With many actors, there’s often a career-defining character in their catalogue — but in the case of Orlando Bloom, there are two. And according to him, he did have mixed feelings about being known for them forever.
Starring in Prime Video’s “Deep Cover,” now streaming, alongside Bryce Dallas Howard and Nick Mohammed, Bloom plays Marlon, an actor best known for a series of commercials he did, in which he plays the “Pizza Knight.” Marlon takes himself very seriously as an actor though, and definitely does not want to be known for one viral role.
There’s a parallel that could be drawn there, given that Bloom himself had a meteoric breakout in 2001, starting with Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” where he was cast as Legolas. Shortly thereafter, Bloom played William Turner in “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” Both, of course, went on to become some of the biggest film franchises ever, and his characters became iconic.
So, did Bloom himself have the same concerns as his character of being known for just Legolas and Will Turner forever?
“Well, yes and no. I mean, those are two of, kind of the great — like, if you’re going to do two of them in a big way,” he told TheWrap. “But yeah, for sure.”
Bloom noted that he’s definitely tried to “swim outside my lane” in recent years — indeed, “Deep Cover” is one of the few straight comedies in his career — but his choices were less about drowning out his two biggest characters.
“I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to do characters that I can look back on and go, oh, yeah, I really took a swing at that,’” he explained. “You know, I want to kind of swing for the fences.”
After “Deep Cover,” Bloom will star in “The Cut” — it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and has its wide release later this year — which he also produced. Ironically, he said the film and character also takes itself quite seriously, and so he did as well. But in the end, he’s fine with Legolas and Will Turner being key parts of his legacy.
“I think I have a healthy perspective on all of it. I try to,” Bloom said. “You know, I’m grateful for all of it.”
Of course, Marlon’s fears are not the only realistic element of an actor’s life depicted in “Deep Cover.” Bryce Dallas Howard’s character, a professional improv comic (albeit a struggling one) also faces intense jealousy when two of her students get signed to a major deal.
Like Bloom, Howard enjoyed getting to play with that element in a heightened situation.
“It’s really juicy being an actor and then playing an actor in a movie, because you get to sort of make fun of yourself and make fun of the profession a little bit,” she told TheWrap. “It’s instantly relatable for all of us.”
“Deep Cover” is now streaming on Prime Video.
