10 Iconic Characters Whose Interpreters Surprised With Their Appearance

A large part of the movie industry audience loves fictional stories. Especially those that count on the presence of fantastic creatures with extraordinary appearance, inhabitants of other worlds. After all, admiring a reality completely different from ours from the comfort of our sofa or the movie theater is always fun. And in some cases, the plot is so involving that we forget who is behind that mask, costume or prosthetic makeup, among other features that make all that fantasy take on an air of reality.

In view of this, the awesome.club invites you to meet some actors who, thanks to their abilities and unique physical characteristics, have made the characters who have played true icons of pop culture.

Peter Mayhew (1944-2019) was the Anglo-American actor who personified the humanoid alien Chewbacca from the start of the Star Wars franchise (1977) to the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). After that, he decided to retire to take care of his health. During the period in which he lived the furry character, Mayhew participated in commercials and science fiction events, also acting in hospitals to cheer up sick children.

When director George Lucas was casting the original trilogy, he was looking for a tall actor to bring Chewbacca to life. Mayhew, who at the time was working as an assistant at a London hospital, was 2.21m tall, thus landing the role that would change his life. The actor revealed that, because of his performance in Star Wars, he had the chance to enjoy the benefits of fame, such as traveling the world, while being able to go outside without being recognized.

Actor, director and puppeteer Frank Oz has been behind the puppet of Yoda the Jedi Master since his first appearance in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.🇧🇷 from 1980.

Later, when they started using computer-generated imagery (a resource known by its acronym in English: CGI) to create the character, Oz continued to lend his voice to Yoda. In fact, it was he who developed the peculiar way of speaking of the wise Jedi master.

Frank Oz is also known for playing popular children’s characters such as Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear from The Muppets, as well as the monster Come Come from Sesame Street.

ALF was an American television series that ran from 1986 to 1990. In episodes that required full-length scenes of ALF, whether walking, running, or standing, circus artist, actor, and stuntman Mihaly “Michu” Meszaros (1939-2016), born in Hungary, was the one inside the costume. At 83 cm tall, the man was perfect for giving life to the irreverent extraterrestrial.

However, Meszaros wasn’t the only one to play ALF. In the first takes, who handled the character’s puppet was the creator of the series, Paul Fusco. The work was carried out with the help of his two assistants: Lisa Buckley, who controlled the left arm; and Bob Fappiano, who used a remote control to activate the character’s expressions.

The Fifth Element (1997) is a film full of memorable characters, and one of them is the mysterious extraterrestrial Diva Plavalaguna, played by French actress and filmmaker Maïwenn, at the time the wife of the film’s director, Luc Besson.

It is necessary to emphasize not only the uniqueness of Diva’s look, but also her name: Plavalaguna is formed by two words in Serbian: plava, which means “blue”, and laguna, which means “pond”. Thus, the alien’s name can be literally translated as Blue Lagoon Diva.

Actor, stuntman and martial arts practitioner Chris Casamassa plays Scorpion, the most iconic spectral fighter in the Mortal Kombat franchise, in the 1995 theatrical version.

In addition to the role of Scorpion, Cassamassa worked as an acrobat and stunt actor in Karate Kid (1984), Batman and Robin (1997) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2001). He is currently president of Red Dragon Karate Schools, founded by his father, renowned martial arts pioneer Louis D. Casamassa.

Italian actor, stuntman and circus artist Felix Silla (1937-2021) is always remembered for his role as the furry Cousin Thing in the 1964 TV series The Addams Family. Silla was immediately chosen by the producers to join the cast of the production, only that the actor was unaware of the type of role he would play. It was not until the first day of filming his scenes that he learned that he would be covered in hair from head to toe.

His film and TV career includes appearances in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) as one of the ewoks; and as a stunt double in the production ET The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Poltergeist: The Phenomenon (1982), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Batman: Returns (1992).

It is possible that, at first, you may not recognize Doug Jones, as his career is marked by the interpretation of several fantastic creatures, resorting to the use of special effects makeup that leave him unrecognizable. Some of his prominent roles are Abe Sapien in Hellboy (2004), The Faun and the Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and the Amphibious Man in The Shape of Water (2017). Interestingly, all the films mentioned above are by director Guillermo del Toro.

In this article, we want to take the opportunity to show Jones in another of his facets. The Time Machine is a 2002 film directed by Simon Wells, who is none other than the great-grandson of H.G. Wells, author of the novel of the same name. In the production, Jones is one of the morlocks, a subspecies of humans from the future that live underground and feed on humans that live on the surface.

With the release of the fourth film in the Matrix franchise, Matrix Resurrections, scheduled for December 2021, the identical twins Adrian and Neil Rayment, in charge of playing the ghostly Twins in the second feature of the saga, could not be left out of the list.

Although both brothers have retreated from the spotlight, their portrayals as the terrifying antagonists, who traverse objects and manage to float, made the action scenes, so typical of The Matrix, even more extraordinary.

The Predator, remembered for its terrifying appearance, ability to camouflage and the efficiency of weapons to hunt humans, is one of the most famous monsters of the big screen. Who faced the responsibility of playing the character in the films The Predator (1987) and The Predator 2 — The Hunt Continues (1990) was the American actor Kevin Peter Hall (1955-1991). However, he was not the first choice to play the role.

When the film was in the process of development, it was thought of an extraterrestrial creature that practiced martial arts. The role would be Jean-Claude Van Damme, only the producers wanted a monster that looked taller than the rest of the cast. And unfortunately, Van Damme was shorter than all of his set mates. That was the luck of Kevin Peter Hall, who was eight feet tall. Thus, the character fulfilled his goal of looking intimidating even next to the muscular Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Do you have a favorite among the characters mentioned above? Which do you remember most, and why? Don’t forget to share this article with your contacts so they can rediscover such unique characters!