Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire's Trapper Mixes Three Movie 'Man-Children' Into One
Anyone who has seen "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" — and going by the film's impressive box-office numbers, that oughta be most of you out there — knows that Dan Stevens is an absolute delight in it. To be fair, this isn't a huge surprise, as anyone who's been following Stevens' on-screen career knows that the actor is routinely a highlight of everything he appears in, whether he's the lead in something like FX's "Legion" and "GxK" director Adam Wingard's "The Guest" or (and sometimes especially) when he's appearing as a supporting character in films like "Colossal" or this month's "Abigail."
His role of Trapper in "GxK" seems particularly special, however, given that Stevens isn't merely playing a comic relief character. Instead, he's some unique combination of a wonder-filled adventurer, an animal-loving veterinarian, and a laid-back hippie dude. That's just one way of describing Trapper, however — Stevens himself has his own take on the recipe that makes the character so welcome in the midst of all the kaiju smash-and-crash battles that the film is chock full of. According to the actor, Trapper seems to him to be a mixture of three particular pop culture icons (real and fictional), each of whom generally falls into the category of "man-child." While that term has become soured a bit given its usage describing an archetypical male character in studio comedies, Stevens is giving it a much more positive spin thanks to Trapper and his influences.
With more Trappers, what a lovely place the MonsterVerse would be
In a recent conversation with Forbes, Stevens revealed the trio of pop culture figures who inspired his performance of Trapper:
"A man-child was a big touchstone. There's a sprinkling of Ace Ventura in there, and a bit of Dr. Doolittle and Bear Grylls is probably in there, too. There are a lot of fun characters in the mix."
Given how Trapper, throughout "The New Empire," acts as both Kong's dentist and surgeon (outfitting the giant ape with a spiffy new battle gauntlet in the latter capacity), characters like Ace Ventura and Dr. Doolittle make sense. Bear Grylls, the real-life survivalist and reality TV host, likely factors into Trapper's gung-ho attitude toward exploring the Hollow Earth with his one-time lover, Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall).
Yet what is perhaps more telling is what Stevens goes on to say about Trapper regarding the character's cultural background, which includes bits of a scene deleted from the film:
"I liked the idea of this very optimistic Brit because we're not always known for our optimism. Trapper is a reasonably international character. He probably left the UK when he was quite young. We definitely had a scene where he told a story about his time in Africa, which didn't make the movie's final cut, but it gave us some context. He's been to the jungles and the desert; he's an adventurer and has that element of being pretty chipper in the face of enormous peril."
Give us more Trapper
To put it simply, Trapper is a character who feels wholly unique and most welcome within the MonsterVerse. Thus far, there have been a lot of characters who are either terrified by or suspicious of Godzilla, Kong, and the other Titans. Even in "GxK," Dr. Andrews is primarily concerned with keeping an equilibrium between the Monarch organization, the Titans, and the world's human governments, while Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry) is worried about the various dangers inherent within the Hollow Earth, perpetually convinced that doomsday is about to befall everyone at any moment.
With all of this, Trapper feels like a breath of fresh air, and who better to bring that quality to the film than Stevens in man-child mode? The MonsterVerse seems pretty choosy when it comes to returning human characters, so let's hope that "GxK" isn't the last we've seen of this chipper Brit. Worst case scenario, at least we have Dan Stevens in "Cuckoo" to look forward to watching.