About 
Peacemaker star Frank Grillo reveals what's on his Rick Flag Sr playlist and how, as a father, it's easy to get into the character's mindset.
Posted in: HBO, Max, Movies, TV | Tagged: peacemaker
Peacemaker: Black Sabbath, Deep Purple Inspire Grillo's Rick Flag Sr
Peacemaker star Frank Grillo reveals what's on his Rick Flag Sr playlist and how, as a father, it's easy to get into the character's mindset.
Article Summary
- Frank Grillo draws on Black Sabbath and Deep Purple to channel Rick Flag Sr. in Peacemaker season two.
- Grillo relates his role as Rick Flag Sr. to his real-life experience as a father of three sons.
- Rick Flag Sr.'s motivation stems from his son's death at the hands of John Cena's Peacemaker.
- Peacemaker season two explores redemption, revenge, and deep-rooted conflicts in Gunn's DCU.
As the connective tissue in James Gunn's DCU, Frank Grillo is only getting started on how deep his journey as Rick Flag Sr. is going to go starting out on the animated series Creature Commandos, then the character's live-action debut in 2025's Superman, and his now, HBO Max's Peacemaker, confronting his son's killer Chris Smith (John Cena) aka Peacemaker. At the season two premiere, The Hollywood Reporter asked Grillo how he psyches himself up to get into the role and if there's a playlist.
Peacemaker Star Frank Grillo on Rick Flagg Sr.'s Motivation and Playlist
As far as Grillo's playlist, the actor briefly paid tribute to, presumably, the late lead singer Ozzy Osborne, who passed on July 22nd, "I do, rest his soul, I listen to a lot of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, old school, and I have three sons, so it's not far for me to go to imagine if someone hurt one of my kids, what would I be willing to do." We say "presumably," because Sabbath has had several lead singers who have passed with Ronnie James Dio, Raymond Arthur Gillen, Jeffrey Craig Fenholt, and David Thomas Donato.
As far as Rick's beef with Christopher, it dates to Gunn's DC debut in 2021's The Suicide Squad that retained Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag Jr, one of three characters retained from the 2016 David Ayer film alongside Margo Robbie's Harley Quinn, and Viola Davis' Amanda Waller. The Gunn film introduced Cena's character, who was incarcerated alongside metahuman convicts to join Waller's Task Force X (aka Suicide Squad) to stop Starro. During the mission, Peacemaker killed Rick Flag Jr in a scuffle before Bloodsport (Idris Elba) stopped Chris from further enacting Waller's cover-up to kill another teammate, Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior).
The events of Peacemaker season one see Chris on a path of redemption, forced to join the mysterious A.R.G.U.S. on Project Butterfly, unraveling a conspiracy to uncover parasitic butterfly-like creatures who take over their human hosts. As the season was filmed under the old regime, the elements of the old DCEU remained, which saw a largely throwaway cameo with Aquaman star Jason Momoa and The Flash's Ezra Miller, but only silhouettes of Superman and Wonder Woman as Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot didn't physically appear. As Chris walks away with Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) in his arms in disgust, yelling at the Justice League about "being late," and telling Arthur Curry to "fuck another fish." Peacemaker season two, which also stars Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, Holland, Steve Agee, Sol Rodriguez, Tim Meadows, and Michael Rooker, premieres August 21st on HBO Max.
Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!
Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!
