‘Toxic Avenger’ Reboot – Elijah Wood Unleashes His Inner Riff-Raff in New Photos
Elijah Wood’s black-toothed, stringy-haired villain is revealed in new The Toxic Avenger photos.
The Toxic Avenger is a Troma classic. The satirical, grown-ups-only splatter movie was released in 1984. It immediately flopped, but midnight showings saved it, and eventually became a cult classic. It spawned two sequels, a video game, and an animated series. The title character had his own Marvel comics run in the early ’90s. There’s even a musical.
The star of the franchise is Melvin Ferd Junko III. He’s the classic ’80s nerd constantly picked on by the cool kids. That is until an accident lands him in toxic waste. When he emerges, he becomes a hero who wears a tattered tutu and carries a mop to clean up bullies and baddies.
New Cast Photos
The reboot was announced in 2022 with just a cast list filled with award-winning actors who do serious stuff, which was enough to get a lot of attention. Director Macon Blair explained to EW how the reboot is different than the trio of 80s movies. He describes Peter Dinklage’s new avenger, Winston Gooze:
“There is a terrible industrial accident that renders him a mutant and an outcast, but also gives him some super strength and super abilities that sets him on a path of being an unlikely vigilante in this downward-spiraling society
“Similar to the original Toxic Avenger, he’s singularly unqualified to be a hero. He’s not especially brave, he’s not especially crafty, but he has his heart in the right place, and he starts taking it to the limit when he’s pushed into a corner.”
Elijah Wood plays the main villain, mogul Fritz Garbinger. The movie’s director describes his look as a mix of Danny DeVito’s Penguin and Riff-Raff from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
“The look came about by discussions I had with our designers and with Elijah himself. I wanted it to feel like a Peter Sellers type of performance where he just goes invisible. The idea is that you forget that it’s the Elijah that you know from Lord of the Rings or anything else.”
Fritz’s brother, Bob Garbinger, is played by Kevin Bacon.
“[He’s in] the mold of Lex Luthor, where they have all this money and resources at their disposal, but he’s just kind of a disaster.”
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The Toxic Avenger Details
Legendary Entertainment has partnered with original creators Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz of Troma Entertainment. It has earned an R rating from the MPA for “strong violence and gore, language throughout, sexual references, and brief graphic nudity.”
“…a stereotypical weakling who works as a janitor at Garb-X health club and is diagnosed with a terminal illness that can only be cured by an expensive treatment that his greedy, power-hungry employer refuses to pay for. After deciding to take matters into his own hands and rob his company, Winston falls into a pit of toxic waste and is transformed into a deformed monster that sets out to do good and get back at all the people who have wronged him.”
Toxic Avenger debuts at Fantastic Fest this weekend. A wide release date or method hasn’t been shared. I’m hoping we’ll get a trailer after the fest has ended.
