The following contains spoilers from The UnionNow streaming on Netflix.
From Netflix The Union marks a return to the action genre for Mike Colter, who will have a blast as elite agent Nick Faraday. The Paramount+ series star Bad portrays Nick as a top-notch agent who would be the hero in another story. Only it soon turns out that Nick has his own agenda, which puts him at odds with former colleague Roxanne Hall, played by Halle Berry.
In an interview with CBR, Colter talks about playing a character with decidedly human issues after wrapping up his run as David Acosta on Bad. He also discusses the fun of playing a villain and how important his previous action work in series like Luca's Cage AND Agent X he helped him with Nick's various stunt sequences.
CBR: It's kind of funny that The Union debuts at the same time as the final episodes of Bad I'm on. Was it fun or weird for you to fight regular people again after so many years of fighting demons on the Paramount+ show?
Mike Colter:
It's a breath of fresh air to confront the real world, not spirits and demons.
It's nice to deal with big ideas, special agents, bombs and the world ending in a different way.
In both cases the stakes are enormous, but different.
Another difference is that in The Unionyou're not saving the day; Nick turns out to be the villain of the movie. What was the most fun for you about doing that villain turn? Because villains can do things that you would never do otherwise.
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Stealing the Porsche is always fun. And I think when I get away from the Halle character, I have a little fun, because I'll say it's nice to be able to knock a woman down and run away and get away with it. [Laughs.] It was one of those moments where it's like she can do this, I have to get out of here. It's just fun. No one got hurt, or hurt, or injured. It's all good.
You're no stranger to the action genre, though, whether it's Luca's Cage, Agent X or co-star in Airplane with Gerard Butler, to name a few. How much did that experience come into play on this set? Was it an easy role for you to play?
I think you're always building toward the next iteration of something you like. I try not to repeat things.
I try to find a different angle, but it's hard, because there are these interesting projects that require certain elements that you're familiar with. And then you have to find out if the role requires something different that you can play, and that you can bring something to without boring yourself or the audience.I like espionage, big stakes and big locations. And this is a different take on a character that [I] I've never played before. So I'm enjoying this kind of journey.
Nick takes a little trip to The Union. Not only does he become a villain, but he seems genuinely hurt by the disintegration of his relationship with Roxanne. How do you describe that, and how did you play him throughout the film?
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My character is like, I thought we had something. You threw a car at me. He's like, I don't think we can recover from this. [Laughs.] There's no going back from an ex-lover who threw a car at you.
And then the car [chase] sequence, where there's so many things happening with the cars and we're playing bumper cars —
cars are used as a way to communicate. It moves the plot along, because we're talking to cars and the car chase, and the way we're doing it.
[It] It feels like we're having an ongoing conversation while the action is happening, which is fun. I think [
The Union
director] Julian [Farino] he did a great job, and the second unit did a great job, with all the car sequence stuff. So yeah, it's all fun.
The Union is now available to stream on Netflix.