Tyler Mane loves to play the villain.
When he was a kid he told himself that he would grow up to be a pro wrestler and an actor. Tyler Mane did that and more. This actor and producer is well known for his role as Michael Myers from “Halloween II,” as Sabretooth in “X-Men,” and more roles to count. He also has had a very successful pro wrestling career as Big Sky in the 1990s. Now Mane plays Blackstar in Netflix’s new series “Jupiter’s Legacy.” This character has an antimatter battery that can just destroy the human race if he wanted to. Find out what it took to play Blackstar, and another evil favorite, Michael Myers.
Mane has been busy with multiple upcoming projects, yet his latest sounds very exciting! He’s working on a dark, gritty graphic novel based on the comic book “The Last Spartan.” Read more about this and find out what it was like to be in over eight pieces of prosthetics to play Blackstar.
Colleen Bement: How much fun is it and how much work is it to play the character of Blackstar in “Jupiter’s Legacy?”
Tyler Mane: Playing a great supervillain like Blackstar is fantastic, you know? He’s cocky, snied, he’s intelligent, he’s got several sides to him, you know what I mean? He’s got an antimatter battery that can just destroy the human race if he wants to. He is the one that’s pushing the Utopian and the whole union to challenge their code. He kinda lives by his own rules, which is fantastic.
The process to become Blackstar was amazing. It would take two and a half hours a day or more to transform into Blackstar. I think on my head and shoulders I had over eight pieces of prosthetics that they were glue completely down to me so that I could move, and smirk and wink and everything. It just stuck to my face so well. The physically draining part was when you put that heavy armor suit on which was made out of the rubber that was made to fit my body, and just even trying to walk in that was like going to the gym and having bands attached to you. Those stretchy bands. That was extra just trying to move and walk, let alone do fight scenes
CB: How did you handle it?
TM: When you get all those prosthetics on, the suit goes on, your clock starts ticking, and when you’re drained, you’re drained. Luckily I had a cooling suit that would shoot cold water around my entire body to keep me from overheating. In the fight scenes, I’d go in and throw a few punches, and then I’d tag in my stunt double, Nate Andrade, and say you go get ’em. You finish this up.
CB: Good thing that you have someone that you can tag team with.
TM: Well it’s Blackstar against the whole Union in that first major fight. I love the story because it jumps between the past and the present and the transitions are great. You just see enough of the backstory then you’re pulled back into the modern-day story. They transition back and forth so nicely. I love it.
CB: What time did you have to get up in the morning to be on set?
TM: It depends on when my call time was, but I’d usually get up an hour and a half before my call time. I’d do a little bit of a workout and get some breakfast and head to set. I’d be in the makeup chair for two and a half to three hours, and then putting the suit on, I probably spent most of the morning just preparing for my day. Then after that, I’d have an additional 10 hours to be in the suit. They were draining days but well worth it. Once they airbrushed me and I opened up my eyes, I saw Blackstar!
CB: Do you like playing villains?
TM: Oh I love them because there are no boundaries. The good guys are usually held by a code or set of morals, whereas playing the bad guy, you get to push all boundaries and push all buttons. That’s why I love Blackstar so much. You have the fighting side of Blackstar, then when you get into the later episodes, you see his personality and his cockiness, and his intelligence. It just brings the whole character together.
CB: Our horror readers absolutely want to know what it was like to play Michael Myers in “Halloween II.” What can you tell us from back then?
TM: Oh man, Michael Myers? When Rob Zombie gave me the call and said hey, I want you to be Michael Myers, I was just so excited. They were big shoes to fill, but being able to put on that mask and just have to bring a character to life without having any words–just the movement of your body, and your body language, was fantastic for me. I enjoyed it so, so much. People always ask me what my favorite kill of the two movies that I did, and I’d have to say the killing of the nurse. Octavia Spencer, in the beginning of the second one. For once, it was so intense and crazy.
People ask how did you pull that all off? It was basically me stabbing a sandbag about 30 times, and then Rob said give me one more, and I just stuck it in, and did that grunt in the end, and to this day it is one of my favorite kills. Plus, Octavia did go on to win an Oscar so I think I’m the only serial killer on cinema to kill an Oscar winner. (HaHa).
CB: That’s notable. (Laughs)
TM: I’ll take that!
CB: Looking back to your role as Sabretooth in “X-Men,” what was it like to be part of the “X-Men” universe?
TM: Oh, fantastic. To be able to play a character such as Sabretooth’s was amazing. I just wished that we got to more in-depth with the character, and show more of his depth. There’s the first one- they were trying to bring all these characters in and had to explain all of them at that time. People always ask me if I’d like to play Sabretooth again, and I would love to. I’d like to take the version of my Sabretooth to another level. Give him some back story. He’s supposed to be that cocky kind of character; sort of like Blackstar.
CB: What inspired you to go for the change of pace of the wrestling world to becoming an actor?
TM: When I was a kid growing up in Saskatchewan, I would watch pro wrestling in the morning on Saturdays, and then I’d start watching cartoons, and then I’d start reading my comic books. I’d watch the action movies at night, and I’d do that all weekend long. As a kid, I said someday I’m going to do that. I’m going to be a pro wrestler and I’m going to do movies. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to do both and live the dream. When I was offered my first role, acting, I’m going to gladly do this instead of getting dropped on my head every night.
CB: You mentioned comic books. Do you have a favorite comic book hero?
TM: I’m going to have to say, Thor. Now, I’m really enjoying reading “Jupiter’s Legacy” by Mark Millar’s versions of it. It was fantastic, and I actually bought them to do my research for Blackstar. Blackstar didn’t stick around too much in the comics. I’m glad they made a TV series and got to bring this character to life. I still to this day have my very first comic books back when I was probably in the fifth grade. I’ve got the old Beatle Baileys, I’ve got the Tom Sawyer, and I’ve even got an old Boris Karloff. I’ve got Dark Shadows and Lost in Space.
CB: Do you have any projects in the works, and, do you and your wife collaborate on projects?
TM: I do and I do! Renae Geerlings, my wife is my business partner with Mane Entertainment. We did “Compound Fracture” and “Penance Lane.” Both of them are out streaming. What we are going to do since Renae is very familiar with the world of graphic novels and comic books, our next project for Mane Entertainment is going to be a graphic novel that we’re doing. I optioned the comic book “The Last Spartan” by John Saunders, which is about a motorcycle club enforcer. It’s basically “Sons of Anarchy” meets “The Punisher” meets “Human Trafficking.” We’re doing a dark, gritty graphic novel about that. I just signed out writer, Christopher Priest, and I’m so excited to collaborate with Christopher on this project.
Keep up with Tyler’s projects on his website and socials.
Written by Colleen Bement
Hi, I’m Lynn, and I Make.
Props, Cosplay, Scale Models, Home Projects, and just about anything else that involves me Making.
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