‘Divinity’ Star Stephen Dorff Discusses His Elon Musk-Esque Character and Transforming Into a Monster That Looks Like a Penis

Jordan Moreau

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for “Divinity,” which releases in New York on Friday, Los Angeles on Oct. 20 and goes wide on Nov. 3.

In his latest movie “Divinity,” Stephen Dorff’s character is introduced with an extended sex scene and ends the film transformed into a monstrous, muscular creature with a “mushroom cloud” head that looks suspiciously like a penis. It’s not your average sci-fi movie, to say the least.

More from Variety

“Divinity” is a black-and-white, out-of-this-world indie, written and directed by Eddie Alcazar, that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and received a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement ahead of its wide release. Dorff plays Jaxxon Pierce, the son of a scientist who invented a magical drug attempting to grant immortality. Years later, Jaxxon has taken control of his father’s company and corrupted his father’s original dream. The drug, called Divinity, grants its users youth and beauty, but it causes their minds to deteriorate and renders them infertile. Jaxxon and this alternate world, which have shades of “Eraserhead” and “Tesuo: The Iron Man,” have grown twisted and perverse over time.

Two brothers, played by Moises Arias and Jason Genao, arrive from the stars to heal this world, kidnapping Jaxxon in the process and pumping him full of Divinity. The constant drip of the drug drives Jaxxon mad, and he slowly becomes less of a human and more of a mindless monstrosity. By the end of the movie, Jaxxon, now a lumbering, massive creature played by bodybuilder Michael O’Hearn, battles the brothers to the death in a stop-motion fight scene straight out of “Street Fighter.”

Dorff’s list of credits includes Marvel’s “Blade,” “Public Enemies,” John Waters’ “Cecil B. Demented,” TV shows like “True Detective,” “The Righteous Gemstones” and many more. But “Divinity” may be one of his most physically challenging roles. To play Jaxxon as a human, he had to pitch his voice up higher — not to mention be shirtless, tied up or essentially naked in most of his scenes.

Dorff discussed the long prosthetics process to play Jaxxon with Variety, as well as the surprising influence of Elon Musk (who gets a special thanks in the credits) and his plans for directing.

How did you first get involved with “Divinity”?

I’d seen Eddie’s short film, called “The Vandal,” and what he did with puppetry and effects. That went down pretty good at Cannes. I knew that Soderbergh and Darren Aronofsky and all these cool filmmakers really believed in him. After I’d seen his short, I was like, “Yeah, I’ll do something,” and then it was a question of what we were gonna do. He knew Soderbergh was gonna back him on this feature, but he didn’t know what feature. So it kind of was one thing that became this son of this scientist that started sounding kind of more sci fi. I just kind of let Eddie create it, and then it came time when there was a window to shoot it in Joshua Tree where the house was and we went on this fuckin’ crazy adventure.

Jaxxon is this nerdy scientist who transforms into a monstrosity. What drew you to the character?

Eddie is kind of a very unorthodox director, which, the kind of actor I am, can make you a little crazy. But I believed in him so much that I was willing to go there. I knew prosthetics were involved. I knew he was gonna go through these stages. Eddie wanted me to speak really high and talk up here, then he wanted me to be in spandex, naked, then basically mutilated and tortured. It was heavy for the short shoot. Very different than anything I’ve done. He would send me a lot of videos of Elon Musk and some of these odd, techie guys, these chats and interviews that go on forever where they’re talking about things I didn’t understand. I was watching their movements, what are these people like when they go home with all this money and knowledge? They’re kind of on a different level, but they’re in their own brain.

What was the prosthetic process like? How long did it take to play Jaxxon as he transformed?

That first stage is quite subtle. It’s really just the left side of my forehead protruding. The lesser amount of makeup took maybe a couple hours because then we have to cover my tattoos and do a bald cap. The big one was four and a half hours, where I couldn’t see out of my left eye while walking. They had to take me physically into set in that chair. It was just quite a frustrating performance, because there’s not much I can do besides be in these ropes. If I have to go to the bathroom, it takes a while to unrope me. I smoke, so it’s a whole fuckin’ thing to get me out. Fifty pounds of prosthetics, it’s a good way to quit smoking. Prosthetics, this movie — thanks, Eddie.

By the end, Jaxxon turns into this buff monster whose head looks pretty similar to a penis. Was that intentional?

I don’t really know. It kind of becomes this mushroom cloud. That guy at the end isn’t me. It’s a bodybuilder, Mike O’Hearn. He was really cool. My voice is there, but the ADR was really complicated because they wanted unique sounds. I had water in my mouth in the looping stage. I had this pump and I could gargle with this water and get this wet sound. It was really weird. I felt bad for that sound booth because it was all soaking wet at the end of it.

Are you drawn to these indie roles over more commercial projects?

There’s really no rule in my career, I don’t really follow any rules. When agents have told me in the past, “Oh, you should do this movie. It’s a big studio movie. That’s a John Waters movie, it’s gonna to be another indie.” Well, no, I’d rather work with John Waters than do this crappy movie that was a studio movie at the time. So I did the John Waters movie, and it was very successful and we had a standing ovation at Cannes and I got rid of those agents. I don’t really think that if I do a big movie, I have to do 10 more big movies right after. I feel like we do a big one and then I should do an intimate one. And then, “Oh wow, they want me to do ‘True Detective.'” That’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen on TV since “The Sopranos.” Yeah, sure, I’ll do “True Detective.” “What’s this? ‘The Righteous Gemstones’ and Danny McBride?” He’s the funniest guy out there and wants me to give me my first comedy. Fuck yeah. I kind of organically feel it out.

Do you see yourself directing at some point in your career?

I’ve always said I would direct when I got into my 50s and I just turned 50 in July. It’s something I’ll do for sure. I think my first film will be more of a personal film that’s maybe simplified and really about performance and music and the elements. Not something that’s a concept. I’m not going to direct a video game movie or if some studio wanted me to direct a huge commercial film. I don’t think I would do that first, not to say that I wouldn’t want to do a big film after. Give it a few years, maybe when I’m 53 or 54 and see where we’re at.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.

Advertisement