Tony Dalton is stepping into the Marvel Cinematic Universe this month with the release of Hawkeye on Disney+. In the new series, which stars Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld, Dalton plays Jack Duquesne, an early mentor of Cliff Barton. The character is also known as the Swordsman in Marvel Comics, a moniker Dalton’s Duquesne carries in the new show.
Ahead of the premiere of Hawkeye, Tony Dalton spoke about playing the Swordsman character. The Better Call Saul star admits that he loves the mysterious aspects of Swordsman, who was originally introduced as a Hawkeye enemy in the comic books. Still, as Dalton told Variety, he most appreciated the awesome mustache that came with playing the role.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
It remains to be seen how Jack Duquesne will play into the Hawkeye plot, but it does seem we’ll get to see some of his master swordsmanship in action. Tony Dalton addressed his preparation for the role, which included learning some new dance moves for a waltz scene with Vera Farmiga. He also described taking some additional fencing classes, despite having some experience, as he wanted to be believable as the Swordsman.
“I love the mystery. The funnest part of that character was being able to leave my mustache really long and put wax on it all day, because if you don’t put wax on it, it sort of goes down into a Fu Manchu kind of thing. But, yeah, you kind of get into it, you know? You’re playing a sort of mysterious, British-y, kind of upscale swordsman. Which is fun.”
For those familiar with Dalton, this casting choice will seem perfect. The actor has been stealing the show in the Breaking Bad series Better Call Saul as Lalo Salamanca, a character who wasn’t even featured in the original show. Dalton was up for Best Supporting Actor on Television at the Saturn Awards this year for his acclaimed performance. He will play a big part in the show’s sixth and final season in 2022, with production on the final episodes currently underway.
“I had already taken fencing before, but I had to retake it a little bit, because you don’t want to… I mean, if the guy is called the Swordsman, you want to make sure that you know what you’re doing.”
Hawkeye, set in New York City after the Blip, brings back Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton serving as a mentor for young archer Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) to confront enemies from his past as Ronin in order to get back to his family in time for Christmas. Tony Dalton, Vera Farmiga, Fra Fee, Florence Pugh, and Zahn McClarnon also star, with Alaqua Cox making her MCU debut in the show as well ahead of her own spinoff series Echo. With Echo debuting on the show, there’s been a lot of speculation that Vincent D’Onofrio will also appear as Kingpin, reprising his role from Daredevil, but that’s not confirmed.
The six-episode season of Hawkeye will premiere on Nov. 24, 2021, on Disney+, concluding just in time for Christmas on Dec. 22. This news comes to us from Variety.
