STACK February 2017 Issue 148

32 / 95

“I’ve never done comedy
or satire and knew this
would be a wild ride,”
says Manu Bennett, 47, best
known as gladiator Crixus on
Spartacus although, more recently,
he has portrayed DC comic book
character Slade Wilson in the TV
action series Arrow.
During his high school years in
Newcastle, Australia, Bennett was
involved in a tragic car accident
that killed his mother and brother,
leaving him in a coma for two
weeks.
And while he felt anxious about
driving for years after, he says,
“Its probably what set me on
my path of acting because that
tragedy interrupted my focus on
academics. Instead I focused on
the arts and that’s what got me
through everything.”
His Spartacus success would
later banish his fear of the open
road, splurging on a Hurst special
edition Mustang in 2011 after
moving to Los Angeles where
he envisioned spending the next
chapter of his life. Instead he
immediately booked Arrow, filmed
in San Francisco.
“I’ve got a radar jammer in my
car so I drove there pretty fast.
Let's say it gave me an advance
taste of Death Race 2050 ,” quips
Bennett, who claims his own
Mustang is very similar to the car
Luke Goss drove in 2013’s Death
Race: Inferno. “They’re virtually
identical, only his was yellow
and mine is gold. Mine also
has Crixus painted
on the back,” he
boasts.
“I think I got
my courage up a bit more during
the filming of Arrow because my
character was meant to be very
wealthy, so I asked the producers
if I could have a Lamborghini. But
when they said no, I went out
and got one myself instead,” says
the actor who was consequently
invited to the Texas Motor
Speedway where he learned to
drive cars at performance speed.
“I ended up coming second out
of 50 other people, so I figured I
must have some skills.”
When asked about working with
the legendary Roger Corman, now
90-years-old and still going strong,
he says, “When you say 90, it
just doesn’t apply to him. I take
that number and say: 90 years of
experience. His work output is
incredible, and he’s really sharp
and lucid while I was umming and
aahing. He’s an incredible human
being and a living legend, so the
chance to work alongside him was
part of why I took the project in
the first place.”
Bennett plays racer
Frankenstein in this updated
version, which loosely reprises
the themes of Corman’s 1975
original, Death Race 2000, starring
Sly Stallone and David Carradine.
Only this time, the government-
sponsored race is about culling
the species from an overpopulated
future world.
Death Race 2050 , he cautions,
is nothing like the Jason Statham/
Luke Goss versions. “There’s been
modern interpretations of the film
but this isn’t like them. This is a
Roger Corman film – a celebration
of the ‘70s film with all the satire,
humour and psychedelic vibe.
It’s a very stylised B-film and all
about sharing some popcorn and
a few laughs with your mates.”
Shooting Death Race 2050
in Lima, Peru, the city had a
profound effect on Bennett.
“Its a giant metropolis
surrounded by jungle with no
rules. I was in the favelas one
day and saw someone get hit by
a car and killed and people just
threw a t-shirt on top of him and
took pictures. It seemed like no
big deal to anyone that this was a
dead body. It was bizarre.
“And in a way that’s kind of
what Death Race is about – a
desensitised society where life is
hard and tough and you use drugs
to fuel your emotional needs
'cause people are doing nothing
but sitting on the couch
watching TV.”
Unlike The Hobbit or Spartacus,
where equipment is all safety-
tested, the Death Race 2050 cars
were all sourced locally in Peru.
“My car was a wreck anyway
but after the stunt guys flipped
it around a bit, by the time I got
behind the wheel it was just
being held together by tape,” he
laughs.
visit DVD&BD FEATURE
DEATH
RACER
After starring as Azog, king of the Orcs in the
big-budget Hobbit trilogy, Kiwi actor Manu
Bennett suspected that Roger Corman’s
Death Race 2050 might present a rather
different opportunity. Words Gill Pringle
• Death Race
2050
is out Feb 22
I’ve got a radar
jammer in my car so I
drove there pretty fast.
Lets say it gave me
an advance taste of
Death Race 2050
The legendary Roger Corman (left)
Manu Bennett
32 FEBRUARY 2017