Warning: Big spoilers for The Boys season 4, episode 6.
Valorie Curry grew up in California, however not the progressive California folks so usually consider. “I grew up in Orange County, within the suburbs south of LA,” she tells StyleCaster. “So nowadays, it’s very purple, however once I was rising up, it was very conservative, very spiritual. We took college discipline journeys to the Nixon Library.”
Enjoying a far-right ideologue and conspiracy theorist, Curry’s character in Prime Video‘s hit sequence The Boys attracts from many larger-than-life nut jobs—a few of Firecracker’s dialogue comes from the precise mouths of politicians—however this actor has lots of private expertise to be impressed by, too. “There’s something cathartic in getting to do that clowning act,” she says. “It’s that stuff that you simply overlook out of your childhood, after which there’s this muscle reminiscence that kicks in.”
Associated: The Greatest The Boys‘ Theories on the Worm Inside Billy Butcher’s Head
When she signed onto the present, Curry didn’t know a lot about her character, aside from “her historical past with Starlight, her podcast, and her politics,” but it surely wasn’t till the making of Firecracker’s supersuit, an arduous, time-consuming course of, that it actually all began to come back collectively. Curry was flying out and in of LA each 10 days for months as a result of each element of Firecracker’s swimsuit is intentional, proper right down to the zip pull on the again. “It’s a cock ring,” she laughs. In fact it’s! “It has to carry, but it surely additionally needs to be tender sufficient for those who’re getting thrown round,” she explains.
Curry has by no means performed such a hyper-feminine, sexualized function earlier than, and in episode 6, Firecracker’s true powers are explored in nice element. “This character primarily embodies the male gaze,” she observes. “A weaponization of femininity and self-objectification.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for readability. We did warn you, spoilers forward.
There’s so much to unpack on this episode. We be taught that Firecracker has been taking hormones to make herself lactate to show she’s loyal to the trigger and to Homelander (Antony Starr). Do you know the breastfeeding scene was on the agenda at first?
I didn’t know. The concept was floated to me a few months earlier than, after which I noticed the script a couple of month earlier than. It appears inevitable, like, “In fact, that is occurring.” I’ve watched the present and it’s been constructing to any individual doing this with Homelander. I don’t consider it a lot as a being about loyalty although, Firecracker does have this actually preternatural instinct about what folks want and a shameless willingness to present that to them, no matter it’s.
In capturing this scene and going backwards and forwards on the dialogue, there’s an actual hazard about it. There’s a vulnerability in saying to Homelander, “I see your humanity, I see what you’ve been attempting to cover—this factor that’s considered as a really freakish fetish,” and he or she’s naming it to him. At that second, she additionally will get to point out him she’s not afraid of him. As a result of he might, at any level, laser her face off.
What number of takes of the milk squirt did you do?
The advantage of having the time in-built to actually fine-tune that scene was that we set to work with this unbelievable intimacy coordinator, Casey Hudecki. She was invaluable to me within the course of. So once we bought to set, we knew precisely what each single shot was going to be. It was very clearly storyboarded.
Is there a bottle or one thing simply off-camera?
No! That is all sightline gags, so two issues should occur—and credit score to the crew to make this work. One in every of them was that the wardrobe division had a weekend to construct some sort of undergarment construction that may permit me to unzip the entrance and nonetheless have the cleavage nonetheless be perky. I’m actually carrying two cutlets per breast [laughs], there may be a lot padding.
They went by three or 4 totally different phases of corsets, after which I believe it was Casey’s thought—as a result of she’s a fencer—to make use of a fencing breastplate. Then, for those who can image a microphone stand with a tube operating from the opposite facet of Homelander’s residence, there’s this little nozzle that they saved having to regulate so it was on the proper peak for me to get the suitable trajectory and the correct quantity of milk. Anthony did take almond milk straight within the eye in a single shot.
You’d suppose that this very sexualized character goes to be the one who’s doing very sexually specific issues. Although the scene is excessive in its content material, it’s not sexual by nature.
Valorie Curry
I used to be going to ask if it was actual milk or simply milky water.
Yeah, I believe it was almond. And I believe I used to be at the least two and a half ft away from him.
His response is simply so good, too.
Yeah, the timing and the edit of it, it’s simply lovely.
It’s an fascinating distinction, too, as a result of we’ve seen Homelander grapple with growing old this season—he’s actually plucking his grey pubes out and maintaining them in a jar. You then see him with you and he turns into an toddler once more.
Yeah. The opposite factor I need to communicate to about this scene specifically is that it might have been very sexual and it might have been a joke. I like that the place we bought—and Antony and I have been nonetheless on the identical web page about it—that it’s so weak and never sexual.
You’d suppose that this very sexualized character goes to be the one who’s doing very sexually specific issues. Although the scene is excessive in its content material, it’s not sexual by nature. In distinction, you’ve bought characters like Sister Sage and Ashley…
This episode is INSANE.
Ashely’s stuff within the dungeon! Everyone seems to be discovering a brand new restrict that we didn’t know existed [laughs].
Are you able to discuss how this second adjustments Firecracker’s trajectory?
A lot of this episode is about Firecracker and her trauma of being dismissed or being marginalized or being handled like she’s trash. That is lastly the second the place she thinks she’s in, and even then, she’s not actually in. I believe she’s additionally pushed to this second with this selection as a result of she’s lastly exhibiting that she shouldn’t be underestimated.
There’s even this joke about being in The Seven and what powers she actually has, but it surely’s an actual flip in that jostle for energy. I don’t suppose Sage noticed Firecracker coming, which serves her as a result of generally it’s actually cool to be underestimated.
I need to contact on one thing you mentioned in a earlier interview about being a queer individual your self taking part in this character who’s aggressively anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQIA, and so on. You mentioned that it ought to be certainly one of our personal that will get to make an ass out of Firecracker. I beloved that.
Thanks. Yeah, I’ve a pet peeve with actors who’re on reveals that clearly have political themes or have one thing to say, after which after they’re requested to talk to it, they equivocate. I perceive the will to not alienate anybody, however with a personality like Firecracker, she needs to be handled delicately as a result of there’s an actual hazard there.
She’s representing actual risks with actual people who find themselves committing actual violence in opposition to marginalized communities, and for those who play the function in a manner that minimizes that violence, and that hazard, that could be a downside. I’m not saying that an actor who isn’t queer wouldn’t try this, however I’m excited to get to play her and get to have conversations like these the place I get to make the politics specific.
The present is unapologetic, I like working for a showrunner like Kripke the place his politics are specific. I felt like I used to be on a present the place I might belief that this character may very well be dealt with responsibly. I do discover it cathartic, and it’s what I hope for queer audiences, for any viewers, that in watching the present, it’s kind of a reverse gaslighting. One other interviewer referred to as it “spotlighting.”
There is likely to be a catharsis in saying, “That is actual, that is occurring, and we’re going to point out it and we’re going to point out it as ugly and villainous, and absurd and silly,” but additionally not undermining the true hazard of it.
The Boys is obtainable to stream on Prime Video with new episodes dropping every Thursday.
