The most-talked about show online right now isn’t The Book of Boba Fett like one might think. No, instead, it’s Peacemaker. The HBO Max series, written and directed by James Gunn, stars John Cena, whose titular character takes the spotlight. After miraculously surviving the weight of an entire building and being shot in the neck, the former Suicide Squad member is recruited to be a hitman for ARGUS.
While none of his teammates from The Suicide Squad have joined him for his new adventure, both Jennifer Holland and John Economos’ characters from the film crossover and play a key role. However, this time, their boss is different; Clemson Murn, played by Chukwudi Iwuji.
The show keeps all the violence and crudeness of Gunn’s previous DC outing and dials it to 11. As weird as the series can be, its opening credits sequence has really turned heads.
Instead of the usually graphic-based title cards, Gunn filmed the entire cast of the show doing one big dance number.
The Direct was able to sit down and talk with newcomer Nhut Le, who plays Judomaster, to discuss the now-famous opening musical number—including an Easter egg not many have spotted.
Judomaster, the Sneaky Easter Egg
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Direct’s Russ Milheim, Peacemaker star Nhut Le, who plays Judomaster in the HBO Max series, revealed some fun details about the show’s opening credits dance number that has been a hot topic on social media.
Le praised their “great choreographer Carissa Barton” and noted that despite only being at the end of the bit, he “learned different pieces of the dance:”
“That was really fun. We had a great choreographer Carissa Barton. In the beginning, I learned different pieces of the dance because they weren’t sure how much of Judomaster they wanted to incorporate. But then later they wanted to do something special with him. “
Of course, one might assume that special-something to be when the character is on John Cena’s shoulders. However, if fans "look closely throughout the dance, Judomaster peaks out at certain parts of the wall," to imitate the mood of “Judomaster [always] stalking Peacemaker:”
“If you look closely throughout the dance, Judomaster peaks out at certain parts of the wall, and not a lot of people have noticed that. So unless you’re looking for it, you won’t really see it. And so, the mood of that is that Judomaster is always stalking Peacemaker.”
That’s certainly a fun Easter egg and something fans will no doubt be on the look-out at the beginning of every episode.
When it comes to the actual end of the musical bit, Le was immediately game for the gymnastic finale, confidently saying, “let’s do it:”
“… When they told me what they wanted to do, I was like, ‘Wait, pop out of the trap door, get hoisted on John [Cena’s] shoulders, and end in some gymnastic pose? Let’s do it.’”
A feat like that wasn’t easy. Le had to hide in a box that was “maybe like 3x3 feet” while wearing his already skin-tight costume, along with a “harness… [and] an additional mask” because of it being filmed with COVID protocols:
“Yeah, we did a lot of takes of it. I was on a harness, [and] it was on wires… I think the worst part of it was being in the trap door because the box is maybe like 3x3 feet, so I was like scrunched in there, and I was wearing the costume that was already tight, but I had that harness inside of it, and like the mask, and we filmed it during COVID, so I had to put on an additional mask, and at a certain point I’m like, ‘Wait, I can’t breathe, I need to get out of [here].' Because it was just too much. But I think it was worth it. It was a lot of fun to do.”
Better Watch Your Back for Judomaster
The whole dance number is an entertaining sequence, but it’s made even better knowing some of the smaller details at play, such as Nhut Le’s mysterious costumed persona peeking around corners. Of course, his last bit with John Cena is great as well—if anyone is deserving of the last beat of the sequence, it’s Judomaster.
Like most in the title card, Le’s character is the last persona someone would expect to be dancing—so it’s almost fitting he never ends up actually dancing. It’s something that undoubtedly made some of his costars jealous, though it might have evened out with the right costume and harness.
While fans thought they might have lost Judomaster in the most recent episode, by the end, it’s revealed that the little fighter is still kicking. Both Le’s character and performance are perfect foils for the entire cast, so hopefully, he remains breathing for a long while.
Peacemaker is streaming every Thursday, exclusively on HBO Max.
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