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For more than a year, Sadie Sink had to keep her role in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” a secret. Sink, who was offered the part after her breakout performances in “Stranger Things” and “The Whale,” showed up to the London
set without having read a full script. For security, her character was referred to with a code name.
When it came time to promote the film this summer, the trailers hadn’t revealed more than the fact that Sink’s character is a hooded figure with questionable intentions — and the ability to jump into anyone’s mind. So, even as Sink showed up for photo calls with her co-stars Tom Holland and Zendaya and partook in interviews, she had to find creative ways to talk around what she’d done on set.
As obvious as it might’ve been to the Marvel faithful that Sink was playing Jean Grey, the Omega-level mutant who will go on to star in the studio’s upcoming “X-Men” movie, Sink wasn’t going to be the one who spoiled it.
And she didn’t. Steve Lacy did — right at the finish line.
At the film’s world premiere in Los Angeles, the R&B singer, who has a song on the “Brand New Day” soundtrack, revealed that his favorite character from the movie was the villain, “Jean,” during the official red carpet live stream. “She’s the villain but, like, there’s a reason to her madness,” he said.
What did Sink make of that moment? “Honestly, it was amazing!” Sink tells Variety, laughing. “I was like, ‘Ah!’ He kind of set me free in a lot of ways. And I’m such a big fan of his.”
To be fair, Sink had already told a few trusted people the truth, including her “Stranger Things” bosses, Matt and Ross Duffer. But now that the movie is in theaters (supplanting “Avengers: Endgame” as the biggest domestic debut in box office history and grossing $1.15 billion worldwide in just seven days) and Sink’s secret identity is revealed, she’s finally gotten the green light to discuss her experience as the third actress to play the role after Famke Janssen in Fox’s “X-Men” movies and Sophie Turner in the 2010s reboot movies.
In her first interview since “Brand New Day” debuted, Sink explains how she got cast in the role, how she developed her take on the character and her excitement about what’s to come when Jean joins the X-Men. The one thing Sink can’t reveal is how many Marvel movies she’s signed on for.
“I can’t really say …” Sink demurs when asked if her contract runs two movies or 10. (Kevin Feige is always watching.)
Read on for more.
Congratulations! You can finally talk about it.
I know, what a relief.
What’s one question you’ve been dying to answer?
I don’t know. I haven’t even thought about it. I’ve mostly just been thinking about what I can’t say. So now that I can say stuff, I’m like, ‘Wait, how do I talk about this?’
Where would you like to start with Jean? Because this is a character that people love from the comics and from the other movies. How big a fan were you before this opportunity came?
Honestly, I knew nothing about her. People had started rumors about me playing that character — for like years, it had kind of been circulating online — so that was all I knew about her. But I had never seen “X-Men,” so I was just like unfamiliar.
Then Kevin [Feige] and Louis [D’Esposito] from Marvel called me, set up a meeting, and just told me about the character, about her role in “Spider-Man.” Then I did more research on her, and I was like, “Oh yeah, this is a no-brainer!” She’s such an iconic figure in X-Men and in comics, and I’m very excited to bring my iteration of her to life.
This version of Jean Grey is different from what we’ve seen in other movies. For one, it explores her relationship with her sister, Sara. What interested you about that part of the story?
Giving [Jean] a backstory is really important — especially given her actions in the film. She’s very flawed. You’re meeting her at a strange point, because I don’t think she is someone who wants to harm, but she herself has been harmed, so that’s all she knows. So, giving her that backstory and a motive behind her actions is really powerful.
They told me that I was the villain, but that you’re not actually the villain, which is how I played her. I don’t really want to lean into, like this bad guy aura. Because in her brain it’s totally justified. Which I mean, I agree. I think it is.
Well, yes. When you read in the script what V-Max actually stands for, what was your reaction? Because people gasped in the theater.
Well, at first, I was like, “Is the sister in the vent?” [Laughs.] Then I kept on reading the script, and I was like, “Oh my god, wait, that’s so much better that it means absolutely nothing.”
