Doug Jones has proven time and time again that he’s the go-to guy for bringing unusual creatures to life in films. Most recently Jones won critical acclaim for tackling the roles of Pan and the Pale Man in Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning film Pan’s Labyrinth. He’ll next be seen soaring through the sky as the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Jones invested a lot of time and energy getting into the character on the set of the second Fantastic Four movie. But while his body provides the basis for the character, audiences won’t be hearing Jones’ voice in the finished film. Instead, 20th Century Fox brought in veteran actor Laurence Fishburne to voice the part. At the 2007 Saturn Awards Jones was asked how he felt about that development. “You know what? This is a painful issue for me,” said Jones. “For any actor, it would be. No actor wants to see a portion of their performance taken away, myself included. Especially when I really like the sound of the Surfer that I gave. A lot of people involved with the film told me that they got goosebumps and chills when I would talk as the Silver Surfer, so I am sorry to see that go. Now, that being said, I also want to say Laurence Fishburne is a fantastic actor.”
Jones added, “You could do worse and I'm very honored to be billed alongside of him. That's great. I also think 20th Century Fox knows how to market a film much better than I do, and if this is what it took to get people in seats, God bless 'em and good luck. I have to back away at this point and let them do what they need to do. And I'm going to go start working on Hellboy 2 where I reprise Abe Sapien, including the voice this time, and I'll also be doing two other characters in the film, The Chamberlain and The Angel of Death. So these are going to be good, yummy things for me to delve my attention into now.”
Production is revving up on Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy 2. “We start filming at the beginning of June so I have a couple weeks of rehearsal. I've got some intense rehearsal actually. I have to learn some fighting skills now.”
Jones is pleased with the way the Abe Sapien character develops in the second Hellboy movie, although he wouldn’t reveal any real details on the script. “I'm very happy with the script and what happens for Abe Sapien this time. It's Guillermo del Toro's signature thing where he touches on a piece of your childhood, your adolescence and Abe Sapien is a very old, intelligent character. He's been around for a long, long time but his love life is something that's never been tapped into before. So just like a 13-year-old boy with his first crush, this is how you're going to see Abe this time, at least a portion of him. Will that affect his decision making powers? Does it make us stupid when we're in love for the first time? It did me, so let's see what happens to Abe.”
As for the possibility of more movies involving the Silver Surfer character, Jones is keeping his options open. “We'll have a look at that when it happens,” said Jones. “The studio does have options for part two and three for me. I did sign a three picture deal going in, so we'll always investigate what's up for the next movie.”
At this point in Jones’ career, the chameleonic actor could teach a course in how to act – and even fight – while covered in make-up and creature costumes. “There's physical barriers with any part like that where you're covered with makeup and when you're in a rubbery suit that wants to spring back to one position, the position it was made in, you do have to kind of - it's like a Bowflex where you have use a certain muscle group to get through that and make him look organic,” explained Jones. “But I have to make that a part of my being and my physicality and again, acting is a full body experience and that's a part of it when you're doing a costumed character.”
Saturn coverage provided by Fred Topel
