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Jason Momoa finished work on ‘See’ while shooting ‘Fast 10’ villain role
"I mean, the show has put me through some doozies, bro."
Whether it’s in a movie or a television show, Jason Momoa is a force to be reckoned with. His performance as Khal Drogo on Game of Thrones is unforgettable, and he followed that up with memorable turns as Aquaman in the DCEU and as Duncan Idaho in Dune. He also headlines See on AppleTV+, which began streaming its third (and final) season on Aug. 26.
Momoa plays Baba Voss in the series, which depicts a dystopian future where all of humanity has lost their sense of sight. They have to rely on all of the other senses to survive, but that is only the beginning of the problems facing Baba. He regularly has to resort to kicking some ass, and Momoa is naturally more than able to deliver the goods.
Along with other select outlets, SYFY WIRE participated in a roundtable discussion about the final season. Apparently Momoa’s commitments to both movies and television have some overlap, because his final moments as Baba Voss took place in the middle of him shooting his upcoming villainous turn in Fast 10.
Shooting for See had already concluded, and it included a difficult final scene that Momoa is rightfully proud of. It was a difficult one to shoot (for reasons that will become apparent when the finale streams), and it turned out that Momoa wasn’t fully done with it once the cameras stopped rolling.
“…so I'm shooting Fast 10, I'm in Rome. I get called in for looping…” Momoa said. “…I have to do the last four minutes of that scene. They're like, ‘We have to loop it.’ I'm like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I have to go through all that again?”
Momoa didn’t have to re-shoot the scene, he just had to have dialogue and sound re-recorded. Even so, revisiting this moment in voice alone was no holiday. According to Momoa, the scene had taken five days to shoot. He had to give four and a half minutes of emotions for the looping session.
“I was so pissed, Momoa continued. “I was just bummed that we didn't get it and I had to deliver all that emotional stuff. But not only that, I had to go and say goodbye to Baba again. I already said bye to Baba a while ago when I went and shot Aquaman… years had went by. I had to go back in, emotionally go through that roller coaster, and hit all the marks. But at the same time, give it 110%. Cause if I gave it any less, I would be f***ing over everything that I worked hard for... so I knew I was screwed.”
After a call with his Mom and another call with his friend Julian Schnabel, Momoa gave his all to the looping session and said farewell to Baba for good.
“I do it. I'm very, just quiet. I start going about it,” he said. “And I emotionally go through it, do all the action, go through all the breathing, do everything I need to do. And I'm a f***ing wreck. I'm emotionally drained. I say goodbye to Baba. I walk out to the car and I'm like hysterically hysterical. And for a very long time, for the rest of the day, it was brutal. And I'm excited for people to see it.”
Though Momoa wasn’t in as much danger as Baba, he definitely faced some insane situations while he was shooting the series.
“I mean, the show has put me through some doozies, bro. I mean, I've looked up and seen a grizzly bear on its hind legs above me,” Momoa said. “And I'm going, ‘I hope this ground doesn't just give way, cause I don't want to have a grizzly, an 800 pound grizzly, on my head. I've been through some doozies on the show, and the fight scenes are the best fight scenes I've ever been a part of.”
When you look at Momoa's body of work, that really is saying something.
See streams new episodes on AppleTV+ each Friday. Fast X is set to roll into theaters May 19, 2023.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Looking for more dark sci-fi space adventures? SYFY's acclaimed Battlestar Galactica adaptation is streaming now on Peacock. Looking ahead, SYFY has the new space thriller The Ark coming soon.
