Interview with actor Stefan Kapicic

With over eighty roles in movies, television and theater, Stefan Kapicic has landed what he describes as his ‘dream job’ by portraying Colossus in the upcoming Marvel movie Deadpool. Recently we had a chance to talk to him about his career in acting and what his experience was like taking on the larger than life Colossus.

Was acting something you always wanted to do or do you kind of fall into it, like a happy accident?

Well you know, I think I’ve realized my childhood dream now by being part of the Marvel universe. I’ve always loved acting and during my career I’ve done so many things, like television, movies, theater etc, but to be a part of this was something I really dreamed of ever since I was a kid. Growing up with Marvel comics and now I actually get to be a superhero, it’s an unbelievable feeling.

Can you tell me a bit about the audition process for the role of Colossus?

Yeah, in the beginning everything was hush hush, I didn’t know what the movie was going to be. So I self-taped myself as I was getting ready to do theatre performances in Dubrovnik and Montenegro but I didn’t know what it was all about. A few days after that I got a call from my manager that FOX was interested but they were using totally different names, so I did it, then on now the third call back, we did it again, with different names again except one of the names was Wade and being a comic book geek I thought, this could only be Wade Wilson so my god, it could be Deadpool! It helped me a lot because then I was thinking who was in the movie and I thought it could be Colossus and that helped me a lot because then I thought about what could I do to get closer to the Colossus character. Then after that they called me to fly into Los Angeles and do a test with Tim Miller, which was crazy because I had like a three day gap in between my performances in Croatia and Montenegro so I was flying for one whole day. I came to Los Angeles and I was supposed to be there for four hours but ended up being there for eight or nine hours. I was so happy but it went so fast and then the next day I sat on the plane going back to Montenegro, I got there about two hours before my performance. Fifteen days after that they called me and said you got the role. I can’t really explain the feeling, I can’t verbalize it, the feeling of happiness that happens once in a lifetime.

Now once you landed the role of Colossus, what was the first day like being on set?

Well, I had filmed for 20th Century Fox, I had done 24, The Unit, but working on a project like this everything was a little bit different. Especially because Time Miller is a comic book fan, just like me, so when you have a director that knows everything about comic books, you know all about it, you have so many things to talk about, to create the character. So the first day was like talking and working at the same time, trying to figure out the voice range we could use so you know, it was incredible, especially because Tim Miller is an amazing director. I’ve worked with so many well-known directors around Europe but Tim Miller is so genuine, his approach to the characters and to the movie is unique so I learned so many things from him. The thing was, the main focus for Colossus in this movie was mainly CGI but we do the voice, we need to convey all the emotions, the feelings and that’s really hard because you’re not in front of the camera with your real body and face so you give the camera everything with your voice. It was hard but Tim helped me a lot and Ryan Reynolds as well so it was really cool, it was beautiful.

Speaking of Ryan Reynolds, he not only seemed to be the best choice to play Deadpool but the only choice. What was it like working with him?

Unbelievable. You are right, there is no one better in the world to play Deadpool/Wade Wilson than Ryan Reynolds. That charm, that charisma, that’s talent and all the jokes and jabs that Deadpool does, that is Ryan. Working with him was really beautiful, he was down to earth and he’s a real star, he has that star quality. I’ve worked with a lot of very talented actors but Ryan is really something special, which is why Deadpool is going to be so amazing.

Making a career out of acting is not an easy thing to do. Was there ever a point that you thought about doing something else?

My acting career has taken me around the world, one day I’m working in one country and then I get a call and I’m off to another country. So now, in my thirteen years of acting, I’ve done seventy or eighty roles all over the world so I feel very lucky in that way. I have never really wanted to do anything else. When I was filming in the States, I did 24, The Event, then I got a call from Serbia, then another country so I never really had a big pause or break in between projects and I thank God for that.

So what projects do you have coming up next?

Well, right now my entire focus is on Deadpool and I know it’s going to kill it at the box office. The thing is, Deadpool had opened so many doors for me and the reviews of my job as Colossus have been amazing but unfortunately, I can’t really talk about anything until its official and I don’t want to jinx it. There are so many doors opening now, I hope we can talk soon about what some of them are.

I want to thank Stefan for taking the time to talk with us.