Jeremy Allen White Met for a ‘Kind of Marvel-y’ Movie and It Didn’t Go Well: ‘I Am Confused’ by How Superhero Films Became the ‘Pinnacle of an Actor’s Career’
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Jeremy Allen White expressed confusion to GQ magazine over the current trajectory Hollywood has laid out for its rising stars. It appears that whenever a young actor is hitting the pop culture zeitgeist, he or she is immediately snatched up by Marvel or DC and put in a superhero movie universe. It happened to Riz Ahmed, who went from “The Night Of” Emmy winner to “Venom” villain. White told the publication that when they first met it was Ahmed who asked him, “When are you going to do a Marvel thing?”
White, whose career has exploded over the last couple years thanks to his award-winning turn on FX’s “The Bear,” revealed to GQ that he did actually have a meeting for a major Hollywood tentpole, but it didn’t go smoothly.
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“I had a meeting for a kind of Marvel-y movie, and I had an attitude,” White said. “I think I played it all wrong.”
White said he brought his skepticism over the project into the meeting and told the executives, “Tell me about why should I do your movie.” They didn’t respond well to that. “They were like, ‘Fuck you.’ And I was like, ‘Right on,’” the actor recalled.
“I am confused at how the pinnacle of an actor’s career has ended up in that place,” White said about the superhero movie genre. “They get really good filmmakers to do those movies and obviously they get really good actors to do those movies…I played it the way I wanted to play it.”
White added that he is far more interested in acting in the “$25 million drama that I think most actors want to make” as opposed to big budget superhero movies. His upcoming movie is A24’s “The Iron Claw,” a sports drama about the Von Erich family wrestling dynasty from “Martha Marcy May Marlene” and “The Nest” filmmaker Sean Durkin. White stars as Kerry Von Erich, whose professional career was derailed after a motorcycle accident. He told GQ magazine last year that he gained 40 pounds of muscle to transform into the real-life wrestler.
The film is one of many projects that White got courted for following the explosive success of “The Bear.” According to White, “four A24 scripts” landed on his desk following the show’s runaway success and “The Iron Claw” was chosen. He’s staying away from superhero movies for now.
“The Iron Claw” opens in theaters Dec. 22. Head over to GQ’s website to read more from White’s latest profile.
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