Posted in: Peacock, Preview, Trailer, TV | Tagged: peacock, preview, trailer, Twisted Metal

Twisted Metal: Mackie on Sweet Tooth, Samoa Joe "Pulling No Punches"

Twisted Metal star Anthony Mackie discusses working with professional wrestler & actor Samoa Joe, fight scenes with Sweet Tooth, and more.

If you've been waiting to see & learn more about what Peacock and showrunner, writer & executive producer Michael Jonathan Smith (Cobra Kai) have in store with their live-action/comedy adaptation of Twisted Metal, then this was a really good week for you. Along with preview images, we were treated to a sneak preview of a very violent "misunderstanding" between John Doe (Anthony Mackie) and Sweet Tooth (Samoa Joe, voiced by Will Arnett) before the two of them bond in a very interesting way (too good to spoil here). During an interview with Rolling Stone, Mackie shares what it was like working with professional wrestler & actor Samoa Joe and how it felt having to stare down that creepy clown mask.

"I've been a fan of Samoa Joe's for a while now, just for wrestling, and he's just a nice guy. He's one of those guys that's so huge that he just has to be nice because nobody's trying to try him. [He'd] break you in half. He doesn't have any natural predators! So, he's just a nice guy," Mackie shared regarding his co-star. But it wasn't just the physicalities that impressed Macke when it came to Samoa Joe. "It's funny because we have a few toss-ups… a few fight scenes in the show, and I have to say, I was really impressed by him, just specifically in his ability… it was almost like 'commedia dell'arte' watching him work because his face was covered, and it was all body gestures and stuff like that. It was really, really impressive, the work he was able to do and the way he brought this character to life," Mackie added. "It's funny to see somebody who – the way that [Dave] Bautista did in 'Guardians of the Galaxy' – once you take somebody's identity away, all of a sudden, it frees them up to be whoever that character is. And Samoa, he embraced that one hundred percent and made Sweet Tooth, I think, a crowd favorite from this show."

But Mackie doesn't want you thinking for a second that Samoa Joe didn't prove why he has the reputation he does during their fight scenes. "It was the first day on set. I had to catch myself. I walk in, and they're putting on his wardrobe and his mask. The scene that we were in… [the] Las Vegas scene of him, in Las Vegas after the apocalypse, and just seeing him with that backdrop with that reality was really jarring. And, as much as he was acting, I don't know if he was just beating me up because I'm in 'The Avengers.' I don't know what it was, but he was pulling no punches, flinging me around like a bag of potatoes. It was fun, though! I can say I got beat up by Samoa Joe, and I lived to tell about it," Mackie shared.

Joining Anthony Mackie (Captain America 4) for the series are Stephanie Beatriz (Encanto, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Thomas Hayden Church (Divorce), Will Arnett (LEGO Masters, Murderville), Neve Campbell (Scream 5, The Lincoln Lawyer), Richard Cabral (Mayans MC), Will Arnett (Lego Masters, Murderville) & Joe Seanoa (AEW) aka Samoa Joe, Mike Mitchell (The Tomorrow War, Love), Tahj Vaughans (P-Valley), and Lou Beatty Jr. (A Million Little Things, NCIS). And here's a look at a sneak preview for Peacock's Twisted Metal (followed by a rundown of who's who in the streaming series):

Peacock's Twisted Metal: A Look at Who's Who

Mackie's John Doe is a smart-ass, motor-mouthed Milkman who talks as fast as he drives, facing savage vehicles of destruction as he delivers much-needed supplies from one post-apocalyptic settlement to another. With no memory of his family or past, John's only goal is survival until he gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make his wish of finding community comes true. Beatriz's Quiet is a ferocious, badass car thief who acts purely on instinct – you couldn't stop her any more than a manhole could stop a volcano. Coming from a community that oppressed her into silence, Quiet's wish is to find her place in this dark, chaotic world. But when she becomes clouded by her need for revenge, Quiet forms an unlikely, antagonistic bond with John Doe. Church's Agent Stone is a cold and unyielding post-apocalyptic highway patrolman who rules the roads with a silver tongue and a twisted iron fist, prosecuting even the smallest crimes with the harshest of judgments.

Agent Stone will stop at nothing to bring law and order back to the Divided States of America… and will kill anyone in his path who defies his power. Arnett & Seanoa's Sweet Tooth is a hilarious and terrifying hulk of a man who is as emotional as he is cunning. A lover of chaos, this majestic rage-filled killer dons an ever-smiling clown mask and uses "Lost Vegas" as his own personal kill-ground, all while he drives his infamous doomsday ice cream truck. Campbell is set for the recurring role of Raven, though no additional information on the series character was released. Cabral is set to play Quiet's (Beatriz) over-protective brother, Loud. Mitchell's Stu & Vaughans' Mike are the Rosencrantz & Guildenstern of this world and together often find themselves to be more followers than fighters. Beatty Jr.'s Tommy is a grizzled and weathered cartographer who knows the dangers of the Wild Midwest.

Stemming from writer & showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith (Cobra Kai), Twisted Metal is executive produced by Smith, Mackie, Arnett, director Kitao Sakurai (The Eric Andre Show, Bad Trip), Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick (Deadpool, Zombieland), Arnett & Forman, Jason Spire (Inspire Entertainment), Peter Principato (Artists First), Asad Qizilbash & Carter Swan from PlayStation Productions; and Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios. Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, and Universal Television (a division of Universal Studio Group) produce.

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