Emma Corrin is about to step into their most villainous role yet – with a little help from some iconic movie characters.
The Golden Globe-winning actor plays Cassandra Nova – Dr. Charles Xavier’s villainous twin sister – in Deadpool & Wolverine, opposite stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.
To bring the role to life, The Crown actor took inspiration from two larger-than-life film characters.
“I drew inspiration from Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds, which was Ryan’s reference when we started,” Emma told People magazine.
The Austrian actor gave a chilling performance as the SS officer Hans Landa in the 2009 Quentin Tarantino film set during Nazi reign, and went on to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role.
Emma added that their other inspiration was not actually your classic “villain”.
“I was really inspired by Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka. Sort of a nonchalant, detached power,” Emma added.
The My Policeman actor may be best known for playing Princess Diana in the fourth season of The Crown, but they underwent quite a physical transformation to bring the new villain to life.
“It was basically just a lot of time in hair and makeup is what it was. I had a bald cap and long prosthetic fingers, which meant that I couldn’t do anything during the day,” they told People.
“Great for my screen time. Not so great for going to the bathroom alone. I always had someone with me. It was very humbling.”
In a separate interview with Screen Rant, Emma spoke about also turning to James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart’s performances as Professor X for inspiration.
“I hesitated before I did because I was like, ‘Do I want to get too close? Will I still be able to make it my own?’,” they admitted. “But I found it really interesting how they portrayed someone whose power is very internal and telepathic in that telepathic world.”
Emma added: “I wanted to see if there were any bits that I could use or pay homage to that, obviously, fans would really enjoy.”
Before joining the MCU, the Emmy-nominated actor admitted to Empire that they were “not a Marvel person”, and needed a bit of a crash course after signing up for the role.
Critics have already shared their initial rave reactions to Deadpool & Wolverine, calling it “the shot in the arm the MCU so desperately needed” and the “most fun I’ve had at the movies in years”.