Doom Patrol's Brendan Fraser Praises the "Unsung Heroes" of Superhero Shows

Brendan Fraser might play the role of Cliff Steele in flashbacks on Doom Patrol, as well as [...]

Brendan Fraser might play the role of Cliff Steele in flashbacks on Doom Patrol, as well as voicing the role of Robotman -- the being Steele became after his brain was transplanted into a robot -- but even Fraser has nothing but praise for Riley Shanahan, the actor who plays Robotman from inside of the suit during filming. In a recent episode of Fake Doctors, Real Friends, a Scrubs rewatch podcast hosted by Zach Braff and Donald Faison, Fraser appeared to discuss one of his season one episodes of Scrubs (and do a little publicity for Doom Patrol, which was ready to debut its second season on HBO Max) -- and took some time out to talk about his other half.

The conversation came up while the actors were talking about the challenges of looking good for the camera, from makeup to workouts. Along the way, the question of whether Fraser appears in the Robotman suit and spends hours in the makeup chair came up.

"That's Riley Shanahan wears the suit," Fraser said on the podcast. "He is a wonderful comedic performer with fantastic timing, and he is full-on playing the character through a mask. He does the heavy lifting there. I show up in an episode or two wearing pieces of that because, like I said, it breaks a lot of rules and makes its own, the way the show unfolds, but otherwise, no. I've got to be clear with you - it's like a dream job. Somebody else wears the thing, shows up for you, and in recent months I don't even go in the studio. I can do ADR on a cell phone."

After Braff points out that The Mandalorian often does the same thing, he asked Fraser whether producers ever want him to downplay the fact that he isn't in the Robotman suit. Fraser said absolutely not.

"No way. I would never do that. That's not fair to Riley," Fraser said. "Plus, I'm 51 now. This guy's like built like a tree. Those robot suits and all the DC Comics and Marvel Comics super-suits, they're heavy. They really are. Suit performers are really unsung heroes. I've worked with many of them. I worked with them on George of the Jungle. The guys in the gorilla suits are amazing! They really take simian behavior seriously. It's a dingbat comedy, but at the same time, they were quite specific about what they needed and how they move as a troupe."

Doom Patrol's second season recently launched simultaneously on DC Universe and HBO Max. You can get the first season on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital.

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