Lucifer is an infamous character that’s been portrayed on the big and small screen countless times. There was even talk of a Bruce Almighty sequel back in the day, where Jim Carrey would have the devil’s powers. It’s always fun seeing a brand-new depiction, especially coupled with a unique story premise. Enter The Devil Conspiracy, which is now in theaters. The sci-fi/fantasy film follows a powerful biotech company that has breakthrough technology allowing them to clone history’s most influential people with just a few fragments of DNA. Behind this company, however, is a group of Satanists that steals the shroud of Christ, thereby putting them in possession of Jesus’ DNA. The clone will serve as the ultimate offering to the devil.
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Speaking of the devil, we recently caught up with the actor who plays him this time around. Joe Anderson dished on filling such infamous shoes for the new film, while also sharing about some of his other past and future projects.

Playing the Devil on the Big Screen

MW: What was it about The Devil Conspiracy that attracted you to the project?

Joe Anderson: Outside of acting, I’m sort of interested in this kind of meeting of science and religion anyway, science and mythological history… And let’s not forget the fact that if somebody says, “Hey, do you want to play the devil?” Yeah, OK, that sounds really cool. I had no idea what the look was or anything, but really the premise of blending, you know, science and religion and DNA and cloning… I just thought it’s gonna be awesome. It’s an awesome premise to pull from both sides of those aisles. And then I said “yes”… and came up with a character, [thinking] “OK, so how many devils have there been?”

And then I got there and then saw the designs, and went, “Oh, well… my suave, Martini-drinking devil was not going to work with that.” So there was a bit of a reject there and a bit of a kind of changing it on a spot. And then, it was just sort of executing it very, very quickly. We shot three days in a quarry, which I thought was brilliant because they could have done it with a blue or green screen, and on a stage somewhere, but they had this big limestone quarry, and they lit it blue… So it was three days of [co-star] Peter Mensah and I shouting at each other over the fans, you know, over the wind machines… But it was just a really enjoyable three days of getting to inhabit this thing. It’s sort of work from the outside in, you know?

Related: Exclusive The Devil Conspiracy Clip: ‘God Didn’t Send Me’

MW: Once the character of Lucifer was finally nailed down, what was it like playing such an iconic role?

Anderson: It was tricky because it was about, you know, “Where do I start with the character?” And obviously, there was this very big, bold physical makeup job and then trying to find a voice that matched that. And so, I think we shot for three days and couldn’t speak for a week afterward… But then, due to all of the effects and fans, you know that you’re going to be doing [dialogue] in a studio anyway. So suddenly you think, “OK, this is not necessarily about the intonation of the delivery. It’s about what I’m doing physically.” So by the time we get into the ADR studio… you can tailor what you’re doing verbally, hopefully, so that it fits the theme… Nathan [Frankowski] shot quickly, which I think is great because it’s just a sign of a confident director… And a lot of it, as well, was referencing what was going on in the real world.

MW: Do you tend to gravitate towards a specific film genre when choosing your projects?

Anderson: Yes, I do. I’m not a big fantasy guy… I suppose it was an unspoken rule that if it couldn’t happen, I didn’t really want to know about it — unless it was sci-fi because that kind of has a logical progression. But at drama school, around that time, Joe Carnahan’s Narc was something that I remember… and 21 grams. It was that period. And obviously, as I come out [of school] and get into it, it turns into a Marvel world… but that sort of rock ‘n’ roll, grit, dirt cinema, you know? It’s not as frequent now, but anything that’s gritty stories about people is where it’s at for me.

Across the Universe and Future Projects

Columbia Pictures

MW: I loved your performance in Across the Universe. You got to sing my favorite Beatles song.

Anderson: Thanks, man. It’s funny, when we did that, little kids would come up after the film singing “Hey Jude.” So it was cool.

Related: The Devil’s Backbone: Guillermo del Toro’s Approach to Innocence in Horror

MW: Are there any other projects you’re currently working on, that you’re excited about?

Anderson: I’ve just finished shooting a film called The Last Front, which is a first World War movie with Iain Glen from Game of Thrones. It was shot down in Belgium. It’s really great, very evenly sort of balanced story about the first World War, Germans coming into a Belgian town and taking it over.

MW: Would you be interested in playing the role of Lucifer again in the future? Whether it’s for a sequel to The Devil Conspiracy or something else?

Anderson: In terms of [The Devil Conspiracy], probably not because it’s standalone, you know what I mean? The look is it’s very particular… But with that said, would I play [the devil] again? Yes, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it’s endless, you know? In terms of what you can do with it. So yeah, definitely would.

The Devil Conspiracy comes to us from Samuel Goldwyn Films.