In a recent online podcast, actor Joe Manganiello gave listeners some insight into his thorough and thoughtful preparation when it comes to portraying Deathstroke. Manganiello also touched on the more human elements of the character while at the same time revealing the character’s physical demands.
By now the DC faithful and fans around the world know that one of the post-credit scenes at the end of Justice League features Deathstroke (Manganiello) having a face to face meeting with Lex Luthor (played by Jesse Eisenberg). The short scene was exciting for fans because for so long they were left to wonder what exactly was going on with The Batman movie that was supposed to feature Manganiello’s Deathstroke.
In a recent interview with Chris Hardwick on his podcast “ID1OT With Chris Hardwick”, Manganiello touched on how he perceives the character of Deathstroke and how how he sees him as more than just a standard villain. To the actor, Deathstroke represent someone who has vulnerable qualities that he hopes he has an opportunity to explore in the future. He says:
There are villains who are the people who are opposing [heroes] but from the inside [Deathstroke] is a person who is struggling with all types of things. I think it’s really interesting to tell that kind of a story and tell the truth emotionally of a story like that when you’re talking about a man who lost an eye, was betrayed, lost a son. These different types of aspects.
Beneath that tough exterior, Deathstroke does struggles with some of the more difficulty aspects of his life. However, at the end of the day, he is a man of considerable and terrifying abilities that make him a great adversary to anyone standing in his way. Manganiello discussed some the training involved with portraying the more fearsome aspects of Deathstroke:
Then you couple that with real world military training. […] I started training at like a Ninjutsu dojo and started learning sword fighting. Started learning and understanding where those techniques come from. All the sudden this thing starts writing itself.
For the whole interview, check out the podcast interview by clicking here.
