The Suicide Squad is back with a whole new set of inmates. The movie arrives in theaters on August 5 and lands on HBO Max the same day at 7 PM EST. While audiences will remember Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), it is the fresh faces like Javelin (Flula Borg) and TDK (Nathan Fillion) who will add unexpected flavor to the proceedings.
Borg and Fillion spoke to Screen Rant about collaborating with writer-director James Gunn, as well as what they brought to their characters.
Screen Rant: Flula, Javelin hits it off instantly with Harley Quinn. Can you talk to me about his connection with Harley?
Flula Borg: Yes. Javelin has the testosterone levels of 42,000 middle school boys, except all in one man. This is a very good way to detect who's extremely hot. Who should I talk to? Harley Quinn, number one. Close number two, you wouldn't realize it: Weasel.
One thing I love about James Gunn is that if he can do something practically, he absolutely will. Nathan, correct me if I'm wrong, but the opening beach scene was a massive set. What was it like filming that?
Nathan Fillion: A little intimidating off the top, I'm not gonna lie. You start to see that's why movies are so expensive. The bigger the screen gets, the more detail has to be on that screen. That costs money, and you see it immediately when you walk into these massive gates made of those container boxes.
Flula Borg: The Container Store buckets.
Nathan Fillion: Shipping containers! High in the air, shipping containers. One of them's like wardrobe storage, one of them's like a makeup room. One of them's a little lounge for us; there's always bananas and power bars and drinks in there. It was intimidating and, at the same time, it's kind of like walking into an amusement park because they're there to be played on.
Flula, what do the different combinations of Suicide Squad members add to the film?
Flula Borg: It's like, if you're playing Killer Instinct 2 on your Nintendo 64, you've got all kinds of combinations for a character like Glacius. If you pick Glacius, you can do all the moves. And with this movie, that's how it is: you can combine a little Blackguard, sprinkle a little Savant, dump some King Shark on that.
You've got a whole wonderful delicious combination. Endless combos, endless and tasty. This isn't a combos ad - go watch The Suicide Squad!
Nathan, between Firefly's Mal Reynolds, Castle’s Richard Castle, and John Nolan from The Rookie: who would fare the best on the Suicide Squad?
Nathan Fillion: That's gonna be Mal Reynolds. That's gonna be him. He's gonna be the guy who shoots his way out - probably successfully. He'll end up getting shot; he'll definitely get beat up. He's not very lucky, but he won't die. That's for sure.
Flula, what did you want to bring to the character of Javelin that wasn't necessarily on the page?
Flula Borg: Insanity, chaos, confusion, deliciousness. Even more testosterone than was requested. I will tell you: James Gunn can write in one page and tell you almost everything you need to know about someone. He just knows it; he knows how to boil it down like a delicious chemist and just tell you exactly, "This is your person. This is distilled. Now grow some stuff from it."
So, I just used his tasty fertilizer and just irrigated my brain, and then grew some things out of that. Thanks, James.
