King Shark Was One Of The Best (And Easiest) Roles Of Steve Agee's Career [Exclusive Interview]

Of all the misfits in James Gunn's "Peacemaker" series, Steve Agee's John Economos, aka Dye Beard, is the most relatable. The role of the tired, sad, unappreciated IT professional speaks to the universal feelings of loneliness, insecurity, and general disdain. John got one of the best lines from "The Suicide Squad" trailer ("We've got a freakin' kaiju!") and my personal favorite monologue in Gunn's follow-up spin-off show, "Peacemaker." Appearing alongside fantastic actors and wacky characters, Agee manages to make his mark.

He's also damn funny. 

The actor also played Steven Ned Myron III on "The Sarah Silverman Program," and works as a comedian and musician. Agee reprised his role as Amanda Waller's tech expert in a mid-credits scene of a certain recent superhero movie, and will be returning in the upcoming second season of "Peacemaker," which is not yet in production (but is definitely coming). /Film caught up with Steve Agee at Toronto Comic-Con to chat about his experience working with James Gunn, his killer dance moves, and his bass skills.

Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

I wanted to start with a joke about you being my first ever in-person non-musician interview, but you're actually a musician! I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about that and about your love of music.

When I was in college, I went and saw Jane's Addiction, and within a few days I bought a bass guitar because I was like, "Wow, that was awesome." And this was like 1989. So I just started teaching myself to play bass guitar by just listening to songs over and over and figuring them out on my own. And then started playing in a band in college, and then when I graduated with a degree in art, I moved to Los Angeles. I just knew I needed to be in Los Angeles. 

So I moved to L.A. and justified it by going to a music school in Hollywood called The Musicians Institute, where I then learned proper techniques and stuff and played in some more bands. But not long after that, I discovered the Groundlings Theater, which is a comedy and improv theater, and was like, "I think this is what I need to do." That's the short version of the story, is I saw Jane's Addiction and was like, "Yeah, I think I want to be a musician."

In your past, you actually collaborated with Brendon Small.

Yeah. "Metalocalypse," Dethklok... 

Would you say your go-to genre is metal?

No. It was usually more like punk. I don't have the chops for metal. Like Brendon went to — I believe he went to Berkelee College of Music, so he's like properly trained. He's an actual shredder. But Brendon and I started a show years ago, probably 2015 or '16, called Baked, where we would do comedy and music at a club called The Baked Potato, which is a jazz club in Los Angeles. And what we would do is we'd get our other comedy friends to come and do stand-up, and then we would make them do a song of their choice with our band. 

Our band was made up of guys who played with Brendon, like Dethklok bandmates and guys who played with Frank Zappa, like Mike Keneally. Actually all the guys in our band, if they didn't play with Frank Zappa, they played with Dweezil doing Zappa Plays Zappa. So we had Pete Griffin on bass, Joe Travers on drums, and you see all these guys in the Zappa documentary that came out a couple years ago that Alex Winter directed. But yeah, we did that for years.

Zappa — that's very technical music.

Very technical music. I mean, I was playing with guys way out of my league, but it also makes you play better and learn more. Yeah, that was an amazing time.

We should talk about "Peacemaker." Obviously music's a big part of that. Are we going to see your character play music on the show?

I don't know. That's a good question. I mean, we've seen John Cena play piano. I would love that. I don't know if it's in the cards, but —

There haven't been any discussions behind the scenes?

No, it's never been discussed. I would love it, though. And season 2 is happening.

Are we going to see natural beard color for John in season 2?

I've been talking about that with a lot of people, and we don't know yet. I even asked James [Gunn] recently. I said, "We've addressed the fact that it is dyed, my character admitted it." So I was like, "What's going to happen season 2?" And he's like, "I don't know. What do you want to do?" And I was like, "Honestly, I'd rather not dye it. That's a whole process." But it's all up to him. We don't know yet.

Was it hard to maintain the look of it being partially dyed?

No. It was — once every two weeks I would go into hair and makeup and they would dye my beard, and then the gray roots were added on the day. That was rinse out. But it was like gray paint to make the roots around my chin. It was pretty easy.

In addition to the work that you did as your character, John, you also did the motion-capture for King Shark. Are we going to see more of him in the future?

That has not come up yet. I would love to, because I had a really good time doing that. Yeah. I grew kind of fond of playing King Shark. It was one of the best jobs and easiest ones I've had to do.

Oh, really?

Yeah, because I'm not talking much, and when I do, it's usually two words at a time. But yeah, James is not done figuring out the whole 10-year timeline, so my fingers are crossed. I'd be shocked if we didn't see King Shark again, because people loved him so much and he lived, so he's out there. I would love to see him.

Was there anything particular about King Shark that you tried to bring to the performance physically?

No. James kind of let me do my own thing physically. It was really funny though, because if you notice in the movie, he's always adjusting and pulling up his shorts while he is running. That was me doing that.

It was very natural. It added a lot to the character!

It was totally real. They gave me shorts to wear over my spandex body suit, and they were a little too loose, and spandex is really slippery. So every time I was running, I was pulling up my shorts. And when I watched the movie, I was like, "Oh my God, they actually used [that]." It's kind of funny they used that. So yeah, that was all me. [laughs]

Well, look out, Andy Serkis.

Yeah, yeah. Watch your back. [laughs]

Do you miss the mo-cap onesie?

I don't miss it, but it was great in that a lot of actors had to show up way early to get prosthetics, or their wardrobe was a lot to put on. So they had to get there two hours, sometimes three hours early. Days when I was just King Shark, I would have to show 15 minutes before shooting.

That probably felt good.

It was awesome. You just put on a onesie and you're good to go. There were also times when I had to wear a giant foam chest piece that they called a displacement suit, so that the other actors would know not to get too close to me, otherwise they'd be walking inside of King Shark's body. Or if we were in the small space or walking through bushes, I'd have to wear that so that the animators could see where to make the leaves and all that stuff bend. Overall, it was not uncomfortable. It was kind of awesome. Yeah.

Out of everybody on the Suicide Squad, who do you think could survive a solo mission?

A solo mission... [pauses to think] Of the ones that lived?

Let's say all of them — although you're going to have a hard time making an argument for one who's already died.

Yeah, because they're dead. They didn't survive. I feel like ... wow, that's a tough one. Maybe Idris Elba's character [Bloodsport]. I think [David Dastmalchian's] Polka Dot Man was really one of the most powerful. He just had a little bit of bad luck when the giant starfish leg fell on him and crushed him. But I think he was the most powerful of everybody.

He really got to have his moment in that film.

He really did. I don't know if King Shark could pull off a solo mission, because he's a little slow.

Maybe if he's having a really lucky day.

I think it would take a lot of luck for any of them to do it solo.

The dance at the beginning of "Peacemaker." Everybody loves the dance. Do you have a signature dance move?

No. I'm not a dancer at all. In fact, when James sent out the scripts for "Peacemaker" and I saw that there was a dance number, of all the things I've ever done in my life with acting, I was so nervous because I have no rhythm. It's odd, too, as a musician —

You're a bassist! That's rhythm!

I know, and I have no rhythm. I was terrified to do the dance number. I have no dance moves. But we had to really great choreographer, Charissa Barton, and I assume we'll probably have to do a new dance number for season 2, seeing as how a lot of people didn't make it who are in the first dance number.

Well, the nerves didn't show, at least from what we saw. You seemed like a seasoned pro.

Oh good, good.

Maybe "Dancing with the Stars" is in your future.

I would do that.

You would do "Dancing With The Stars"?

I would, yeah. Totally.

"Peacemaker" season 1 is available to stream on HBO Max.