Per Smith, the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme material this time around will include some surprising references to one of the story’s most beloved characters.
“We included some Axel lore that is so nuts. If you’re really deep in the Twisted Metal lore and you see what we included from Axel’s backstory ,you’ll be like ‘I cannot believe that the Twisted Metal creators and writers included this stuff.’ It’s so deep and it’s so insane how we included it.”
While Twisted Metal‘s first season was able to introduce plenty of familiar faces from the game, including the iconic conflagratory clown Sweet Tooth (played by Joe Seanoa and voiced by Will Arnett), season two fully reveals the man behind the demolition derby curtain. Calypso, played by Anthony Carrigan (a.k.a. Noho Hank in Barry and Metamorpho in this summer’s Superman) is a wonderfully deranged dandy who fits the Twisted Metal universe as comfortably as his preposterous wig fits his head.
“Honestly the wig does all the acting. I take very little credit, it’s all the hair,” Carrigan jokes. “The blueprint of the character was there but we were able to collaborate and have fun. I took a lot of liberties, I’m gonna say. A lot of liberties. But I think the whole vibe of the cast just really likes to have fun – push the envelope and have a good time.”
“It’s a testament to you, dude,” Mackie adds to Carrigan. “A regular actor would have came in, not taken risks, not pushed the envelope, and just stood there and said the lines. But all the weird shit came from you. You went full weird. It was beautiful to see. It was like ‘oh what’s this dude gonna be’ and then you’d be on set and hear [INDESCRIBABLE HAUNTING LAUGH].”
The flexible format of the show’s premise also allows for Twisted Metal to experiment with some new characters as well, including the introduction of one particular post-apocalyptic heavy who is so revolting that this interviewer begged Smith for an apology.