Logan Marshall-Green has primarily worked on stage, tv and has had roles in the likes of Brooklyn's Finest and Devil. Now an impressive turn as scientist Charlie Holloway in one of this years' - and indeed any other years' - biggest movies looks set to garner the 35 year old South Carolina native a lot of positive attention. Logan was good enough to take the time to chat to me about Prometheus , and his role as the somewhat unlikable, but fearless, Holloway. Warning, some SPOILERS ahead..
MC: Hi Logan, thanks for the call..and great name by the way..
LMG: Ah thanks man, Weapon X baby.
MC: So how did the Premiere go? I couldn't make it over unfortunately.
LMG: Swimmingly. You missed out, it was a spectacle.
MC: I heard. So Charlie Holloway is a pretty big role in a really big movie, could you talk a little about how you landed it?
LMG: Well I auditioned [laughs]. I was getting a lot of heat for this off-off Broadway play in New York, and the legendary casting director Avy Kaufman came and saw it and asked me to put myself on tape for a "science-fiction film". And all I had was a scene, but she said it was going to be directed by Ridley Scott. So I put two and two together very quickly and realized that meant it was a very important movie. So I put myself on tape, Ridley saw it and offered me the role.
MC: Great stuff. So I assume you were a fan of Alien beforehand, but how about the other movies that came after?
LMG: I loved Aliens, I think that's one of the best sequels ever made. I can say that I've seen those first two more than 5 times, the rest of em maybe only once or twice.
MC: Yeah not a huge fan of the ones that came after, although they did have their redeeming features. So how was working with Ridley Scott?
LMG: Eh y'know, it's ok [laughs]. No it's amazing, it's a dream come true at first and then instantly it's human and real and collaborative and easy. So it was everything I wanted it to be - which was working with Ridley Scott on these legendary sets, and then working with him on these characters, which was just intimate and available.
MC: Your character is quite interesting actually because he's not your typical sort of scientist guy that usually pops up in these type of movies. He's quite gung-ho and ballsy, almost marine-like in his attitude. Is that something that was all there on the page or did you work on that aspect of the character yourself?
LMG: Well it was something I think I wanted to bring to it - the explorer, more of the soldier as you say, the thrill seeker. Y'know I think a scientist is a great thing, because he or she can find excitement and thrill no matter how big the field is. And in this case I wanted him [Holloway] to have a lot of history with the Earth, and to have a kind of a "been there done that" attitude about the Earth, so the inevitable next thrill would be outer space. So since he was part of the spearhead with Elizabeth, I wanted him to sort of be the guts and bravado of that team.
MC: Holloway also clashes with Michael Fassnebder's character David, and is actually quite a dick to him in the scenes they share together..
LMG: Well that's actually the other thing that I wanted to instill in him, and something we haven't really seen in science-fiction - a sense of racism towards synthetic life. I mean I think androids and synthetic life are inevitable, and just as inevitable is our social disdain for them. I mean anything different, humanity can find a way to not like. So It was important for me to really not have a sense of trauma like you see with Ripley's character ( note: in Alien Ripley has a very hard time with Ash the android, which leads to her mistrust of synthetic life ) and robots, but actually a built in, innate sense of bigotry and racism towards them.
MC: Ok, that's very interesting, I hadn't really thought of it like that..
LMG: Well I mean when you're working on your character you can't view your character as a racist, you have to view them as right. So it was just as important for me to not slap the audience in the face with racism.
MC: Well I think the more subtle approach definitely worked. Also quite a physical role at times, you have one pretty intense looking scene with the sandstorm. How was that to film? Did you do your own stunts?
LMG: I did most of them, in fact almost all of them. Yeah it was tough, it was an early shoot too, and it was a lot of debris and 80 mile winds with those space-suits that we were still kind of getting used to. So it wasn't easy by any means, and physically demanding but rewarding I think in the end.
MC: It certainly looked great. So Holloway goes through the ringer in the movie - to say the least, and obviously it wouldn't seem likely that he would come back for a sequel, but given the nature of science-fiction I guess you never know. Would it be something you would consider if the opportunity came up?
LMG: No I wouldn't consider it I'd say yes! But really I think the only way we could see Holloway again would be in memory, which would be nice because as you see in the movie, in this future we have the ability to view dreams and have very distinct memories of people.
MC: So anything in the pipeline? What can we look forward to seeing you in next?
LMG: Well I'm going to do some theater, and then there are a couple of films I'm doing near the end of the Summer, and I'll always be back on the New York stage.
MC: We'll be sure to keep an eye out. Ok, so it's comic book movie question time! Are you a fan?
LMG: I am, comic books and movies! I've read comics growing up and continue to read graphic novels, and the occasional monthly issues too. I have a pull list.
MC: Great, so the question is if you could play and comic book character in a movie who would it be?
LMG: That's easy, Dash from Scalped. The best graphic novel out there right now.
There you go, straight to the point - a big fan of Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse from Vertigo's brilliant western/crime comic series. If DC/WB are planing a movie, Mr Marshall-Green is your man!
Prometheus is out now in the UK and Ireland, and hits theaters Stateside next Friday. You can check out my review
Here