Back in the UK, ‘when I were a lad’, we had a few comics. The standard kids affairs of ‘The Beano’ and ‘Dandy’, which were good, clean, wholesome fun, and things like ‘2000AD’ (from whence Judge Dredd came) and some DC comics, like ‘Batman’ and ‘Superman’.
Reading has always been a passion of mine, so I read them all. The ones that stayed with me though were the superheroes, whether they be the antihero like Batman or Judge Dredd or the hero like Superman.
Marvel comics were very hard to find near where I lived and as a kid my parents weren’t going to drive far to get one comic when another was available nearby, so I grew up with DC, not Marvel as my main source of all things Superhero.
I grew up with a strong sense of justice. A sense that I need to do right by the world, and a sense that I needed to do, something to make it a better place, in whatever capacity I could. I like to think that in some of my jobs, I did that, especially when I was working for Her Majesty’s Government in some capacity.
This desire to help people still fuels me and whilst I barely have enough money to live, I still strive to help where I can.
In my acting career, i’ve played cops, soldiers, aliens, good guys, bad guys and so on. I’ve been involved in punch-ups, gunfights and car chases. The only thing I haven’t yet played… is a superhero.
I long to play a DC hero, although my favourite superhero of all time is actually The Punisher (A Marvel hero). I want to play one that is already established in DC canon. A good guy, preferably.
Earlier this year I had the chance to audition for DC’s ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ as The Black Pirate, Jon Valor. Ideally, they wanted someone with firearms and sword training with a perfect British accent.
I got through the audition to the callback. I got through the callback to the point where they wanted to see a video of me sword-fighting. I got through that to the chemistry test whereupon the money people said that I wasn’t famous enough and the rug got pulled out from under me. I was gutted. My chance to play a superhero in the franchise I loved, slipped away from me because I wasn’t famous enough. Actually, I was beyond gutted but like most actors do, I swallowed it down, put on a brave face, and carried on with my life. Rejection is part of our lives, so we are used to it (or quickly leave the profession for something with more certainty) but this one stuck with me.
Not long ago, I got a chance to speak to one of the editors for ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ and he told me that his work was made immeasurably harder by the fact that the person they got to play the role couldn’t sword-fight, had no firearms training, and wasn’t the best actor, so he had to creatively edit all the scenes to show him in the best light. He told me that I would have far and away been a better choice for the role in all capacities.
That stuck with me too. To know that the money people chose fame over acting skill and ability. That’s a big “fuck you” to every hard working and good-but-unknown actor out there.
How do I get myself known? I have no idea short of making sure I do the best work I can all the time. That I am at the top, the very pinnacle of my acting abilities and that I constantly push myself further and further to be better each day than I was the day before. It’s why I train each day in some aspect of my acting ability. I want to be the best. I want to win awards for my acting.
But honestly, most of all, I want to play a DC Superhero.
Damien Gerard 