When the Red Band trailer for The Suicide Squad hit back in March, King Shark was an immediate hit with fans even while sharing the screen with the likes of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, John Cena’s Peacemaker, and Idris Elba’s Bloodsport. Of course, after delivering two smash hits with the Guardians of the Galaxy films, writer/director James Gunn has a pretty good idea what audiences like, which is why he knew from the jump that King Shark had to be the first addition to his roster of supervillain anti-heroes when he signed on to the reboot/sequel.
“Who doesn’t want to see a fish eat a lot of people that somehow people think is inexplicably cute?” Gunn laughingly explained to Den of Geek while breaking down why he wanted King Shark in the film. “I knew that I wanted to use an animal, and I knew that King Shark was a member of the Squad in the newer comics,” Gunn says. “I liked the concept of that character. So King Shark [was my first addition].”
Shortly after the Red Band trailer rocked DC Comics fan, Gunn revealed that Sylvester Stallone is the voice of the lovable, yet people-eating shark, and he had wrote the part specifically for the Rocky star. “I knew Sly, and I know him pretty well. So I wrote the role of King Shark with his voice in mind,” Gunn told Den of Geek.
As for the decision to alter King Shark’s look from the comics, Gunn tweeted back in March that he tried using the hammerhead design, but it looked terrible on camera, especially when interacting with other characters. “You couldn’t really see him looking at the other person & the shots tended to be too wide,” he wrote. “But I was insistent on the dad-bod from the beginning as I didn’t think King Shark would have such mammalian body structure.”
(Via Den of Geek)
