Darth Toad: Leaping into action, Ray Park prepares to maul the X-Men

by Will Murray

Ray Park is one of those actors whose fame is growing, but whose face remains virtually unrecognized.

Yes, he played Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace's Darth Maul, but it's that cruel crimson visage that has become world-famous, and not his own. And almost nobody realizes it was Park chopping away at noggins as the fighting Headless Horseman in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. However, when the British-born martial arts champion and stuntman does play an unadulterated screen role, he's guaranteed to be a fresh face.

Although it's a strange place for a rising star to be, Park is about to reveal his true features to the world as Mortimer Toynbee, a.k.a. the mutant Toad in X-Men. "Toad is one of Magneto's henchmen, one of the bad guys from the Brotherhood," explains Park. "Toad is more of a toady -- a slimy superhuman with the power to jump and leap about. That's where he gets his name, Toad. My history on X-Men isn't great. I never knew that there was a character named Toad when I was a kid. I was reading Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, Wolverine -- all the obvious ones. I always read comics, but I wasn't a true fan who knew all the history of everything. There's much more to it."

Super Toady

Traditionally, the Marvel Comics Toad has been a manic, hopped-up version of Quasimodo, but for X-Men, he has been injected with cool amphibious abilities and a lethal CGI-enhanced oral prosthetic. "Toad has a long tongue," Park reveals. "It's normally about six foot, but it grows to 12 foot. It's green, slimy and gooey. You don't want to be licked by it. It's a terrific addition, because it gives Toad a little more versatility -- it's not just about his fighting and acrobatic ability. He uses the tongue for different things, even as a gag. It's funny and a cool idea as well."

Prosthetics are combined with CGI FXX to flesh out Toad's reptilian tongue. "It's a combination," Park notes. "I have to use this mouthpiece. They made a good dental appliance; it's from a mold of my mouth and I just bite down on it." As for the composition of the tongue itself, Park isn't sure. "I think it's latex or silicone. I really don't know."

While Toad has been augmented, at heart he's still, well, true to his name. "He's a lackey," says Park. "But he's different in the movie. I tried to get as much background on the character as I could. But I think they were keeping it open to try and develop him differently -- not so much based on the comics, but still along the same lines. From what I've been told, Toad wasn't in the X-Men comics that much. So there's a very good opportunity for me to develop the character and bring him into his own."

The stuntman-turned-actor struggled to reinvent his mutant alter-ego for film. "He's hard in a way because he's evil, but also funny, geeky, slimy and creepy-looking," Park notes. "It was pretty cool when we were trying out different stuff for the character -- what Toad should look like, etc. It was hard getting into the Toad [mindset], because the challenge was, 'How am I going to do this without making it very clich�d, like the Hunchback of Notre Dame?' I didn't want to go down that route. I wanted to make Toad different. Now I actually feel like when I play Toad, I play Toad."

Toad's physical appearance has also been changed. But how much Park isn't saying, because the producers won't let him. Smiling disarmingly, he admits, "It's pretty much how I look. This is me as Toad. You'll just have to wait and see. I don't want to give too much away."

Also a sensitive issue is the identity of Toad's main X-Men foe At first, Park playfully dodges the question. "Everyone. The Earth. The Sky. The Moon. I couldn't really tell you that." Finally, he relents, but says only, "All right. Storm [Halle Berry]."

As Toad, Park's function in Magneto's anti-X-Men Brotherhood hews close to Marvel's mutant mythology. "He's more about going out and doing Magneto's work without Magneto lifting a hand," the actor explains. "He's creating havoc and sometimes maybe mucking things up. As an actor, regarding the action, I like planning new stuff. Being able to do geeky, silly things. And it works for the character because it's Toad. That's why I'm trying to get across -- to be serious and hard, but not be totally evil all the time, because it's boring. He has that comic, sort of sleazy thing to him, as well. There has to be a balance."

Park found key aspects of Toad's persona through trial and error. "When I'm in makeup, I just play in the mirror," he notes. "Even with my girl friend, I'll say 'Does that look funny? Does it give you the creeps?' And she'll say, 'Yeah, I prefer Darth Maul.' I'll ask Bryan [Singer, X-Men Director] or one of the producers, or I'll just play with stuff and experiment."

