Yahya Abdul-Mateen II On What He Loves About ‘Wonder Man’: “People See So Much of Themselves In Simon, Everyone Relates To Having A Dream”

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“I never knew that acting could be a real career path,” says the now Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor. But the call of the stage was so strong that Abdul-Mateen II made a complete career change in his late 20s. “Acting started off as a way to feed the part of me that wanted to be an extrovert,” says the Wonder Man star, for whom, these days, foundation building means something completely different.

“I explore people and what makes us tick,” he says. “Acting is an investigative art for me.” Related Stories Below The Line ‘Wonder Man’ Showrunner Andrew Guest And Casting Director Carmen Cuba On Landing Yahya Abdul-Mateen II And Recruiting Hollywood Talent To Play Themselves – The Process News The Partnership: How Vince Gilligan And Rhea Seehorn Rekindled Their ‘Better Call Saul’ Magic For ‘Pluribus’ & A Season 2 Update DEADLINE: Joining Wonder Man as Simon Williams and revisiting your early years as an actor — what was that like for you?

Were there any striking similarities? Watch on Deadline YAHYA ABDUL-MATEEN II: That version of me was completely different from Simon, because I didn’t know anything. I was just young and bright-eyed, looking for a place to act.

I would have done it in a garage. And then I found an opportunity to do it in a small theater. I maybe had four lines, but I was traveling about 15 miles to rehearse and say my four lines.

The origins of [my story] were very different. Where I do remember being in Simon’s shoes? Maybe about a year before I graduated school, I was in the rehearsal space for a scene and I thought, “Man, no one knows I’m here.

I have all of this to offer and no one knows that I’m here.” And 10 years later, I’m sharing Simon Williams with the world — and he’s sitting in his car, and he’s like, “Man, I have so much to offer and no one knows that I’m here.” You know what I mean?

So, it was actually a bit of a full circle moment to portray Simon Williams. But early on, oh man, I was just happy to be there. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as John Creasy in ‘Man on Fire.’

Juan Rosas/Netflix DEADLINE: Presumably, no actor says no when Marvel comes calling. But how familiar were you with the source material? ABDUL-MATEEN II: I wasn’t familiar with the source material at all.

This was really about Destin [Daniel Cretton]. I was a big fan of Short Term 12 and Just Mercy. We had also had a general meeting maybe nine months before I got the phone call for this, when I was looking for directors to go and play with.

And when I got the call for Wonder Man, he said that he wanted to do it in a similar style to his indie things. I knew that tonally, and in terms of style, it would be different [from other Marvel projects]. I also knew that I really, really liked working with Destin.

And then, you’re right, everyone wants to work with Marvel, but I told my team, “I want to talk to Kevin [Feige].” They said, “No, you don’t have to talk to Kevin.” I said, “I’m not budging until I talk to Kevin.”

And we got Kevin on the phone and I asked him — well, I let him know, “Hey, I really, really like what you guys are doing, and I want to come and play, but I know I only get one Marvel buck to spend. So, I want to spend it well.” And he said two things.

He said, “It’ll be a buck well spent.” And, in that meeting, I said, “I want to let people know that I’m funny.” And he saw that I was saying, “No one knows that I have a funny bone,” and he was like, “Yes, that’s exactly what I see, and I want people to know that, too.”

It was cool that we were all thinking the same things. DEADLINE: How much do you get to read at that stage? Do you get scripts?

Broad concepts? What are you saying yes to? ABDUL-MATEEN II: I had maybe two scripts.

I definitely had one. I knew the length of the scripts. I knew what kind of quirky cat Simon was, and everything that you saw in Episode 1 and Episode 2.

I mean, some things did change to be catered more specifically to me, but it was always tight. But yeah, I got to read the first two and they were funny. I said, “Oh, this is different.”

But it did also take great casting and a great vision in order to make it be what it was. It was really a great formula of inviting just the right players. In my spare time, I watch YouTube videos of people watching the episodes, and it’s so much fun.

People see so much of themselves in Simon, from all walks of life. Actors, writers, directors, certainly, but podcaster