Peacemaker actor Jennifer Holland, who plays A.R.G.U.S. agent Emilia Harcourt, reveals the grueling training she had to complete to portray the government operative.
The HBO Max series set in the DC shared cinematic universe picks up where we left off a colorful cast of characters in James Gunn’s excellent action-adventure and comedy from last year, The Suicide Squad.
By the end of that film, John Cena’s Christopher Smith, AKA Peacemaker, was hospitalized from a bullet wound and a building collapsing on top of him. After recovering, he is once again recruited on a top-secret mission, this time dubbed Project Butterfly, at the bidding of Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller.
Emilia and Steve Agee’s John Economos are the agents who have the not-so-glamorous duty of rounding up Peacemaker at gunpoint in his trailer. They both transform from being mere side characters largely relegated to behind a desk in The Suicide Squad to being two of the main characters in the midst of the action in Peacemaker.
As such, Holland explained she had to double down on the physically-demanding training required for the now-action-heavy role, even when the cameras weren’t rolling.
“Anytime I wasn’t on set, really, I was working with the stunt team, and the fight team, and the tactical guy on just training,” she told ScreenRant.
“We did a ton of just general fight training, they taught me a lot of basics of certain things, and then we did a lot of training for the specific fights that we have in the show. The stunts team, led by Wayne [Daglish], was just incredible. I think they created some really amazing sequences in this show and I’m so grateful to be a part of them,” Holland said.
Explaining that it’s always been a dream of hers to find the more physical and athletic part of herself with acting, she was stoked to “fully do that in this series.”
Holland also has a stunt double named Yulia, whom she described as “incredible.”
“She makes me look like way more of a badass than I am. She taught me all of the fights. We worked tirelessly to make sure that I could do everything almost as well as she was doing it,” she said.
Catch Holland kicking butt and taking names in Peacemaker on HBO Max.
