JB Smoove on Being in a Spider-Man Movie, the Canadian Avengers, and More
A few months after appearing alongside Tom Holland in a car commercial for Audi, Curb Your [...]
From Commercials to Feature Films
ComicBook.com: First and foremost, welcome to the superhero world, man. You had me rolling on the floor with Mr. Dell, I thoroughly enjoyed that.
JB Smoove: I had a great time doing it and when they first called me about it, I had already done a commercial with Tom Holland for Spiderman: Homecoming. Then they called me about this one, and I was like, "What!", first thing I was asking was "What are my powers?" You know, you've got to put that out there. So I threw that against the wall to see if I've got some powers coming down the pike.
Then they told me I was playing a teacher and I said "Okay. I guess there's power in teaching also."
Right. Just a whole different kind.
A whole different kind of superpower.
Let's talk about that commercial a bit. You are filming this with Tom Holland a few years back. Did you ever go into this commercial anticipating you'd be in one of the biggest movies of the late 2010s?
I did not, I did not even think about it man, but you know what, I've been really good about honing energy. I don't know what it is. I haven't figured out how to harness it yet and take it to Vegas yet, but I'm really putting things out there and somehow it ends up coming to life. I was sitting in the theater watching one of the Avenger movies and watching Homecoming, and I always say while I'm watching these movies how I would love to be in the Marvel Universe and the next thing you know, I'm in a commercial, and I'm sitting there watching the Avengers movie, and I'm saying, "I've got to get in this Marvel Universe," and the next thing you know, I got a phone call. I'm in Spider-Man. I guess I'm doing something right. I'm putting things out there, and I've been lucky enough to land these amazing opportunities to be around things that I want to do and all I've got to do is show up and be JB, so I've been blessed with that several times. I always try to make sure I show up early, stay a little later, just make sure they get what they need out of me.
You never know what everything's going to lead to. Like that commercial led to me being in Far From Home, who knows what being in Far From Home is going to lead me to. Now Mr. Dell might get some powers man, eventually get some powers.
You never know, some producer started seeing you stay around longer on set and they're like "Man, we've got to give him some powers."
Powers, man. And I'm not partial to just being a hero now, I could be a good villain too.
Alpha Flight Unite!
So I heard you've watched all the Maguire Spider-Man movies...
Man…
And you've watched all the Garfield Spider-Man movies…and all these Marvel movies. Is there a hero or villain that you totally loved that hasn't shown up in a movie yet?
Oh man, I'm waiting for Sub-Mariner. I'm waiting for some Sub-Mariner. I love Sub-Mariner. I thought he was an amazing character, I used to love the one-offs. I love to see the Avengers, the Defenders, I love all those...X-Men...I love those. I also love the one-offs. The Falcon had his book, the Wolverine had his book, Mariner had his book. I love the What-If series of Marvel books. I loved all those. I love the one-offs and those are all characters that I fell in love with, Cloak and Dagger ended up having their own Freeform thing, so these are all characters that I love to read about.
I would love to see a Power Man and Iron Fist established [in the MCU]. I used to love Iron Fist and Power Man. I would love to have seen one of those come out. I would love to see that movie. They were always great to see. I remember Alpha Flight, another one, the Canadian Avengers.
Right.
I used to love all of those. I used to love that little guy Puck.
Yeah?
I used to love Puck. I'm telling you, I would love to see Peter [Dinklage] from Game of Thrones in that role. He would be a great Puck. Or Kevin Hart. Kevin Hart would be a great Puck. Get a little diversity in there. Come on, man.
I've got to applaud you for bringing up Power Man and Iron Fist.
Isn't that one great? That was one of my favorite books.
Does that mean you're volunteering to play Power Man?
I would do the gym, I would work out. Although he's not a Marvel character, I thought I would be a great Plastic Man. I'd love to wear those dark shades. I'm long and lean. That was a pretty good cartoon.
Dream Roles and Harley Quinn
Say some executive says something like "You know what, JB? You just helped us make a billion dollars at the box office with Far From Home, you get free rein. Choose who you want to be." What live-action hero would you choose to play?
Oh man! Who would I choose to play? Well, you know I just heard that Falcon — if watching Endgame is correct — it's possible he'll end up being Captain America. There's an open slot with the Falcon. I love to fly. I love the frequent flyer miles. I would be a great Falcon.
We're still a little bit out from this, but what can you tell us about your role in this new Harley Quinn series for DC Universe?
Oh, that's just fun. Anytime I can lend my voice to a character is always fun and that Harley Quinn was fun and I had a chance to lend a voice to it playing Frank the Planet and it was something fun to do. I've been lucky with these hero movies and animation and it's just fun. Animation is so easy. You just show up, you do your thing, you're out of there in an hour if not less, and it's a big fun character to play and amazing cast of other voices are a part of this. The only bad part about doing voice-over work is that a lot of time you are in there doing it by yourself so you don't really get a chance to work with everybody at the same time, which is different from doing a movie. Being in Far From Home was great because I had a chance to work with everybody but you walk in, do your little voice and you leave. Rarely do you see anybody else recording with you the same day, but it was fun.
It fills in some of that...that's one of those throw it against the wall moments. I think most will enjoy Harley Quinn also, it's a great little small bite. Keep the interest in heroes and villains and all this stuff that's great. It's a fantasy world but people love it. Now I've got to get myself down to Comic-Con one year because every year I say I'm going to go to Comic-Con and I never make it. Maybe I'll make the next Comic-Con and get down there and hang out, talk about Spider-Man, talk about Harley Quinn. Who knows, I'm going to put it through to the Universe though.
When they call me about my next role in the next Marvel movie, we'll figure it out.
Playing Power Man
You bring up a good point with a next role. When you signed on with Far From Home, was that just a one-off or are you actually obligated for more appearances should they give you the call?
Oh man! If they gave me the call, I would definitely be there. There's not anything, unless my agent knows something I don't know, but I would think that the job that Martin Starr and I did in this is remarkable and I think we had great chemistry on camera and great chemistry in real life.
He's [Starr] right next to me, so I don't want to say anything harsh about his flatulence or nothing like that, but he's a great guy and he's amazing and I would think that we did an amazing job. I would think that would carry over to anything, any particular plans they have with Spider-Man and the Marvel Universe. Hell, maybe they'll give us both powers, maybe he'll play Iron Fist and I'll play Power Man. Who knows.
*****
Spider-Man: Far From Home is now available digitally ahead of a physical home media release this Tuesday, October 1st.
What was your favorite Mr. Dell moment in Far From Home? Share your thoughts in the comments below or by tweeting me at @AdamBarnhardt to chat all things MCU!
Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for Audi
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