The Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire Scene Adam Wingard Used To 'Lure' In His Lead
In Adam Wingard's new monster mash "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," Dan Stevens' character — the rock 'n' roll monster veterinarian named Trapper — is introduced leaping on board a high-tech helicopter equipped with strange grappling hooks and pulleys. Trapper has been called in to sedate and perform dental surgery on Kong, who is suffering from a titanic toothache. Trapper hoots and grins as he is lowered into the unconscious Kong's mouth, eager to see what the problem is. He yanks out Kong's tooth and replaces it with an artificial implant, smiling all the while.
Trapper is like an ultra-cool version of Ace Ventura, complete with skillfully windswept hair and Hawaiian shirts. The character looks like he's just as ready to attend a days-long music festival as he is to tend to the wounds of ailing megafauna. Throughout "Godzilla x Kong," he wears a perma-smirk, always bemused to be taking part in a monster adventure. This bemusement likely extended to actor Dan Stevens as well, reuniting with Adam Wingard after their crackerjack 2014 film "The Guest," one of the best films of its year. Stevens seems to be enjoying himself immensely, bringing bright-eyed energy to every scene he's in.
Wingard wanted Stevens to play Trapper which, it seems, required a little bit of seduction. In an interview with Forbes, Stevens recalled being initially approached to play the part, and how Wingard aggressively sweet-talked him. The actor knew that Wingard and co-writer Simon Barrett "wrote Trapper with me in mind, hoping that I would be lured in. Honestly, it wasn't hard for them to lure me." There was a scene later in the film wherein Trapper flew a high-tech craft through a flock of electric bat monsters, and Stevens — not made of stone — couldn't resist. After all, what actor wouldn't want to play a role requiring them to bond with subterranean creatures?
Dan in real life
The plot of "Godzilla x Kong" requires the human characters to plunge through a magical portal into a massive underground realm called Hollow Earth where monsters live. This is Kong's domain, and it is populated by a menagerie of fantastical critters not seen on the surface world. In the scene, the humans pilot their craft into a swarm of flying monsters with electrical powers. To avoid attack, the craft activates a camouflage module and changes color. The monsters accept the vehicle as one of their own, and the humans fly together with the monsters, seeking Kong.
Stevens said this was the moment that sold him on the role of Trapper. The actor said:
"[Wingard] described the scene where Trapper goes and commandeers the HEAV, which stands for Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicle, and flies it into a flock of creatures that are humming with dangerous electricity that fly through and become sort of instrumental in the climax of the movie. He basically narrated that scene to me, and it sounded very cool. [...] Then I read the script and to introduce a character by having him drop 60 feet off a crane into Kong's mouth to help take a tooth out, I thought, 'That is a cool way to introduce a character.'"
And that was just one of the many fun, monster-related scenes in "Godzilla x Kong." This was also a scene in which several monsters fall into a zero-gravity environment and have to punch each other, whip each other, and use their magical monster breath to do as much damage as possible as they tumble openly through the air. The film is pleasing nonsense.
Dan Stevens is Trapper, and vice versa
Stevens also admitted that he and Trapper are very similar, and that's not just the actor flattering himself. Stevens and Trapper are both cool, handsome, humorous, charming men. Stevens still invented a character to play, but it seems that he drew from a lot of his own personality to create Trapper:
"I wouldn't say the whole thing is me, but there's something in Trapper that I enjoyed bringing out in a world like this. You've got a character who's optimistic, pretty happy-go-lucky, unfazed, seen it all, and he's been around the block, and he's not going to be too freaked out by anything. That's always a nice character to have in the mix in a team-up movie like this. The whole thing was a privilege to step into a character like this that felt so easy and comfortable and do that with such great people."
It likely helped that Stevens acted opposite Rebecca Hall, one of the best actresses of her generation, and Bryan Tyree Henry, an affable and capable actor who, in this film, fulfills the comic relief role. Hall was the serious-minded leader, Henry was the panicked, funny guy, and Stevens was the capable pulp adventurer. They were also joined by Kaylee Hottle, the teenager seeking answers about her own past, as well as Alex Ferns, a tough-talking jarhead. The group dynamic would have carried "Godzilla x Kong" all on its own, but Wingard wisely made his human characters mere supporting players to the monsters themselves.