Actor O-T Fagbenle was so deep into his commitment to Maxxx, the comedy he created, that he barely believed Marvel Studios wanted him for Black Widow. At the time, he was on vacation in Mexico, writing scripts for the show, and his then-girlfriend got him to audition using an iPhone.
Fagbenle told The Hollywood Reporter, "I guess I didn’t think it was a real thing, And I was so obsessed with Maxxx." Maxxx is a project in which Fagbenle plays a boy-band star trying to get back with his girlfriend and jump-start his career.
But the audition turned out better than expected, he said. "After I'd recorded it, I was like, 'Oh that's a pretty good tape, actually.'"
So good, it won Marvel over. He said, "It just escalated again and again and again to the point it was like, 'Oh my God, like I'm actually going to be in a Marvel movie."
Directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, O-T Fagbenle as Rick Mason and Rachel Weisz. The film arrives in theaters Nov. 6.