San Diego Comic-Con attendees were treated to something gloriously chaotic during the panel for The Toxic Avenger, a bold re-imagining of the cult 1984 splatter-superhero classic. The Toxic Avenger is a fresh, unrated reboot of the 1984 cult horror-comedy, written and directed by Macon Blair and backed by original creator Lloyd Kaufman. The film follows Winston Gooze (Peter Dinklage), a downtrodden janitor who, after a catastrophic toxic accident, transforms into a grotesquely deformed but uniquely powerful superhero: the Toxic Avenger.
Dinklage and castmates Elijah Wood, Taylour Paige, and Jacob Tremblay were joined by Blair and Kaufman for a laugh-out-loud panel that highlighted the film’s offbeat humor, wild transformations, and unapologetic love for genre storytelling.
For Wood, the pull of horror and genre filmmaking has always been about freedom. “I love horror and genre in general because of the possibilities,” he said. “This movie is filled to the brim with ideas and fun and playing with the medium. And this wouldn’t be possible if it was sort of confined within a sort of box. And that’s what I love about genre.” Wood, who plays the grotesque villain Fritz, was immediately drawn in by the character’s strange look of stringy hair, hunched posture, sickly presence and embraced the transformation fully, even experimenting with the voice in a last-minute camera test. “It was a total blast,” he said. “This movie gave us a really cool sandbox to play in.”
Tremblay, who plays Dinklage’s stepson, recalled one of his most memorable scene, an over-the-top post-dance moment involving watermelons and a bat that went flying offstage. “We must have done this so many times, but I smashed it and the bat broke and completely swung offstage,” he laughed. “But also just watching Peter was just incredible in this film. Just seeing what he did. There’s so many scenes where I have to act like I’m unhappy with him, because he’s my stepdad, and I’m kind of grumpy and this and that. But I had to hold it together and just pretend I didn’t absolutely love this guy.”
Dinklage shared the unique challenge of having to step back from a large part of his physical performance. “Over 70% of my performance is not me. It’s Luisa [Guerreiro], our incredible stunt body double, who was in the toxic prosthetic suit in 100 degree weather for three months in Bulgaria,” he said. “I shot for about four weeks at the beginning of the movie and then Luisa took over, she did everything that you see as a toxic creature. And for me, that was a real exercise in trust, in relinquishing something that was really important to me. But we knew going in, that was the deal, part of the agreement. And it turned out to be the best decision this movie, everybody made.”
Despite filming only for a few weeks at the start of the shoot, Dinklage’s voice was later dubbed over Luisa’s performance. “We rehearsed together, and it worked beautifully,” he added. “But if I’d been the one in that suit for three months in 100-degree weather, you’d be hearing the inner diva.”
When asked about working with his co-stars, Dinklage emphasized how much performances rely on the people around you. “You’re only as good as the actors you work with, truly,” he said. “If they don’t bring their ‘A’ game, you don’t bring yours. It’s a strange profession, because you just meet each other, and then you’re doing these scenes together. But everybody up here is top-notch. I’m lucky.”
When asked how he balanced playing both the meek janitor Winston and his mutated alter ego, Dinklage credited the strength of Blair’s script. “It’s a classic hero’s journey,” he explained. “He goes from, sometimes it’s better to do nothing to somebody to someone who says it’s better to do something. And I think the problem is, we have a real problem when you do nothing, when you look the other way. Bad things happen when you look the other way. You’ve just got to do something.”
Oh, and in case you were wondering, Dinklage once worked as a janitor himself during college. “Not a good job,” he deadpanned.
