Interview with Actor and Stunt Performer Andrew Stehlin of Dark Phoenix

The highly anticipated Dark Phoenix finally hit theaters this weekend. The premise of which takes us to the beginning of the wildly popular comic event, The Dark Phoenix Saga. It tells the story of how one of the X-Men’s most beloved members, Jean Grey, evolves into the iconic, cosmic Phoenix Force and is a culmination of nearly 20 years of X-Men movies to date.

Recently, we sat down with an up-and-coming member of the cast, Andrew Stehlin, to discuss the movie, love of the character Wolverine, and what he geeked out over as a kid.

Note: There may be some light character-related spoilers ahead.

Andrew Stehlin, of Auckland, New Zealand, has been in the stunt industry for almost twenty-one years, working on blockbusters like The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, King Kong, and Hacksaw Ridge. But it was in 2007, after landing the role of Arvin in the cult hit 30 Days of Night, that he got bit by the acting bug. Though he now pursues both stunt work and acting in earnest, stunt performing is still his passion.

What drew you to stunt work in the first place?

I was doing extra work on Hercules [The Legendary Journeys] and Xena [Warrior Princess], and I saw stunt people performing, and thought to myself, I would love to do that. I’ve got a martial arts background, and my instructor knew the stunt coordinator that was trying to put a team together for The Lord of the Rings because some of the other stunt performers were working on Hercules and Xena back then. So, then I went for an audition and I got in and here I am.

Any advice for anybody trying to break into that side of the industry?

Yes. Don’t give up. If you really want something and you’ve got the right intention and will… just keep doing it. It will come to you. Maybe it will come to you slowly, but it will come. Just follow your dreams.

In Dark Phoenix, you play Red Lotus, a member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of mutants. What can you tell us about that character?

Richard Norton, the fight coordinator on Dark Phoenix, I was assisting him. We had to come up with new characters and we were working on the cast list. It slowly developed and we just saw this character expand–extend out to ten feet– when he’s in fight mode. And the director, Simon [Kinberg], liked it. He liked the idea. Then the next question was who was going to play the character and they said just get that guy [me] to play it. So yeah, right place at the right time!

What is the creative process look like when you’re developing a character like that?

Well, I think that as an actor you’re always creating characters, so it’s pretty much a routine that you go through. The director would like something on the spectrum and put it in…it’s a journey for you into this character and then all of a sudden, you have a… yeah, you have something that people love on screen.

How much research did you do ahead of time because Red Lotus is based on a character in the comic books? How did you prepare for this role?

Wow. The whole preparation for that, like I was saying, we were just going through developing different characters, different movements, and on how they would move… so, it was just a work in progress, really. But I think the character, Red Lotus, was a combination of different characters put together. Yeah, it was martial arts, agility, speech strength, and his hair.

What is your favorite memory from your time working on the film?

Oh, my goodness. The people….everyone, from production, to the cast, to the extras, to the caterers…they all went straight to my heart because nothing–none of it–would have happened without them coming together. The magic and all of the love, that was just amazing. I thought I felt it was love all around, and just people giving things to make something cool, which is always…it’s always the people. Wherever I travel, it’s the people that make it.

2019 has been a huge year for superhero films and it doesn’t seem like it’s slowing down. Why do you think the genre is so appealing to audiences?

Well, I was buying a lot of superhero comic books when I was young. When the first Spiderman came out, it was amazing. That effort, obviously the technology was way up there and…oh, I think it’s going to be an ongoing trend. No one’s going to get tired of it, because superheroes are what people want to be or want to be saved from, you know what I mean? Who wouldn’t want to be saved by a superhero?

Speaking of which, you were talking about Spiderman. I like to ask this as our website is called Temple of Geek, so clearly we’re big about geeking out and obsessing about things and entertainment and pop culture. What’s something you were a huge nerd about as a kid?

A big nerd about? Wow. I think I just loved everything, really, as a kid. Didn’t matter what it was. Brand new and very exciting.Oh, yeah, I think it was comic books. I mean, definitely the X-Men. I was certainly–I mean I still am–totally into Wolverine. He’s my favorite X-Men now. I was big, big for Wolverine just because of the attitude and his will to fight for things.

Before we wrap up, do you have anything else that you’d like to share?

Go and see the movie, it’s going to be amazing! I know that some folk won’t like it, but then hey, we all have our own opinions, which is fantastic. I hope that it’s something that everyone likes and enjoys.