Actor Kang Jonathan Majors talks about his first Marvel movie – The Hollywood Reporter

Jonathan Majors’ performance as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania received widespread acclaim from critics and journalists ahead of its worldwide release on Friday. According to Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, he’s also tested higher than any other MCU villain to date. Majors’ supervillain is the obvious heir to Thanos (Josh Brolin) in the Infinity Saga, and he’ll be playing the role of the MCU’s big bad guy for at least a few more years, culminating in the same event movie his own name, Avengers: Kang Dynasty (2025).

In 2021, Loki the end of season one introduced a “variant” of the character called The Remainer, and he foretold that more of his incarnations would appear, such as quantumis Khang. The pros’ process of getting into this particular character is heavily dependent on the music, and as the arch-enemy of the Multiverse Saga, one can expect a playlist that includes death metal , synthwave and Swedish industrial rock. Instead, however, he chose to rely on some timeless R&B and soul hits.

“So from the very beginning, I told [director] Peyton Reed, ‘Hey, man, I want to play this song,’ and the song I played for him was ‘If It’s Magic’ by Stevie Wonder,” Majors said. hollywood reporter. “So if you know the tune, you know it’s not a Kang song. However, I felt that there was something very fundamental in that that connected Kang.”

In a recent conversation with CHEAPMajors also explained why he considers Kang the hero of his own story.

Well, congratulations on conquering your first Marvel movie.

Rub! That really means a lot from you.

I also want to commend you for the way you protected that reporter [Daric L. Cottingham] In Sunday. That’s really important to you, and obviously, you’re not like your character Kang.

If not, I’ve ripped my own [the festival worker’s] head go. (laugh.)

Something like that!

(laugh.) Well, I appreciate you saying that.

So there’s a notion, or perhaps a cliché, that the best villains think they’re the heroes of their own stories. Does Kang have any illusions, or does he know he’s the bad guy?

I think people are inherently good, and I think people believe they are inherently good. If you think you’re the bad guy, that’s not very natural. What Kang is doing is basically good for him and potentially only for him. And so I’d say he fits the idea that he’s the hero of his own story and perhaps the stories of others. And that’s where things get a bit subdued.

I still love the fact that you trade hand with you Article of Faith III Director, Michael B. Jordan. Have you and Mike exchanged stories about playing Marvel villains?

We talked about the importance of the work we were doing: Killmonger and Kang, and now [Creed III‘s] Damien and Adonis. So we talked about that and what that intersection means for cinema in general. But the villain is a pretty private affair and the way we portray it is a personal matter. So we didn’t talk about how we were doing things, but we did realize parallel tracks.

inside Ant-Man and the Wasp: QuantumaniaKang said he knew how it would end. He knows what’s coming. Do you know what Kang knows?

Oh, I wish I did. Or maybe I’m glad I’m not.

A lot of actors complain about the performance, but the way you act Loki somehow feels like jazz. So do you welcome the challenge of accountability?

It doesn’t bother me. There is a storyteller in Our town, that’s all exposition. It’s a great play, but it’s all about interpretation. You are changing time with presentation. I am telling you something that will take you back in time and make you present in the moment, or I am pushing you forward. So the exposition can be quite positive. It’s tough, but it can work. And I think the best thing is to do something with presentation and try to influence the people you’re talking to with it and show personality. That’s how I look at the presentation. It’s an expression of character, at least in terms of the opportunities I’ve had as the Remainer [on Loki] and like Kang, briefly, in this photo.

I’ve heard some stories about how you listen to music on set to get into Kang’s space. What did that playlist include at the time?

Music is great because it really speaks to your subconscious and an interesting thing happens every time I start a project and try to create a playlist. It’s the music on the surface that you think the script is asking you to and that could be something like Request for a dream‘S [“Lux Aeterna”]. You think it’s Kang, but it ends up connecting to something that’s too deep in my subconscious.

So from the beginning, I said to Peyton Reed, “Hey, man, I want to play this song,” and the song I played to him was “If It’s Magic” by Stevie Wonder. It was the highlight that connected us. So if you know the tune, you know it’s not a Kang song. However, I felt that there was something very fundamental in that that connected Kang. And then you got The Notorious BIG’s “Big Poppa,” which is also a vibe. And then you have your Bach, Mozart and Beethoven falling into it. But all music is for communication. I am trying to communicate with myself and which part of myself needs to be activated and used. Sometimes it’s just jumping along and getting the group moving and grooving, but there’s a method behind it.

So is your reaction dream magazine performance makes those 6,100 calories per day even more worthwhile? [Writer’s Note: Searchlight picked up the film yesterday for distribution.]

Oh, I suspect so. Personally, I just want to keep it as real as possible, but everything has its limits. If it was 6,500 calories, I might have made it, or maybe I’d have given up. So you always have to stand with your work, and I try to do whatever I can in the process to stand by the work. Am I eating 6,100 calories now? No, because I didn’t have to, but I’m glad I did. It brought me closer to the psychology and social situation of Killian Maddox. And we got that picture, so I’m pretty proud of it dream magazine.

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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17th. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.