I remember in the original script there was more dialogue surrounding the realization that it meant nothing. Jean had lines where she was talking it out loud. Then, on the day, it was kind of like, “Oh no, I think it just needs to be a look.” It’s gonna be clearer, like you don’t really need to speak it through. I like that that’s the thing that unleashes her, just that anger over all of it being for nothing.
I think, also, she kind of knew that her sister was gone. She’s been hanging on to this last piece of information, but I think she knows that it’s a long shot that she’s even still around. So, it was just kind of like the final trigger for her or the final confirmation.
She was holding on to hope that she would see her sister again, and then to get confirmed that no, this is where my sister died is a pretty brutal realization. Did you take Sara’s scrunchie from set?
I did not take that. I took the jumpsuit she wears, just because I thought it was really comfortable. I haven’t worn it yet, and now I probably can’t because that would be a little bit cringy, I think. But it really is like a super comfortable jumpsuit. There was also a suede jacket, like the Penny Lane jacket [from “Almost Famous”]. I tried that on in a fitting, and I was kind of obsessed with the idea of it, but we never actually used it, and I asked, “Can I keep it?” That was all I took.
Maybe you can take it with you to the next movie?
Hopefully. Yeah, we’ve got to get it in somehow.
Coincidentally, some of the biggest searches for your name and Jean are for “wig” and “costume.” What is it like to know that Jean’s going to be a Halloween costume again, much like Max was for “Stranger Things?”
I didn’t even think about that, but I hope to see a lot of Jean Greys. That would be cool. It’s a super easy one to recreate.
The costume itself is easy, but all the work that you did was tricky. One of my colleagues wondered how your neck is doing between “Stranger Things” and thrashing around when Jean’s being experimented on in “Brand New Day?”
Oh my god! Thank you so much for asking. Now that I’m thinking about it, I feel like I spent a week in that chair, like shooting all those [scenes], because we had to get so much coverage. So, I spent a long time in the chair, and my neck, yeah, I was definitely feeling it. When you’re watching it, it goes by in a second, but no, you’re there all day, just thrashing around.
But I always like those physical things as an actor. If you’re working through something or like doing something with your body, it connects you more to the emotion.
There was so much secrecy around this role. Who were the three people that you told you got the part?
I mean, it was definitely more than three, if I’m being honest. You have people that you can trust within the industry to talk about it. So, my family knew and everything, and then I slowly … like the Duffers were some of the first few people I told. Because I was filming with them, and they’re obviously huge influences in my career and life, and have watched me grow up, so I wanted them to know that that’s what I would be doing next. And they were so excited.
Did they have any thoughts or advice?
Well, they were just like, “That’s the best character. You have to do it!” and like, “That’s perfect. You’re going to be amazing,” and blah blah blah. They thought it was the right fit for me, and I trust their opinion because they love comics and stuff like that, and are very well versed with these characters, so it was good to have their input.
Did anyone else from “Stranger Things” find out before they got to the theater?
I didn’t really tell anybody else. That was kind of it.
Did your character really have a code name in the script? Jacob Batalon joked that it was “Denim Red,” but is that true?
It definitely wasn’t “Denim Red.” There was a code name, but I can’t remember. “Denim Red” is cooler than whatever it was.
Just like you’d grown up with the Duffers, you’d already worked with Destin on “The Glass Castle.” What excited you about reuniting with him?
Well, it’s overwhelming joining these huge franchises. I was in a similar position with “Stranger Things” — but even that feels smaller than entering the Spider-Man/Marvel world — joining in season two as a new kid. It felt similar to that, except Destin was involved. I have the best memories of doing that first movie with him because I hadn’t spent much time on set — I was a theater kid — so I really learned a lot from that summer that we worked on “Glass Castle.” He’s such a good guy, such a comforting presence. He really keeps his family close, and he’s just got great values and brings that to set. So, it was nice to have a familiar face and someone you trust. And the whole [“Spider-Man”] group was incredible and couldn’t have been lovelier, but it was nice to know going into it that you have a connection. That it’s not just a total group of strangers.
