The following contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power star Charlie Vickers wants to play Mr. Freeze in a Batman movie. Vickers this year won the hearts of Rings of Power fans as elf warrior Galadriel’s unlikely ally Halbrand. But those same fans were in for a shock as it was later revealed that Halbrand is actually the evil Sauron.
To say playing Sauron in a Lord of the Rings TV show is a big break for Vickers might be a gross understatement. Prior to his casting as Halbrand/Sauron, the actor had just a few credits to his name, having starred in the feature films Palm Beach and Death in Shoreditch and the TV series Medici. Now Vickers can look forward to a steady gig playing the main antagonist of The Rings of Power, as the huge-budget Prime Video show heads into season 2 and beyond.
But newly-branded star Vickers clearly is not content with only playing one well-known villainous character in a massive franchise. Speaking to ComicBook.com, the actor revealed another bad guy he has his eye on playing in the future: Batman villain Mr. Freeze. Check out Vickers’ remarks in the space below:
"All characters, villains or heroes, are interesting to me if they're complex and if they excite me. But there are so many iconic villains that it would be amazing to play. There's nothing in particular. I'd love to one day -- I remember when I was a kid, I went to a theme park -- it was Disneyland or something like that -- and Mr. Freeze was there, and I think he picked me -- they were doing a Batman show, like a parade -- he picked me up and ran with me. It was terrifying. I was so scared, and ever since I've thought, it'd be cool to play Mr. Freeze in some kind of contemporary, realistic, very sort of dark adaptation. But I mean, that's a long way down the line, but that'd be cool.”
What Charlie Vickers' Mr. Freeze Performance Could Be Like
Movie fans may have an image of Batman villain Mr. Freeze based solely on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campy portrayal in Batman & Robin. But the character is in fact very different in the comic books. In Batman lore, Dr. Victor Fries is a cryonics expert doing experiments to find a cure for his wife’s terminal illness, who suffers an accident that forces him to wear a cryogenic suit. He then adopts the Mr. Freeze alter ego and turns to crime in an ongoing effort to save his doomed bride. It’s actually been suggested that, given this tragic backstory, a very serious and dark depiction of Mr. Freeze could work on the big screen.
And as it so happens, The Batman director Matt Reeves has previously mentioned possibly bringing a grounded Mr. Freeze character into his own dark Batman universe. Suffice it to say, if Vickers did land the role of Mr. Freeze in a future Reeves Batman movie, his performance would be nothing like Schwarzenegger’s depiction in Batman & Robin. Vickers clearly thinks of Mr. Freeze as a complex villain, someone closer to the subtly devious Halbrand/Sauron than the absurd one-liner-dropping bad guy in Joel Schumacher’s over-the-top film. Vickers no doubt would try to explore the tortured aspects of Victor Fries, a character whose criminal activities are motivated by the most noble of feelings. Whether Vickers actually has a chance at playing Mr. Freeze in a Batman movie is hard to say, but he certainly is on a lot more radar screens after his memorable turn as the darkly deceitful Sauron in Rings of Power.
Source: ComicBook.com