easy. I come in and we run the scene with me and my weird suit and headpiece, and then I get to go sit down, and they keep redoing the same where they’re going to digitally put-“

Dastmalchian chimed in, “We always do it once with, once without, once with, once without. And if you guys are followed, and I’m sure all of you know and are familiar with how much Sean has brought to the Rocket character, what’s really fun is … Because Steve is a great actor all across the board, but he’s also just a brilliant comedian and improviser, so what’s fun is when we’re shooting … I’ll allow it. I put a pillow here. It was a very early casting decision because he knew that-“

“I was tall,” Agee added. “He needed somebody tall. Like, literally needed somebody tall.”

“He needed someone tall. But to have somebody there to … Because that character is such an important part of things that are going to be happening with this plot,” Dastmalchian replied. “And so it’s been really fun. And that’s another thing for me personally. The stakes involved in this are really high because of the property, the comic book, et cetera. But I do feel every day, like I’m going to work like we’re back at my house because Steve is a part of our family. It’s just weird that we’re now getting to be a part of a movie together because we hang out almost every day back in LA and in our real lives. And my kids, he’s like an uncle to them. And so that’s really fun.”

Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad are currently streaming on HBO Max.