The Suicide Squad‘s King Shark could have been voiced by someone other than Sylvester Stallone….and I, for one am happy that didn’t happen. Director James Gunn has said that there was a “huge audition process” when it came to casting the Karl Kesel created character.
During a press event, Gunn said:
Finding the voice was a very difficult process. I talked about it today for the first time. But I actually had hired three different actors, I wrote the role for Sylvester Stallone. I was afraid… Sly is my friend. I was afraid to hire him, frankly, and Warner Brothers was a little afraid to hire him because what if it didn’t work? And he’s Sly, you know. I would’ve just had to have a voice that didn’t work.
After a “huge audition process with tons of voice actors“, Gunn reached out to Sly:
We had one voice actor come in and do the whole movie. It didn’t work. We had another voice actor come and do the whole movie. He didn’t come to life. We had an actor — an actor who’s a really fantastic actor, who’s also a friend of mine — come in and do the voice, and that didn’t work.
Then I was like, “Guys, I don’t know what to do. I think I have to go to Sly.” And I called up Sly. He said he would love to do it, and he came in. Right away that character just sort of came to life. I have to shout out to Steve Agee, because he did the character on the set and there’s a lot of him. He’s a real galoot. That’s a part of who the character is.
With me being a massive Sylvester Stallone fan – he’s a hero of mine – to have him voicing King Shark in The Suicide Squad is a treat. While I have yet to see it, I’ll certainly be first in line when it opens.
Therefore, I ask – are you happy with the casting of Stallone in this role? Please let us know.
The Suicide Squad, directed by James Gunn and starring Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Idris Elba as Bloodsport, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Sylvester Stallone as the voice of King Shark, and a whole host of other stars, is released on 30th July.
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