Sweet Tooth Actor Samoa Joe on breaking character in Twisted Metal

Twisted Metal is heading to Peacock on July 27. The ten-episode TV series based on the classic PlayStation game franchise casts Anthony Mackie as a courier tasked with delivering a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland populated by demented inhabitants.

Inhabitants like Sweet Tooth, a savage weirdo in a clown mask.

So hefty is the role, two actors were cast to play him. Will Arnett does the voice, while wrestler Samoa Joe is the body. Ahead of Twisted Metal’s launch, Joe and Arnett spoke on how they’re bringing the classic PlayStation game series to life, and in particular, the challenges of two people playing one character.

In an interview with IGN, Arnett says, "Don't forget. He's insane. And it's just such a narrow, weird target because he's a villain and he's a bad guy and he's scary and he's menacing and all that stuff but he's also got to be funny."

"It was easy to keep a straight face because I didn't have to," says Joe. "Like I said, that mask is all-enclosing. So as hilarity did ensue, sometimes you might even be able to see the mask shaking a little bit from some chuckles here and there."

Sweet Tooth has been a mainstay of the Twisted Metal game series since 1995, and is synonymous with his favourite vehicle, an ice-cream truck. Joe confirms we’ll see it a lot in the show.

"I remember first day on set, they're like, 'Hey, you want to drive that thing off that ramp, and we're going to blow through that billboard?' I said, 'And I'm in there?' They're like, 'Yep. You down?' I said, 'I'm down. Let's go.' We definitely did a lot of car combat and I'm excited for people to get to see that."

Twisted Metal airs on Peacock July 27. Don’t forget that Peacock is about to charge you more per month.