If you go down the list of potential video games to adapt into a TV show, chances are Twisted Metal probably isn’t the first one you think of. For one, the franchise hasn’t received a new game since the PS3 era, and secondly, the gameplay typically consists of arena-style vehicular combat matches.
How on Earth does that translate into a TV show? We’re about to find out because the Twisted Metal TV show is currently speeding its way towards us.
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted in June, prior to the current SAG-AFTRA strike. — David.
Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) leads the series as John Doe, a milkman who is hired to courier items from one walled post-apocalyptic city to the next. Tasked with a mysterious high-risk job, he teams up with Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), a badass car thief, and together they attempt to survive the dangerous marauders patrolling this dystopian wasteland.
Prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Kotaku Australia spoke to Beatriz about her character and what fans and newcomers can expect from a Twisted Metal TV adaptation.
“I think tonally it’s the same world that (executive producers) Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have created before, which is like that Deadpool, Zombieland, very dark gallows humour kind of stuff. But then you mix in some action, a lot of cars crashing into each other, a lot of fistfights in this world,” Beatriz explained. “It’s an action comedy, and there’s not a tonne of that out there.”
“I think Deadpool is a really good, tonal reference … although I think our jokes are something really different because the show was written by Michael Jonathan Smith, who has like a really silly, goofy sense of humour,” she added.
After receiving the scripts for Twisted Metal’s 10 half-hour episodes, the actor said she’d never read anything like it before:
“It was such a page-turner for me because I didn’t know what was coming next,” she said.
“There’s a lot of surprising, vulnerable moments in the show, and not just with my character. I would say Anthony Mackie’s character John Doe has probably the most vulnerable stuff in the series, and it always comes out in these really surprising ways.”
Speaking of Beatriz’s character, Quiet is, as you’d expect, a woman of few words. This meant that Beatriz, for at least some of the series, didn’t have to focus on what is such a core component of many acting jobs: memorising lines.
“In terms of acting without language, [it’s] very freeing, very fun. All you have to do is pay attention and be present, and that’s really the core of all acting.”
If you take a look at Beatriz’s Instagram, it becomes clear pretty quickly she’s no stranger to car racing (“I think I got bit by the bug, you know?”) – which is something that served her well on Twisted Metal when she was given the opportunity to drive some of the actual stunt vehicles.
“To be trusted to get behind the wheel of stuff so they could get these really cool shots was really fun and an honour. I hope I lived up to it,” she said. “But I also want to get better at driving because it is such a skill, and it’s so cool, and I absolutely loved it.”
Alongside the cars, one thing that is core to the Twisted Metal games is the infamous clown, Sweet Tooth. Many are watching closely to see how Sweet Tooth will be brought to the screen. The character is voiced by Arrested Development star Will Arnett but is performed physically by AEW wrestler Samoa Joe, who was nothing but a delight on set, according to his co-star.
“He’s such a sweetheart, he’s so nice… his physicality is incredible,” Beatriz said. “He really is like a masterful clown in that he can create imagery and story with just his physical presence, that’s not just a gift that’s also a skill, and he has both.”
“There were times when he was absolutely horrifying and terrifying, and then, like the next second, he was doing something hilarious. So I think I think people are going to be surprised and delighted by that character.”
Beatriz confessed that she is not a gamer herself but lives in the hope of a re-release of Twisted Metal. She also realises the importance of gaming as a subculture:
“My entire adolescence was basically spent like in my friend’s basement watching all my friends play video games and talking shit. I think it’s a rite of passage,” she reflected.
“One of the things I think [Twisted Metal] really does is like it captures … something adolescent that I think is really funny. And the connection that people have when they play together.”
Twisted Metal will premiere on July 27 on Stan in Australia.
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