We were joined back on the Popternative show by Academy Award winning actress Ariana DeBose (Wish, West Side Story) who portrays Calypso in Kraven the Hunter, now playing in theaters. Based on the Marvel Comics, the film tells the story of how one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nosferatu, The Fall Guy) as Kraven.
The film shows Kraven’s relationship with his ruthless gangster father, Nikolai Kravinoff, played by Russell Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind), who starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.
Directed by J.C. Chandor (Triple Frontier, A Most Violent Year), Kraven the Hunter also stars Fred Hechinger (Gladiator II, Thelma), Alessandro Nivola (The Brutalist, American Hustle), Christopher Abbott (Poor Things, Possessor), Levi Miller (Better Watch Out, Pan), and Yuri Kolokolnikov (Tenet, Hunter Killer),
On having multiple source material available to help prepare for her role as Calypso, Ariana says, “Ultimately, in working with J.C. Chandor our director, it was liberating to know that I was telling the story we were sticking to with our script. And it allowed me to kind of use my own creativity of like, ‘okay, so where do we think this person started?’ If this is an origin story for Kraven, then this is the introduction of Calypso, so where does she start?”
Watch the full conversation with Ariana DeBose below.
Kraven the Hunter is playing in theaters.
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