Destin has said that he asked Marvel and Kevin Feige to include Jean Grey; it was not a mandate. But he wanted the character for a specific reason. In those early conversations, what did he tell you about his plans that helped you prep?
In the early conversations and rehearsals, it was always just really important to him that she’s a young girl in pain. In finding her voice and figuring out what it would look like, there is this pressure to live up to what a villain in a superhero movie looks like, but our plan was to just go the opposite way. To not focus on the evil bits and play into that too much, but rather the really angry, hurt teenager — which I have experience in playing, it seems. [Laughs.]
Tell me about the hurt. One of the most poignant scenes in the movie is when Peter finally lets Jean into his mind, and she has this conversation with Aunt May, who tells her, “The people who love you, we love you not because you’re special, we love you because you’re you.” Tell me about shooting that scene with Marisa Tomei and Tom Holland.
I was so excited to get to that scene just because it feels like every scene before that is her suppressing emotion or hurt, and dealing with it through her powers or through manipulating others. But that’s kind of when the walls come down when she just hears everything that she needs to hear in that moment. Because as strong as she seems and as her actions are, she’s really just so terrified and so alone, and I think resents Peter up until that point for thinking that he’s not alone.
Like the whole thing with MJ too, it’s like, well, “You’re holding on to the memory of having people in your life, but they’re gone, and you don’t get to have that.” That’s what the whole MJ manipulation was for: to remind him that like, “Oh yeah, this is what you can’t have, and this is what this has taken from you.”
So, I guess in that final moment, she’s backed into a corner where it’s like, “Yeah, this person has hurt too,” but what he’s done with his loss and isolation, he’s turned it around and is offering her what he’s learned. And it’s kind of what he needs to hear and remind himself of in that moment, too.
So yeah, shooting that was nice, and I had like a good idea of like what needed to be done. I think that was my last day of shooting too, so it just felt like a perfect way to just tie it up and show the core of who she is in that moment.
You mentioned the manipulation — when did you see how your co-stars changed their performances when Jean was mind-controlling them?
Tom and I did rehearsals, and then we had a full day where we shot every single scene where I’m talking through someone else — we have that on camera, somewhere — as a reference to send to all of the actors who had a line. It was cool; you can kind of see how people are like carrying it or mimicking me in certain ways — Zendaya, especially. I hadn’t seen her scene until I watched it for the first time, and it’s so cool to see that.
Was the first time at the L.A. premiere?
No, I had seen it before, just by myself in a screening room.
What was that like?
It was fun. I had no idea what to expect. But that was the interesting part too, because I really only worked like 20 days on the film. Most of the work was done in preproduction, or I would come in for certain days to block scenes; even if I wasn’t in it, I’d be there to have some say in the physicality of it. But there was so much of the movie that I hadn’t seen, so it was so cool to watch as a fan to see all the other aspects.
In Jean’s final scene, is she heading upstate to Westchester, where the X Mansion is?
Oh, I don’t really know yet, to be honest. And when I say “I don’t know,” I mean I really don’t know. [Laughs.]
What conversations have you had with Jake Schreier about where he wants to take the character? Because we do know that Jean will return in “X-Men.”
Yes, she will. It’s been really exciting all the conversations we’ve had, and I feel really lucky that I have this introduction through “Spider-Man” and [her] backstory. I think that’s what X-Men is all about, too. The more I’ve gotten into it and researched, what makes them special is that they are all incredibly flawed and maybe have done bad things. That makes them more compelling, complex characters and a more complex hero if they don’t start out that way. And they have to find their relationship to their powers. Because it’s not like they’ve asked for this or that these strengths make their lives easier; they make them a lot harder, actually. So, knowing Jean’s struggle will be important in the future of her character and where she goes, just makes her really well-rounded, which I’m excited for.
Have you gotten a chance to meet any of your rumored castmates? We heard earlier today that Kit Connor is likely going to join you as Scott Summers/Cyclops and Samara Weaving as Emma Frost.
I have not, but I hope to very soon. I love the idea that it’s going to be a really awesome ensemble. I can’t wait. I’m getting super, super pumped about it.
