The actor talks to ET about the Halloween special and if he'll return with the Midnight Sons.
Gael Garcia Bernal has officially joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Jack Russell, a monster hunter afflicted with a curse that turns him into a werewolf, in the dread-filled and macabre Halloween special Werewolf by Night, now streaming on Disney+.
“I was immediately on board,” Bernal says of joining the project, which is a major departure in tone, style and storytelling for the MCU. “Seeing that in this Marvel Universe and the infrastructure that exists, we can try out different things and experiment as well with this new character. I feel very lucky and very grateful that I’ve been chosen to play this guy.”
While speaking to ET’s Ash Crossan, the actor talks about his onscreen transformation and whether he’ll return for another go around as Russell.
Directed by Michael Giacchino, the black-and-white film draws inspiration from ‘30s and ‘40s horror and film noir classics as a secret cabal of monster hunters gather at the Bloodstone Temple to mourn the death of their leader, Ulysses Bloodstone (Richard Dixon), and find themselves in a deadly competition for a powerful relic as they determine who takes over next.
Rounding out the cast are Laura Donnelly as Ulysses’ estranged daughter, Elsa, and Harriet Sansom Harris as his widow, Verussa, who sends the various hunters out on their quest to take down a dangerous new monster unleashed in the wake of their leader’s demise. Not only that, but Carey Jones makes an appearance as Man-Thing, a swamp creature also known as Ted Sallis.
In order to bring his character to life, Bernal “read a few books on werewolves and started to learn about the mythology,” he says of these “half-beast creatures that exist in different cultures in the world.” So, by the time they started filming, the actor had “a big construction of curiosities and aspects to play with.”
As for the physical transformation required, Bernal spent “close to four hours” in the makeup chair getting ready. “At the beginning, it was a long process,” he says. “But then it started to get, you know, maybe the fastest we did was, like, two hours.”
But as the actor explains, the effort put into the makeup and costume was well worth it. “Everything was fantastic,” he says. “It’s really freeing as well because you’re a different person altogether. And with that costume and everything, you can really howl with confidence.”
And when it comes to the unexpected appearance of Ted, who has a particular bond with Jack, “there’s an interesting friendship there,” Bernal teases, not wanting to “dig deeper into how the relationship is because we leave that for the people to see.”
When it comes to Jack’s future in the MCU, “hopefully we’ll get some chances to do these even more,” Bernal says, noting there are lots of “possibilities” for this character, including him teaming up with the Midnight Sons, which could see him teaming up with Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight, Mahershala Ali’s Blade and other supernatural heroes in the MCU.
“I was approached by many fans that knew more about the world of Midnight Sons than I did. And that was funny, you know, because sometimes they ask me things and I go like, ‘Well, it seems you know even more than I do about this,’” the actor says, before teasing, “Let’s see where this leads. I don’t know, I have no idea.”
That said, “I’m really happy with the result of the project and the making of it,” Bernal says. “I wish as well that there’s a lot of possibilities to play with this character even more.”
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