The big bad ofThe Boyshas never been ambiguous to Antony Starr.
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This interview was conducted prior to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
Spoilers follow forThe Boysseason-four finaleAssassination Run,which premiered July 18 on Prime Video.
At one point, Starr catches himself after referring to Homelander as poor old Homie.
Im just one of the actors.
Do I have political opinions?
Of course I do.
But its not my job to voice those as a performer on the show.
Im there to service the character and make a run at be as honest as I can.
With a character like this its pretty difficult, because hes clearly insane.
Its a big cliffhanger for fans who havent read the comics.
Im guessing the camera would have pushed past Calhoun onto me just smiling with satisfaction.
Eric absolutely ran with that.
Its a setup for the Boys to claw back and fight as we go into season five.
The show is ultimately about vigilantes trying to take down the evil what is it inStar Wars?
The evil Empire?Right.
Theyre trying to take down the empire.
Youre wearing a Rage Against the Machine shirt.
You had to bring upEvil Empire.The show is a little echo of the likes of Rage Against the Machine.
It is standing up to the man.
That scene is a step forward for Homelander.
Its also coming off the back of thinking that he completely failed.
I think quite destructive.
But she comes in and says, Nope, its all part of the plan.
By the time we get to that speech, Homelander has had nothing to do with it.
I would have got there anyway.
This is a character with a colossal ego and a desperate need to be right and keep moving forward.
Eric said about the fourth season, We write what were either scared of or pissed off about.
Did any scenes this season tap into those feelings for you?Not so much pissed off.
You start taking stock of where youve been, where youre at, where you want to go.
All these questions come up about mortality.
I wondered if there was a way of getting that in the material.
And then I checked myself; its not my place to do that.
That led to themes of legacy, mortality, fatherhood.
It was a sign of how in sync Eric and I have been with this character.
This season, we get a lot of Homelanders abusive backstory.
Its not an excuse for the behavior.
But theres something of an inevitability if you damage someone that much when theyre young.
The thing with Homelander is and I think everyone does this in real life we wear masks.
But the man within that is just a coiled mask of insecurity.
Its a real contradiction, the way he behaves in public versus private.
But I think they realize this season that hes not.
Thats not my job.
But Im a big fan of the Michael Jordan quote, Republicans buy sneakers, too.
I dont want to alienate anyone.
Antony Starr as a brand has room for everyone.
And politically in this country, I think theres a lot of people who are afraid on both sides.
Whats driving a lot of the discourse out there is fear.
I think theres a lot of commonality on both sides, and I think people feel left behind.
They respond to whoever gives them hope.
Even if its lies.
The truth has become a scarce commodity now that we live in a world with alternative facts.
When it comes to the show, first of all, I do play a character.
Its not representative of what I think.
Once I take the Spandex off at the end of the day, I leave it at work.
This country has been very, very good to me.
Because Im not originally from here, I can be a little more objective, maybe.
Its very easy to demonize the other side, and Im not interested in doing it.
Its like voting with your dollar.
Well, youre voting with your own heart.
What country do you want to live in?
Across the board, those actresses that you listed fantastic.
Homelander wasnt raised with parents.
He was raised in a lab with a lot of psychological manipulation.
Hes the strongest man on Earth, but hes the weakest character in the show.
He really craves the nurturing side of women, but his ego demands that he be in control.
And hes been constantly rejected by men.
Hes deeply threatened by them, and he has to keep all men very firmly in their place.
But with women, theres a different allowance because of the emotional needs.
Homelanders smile is such a motif.
He has a fake smile for selfies and people filming him in public.
How do you craft the different versions of that smile?Ninety percent of it is spontaneous.
Eric and I go back and forth quite a bit on my scenes.
Theres a lot of freedom to play, which means I dont know exactly what Im going to do.
Its funny you mentioned that scene inepisode four.
Homelander makes Marty self-pleasure in front of a group of people.
I had it in my head that I just wanted to go in and laugh maniacally at him.
But those scenes are really hard to do, when youve got to really drive into a laugh.
There was just crickets.
Its very uncomfortable, but its a good place to be when youre working.
So I asked director Phil Sgriccia, Let me just go for it.
Well see what happens.
How did you differentiate them?That one was really difficult.
It becomes a very technical exercise in responding to yourself, knowing what mannerisms youre going to use.
This one, with one, two, three, four of me, was more difficult.
As he grew up, that character got more and more demented and aggressive.
I wanted this one to just be, Shhh.
The tricky part was every camera setup for each character.
I had to jump between the different characters for every setup.
And then theres poor old Homie poor old Homie.
Physically and logistically, we had so little time to shoot that.
It was really crammed into the end of a day.
But I think it worked out okay.
I could sing every word.
