It’s getting increasingly more and more difficult to separate our real lives from fiction. Floods, fires, global pandemic, racial injustice, power struggle, wars: these aren’t movies anymore – we are seeing all of these happen in real time, and all at once. Timothy Dalton, known for Hot Fuzz, Flash Gordon, James Bond – and now Doom Patrol, spoke to GOAT about the role of fictional universes in our current world.
In an interview with GOAT, Timothy Dalton said, “We’ve taken a two-dimensional comedy [with Doom Patrol], and brought it back to being about people, even though it’s a comic. We relate to those people. We love the madness of it. We love the anarchy of it. We love the absurdity of it – we laugh at that. I mean, being chased by giant butts with snapping teeth on their backsides is kind of funny.”
“But then it just swings around and punches you in the gut. [There’s] certain scenes where people just open their hearts and you can almost cry with the humanity of the moment.”
Doom Patrol a re-imagining of one of DC’s most beloved group of outcast Super Heroes: Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Girl and Crazy Jane, led by modern-day mad scientist Dr. Niles Caulder (The Chief). The Doom Patrol’s members each suffered horrible accidents that gave them superhuman abilities–but also left them scarred and disfigured.
IMDb describes the characters of Doom Patrol as “Part support group, part Super Hero team… a band of super-powered freaks who fight for a world that wants nothing to do with them.”
With our real world seemingly lacking humanity, superhero films are stepping up and filling the void.
Timothy Dalton spoke about how we can pluck ourselves out of our reality and land feet-first in a world that feels familiar. He said, “[Doom Patrol] is set in the world of the comic, but everything that happens – we can relate to it.”
He understands that not everything is totally relatable, but we can get the gist. Timothy Dalton went on to say, “Yes, Rita – when she’s under stress – dissolves into a blob, which is a terrible thing, but because she’s so human, we understand.”
We could all use a little familiarity in a time of uncertainty, and Timothy Dalton recommends Doom Patrol so I’m going to do what he says, I reckon.
You can stream season one of Doom Patrol now and season two is available to stream from September 2 on BINGE.