He's finally landed what he calls a "dream role" on Marvel's Luke Cage, but actor Mustafa Shakir has admitted it felt as though "the doors were closing" on his hopes of playing a comic book character after a series of unsuccessful auditions.
Shakir will play Bushmaster, a formidable new opponent for Luke (Mike Colter) in the second season of the Netflix series. But he was also previously considered for the first season's antagonist Cottonmouth (eventually portrayed by Mahershala Ali).
"I couldn't do it because I was under contract with another show, Quarry – they held me forever," the actor revealed to Digital Spy.
"It's hard to see Cottonmouth as anybody else now. Mahershala did his thing and I'm glad that he did, because Bushmaster is more my speed in fact. It incorporates a lot more of my abilities, and so that's fun."
Whereas Cottonmouth was an intellectual threat, the 'enhanced' Bushmaster combines both brains and brawn.
"I'm a really physical dude as it is," Shakir said. "I've fought quite a bit in my life. I grew up in Harlem in the '80s and '90s. If you don't fight, you don't live. I fought a lot."
Born in the South, Shakir and his family arrived in New York when he was 11 months old. After six years in the Bronx, he came to Harlem aged seven, and says that Luke Cage does "a great job" of portraying the neighbourhood on screen.
"It's a slant on it, of course – there's so many other dynamics to Harlem, but that sort of nostalgic view that we have of Harlem with the brownstones and kids playing out on the sidewalk... totally, it captures that. It captures that so much."
Shakir's close call with Cottonmouth wasn't his only previous brush with potential superhero stardom. He also auditioned for the lead in The CW's series Black Lightning, a role that Cress Williams ended up booking.
"I usually don't, but I campaigned for it. I was pretty sure I was going to get it. I was close," he told us.
"But I didn't get it. They said that I was a little too dark for the role. It just crushed my little heart. There's not a lot of black superheroes in the comic book lexicon, so I felt like the doors were closing..."
A key role in this year's Marvel blockbuster Black Panther also eluded him. "I'd gone in for M'Baku, but again, that guy [Winston Duke] killed it. I couldn't even imagine doing that," he revealed.
"I went, through, like... who else can I be play? I thought Spawn, or maybe Blade? It ended up being a month between not getting Black Lightning and this audition [for Luke Cage]."
Bushmaster first appeared in a 1977 issue of Iron Fist, with Shakir playing a tweaked version of the original character John McIver, a powerful crime boss with superhuman strength. "I was lightly familiar with him. I knew of him. The first one that came to mind, though, was his brother."
The second Bushmaster – introduced in the 1980s – was John's younger brother Quincy, a villain equipped with bionic arms and a snake-like tail. "I thought I was going up for the mechanical snake dude!" Shakir admitted. "I was like, 'Really?! How is this going to go over?'"
Shakir promised that Luke Cage fans will "really get to know" his version of Bushmaster when the second season drops, hinting at a longer life for the character than his predecessor Cottonmouth enjoyed.
"I stick around for a good portion of it. It's not as premature. You don't feel cheated, at all," he said.
Having finally achieved his long-held ambition of playing in the comic book sandbox, Shakir said he's now enthusiastic about the prospect of "real change" in the future.
Until now, he says black actors have often faced "the shit end of the stick" and been cast in unfulfilling parts. But in the years to come, he thinks that more dynamic roles – including in superhero blockbusters – might not be as hard to come by.
"I loved watching Superman as a kid, but I can't imagine, if Superman looked like me, what that would have done for me as a child," he said.
"So I think representation is huge – and if you really understand how the markets work, it's just wise. If money is the bottom line, then you want to play with that a little bit more.
"We have exhausted the stories that we can tell, [with] the way that the media was set out before. It was very one-sided and there was an inauthenticity that came with it. The success of Black Panther, the success of many of these vehicles, is because that's what people want to see... an actual reflection of our reality.
"On the heels of Black Panther, I'm sure there'll be a black female led franchise, and hopefully gay and trans [characters], so that all people can feel represented."
Luke Cage season 2 comes to Netflix this Friday (June 22).
Read more...
