The role of Maria Bakalova’s Creature Commandos Let her play with femininity and malice

DC Studios‘Max animated show for adults Creature commandos took new and old fans by surprise. He was not alone its first season another wonderful show to add to the young man’s repertoire of phenomenal comic series, it also served as a harbinger of what the future of DC Studios looks like under the guiding hands of James Gunn. Of course, it didn’t hurt that it had all the flair, humor, heart and sex appeal that, until now, was unheard of for a DC project.

Much like The Suicide Squad (Gunn’s version), Creature commandos sees an odd assortment of DC oddballs tasked with completing deadly missions fit for a monster. Key among his cast of refuse are Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), the bride (Indira Varma), GI Robot (Sean Gunn), Weasel (also Sean Gunn), Doctor Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), Dr. Nina Mazursky (Zoe). Chao), Frankenstein (David Harbour) and Circe (Anya Chalotra).

While many of the above characters turn out to be more than they initially seem as a force for good throughout the show, Princess Ilana Rostovic proves to be the opposite. In tandem with the show’s season finale, we spoke with Princess Ilana, actor Maria Bakalova, to ask if the fluttering eyelashes and forehead of the Disney Princess were genuine – or if she was just playing with the sympathy of the public.

This interview has been edited for brevity.

Isaiah Colbert, io9: This isn’t the first time he’s worked on a James Gunn comic book project. Your first one was at Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 like the talking space dog, Cosmo. What led you to join another Gunn job?

Maria Bakalova: It’s James. I’m just a huge fan of everything he does. He is such a master storyteller (in) the way he builds characters, the way he builds stories, (and) the way he tells stories is exceptional. It is extraordinary.

You can always find his signature because of the humor, the love in these characters, and the idea of ​​finding your place in life somehow and finding people you can recognize yourself. You can find your chosen family to a degree. You can find friends and feel that you belong somewhere, which I feel that we, as human beings, are always born with this feeling of “I want to belong somewhere. I want to be seen by someone. I want to be understood by someone”. Let’s see what with Creature commandos. We see that with Guardians of the Galaxy.

All these projects have these misfits, monstrous creatures that are somehow united by the idea that they are strangers to the world and do not fit in anywhere. Still, they can be the greatest heroes in the end, and you may find yourself falling in love with them, rooting for them, wanting them to succeed in their mission. Although I’m a little biased here (and) I don’t want her to kill my princess, let’s say she’s also part of the creature command team, because I don’t want to end up in prison either.

i9: Creature commandos is filled with a cast of characters who are not what they seem at first blush, including Ilana. Throughout the show, Ilana rubber bands from being a Disney Princess type figure to a cold and plot villain. How did you balance those two disparate tones between his character?

Bakalova: Ilana is a character I haven’t really played before. I got to work on a lot of interesting projects (that were) very different from each other, but I didn’t play a villain before. I didn’t play someone who used manipulation to get what he wanted. To sacrifice their dignity and humanity to achieve a goal of power and control of society. It is interesting.

I’m always curious about how people end up in this place and how they go from just having this as a thought to actually start taking action. She is a complex woman. He can be seen as innocent and fragile and someone who really needs protection. But she’s not as stupid as she plays herself to be and she’s not as fragile as she wants people to think she is.

Although she reveals a little in front of Rick, she’s like, “I’m a woman, and I have what I want. I know I can handle a lot of things. I don’t need a boy. I want a man” . It’s a little glimpse that maybe she’s not exactly who they think she is. She wants to play with her charm, and she wants to play with her femininity. She wants to play with the idea (that) she is not dangerous, she is in danger – when really she is the biggest danger of all.

I had to play something similar when trying to convince people that my character is a real human being in 2020 with Borat (Next Movie). Sometimes, you just have to let people believe what they want to believe, and I think that’s their goal, too. She leaves only Rick and the creatures she believes they need to protect. So that’s why she’s playing like, “Okay, I need protection, just don’t stand (in) my way.”

Later, we reveal that, especially when she speaks her language, she is a completely different human being. He is a monster. She has terrible ideas for the future. But yeah, he’s an interesting character to play.

io9: You mentioned that Ilana has a relationship with Rick Flag – a non-professional relationship – which leads to the funny scene where Doctor Phosphorous covers up to be intimate. James Gunn shared the clip of you kissing the back of your hand to make that noise on his social media. Was that a scene that required an intimacy coordinator, or was it simply going into the booth and running as many times as needed to get the job done?

Bakalova: No. As much as I think you need to be provided with an intimacy coordinator if you need it, for this specific scene, at the end of the day, I personally don’t need it. If I needed someone to be there with me, I could always ask. It’s still an open conversation with James and with everyone behind DC.

But what James does quite well is use humor all the time. Yes, it is animation for adults, but it is made with a lot of humor. It’s not that serious. Even when we look at the scene itself, We look at the people in front of the door, listening to be so angry and violent. And it’s like, “How long is this going to take? What’s even going on?” It’s not like a romantic scene. It’s not like beautiful woman. It’s a scene about two characters who somehow use, let’s say, passion to distract themselves from the real danger and the real problem. And it’s fun. It’s funny.

They are not supposed to do that, but they do what you do. Rick is fully aware that it’s not his job here, but he does it. Ilana is aware that she shouldn’t do that because she could be exposed, but she does it. And it’s weird. And it’s fun. And it’s weird.

It was fun to have fun with him because Creature commandos it’s a great show. It’s a very layered show full of characters, places and music. It’s beautifully edited, but it’s also a lot of fun. It’s not so heavy and pointing a finger (saying) “This is wrong and this is right.” It’s a fun show. Dark but funny. I don’t need an intimacy coordinator. I don’t know about Frank (Grillo). Maybe – if I needed to – I would have, but we just had a lot of fun doing it.

io9: Speaking of darker moments, in a future Circe sequel, we’ll see Ilana take over the world and kill a pantheon of DC heroes, including Peacemaker and Wonder Woman, Batman and the Justice League’s Superman. Which member of the Justice League do you think Ilana has been the most ruthless against and why?

Bakalova: Phew! Maybe If I knew that the Bride was going to kill me, I would have been the most vicious against her. This is my biggest enemy here because I can almost fool everyone else, but the Bride is my biggest problem.

io9: Throughout the show, Ilana’s status as a villain is played loosely, given the runaround the Creature Commandos go through as to whether Circe’s visions were correct. All this was not helped by Ilana who loved characters like Flag and Weasel. Was Ilana’s affection for them genuine, or was it a facade?

Bakalova: I think it’s a bit of a facade. Maybe with Weasel, (it’s) not so much of a facade. But to be completely honest, just play the game. If he wants to succeed (in) his goal, he just puts on a mask that (pretends) is so funny, cheerful, and likes the company of them. It’s so fake at the end of the day. She has a bigger mission. He has world domination. If he has to pretend he likes it that much, he will like it.

Maybe when we’re not on her, she kicks Weasel and throws him when Flag isn’t around. Maybe there is someone else he can have fun with. I don’t really buy that she has empathy for them.

io9: Although your character died at the end of Creature commandosAre there any other comic book roles you’d like to take on?

Bakalova: Who knows? I’ll keep this to myself for now, but of course. I want to play a few more comic roles.

All seven episodes of Creature commandos are streaming on Max. Season two is on the way.

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