English Jamie Campbell Bowerrecognized for having played the terrifying villain Vecna in the recent season of the super-popular series “Stranger Things”, was present once again as the great international guest on the second day of the new edition of Argentina Comic-Con, which is held until this Sunday with an expanded setting after its move to the La Rural property in Buenos Aires.
Received with howls of enthusiasm from the fans of that suspense and science fiction strip, which this year launched its fourth and penultimate season on Netflix, the interpreter came out on the main stage of the event this afternoon with an intact freshness after the first panel that he starred in yesterday, during the opening of the convention and despite the World Cup fever, and that he will repeat tomorrow before his farewell to Buenos Aires.
“It’s an incredibly colorful city and the people are very friendly,” Campbell Bower said. -already a declared fan of alfajores in what is his first visit to the country- to the renewed public, who were eagerly awaiting him in an auditorium more similar to that of a recital, with people on horseback of friends and family, who to the orderly scenes with seats that are seen in other versions of the quintessential gathering of pop culture around the world.
When reviewing his previous career, in which he was the young sailor Anthony Hope in the musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (2007) and the evil vampire Caius in the “Twilight” film saga, among other titles, The 34-year-old actor considered that “it’s always good to play the bad guy, because it has another flavor.”
“I also read about characters who have traumas, which are more complex. I like to find out why they became who they are, I want to study and find out why they are like that. I like to understand the context, acting is about seeing what it means human being, without egomania, and that’s what good artists do”, commented about his foray into antagonistic roles in fiction.
Along these lines, and in a surprising depth that contrasted with the posters that expressed love with hearts included, Campbell Bower explained that “sometimes we confuse darkness with evil.”
Photos: Raúl Ferrari.
“Darkness is not evil, for me darkness is a place of stillness, to illuminate the truth. I spent a lot of my youth in chaos, out of fear, and I discovered darkness and peace, I found serenity and honesty”continued.
“I like to talk about it because it reminds me of myself. It’s like in Dante’s (Alighieri) ‘Hell’, with his path of self-discovery. In that case it’s biblical, but I think there’s something there that I have to find, always I’m in that search,” he added about his way of approaching acting.
Of course, the focus soon turned to “Stranger Things”, where in the last installment he played Henry Creel, also known as the first guinea pig of the secret laboratory in which Eleven herself (Millie Bobby Brown) was forged and more late as Vecna, the entity that originates all the dangerous course that has involved the leading adolescents of the series since its inception in 2016.
“It was an intimidating process. When they sent me the email to audition, they didn’t have character material, but they did have some references like ‘The Naked Truth’ (1996) and ‘Hellraiser: The Pact’ (1987). So I had something in mind , some image based on various versions of Dracula, even Voldemort, or some paintings of Lucifer as the fallen angel”recounted about his approach to the project, for which, he stated, he had to change his “approach to method acting”.
After a few days he went to meet the Duffer brothers, creators of the story, who immediately decided that the role was his: “They asked me if I was willing to go through such make-up sessions and yes, I went there,” he summarized with a laugh. the actor, who underwent nearly eight hours of prosthetic placement to transform into the villain each day of filming.
“I loved making what I was doing believable, I never thought it was stupid, especially having people like Millie (Bobby Brown) and Sadie (Sink) around you, who are always so into and believe in everything. It was powerful. It’s getting into something childish, in the imagination. I live for this, and a lot of what we do is practical. The voice (one of the hallmarks of the character) was 80%, but with his movements and everything around him Vecna became come back real, it’s unbelievable,” he added.
He stressed that both the role of the villain and the work that entailed “was a team effort, collective.”
“It could have been anyone but I’m lucky it was me. I don’t often sit down and think ‘I’m a good thing I’m a horror villain,’ but he’s a very good character. I’m grateful to be a part of what Matt and Ross created, and I’m glad it worked, because I had a real fear that it wouldn’t happen.”commented on that experience.
The passage of Campbell Bower as the great star of global stature that the organization of Comic-Con Argentina brought on this occasion was undoubtedly one of the great hooks in a grid that a few days ago had to cancel -for health reasons- the arrival of the renowned Vincent D’Onofrio, known for classics such as “Born to Kill” (1987), who in recent years has renewed his popularity among new generations by taking the role of another antagonist on the small screen, Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, in the television productions of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Although with a layout on a larger scale compared to that offered by the space in Costa Salguero, where it was traditionally held, the meeting proposed a visit dedicated especially to cartoonists in the very crowded “Callejón de los artistas” and to entrepreneurs more than to the installation of the well-known and attractive stands of the film and series producers, with the only and very modest participation of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Even so, the distinctive brands of Comic-Con were seen in the spacious pavilions of La Rural, where impressive cosplays swarmed -also mixed with some shirts from the Argentine National Team, in justified sentiment in Qatar 2022 code- between dozens and dozens of stalls selling collectibles, merchandising and comic book publishers.
For the closing of this Sunday, the Venezuelan Luis Carreño, better known as the voice in the Latin Spanish dubbing of the famous SpongeBob, will also be present; while the animator Bill Plympton, Oscar winner in 1987 for his short film “Your Face”, will offer a masterclass and talks about his field of work.
