Alan Cumming is ‘just running around’ in Avengers: Doomsday: ‘Don’t understand plot’
Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler in X2 (Fox)
Alan Cumming has confessed he doesn’t quite understand the plot of upcoming Marvel movie Avengers: Doomsday.
He spoke about the film in a SiriusXM interview, adding that his return as Nightcrawler sees him “running around” a lot.
Recalling a recent run-in at the Emmys with co-star Florence Pugh, Cumming said it felt strange to realise they had technically shared a scene without ever actually working face-to-face.
He said: “I said, ‘Gosh, it’s so funny. I’ve never met you, but you lay on top of me, or your body double did.’ And she goes, ‘Yeah I lay on top of you as well, but it was your body double.’”
Pugh plays Yelena Belova, aka Black Widow, in the movie, reprising her Thunderbolts* role.
Cumming also suggested Marvel’s famously tight-lipped approach left him in the dark. “To be honest, I don’t fully understand the plot,” he said, adding that he was not allowed to read the full screenplay and that filming his scenes did not leave him clear on what was happening around him.
‘Just tell me where I point’
Describing one of the few times he was on a physical set rather than in front of a blue screen, Cumming said: “There was a bit when we were shooting a scene, and it was one of the rare scenes when I was actually on the backlot and not in front of a blue screen.”
He continued: “This man came and said, ‘So right now Alan, these giant robots are blah blah,’ and started to tell me the thing, and I was like, ‘You know what, thank you so much, but just tell me where I point my, whatever I point. And I’ll do that. Really, I just know I’m here to run around.’”
Nightcrawler is back
Cumming reprises his role of Nightcrawler in Avengers: Doomsday, his first time playing the character in 23 years after debuting in 2003’s X2: X-Men United.
He previously said he didn’t know who he was acting with “half the time” during filming of Avengers: Doomsday.
He also said the process of transforming into his blue-skinned character is now far less punishing: “Before it was about four and a half hours to apply it, but now it’s only 90 minutes,” adding: “Before, all of the tattoos were done by hand… Now, they just stick onto my face. It’s a game changer.”
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to hit cinemas on 18 December.
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