CS Interviews: Cast & Creator talk about the invincible adaptation of Amazon
Before the cartoon series debuted on the streaming platform, ComingSoon.net was allowed to take part in special roundtable interviews Invincible Creator Robert Kirkman and stars Steven Yeun (Minari), JK Simmons (Zack Snyder’s Justice League), Zazie Beetz (Atlanta) and Gillian Jacobs (come play) to discuss the superhero drama.
RELATED: Amazon Drops a New Trailer for the Invincible Animated Series
When asked if the two had read the comics before signing up for the series, answered Yeun, who had previously worked with Kirkman on the AMC adaptation of his zombie graphic novel franchise the Walking Dead, noted that he had read them before this series began when he “poured all his stuff through” and became a “big fan of Robert,” while Simmons stated that he was “much less familiar with Robert’s work,” despite being His first readings, which helped open the universe of the material to him, were “mind-boggling”.
“In terms of working with JK, I mean I know you’re in the room so that’s awkward, but it’s JK, it’s so cool,” Yeun said brightly it’s not the same dynamic, sometimes you’re there as a solo recording, sometimes you knock things out yourself and sometimes they bring the two of us into the room to do it all together. There are key moments and scenes where I got to share the room with JK and I really like it and that’s my privilege, it’s really fun to do that. It was really great, I had a great time, I can’t speak for JK. “
“The boy who played my kid, whatever his name is, he was fine,” Simmons replied jokingly. “Of course I did a lot of animation, but yeah, that was a whole different level. I found it really fascinating in so many ways and then, yes, as Steven said, being able to do these scenes, often when you are alone at the booth, but sometimes being able to do these things with that too making other wonderful actors in the room at the same time were just a real bonus. “
Kirkman believes his comic book series moved from a fairly bright tone to a more mature character towards the end Invincible “Has always been very mature,” but agrees that the mature tone “became more common in later editions” and the series will seek to fill the void.
“It’s good to be able to possibly unify the series a bit more and have the maturity that was in that form in some of the later editions in some of the earlier seasons,” said Kirkman. “So I don’t think there’s really too much of a difference looking at both versions, but I think we’ll get to the more mature aspects and the more brutal aspects of the plot of the TV show a little earlier.”
Several of his works have been adapted for the screen, including AMCs Living Dead and Cinemax OutcastsKirkman saw a measure of indulgence for the creative freedom of his work, and when he found they could “do a lot of crazy things” on the last series, partnering with Amazon really “turned him wild” it and do what you want. “
“I’ve always waited for that slap on our shoulder to be, ‘Hey, let the violence down a little, we don’t want to get too crazy’ and, you know, ‘this sequence could be a little intense too,” recalled himself Kirkman. “But that never happened, I mean, if at all, we’ve always been encouraged, we want to break new ground, we want to do new things, I think you can see what Amazon achieves with it The young that they are genuinely interested in pushing those limits and bringing people new types of entertainment that truly give you a unique experience. I feel really lucky to be on Amazon and I think if you’ve seen any episodes of the show you can see that we haven’t pulled any punches and are going in some really interesting directions. I’m just very excited about how we can do this and I can’t wait for people to see the show. “
Click here to see the first three episodes of Invincible!
Invincible marks the latest comic or superhero outing for Beetz and Jacobs, with the former performing as Dominoes in 2018 Deadpool 2 and the Oscar winner joker and the latter gave her voice Justice League action and Rick & Morty and directing an episode of the Disney + anthology documentaries Marvel 616 where she explored the women who worked for the legendary comic book publisher. In contemplating their consistent return to the genre, both found unique and personal reasons for wanting to continue exploring the super-powerful and fantastic worlds.
“I think this genre is really just a different way of talking about the human condition and I think fear and a different feeling and trying to find your place in the world, except that the environment is only better” , said Beetz. “In a way, you almost have more access to those raw emotions because I don’t know if it’s death or something, which is something, that Invincible does a lot, obviously we don’t fly around killing aliens, but I think that for me it’s still just the story of how to deal with grief or guilt or kill parts of yourself to keep growing. I think for storytelling it’s just another world where I introduce very human and informed subjects. “
I had the interesting experience of recording my voice for the show while making a documentary about women who worked as writers, editors and artists for Marvel Comics. This is why I learned so much and developed such a deeper appreciation for comics, comic book storytelling, the way they are arranged on a page, and, as you know, learning about the different writers and artists that are on it running, ”recalled Jacobs. “It was really fun working on it and then coming into the recording studio and talking to Robert and the writers on the show about what I learned. I feel like I still don’t know all about the world of comics, but I certainly know a lot more now than I did three years ago and I have a lot of respect for people like Robert who made such incredible comics. I mean, so many that he’s made have really influenced the genre. I was honored to be part of this project. “
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Based on Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley’s Skybound / Image comic of the same name, the series is an hour-long, animated superhero show for adults centered around seventeen-year-old Mark Grayson (Yeun), who just like any other guy is his age – except that his father is the most powerful superhero in the world, Omni-Man (Simmons). However, as Mark develops his own powers, he discovers that his father’s legacy may not be as heroic as it seems.
In addition to Yeun, Simmons, Beetz and Jacobs, Sandra Oh (Kill Eve), Seth Rogen (This is the end), Andrew Rannells (Black Monday), Mark Hamill (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Walton Goggins (Justified), Jason Mantzoukas (Brooklyn nine-nine), Zachary Quinto (Star Trek), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Kevin Michael Richardson (The simpsons), Gray Griffin (Avengers unite), Khary Payton (the Walking Dead), Mae Whitman (Good girls), Lennie James (Fear walking death), Ross Marquand (Avengers: Endgame), Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery), Justin Roiland (Solar opposites) and many more.
RELATED: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg write and direct Robert Kirkman’s Invincible
Behind the Walking Dead, Invincible is Kirkman’s second longest comic and the series is his first show under the new deal with Amazon. Invincible is the fourth screenplay series by Kirkman, alongside AMCs, based on his Skybound comics the Walking Dead, Fear walking death and Cinemax Outcasts.
Invincible is produced by Skybound and executive by Kirkman, Simon Racioppa, David Alpert (The walking dead, fear the walking dead), Catherine Winder (The movie Angry Birds, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) with supervising director Jeff Allen (Avengers Assemble, ultimate Spider-Man) and Linda Lamontagne as casting director. Invincible, Kirkman’s second-longest comic book series, ended in February 2018 after a 15-year run with the animation series now streamed on Amazon Prime Video!
