Although Peacemaker creator James Gunn made the call to cast Freddie Stroma as Vigilante for the hit HBO Max show, it was only after doing an "asshole check" with Elizabeth Banks first.Gunn explained on Twitter about how he contacted Banks to ask about Stroma. "I should thank [Elizabeth Banks] who I called to do an asshole check to make sure [Freddie Stroma] was a good guy," Gunn said, adding that he "won’t work with assholes." Banks had worked with Stroma on the movie Pitch Perfect, and Gunn confirmed that "she told me he was great & she was right!"
Peacemaker is a spinoff from the 2021 movie The Suicide Squad and stars John Cena as Christopher Smith/Peacemaker. After he recovers from injuries sustained in the film, Smith is recruited to the black ops group Project Butterfly and tasked with killing a race of butterfly-like creatures that have taken human form.
In the Peacemaker series, Adrian Chase/Vigilante hails from Smith's hometown and sees Peacemaker as a hero that he wishes to emulate. Despite their similarities, Gunn explained that Peacemaker and Vigilante are two very different characters. Peacemaker may break the rules and do "bad stuff," but there is always a reason for his actions. Vigilante, however, "is a sociopath," Gunn explained. "He does not seem to have a conscience and, more so, he doesn't seem to have emotions."
Despite passing Gunn's a--hole check, Stroma was not the first actor cast for the role of Vigilante. Gunn had finished shooting five and a half episodes of Peacemaker before Chris Conrad, the original Vigilante, left the project. "We were on different pages about certain things," Gunn said of the split with Conrad, "and I don't think he wanted to continue on the series in the long run." With Conrad out and Stroma in his place, Gunn had to reshoot all of the Vigilante scenes.
Stroma is originally from the UK, so he had to learn to speak with an American accent to play Chase. Gunn revealed that Stroma kept his American accent for the entirety of the Peacemaker shoot, even using it between takes and when hanging out with the rest of the cast and crew. Stroma's accent was so good and consistent that when he reverted back to his natural British accent, "[Cena] nearly fell over when we wrapped," according to Gunn.
A new episode of Peacemaker drops every Thursday on HBO Max.
Source: Twitter