The Boys' Laz Alonso Had A Nasty Real-Life Run In With The Deep's Gills
It has to be pretty bizarre working on the Prime Video series "The Boys" sometimes, especially when some of the weirder, grosser Supes come into play. There are Supes with scales, Supes with strange skin, and then, there's The Deep's gills. The Deep, played by Chace Crawford, is a riff on DC's Aquaman, and as a part of his powers, he has large gills on his abdomen that allow him to breathe underwater. Usually, we don't see the gills because he's dressed or in costume, and he's pretty shy about them, but there have been a few moments where The Deep's unique stomach appendages are on display, and they're freaky. They're apparently even pretty freaky when they're not attached to The Deep, as fellow star Laz Alonso discovered when he stumbled upon the prosthetics Crawford wears and curiosity got the better of him.
While breaking down the craziest scenes on the series for GQ, Alonso, Crawford, and several other members of the cast revealed that Alonso had a wild run-in with The Deep's gills, and it sounds like it was pretty unpleasant.
Gills and goo
In season 2, The Deep has a bizarre duet with his gills (voiced by Patton Oswalt), requiring Crawford to get all decked out in his prosthetics. Alonso explained that the day after Crawford shot the scene, he saw the chest plate and gills lying out in the makeup trailer and he wanted to get a closer look. He also touched them, which apparently led to some motion and a sliming, as described by Alonso:
"It moved. I literally ended up on the other side of the makeup trailer and my had was dripping white, like clear goo. It was very lubricated. Very slippery. [...] And the gills moved by them – They were like, they moved on their own."
The "goo" probably helps keep the gills looking properly moist, although it's possible that some of that was Crawford's sweat mixed in, because anyone who's ever worn prosthetics for a long period knows that the sweatiness is real. There are also several layers of prosthetics going on, because the gills can move ... they just need a bit of assistance.
A constant stream of weird
Crawford explained that they made a replica of his chest that fits under the gills, so special effects artists can make the gills "breathe" using air pumps that are off-camera. (They also needed to be able to see into the gill cavity for The Deep's assault, which made Crawford especially uncomfortable.) It's not likely that the gills actually moved on their own when Alonso touched them, but they probably looked like they did because of how they're designed. Either way, it was a shocking experience that clearly stayed in the actor's mind, and he's seen some serious s*** while filming the series. The crew built an 11-foot penis for a scene in season 3, after all, and Alonso was covered in a world of goo when he stumbled into the wrong room in "Herogasm."
There's sure to be plenty more gross-outs in store for the cast of "The Boys," because this is a series that loves getting gross. It will be interesting to see how they continue to outdo themselves and freak out poor Laz.