Things I Learned In Today's JusticeCon Q&A with Harry J. Lennix
I've been a fan of Harry J. Lennix since I saw him in the Five Heartbeats as a kid. That's why no matter what he does (The Blacklist, Ray, Man of Steel, Little Britain, Get On The Bus, etc.), he'll always be Dresser to me.
So of course I had to tune into JusticeCon today to watch his Q&A. And I was not at all disappointed.
Here's what I learned ...
He used to be a music teacher while working as a theater actor in Chicago in the 1980s. He worked at a school on the South Side of Chicago.
He's a big supporter of the Chicago theater community. (And most of the nerds in the Q&A got a kick out of the fact that there's a Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago.)
He was about to retire from acting and start teaching again when he got the call from Zack Snyder about the role of General Swanwick in Man of Steel. He said he had trouble getting any roles after Dollhouse and auditions were few and far between. Snyder called him and asked him to join the project back in 2010, three years before the film was released. It saved him from retirement.
He didn't know that Swanwick was the Martian Manhunter until Zack told him in preparation for Justice League. He essentially found out shortly before the rest of us found out.
With that in mind, in MoS, when Superman approaches the two-way mirror in the interrogation room scene, and everyone in the room behind the glass steps back instead of Swanwick, Snyder had the General hold his ground and face-off with Supes because as the military man with the most experience in the room, he was willing to go toe-to-toe with a superior being even if he knew he would lose. It was a point of honor to look his threat/enemy in the eye, and not flinch. Snyder's direction was related to establishing Swanwick as a force to be reckoned with and someone who would hold the line so that others could get away. (Harry said this scene reads very differently now that we know Swanwick may not have backed down because he simply felt no fear.)
Harry met Snyder years before when he auditioned for Dawn of the Dead. The role went to Ving Rhames instead. But Zack remembered him and how much he liked his speaking voice (ZS told Harry this.)
He has a role in the new animated series based off of Army of the Dead that's being launched next month. Again, he's the voice of the Secretary of Defense.
Zack never told him what his plans were for Martian Manhunter after Justice League.
For the final scene in ZSJL, they shot Harry's part (with white dots on his face so they could create MM's face in the computer) in Zack's driveway with a green screen last year. Affleck's part in the scene was shot separately. They did a total of 12-13 takes just for a variety on certain lines and movements.
In response to everyone's question about why didn't MM help in the fight during MoS or the fight in BvS against Doomsday, Harry said (paraphrasing): "We don't know how J'onn feels about Kryptonians. We don't know his history with Superman's people at all. He's honestly skeptical of Superman, and whether he's genuine or not in his desire to help others and poses no threat. We also don't know if he's protecting something or someone we don't know about yet."
My question is why are so many people asking why Swanwick/MM didn't help in BvS, but aren't asking why Diana/WW didn't help in MoS? If you have a problem with one of them not joining the fight to save the world, then you should have a problem with the other one not joining the fight either.
