With the premiere of Luke Cage less than a day away now, a lot of the publicity surrounding the show has been about how Marvel is making sure it’s their most diverse project yet.
Mike Colter, the actor who portrays the title character in the series, is the first black lead Marvel has cast. Joining Colter in a mostly-black cast includes the highly talented Simone Missick, Alfre Woodard, and Mahershala Ali.
In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker shared that he hoped fans embrace Missick as the “new next thing”, who plays Misty Knight, a friend of Luke Cage’s and love interest of Danny Rand, the Iron Fist, in the comics.
“As soon as she finished [the audition] (producer) Jeph [Loeb] turned to me and said, ‘That was easy,’ ” Coker said. “When people get to see her in action my hope is that they just embrace her as the new next thing, because I think that she is. She manages to be all those things that the character is in the comics, but does it in a way that’s natural, and at the same time has emotion and emotional depth, and it’s just really a wonderful thing to see.”
When first auditioning for the role, Missick told the Post that she wasn’t aware of the character’s real name due to Marvel’s ultra-secretive processes. In fact, she tried not to make too much of the whole thing after she sent in her self-tape.
“As actors we have these things that they call eco-casting, where you don’t even go to an office and meet with a human being, you just do it on your own,” Missick told The Washington Post’s Comic Riffs. “Those auditions can feel a little futile. I put myself on tape and didn’t really think anything of it.”
Missick, who is already receiving rave reviews for her work on Luke Cage, will next be seen in The Defenders, which should go before cameras within the next month or two.
Source: Washington Post.
