Tim Blake Nelson Says BRAVE NEW WORLD's Take on the Leader Is "Not the Version I Expected to Play"
Tim Blake Nelson has returned to reprise his role as Samuel Sterns, aka The Leader, in Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World, and this is so cool because it’s a character I never expected to see again after appearing in 2008's The Incredible Hulk.
What Blake Nelson didn’t expect, was the version of the character he would return to play. During a recent interview with GamesRadar+, he said:
"In this version, which is not the version I expected to play, I got to get better as an actor. And thanks to Kevin [Feige] and Nate [Moore] and Julius [Onah] and the writers, they wrote a beautifully nuanced character that was a wonderful challenge to play.
“And that I wouldn't have been able to play 15 years ago, because I don't think, hopefully anyway, I was the actor that I am now. What we want to do most as actors is continue to grow.”
He went on to say: "And I feel like I needed this maturity to be able to play what they wrote. What drives Samuel Sterns as The Leader is a sense of justice through anarchy.
“There's a lot of history behind it that is exposed really beautifully in the writing. And I'm incredibly grateful that they asked me back, and I had a great time with such a phenomenal cast.
“I've known a lot of them for many, many years, and I agree with Harrison, one of the features of the MCU is the way they curate the world. They put serious actors in their movies.
“They don't mess around in terms of shallow choices in terms of casting, and that starts with Anthony, who has such depth and soul as an actor. But I would also say it applies to everyone on this screen right now. It's great to be a part of that group."
Samuel Sterns is a cellular biologist who develops a possible cure to Bruce Banner's green and angry condition. Towards the end of the film, some of Hulk's blood mixes his with his open head wound - and his brain begins to rapidly mutate.
I’m looking forward to seeing how The Leader’s story arc will play out in Captain America: Brave New World, which hits theaters on February 14th.