X-MEN: Tyler Mane on Playing Sabretooth

Date: Thursday, June 01, 2000

Last Monday, we ran a brief excerpt of Tyler Mane's question-and-answer session with X-Men fans at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention. Here are some more of his comments regarding playing the role of Sabretooth and working with the rest of the cast on the upcoming X-Men movie. As before, in print it's hard to capture the genuine energy of Mane's performance (you really do have to call it that). Try imagining that each sentence written in italics, with lots of exclamation points, and you'll get some sense of the over-the-top gusto.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO GET MADE UP EACH DAY?

To get ready for Sabretooth, it took me about 4 hours in a make-up chair everyday. You wouldn't think it would take that long to make me just that little bit uglier than I already am. Anyway it was fun and while I was doing that I was reading the comics and getting into character and getting ready for what I needed to do that day so it was really good preparation time.

ASIDE FROM THE COMIC BOOKS, DID YOU WATCH ANY OF THE CARTOONS OR ANYTHING TO FIND OUT WHAT KIND OF ATTITUDE YOU NEEDED HAVE OR WHAT KIND OF VOICE YOU NEEDED TO MAKE?

Yeah, I went into the Internet and pulled up Sabretooth and listened to a sound bite of his voice and watched the cartoons and did a lot of research to get ready for it.

WHAT SORT OF MARTIAL ARTS SCHOOL DID YOU GO TO?

I went to my own damn school! I spent nine and a half years in the martial arts. I was ranked in the AKA. I played semi-pro football. Did I need anymore training? Heck no!

WHAT DID YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT BEING SABRETOOTH IN THE MOVIE?

I get to beat the heck outta everybody and kill everybody, man. What more fun is there in life than that? Huh?

WILL THERE BE A PART TWO?

Get your parents to take you to everyday for that first week, have your parents bring all your friends, and there will probably be a part two (and they're gonna call it Sabretooth).

IN THE MOVIE, DO YOU KICK WOLVERINE'S ASS?

I take Wolverine and I pick him up by his little head and I kick him through the goal posts.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO FILM IT?

It took way too long. I had everybody's butt kicked in the first half hour and they still wanted to go on for another six months. It took six months to film and then there were several months of prep time before that.

HOW MUCH FUN DID YOU HAVE BEATING UP WOLVERING AND HOW FUN WAS IT WORKING WITH RAY PARK?


I had a lot of fun beating up Wolverine, and Ray Park is a great guy. He and me are real tight.

HOW MANY MOVES DOES SABRETOOTH HAVE?

Well, Sabretooth doesn't actually do any pile drivers, body slams, power bombs or anything like that. I talked to 'em. I said 'Hey, come on, let me power bomb somebody, please' and they said no, ya know, we need Sabretooth to move like a cat. So Sabretooth does a lot of slicin' and dicin', ya know. You don't need that thing that does juliene fries when you have claws.

WILL THERE BE ANY CAMEOS OF THE OTHER MARVEL COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS IN THE BACKGROUND?

Spider-Man was chicken. [The audience boos loudly!] Look, hey, he went home, I'm sorry. Ya know, they invited them all out to come. That first day they saw me, they all went home. What more can I say?

HOW DID IT FEEL BEING SABRETOOTH?

Well, originally it was pretty cool. But playing a superhero that gets to beat the heck outta people has to be one of the funnest things a person can ever do in their life. I tell ya when I got into the role of Sabretooth, [drops into the low, raspy, intimidating voice of Sabretooth] I had a helluva lotta fun.

WHICH FEMALE CHARACTER DID YOU LIKE WORKING WITH BEST, HALLE BERRY, FAMKE JANSSEN, REBECCA ROMIJIN-STAMOS?

They were aaallll fun to work with!

DO YOU FEEL ANY MORAL OR SOCIAL QUALMS ABOUT PLAYING A VIOLENT CHARACTER THAT KIDS WORSHIP?

Sabretooth is a vicious character, but it is a cartoon, it is a comic book. People have to differentiate between reality and fantasy. It's exactly like wrestling. Wrestling is 'sports entertainment', ya know. I didn't want to burst anybody's bubble or anything. It still hurts like hell, but really. People have to realize it is a comic book, it is fantasy, so to speak. I mean there are no people in reality walking around with big hairy claws and that can leap across this building if they want to and have all long hair and look all freaky (except maybe for you, but you can't jump across the building).

IN THE MOVIE, DO THEY HAVE ANY FLASHBACKS OF SABRETOOTH'S ORIGINS?

This one is setting it up. Come July 14, hopefully, we can answer all your questions.

SINCE YOU WERE RESERACHING WITH THE COMIC BOOKS, I WAS WONDERING IF YOU BECAME A FAN?

Yeah, ya know I still read them today. I love them. I really love them.

BEFORE THEY START MAKING SABRETOOTH, THE SEQUEL, DO YOU THINK YOU MIGHT GET BACK INTO PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING?

Well, I'm busy doing other things too. I just did a commercial with Ingrid Arquette, a 1-800 commercial, I did the Klondike through the Tropics show, I did another movie with David Spade down in the south called The Adventures of Joe Dirt. So I'm gonna be pretty busy.