Stefan Kapicic Brings New Life to the Metallic Mutant, Colossus
The Serbian actor talks catching up on ‘Deadpool’ comics, working with Ryan Reynolds, and playing a super villain in the near future.
Though featured prominently in the Deadpool‘s flashy IMAX poster and as a serious force to be reckoned with in early released footage, the casting of full-metal mutant ‘Colossus’ in the latest Marvel film has been shrouded in deep mystery. Added to the star-studded line up as a last minute replacement, Serbian actor Stefan Kapicic subbed in for Andre Tricoteux to complete the voice and soul of Piotr Rasputin just weeks before the film’s Valentine’s Day weekend release. Despite thousands of great voice-over roles in Stefan’s repertoire, the 6 foot 4 hunk of man used his comic book upbringing to turn the character of ‘Colossus’ into his best role yet.
Kapicic told Maxim about the ‘Colossus’ audition process, comparing his version to former on-screen adaptations, and the comic book role of his dreams.
Did you know a lot about the Deadpool comic book lore prior to landing your role?
I’m a big fan of Deadpool and Rob Liefeld masterpieces are among the other great comic creators and characters. As a fanboy, I was raised on the Marvel Universe so I was very familiar with the Deadpool world. On the other side, the ‘X-Men’ comics were one of my top five comics, so to be one of them, especially ‘Colossus,’ is an incredible thing after years of creatively visualizing him since I was a kid. There are some feelings that you can never explain, and words cannot describe the feelings of how grateful I am to be a part of this.
How did the audition go for the role since it had a main focus in voice-over?
After a third call of self-taping for the role, FOX casting directors, who gave me some great character points, give me a call to say that they wanted to fly me to Los Angeles for a test. The test session was supposed to last for about four hours where Tim Miller [the director] & I were creating so many fun and different takes. We had so much fun creating ‘Colossus’ that my test session ended up lasting about eight hours. We were exploring depths of my voice range to find out which one would be perfect for him. That whole experience was incredible, it felt like a dream.
What did you do to channel such a unique character as ‘Colossus?’
In my career, I have done more than a thousand voice-overs in commercials, cartoons, and radio shows, so I’m very familiar of my voice capabilities and its range. Tim Miller didn’t want to change my voice color, so Colossus’ voice has my “original color” and “tone”. We worked on the accent so it could be as an authentic Russian accent that the original comic book Colossus was supposed to have. My native Serbian language has a Slavic origin, same as Russian, and I speak fluent Russian, so there was no problem in creating this as close as possible to Tim’s idea. The voice of a character is its soul. You have to transfer emotions and so many feelings and ideas through it. We had to match his voice through movement, facial expressions, and so many things on separate occasions, but it was amazing and a totally new experience for me. I’m so proud how I created my character.
Did you draw anything from prior adaptations of ‘Colossus’ in the previous X-Men films?
‘Colossus’ is a famous X-Men character with a huge fan base, but he just didn’t get that much screen time as he deserved in the X-Men movies. That was changed in Deadpool and fans will love it. I don’t know Daniel Cudmore personally, but I am familiar with his work and he did great job in the X-Men movies as ‘Colossus.’ In Deadpool, we did a more authentic visual animation and voice for ‘Colossus’ than it was in the other movies.
So do you feel this is an accurate representation of what we see in the comics?
I’m sure this is the best that it can be! I’m not bragging here, but the way Colossus was created..it is the comic book version that everyone has imagined him to be. Visually, it’s a masterpiece of art in the visual effects, his facial expressions, and the voice is the ‘Colossus’ we had envisioned. I had all the time and understanding in the world from the creative team to nail the role.
How was working with the rest of the cast on a film as large as this one?
I worked mainly with Tim Miller and Ryan Reynolds. Ryan has a passion that I have never seen in my life. There isn’t another actor in the world that could do Deadpool better than Ryan Reynolds! He has such great energy, charisma, and humor is something that makes Ryan the perfect ‘Deadpool.’ All the cast members are into the comic book world in some way or another.. including Tim Miller, whose comic book collection I am envious of.
Aside from your current role as ‘Colossus,’ is there a comic book character out there that you’re dying to portray?
All I can say, as a comic book geek, is that there isn’t a comic book role I would refuse. Being a super hero was my biggest childhood dream, but for a long time, I was thinking that a perfect role for me in the Marvel Universe is Sergei Kravinoff aka Kraven the Hunter. That would be a perfect. I really resemble him as we’re both Slavic and I think I could do that role perfectly. Plus, I love playing villains.
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