‘The Boys,’ ‘Lovecraft Country’ and ‘The Undoing’ Actresses Talk Playing Anti-Heroines – Hollywood Reporter

CHARACTER: STORMFRONT

Stormfront, season twos addition to the not-so-superheroic team The Seven on Amazon PrimesThe Boys, revels in take-no-prisoners barbs exposing personal and systemic flaws like misogyny and corporate overreach. But her acerbic tough love demeanor masks a more sinister agenda: Shes secretly a Nazi. Yeah, shes tough-hate, says Cash with a chuckle. Stormfronts way in is this, Im going to tell it like it is, anti-big corporation, punk rock, say-what-I-mean empowerment. But shes actually rallying the troops.

Tapping the charisma that sweetens Stormfronts vitriol was crucial, and Cash keyed in on the villainess playful yet eviscerating banter with The Sevens leader, Homelander. My entire goal is just to fuck with him, make him uncomfortable and throw him off balance.

The character reflects the hate-fueled rhetoric thats become all too consumable in the current sociopolitical climate. Theres a lot of talk about why we should all be afraid of the other, says Cash. That polarization is represented in her ability to use peoples fears and give them an outlet. Its sadly representative of whats happening in our culture we go back to really old, horrible ideas about hate. Exploring that mindset was a valuable exercise in examining Cashs own biases. To have to go that deep into somebody you really dont agree with is what makes acting interesting, what makes being humans interesting, she says. [And its] something that everyone should be doing anyway."

This story first appeared in a January stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

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'The Boys,' 'Lovecraft Country' and 'The Undoing' Actresses Talk Playing Anti-Heroines - Hollywood Reporter