Toad's mutant hopping ability is realized mostly from Park's extensive martial arts background, which includes acrobatics, in addition to deft special FX work. "It's just from my own ability, [combined with] wire work and different camera angles," says Park. "It depends on how the fight's written, and what different things I'm doing."

How high can he jump? "Normally?" Park asks. "It depends. If I'm in competition training, I used to be able to jump overhead high. I can jump, but I wouldn't say I'm Superman. As Toad, more than an average person. But not unbelievably so that you think, 'That looks unreal.' It has to be believable. He's still human, though he's a mutant. So it's a little bit more than an average person."

No stranger to stunt work, Park has not lost his love of the dangerous jobs that won him screen roles in the first place despite his acting success. Far from it, he thrives on risk. "I think it would be risky for anyone," Park admits. "But I don't see it, because I like getting up there and doing stuff from my martial arts training. Even as a kid, I liked to bounce about and climb up buildings. It's just when you get older, you start thinking about stuff more and you realized you can hurt yourself. But it's good to be able to do it as part of your job, because you're doing something that you love. And this is what I've always wanted to do. To put my training into doing my work is an extra bonus."

Career Jumps

Park credits his extensive martial arts training with his success playing fantastic fighting foes. "It's a perfect part of my character base -- me as a person -- because I've been doing it for 18 years," he says. "And that's what gave me the discipline to focus. The challenge is not to get too uptight. You can always overcome a challenge by just visualizing what you want to do. That goes back to my training when I used to compete. If I couldn't do anything, I would always go back to the basics and analyze, 'Why can't I do this?' In all the things that I've done, I wouldn't stand back and do martial arts; it would be my training, the preparation and my body's awareness of what it could do [that carried me along]. I seem to work better when I'm working more. That's the way I am. I'm not one for sitting about. I try to keep all my training up when I'm on a movie."

Since The Phantom Menace (which he discussed in STARLOG #269) catapulted him into the public eye, Park has been focusing more and more on his emerging acting skills. Performing with actors the caliber of Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier or Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto has exposed him to the craft in new ways. "I'm working with some really great actors," Park enthuses. "So I open my eyes and ears and I just watch and listen, and I learn as much from everyone as I can. And I've got so much to learn, I want to develop more as an actor, so I just watch everyone."

Especially McKellen, Park admits "Ian's great. You can see where the experience comes in. If he didn't like saying something, he knew exactly what he wanted to say, and he would deliver that. If I have an idea, I'll ask, 'Ian, what do you think of this?' And Ian will say, 'Yes. Ask Bryan.' So I'll ask Bryan. I haven't been afraid to speak up. It's not unlike what people say: 'Just relax and be crazy and try new things.' I've been having fun, and everyone has been so nice."

Park's experience working with Singer is something he has little trouble putting into context, even if the exact words escape him. "It's different from working with all the other directors," Park allows. "I really like working with Bryan. He's more particular and he knows what he wants. Right from the start I felt comfortable with Bryan. If he didn't like something, he would say, 'Try this. Try that.' With George [Lucas], I did the same, but George was more into himself He was quieter. I worked with Tim Burton, whom I liked as well. I'm really glad I did Sleepy Hollow. But with Bryan, it's nice. I really can't give you the words, but I feel comfortable. I think it's just confidence within myself as well, working in movies. You just learn to relax."

With the madly malevolent Toad under his belt, Park is becoming type-cast as somewhat of a special FX bad guy. Yet he likes villain roles, and for the same reasons other actors do. "There are no rules, really," he says. "You can have fun with it. Everyone wants to be the bad guy. I haven't chosen to be the bad guy. It just happened that way. I remember when I was a kid, I wanted to be a superhuman hero. But I'm having fun with this."

Ray Park frankly hopes to exceed Darth Maul with his X-Men role. "I don't know if I have yet," he confesses. "You would have to see the finished product. I always like to be better. I know people are always going to judge me for what I did in Star Wars. It had such a big impact, that character. So I want to try not to be too stressed out about it, but enjoy it and do better every time. For the next movie, I want to do better. I'm sure everyone has bad movies, but as long as I enjoy it and have fun, that'll come across in my work."