Chiwetel Ejiofor has long made his presence felt in Hollywood with a slew of critically acclaimed roles in a range of films. As Baron Mordo, Ejiofor appeared opposite Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange. In an interview with ComicBook.com, the celebrated actor weighed in on how the world of the MCU differs from the world of his new movie The Old Guard.
“They were all great, you know, they’ve all been really good. They’re very different, you know. This is very different to Doctor Strange, obviously, and the kind of Marvel universe. These characters have a different set of attractions for me, I guess. And there’s something about this that’s very kind of, it’s very grounded, you know, these are people who aren’t, who don’t celebrate their gifts at all. You know, that actually their immortality they carry as a kind of burden, which is quite an interesting way into this, into the story.”
The Old Guard, based on the bestselling graphic novel of the same name by Greg Rucka, tells the tale of a group of immortal mercenaries led by Andy, played by Charlize Theron. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the role of Copley, a role whose darker shades the actor was happy to explore while attempting to retain the audience’s empathy for the character.
“My character, Copley, he’s complex. I have a great deal of empathy for the character because of what he has gone through, but he’s obviously crossing all of these moral and ethical lines in the way that he is behaving and what he’s getting drawn into. And all of that was really interesting to play, and really interesting to kind of play around in, and to see whether you can sort of carry an audience through maintaining a kind of empathy for this sort of slightly strange guy.”
Ejiofor is no stranger to taking seemingly heroic roles and turning them on their heads. As Baron Mordo, Ejiofor spent the first Doctor Strange movie training Cumberbatch’s character in the ways of the Marvel mystic arts, only to grow disillusioned with the order he worked for in the end and turning to the dark side.
The next Doctor Strange movie is expected to take Mordo’s story forward and cement his descent into supervillainy. On his part, Ejiofor has declared in the past that “All will be revealed” regarding Mordo after fans were left wondering where the Baron was during the events of Avengers: Infinity War, and Endgame.
For now, the actor is busy with the promotions for The Old Guard, which is gearing up for a 10th July release on Netflix. Aside from Theron and Ejiofor, the movie also stars Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Harry Melling. and KiKi Layne.
Gina Prince-Bythewood has directed the feature based on a script by the original graphic novel’s author Greg Rucka. Clocking in at 118 minutes, the feature has been rated R for sequences of graphic violence and language. This bit of info comes direct from ComicBook.com.