You know the story, or at least I hope you do. The Toxic Avenger — the same Troma hit that Blue Ruin star Macon Blair has remade starring Game of Thrones alum Peter Dinklage — follows a janitor who becomes a mutated yet unstoppable hero after falling into a vat of toxic waste. It’s basically Spiderman, when you think about it. And with every hero’s journey, there is, of course, a villain. That’s where Elijah Wood comes in.
Entertainment Weekly was given a first look image of the Lord of the Rings alum as Fritz Garbinger, who is rocking an almost Penguin-esque look in the image. His version of the character is definitely related to Danny Devito’s Batman antagonist, that’s for sure, with greasy black hair, black teeth, and a sniveling little grin.
"The look came about by discussions I had with our designers and with Elijah himself," he continues. "I wanted it to feel like a Peter Sellers type of performance where he just goes invisible. The idea is that you forget that it's the Elijah that you know from Lord of the Rings or anything else."
First look at Peter Dinklage, Elijah Wood, Taylour Paige and Jacob Tremblay in Macon Blair’s ‘THE TOXIC AVENGER.’
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) September 20, 2023
(via @EW | https://t.co/3yJGmC1cWk) pic.twitter.com/k3usNDUMP4
The outlet was also treated to a few more images that show more of Dinklage (in his iconic tutu, no less), but his transformed look is still under wraps. Blair revealed that the inspiration for the look came directly from some of the original sequel films, specifically Toxic Avenger Parts II and III.
"His look is closer to that, and in terms of color palette we drew from the cartoon actually," the director explained to Entertainment Weekly. "But it's practical effects. You can see all the goopy little boils and stuff like that. And we definitely stayed true to some of the really iconic elements: the tutu that's melted onto his body, the janitor's mop as his super weapon."
Some of the neon-splattered world of the film (including Fritz’ gang called Killer Nutz) is on display in the images, as well as Kevin Bacon. There’s one great image of the legendary star in costume as Fritz’ brother, Bob Garbinger, whom Blair said is built in "the mold of Lex Luthor, where they have all this money and resources at their disposal, but he's just kind of a disaster."
The two final images show the rest of the major supporting cast, Zola star Taylour Paige and Room star Jacob Tremblay. Blair described Paige’s role to the outlet as both a reporter and a “vigilante detective,” so it appears she will end up joining forces with Dinklage’s Winston Gooze at some point. Tremblay plays Gooze’s stepson Wade, who Blair says is dealing with a “lack of connection” to Dinklage’s character.
Legendary Entertainment, producers of the new Dune saga, produced the film, which also costars Julia Davis and Jonny Coyne. Though the movie has no wide release date just yet, lucky viewers will get to see the film on September 21 at its Fantastic Fest world premiere.
Thumbnail: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
