Slingshot Star Laurence Fishburne Reveals How the Film’s Mystery Appealed to Him

SLINGSHOT releases in theaters on August 30, 2024.

Slingshot star Laurence Fishburne talked about what drew him to this movie. The actor told ComicBook that the ending and the mystery hook really sealed the deal for him. Our Chris Killian asked if Captain Franks was inspired by his character in Event Horizon and the star was surprised we made the link. Fishburne admitted, “Not so much, because that was a very long time ago.” After smirking about the passage of time, we got into the unique premise for Slingshot and Casey Affleck’s character being a fun addition to the ensemble.

Fishburne continued, “But this one for me the appeal was in the mystery of it the sort of unknown quality of it with his mission that these men are on to Slingshot around a planet to pick up more gravity so they could travel further out into space and whether or not any of that is going to work.”

“Casey Affleck’s character being among a number of people who are vying to get a position on the ship, to get a seat on the ship. Because, it goes back and forth between this process of being vetted for the mission, and then of course the reveal at the end,” he continued. “Which I just thought was really fabulous and amazing. Something so surprising comes out of it. I was really satisfied with the way we pulled it off.”

What Else Has Fisburne Been Up To?

Well, last year, he made his return to the MCU in What If…? Bill Foster rose up to actually become Giant Man in an episode from Season 2. When his character was introduced during Ant-Man & The Wasp, a lot of fans were hoping to see this transformation in live-action. While we’re still waiting on that, it was a genuine thrill to see Fishburne turn up and serve a fun roll alongside some other MCU heroes in an Multiverse adventure. Funnily enough, ComicBook spoke to the actor about his involvement with the franchise and he let us in on the secret a bit early.

“Ah, you know, Bill Foster shows up in What If…? Yeah,” Fisburne said, surprising us. “Yeah, yeah. Bill Foster shows up in What If…? as Giant-Man actually. Yeah, it’s cool.” Maybe one day we can let the big fella throw down on the big screen too. 

SLINGSHOT releases in theaters on August 30, 2024.

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