By Jana Monji
When you see Andrew Stehlin as Red Lotus, you might think of singer Willow Smith’s hit single, Whip My Hair. The Dark Phoenix film’s version, Red Lotus, has five healthy locks of hair that can whip and even grip. It’s like having whip weaponry that’s been crossed with a very angry octopus.
Red Lotus is one the mutants who has taken refuge on the island of Genosha under the leadership of Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender). After Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix (Sophie Turner) has her power augmented by a mysterious cosmic force and runs away from Xavier’s School for Gifted Children, she is drawn into battle with Magneto and his band, including Red Lotus. They are joined by the X-Men in a battle against Dark Phoenix and the mysterious aliens.
Born and raised in New Zealand, Stehlin is part Samoan mixed in “with a whole lot of other cultures.” Although now ironically bald, he says, “I was a hairdresser before I got into the stunts industry.” He was on the New Zealand hit export TV shows Xena and Hercules as an extra when, he recalls, “I saw the stunt performers. I was like, wow. I would love to do that.” He was already taking martial arts–kung fu, Thai boxing, aikido and capoeira. He entered a few competitions, but “I didn’t really have the spirit. I supposed I’m more a lover than a fighter.”
His kung fu instructor happened to know the stunt coordinator for The Lord of the Rings and Stehlin was in, playing “a variety of characters” from Orcs to Gondorians. That lead to his most challenging role to date which required spending six hours getting prosthetics put on and sprayed for the Battle of Helms Deep. That was “three months on the fighting against the Uruk-Hai.” This were three months of night shoots. “I’d go in at 3 p.m. and then end shooting at 7 a.m. for three months straight. I didn’t see the sun for those three months.”
For Red Lotus in Dark Phoenix, things were much easier. After all, he joked, “I used to have hair,” but he admits never that long. “What I found annoying was little bits of hair stick in your face. I haven’t had that for a while.” For the CGI, they had to remove the wig and put those “weird dots” on his head. “I’d have to know where my hair was sitting.” To help with the CGI interpretation, Stehlin said, “I met up with the people who were doing the hair and talked about how the hair was moving.” Stehlin worked with the film’s fight coordinator, Richard Norton, to figure out “body movement to manipulate the hair.” So when they were “trying to figure out the fight scene, they had to imagine something happening when it’s not. Richard and I had to visualize the hair doing its business.”
As a kid, Stehlin was an X-Men fan but his favorite was Wolverine because of his attitude. “He’s no mucking around, straight business.” Unfortunately, there’s no sign of Wolverine in this movie. If he could be any superhero, he’d be Deadpool because he loves the humor in those movies.
For now, Stehlin’s enjoying the journey of being in an X-Men movie. His character maybe minor, but he adds, “Wouldn’t it be nice to carry on? If something happens from here, I would be feeling absolutely blessed and grateful and I’m ready for the journey.” If it doesn’t, then he’s still happy to have been part of a fun and wonderful cast and crew.
Dark Phoenix opens up in theaters on June 7, 2019.
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