When the cast was named for the upcoming Suicide Squad movie, the list featured a bevy of heavy hitters playing iconic characters: Jared Leto as the Joker, Will Smith as Deadshot and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. It was clear DC was trying to use big names to establish their own rag-tag group of outcasts to rival the success of Marvel’s Guardians the Galaxy.
Last week, with the ensemble doing its first read-through of the script, director David Ayer posted a cast photo on his Twitter account, which surprisingly included comedian Ike Barinholtz. Latino-Review’s Umberto Gonzalez reported that Barinholtz was joining the film in the role of Arkham Asylum psychiatrist Hugo Strange. While he doesn’t have the name value as the stars listed above, this was certainly an intriguing casting choice.
Cast read through today! #SuicideSquad pic.twitter.com/yajjcB5aEb
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) April 9, 2015
Barinholtz’s career path doesn’t suggest key player in a superhero blockbuster. He got his start on Fox sketch comedy show MADtv, where he starred for five seasons. After leaving the show in 2007, he bounced around in variety of roles including appearing in the awful Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer parody movies Meet the Spartans, Disaster Movie and Vampires Suck. He also booked guest roles on television comedies including The League and Children’s Hospital, before getting his big break in 2012, when he was cast as Morgan Tookers in the Mindy Kaling vehicle The Mindy Project.
On Mindy, Barinholtz is consistently funny as Morgan, a registered nurse with a shady background. In a show which struggles immensely with consistency and has undergone — and continues to undergo — major casting changes, Barinholtz has been one of the few mainstays.
Barinholtz is trying to make a similar career jump as former Parks and Recreation star Chris Pratt. Like Barinholtz on The Mindy Project, Pratt played Andy Dwyer as a goofy, chubby character who was laugh-out-loud funny and stole many of the scenes he was in. Pratt seemed like an odd choice when he was cast in Guardians of the Galaxy, but now it’s hard to imagine a better Star-Lord. Pratt used his considerable comedic talents as a strength while playing Star-Lord, something I’m sure Barinholtz will look to do.
While playing Hugo Strange doesn’t require the same physical transformation Pratt underwent, it will be curious to see him take on a role that is completely different to what he’s previously done. While his Suicide Squad role will likely be much smaller than Pratt’s in Guardians, he looks to make the similar transition from goofball to comic book movie star.
Latino-Review’s Gonzalez previously reported the role of Hugo Strange would be “the psychiatrist at the prison where Joker is being held, and will have several scenes with both the Clown Prince of Crime and Harley Quinn.” If those reports are true, Barinholtz will be playing a key part in the movie — and that’s great news for somebody with his talent.
Sometimes it takes a different role to turn an actor from a side player into somebody who is instantly recognizable. Will Barinholtz become one of the biggest movie stars in the world like Pratt has become? Probably not, but for an actor who could use a big project to get some mainstream appeal, this is a step in the right direction. You go, Morgan Tookers!
