Secret Invasion star compares villain Gravik to cult leader

❘ Published: 2023-06-27T09:36:47

Kingsley Ben-Adir as Gravik in Secret Invasion.

Disney

Secret Invasion star Kingsley Ben-Adir has been talking about the anger that drives his character Gravik, comparing the Skrull villain to the leader of a cult.

Kingsley Ben-Adir was thrust into the limelight after plating Malcolm X in One Night in Miami. Hot-on-the-heels of that movie, he was offered a role in Secret Invasion. Which the actor duly accepted.

Ben-Adir plays Gravik, a Skrull villain who heads up the Secret Invasion of the title. Though in Gravik’s mind, he’s doing the right thing. Even if it means committing terrorist atrocities, as seen in Episode 1 the series, which aired last week.

In a new interview with the actor, Ben-Adir describes the inspirations behind his performance.

Secret Invasion star compares villain Gravik to cult leader

When asked about what has led Gravik to such villainy, Kinglsey Ben-Adir tells The Hollywood Reporter: “Huge trauma, huge mistrust of leadership, feeling of being let down time and time again by different figures of authority and leadership, seeing war – it’s the buildup of all of that.

“Later on, we get to see him explain some of those reasons for why he feels the way that he does, but it’s the abuse of power, the mistrust of leadership, the broken promises and the feeling like he’s had enough. He’s had enough of listening to people who are full of sh*t, and it really became a simple thing to wrap my head around.”

But Ben-Adir then says that Gravik himself is full of the proverbial, explaining: “The more I looked at cult leaders who are able to manipulate whole communities of people to do these horrific acts for justified reasons, it felt appropriate as the villain in this piece to explore the antisocial personality disorder side of things. The righteousness of what he’s doing is this complete crock of sh*t, and it’s just how he uses and manipulates people. He is testing everyone constantly, and that becomes quite fun to play. It becomes something that you can ground yourself in, and then I felt that all the scenes started to have more interesting layers than just what he was saying.

“What he says and what he does are two different things. He’s saying it’s for his people, but what seems more important to him is that Nick Fury experiences it as it’s happening. So we’ll see more of this later on with other characters, where you go, ‘This guy is doing and saying very different things, so there has to be something else going on underneath.’ Otherwise, it’s just dull.

How ZeroZeroZero inspired Kingsley Ben-Adir

As for specific inspirations, Ben-Adir name-checks 2020 Amazon series ZeroZeroZero, about the drug trade. And more specifically the work of Mexican actor Harold Torres.

“I was watching ZeroZeroZero at the time, just coincidentally,” Ben-Adir tells THR. “It was a show that I was watching before I got the offer, and then I watched it a few more times just because I loved it so much. I also wanted to watch it again because of the subtitles; I knew I’d missed pieces. And [Harold Torres’] performance as Manuel, who was the leader of a group in Mexico, was just stunning. It was understated, and something really dark and sinister was going on underneath.

“His behavior and what he was doing was so traumatic. The level of violence that he was able to witness and inflict, I was like, ‘Gravik becomes interesting if he’s kind of like that.’ He holds a certain tension and a certain mystery in his behavior. He uses and manipulates the people around him. So it was really that show [that I pulled from].”

Secret Invasion Episode 2 hits Disney+ on June 28. Check out more coverage below: