UFC Champ Georges St. Pierre Joins Captain America Cast

[Andy Chalk]

UFC Champ Georges St. Pierre Joins Captain America Cast

UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre will appear as a famous cheese-eating supervillain in next year's Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

French-Canadian welterweight Georges St. Pierre is a great real-life fighter but his accent, reminiscent of an unrefined Jean-Claude Van Damme, isn't exactly the most Hollywood-friendly cadence ever. Nonetheless, he's about to take on a role in what will presumably be one of the biggest summer blockbusters of 2014, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and it's a role that's actually just about perfect for him.

I've been out of the comics game for awhile so I struggled, before I dug into the Latino Review report, to think of who St. Pierre could play without seeming completely out of place. Bucky? Too old. Sgt. Rock? That's DC. Charles de Gaulle? That might work, but I don't think De Gaulle ever kicked anyone in the face, and why would you hire a guy like St. Pierre if face-kicking isn't in the job description?

The answer, as it turns out (and I eventually gave up and looked, although it should have been obvious) is Batroc the Leaper, a French mercenary who specializes in savate, a form of kickboxing. Batroc doesn't possess any superpowers but, rather like Batman, he's in perfect physical condition, an expert in hand-to-hand combat and, as a former French Foreign Legionnaire, a skilled military tactician. He's also had several run-ins over the years with Captain America, Spider-Man, The Punisher, Deadpool and many others.

Even so, he's not entirely a bad guy, and has in fact joined with the hero types on occasion when his villainous employers got a little too dastardly for his liking. Best of all, Batroc, as a comic character, has a thick, stereotypically French accent, as typified by lines [http://marvel.wikia.com/Category:Georges_Batroc_%28Earth-616%29/Quotes] like, "Men wizout honair deserve no mercy!" I think that's the sort of material that Georges will really knock out of the park. And I can't wait to see the mustache! Or, as Batroc would say, "moustache."

Captain America: The Winter Soldier takes place after the 2012 film The Avengers and follows Steve Rogers' struggle to fit into the modern world. It is currently scheduled to come out in April 2014.

Source: Latino Review [http://latino-review.com/2013/03/25/exclusive-georges-st-pierre-play-heavy-captain-america-winter-solider/]


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[Kargathia]

At a guess this wouldn't even be too unfamiliar for him, as the format is along the same lines as most of his professional fights: first you talk a lot of trash, then you punch people in the face. Repeat.

 

[Baresark]

Not a selling point, to be honest. Too many movies have had sports stars try to act, to abysmal outcomes. I'm gonna look forward to the movie, I just hope he only really has a bit part in it rather than a major part. I would rather they perform a little movie magic with someone who can act rather than the real deal and the product is terrible. Time will tell.

 

[Goofguy]

At a guess this wouldn't even be too unfamiliar for him, as the format is along the same lines as most of his professional fights: first you talk a lot of trash, then you punch people in the face. Repeat.

Except that GSP doesn't really do any trash talking. He tends to be a gentleman and rarely lets his opponents get the better of him in and out of the octagon.

 

[NightmareWarden]

Ah the wonderful crossovers of different fields... first a porn animator gets hired in video game art (or something of that nature) and now a UFC fighter is hired as an actor.

 

[TorchofThanatos]

Sweet! This is bloody great. I really like GSP and I am looking forward to watching this movie. I will be nice to see someone who can actually fight in one of these movies. cough. Black Widow. cough. I could see those terrible wires moving that stupid female that can't act through those fight scenes she that should have been hired for. I shouldn't rant but what-ever-her-face is can't act and can't fight.

 

[Shockolate]

Ah the wonderful crossovers of different fields... first a porn animator gets hired in video game art (or something of that nature) and now a UFC fighter is hired as an actor.

Former Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was B.A. Baracus in The A Team movie 3 years ago.

It's happened before.

 

[FloodOne]

At a guess this wouldn't even be too unfamiliar for him, as the format is along the same lines as most of his professional fights: first you talk a lot of trash, then you punch people in the face. Repeat.

Except that GSP doesn't really do any trash talking. He tends to be a gentleman and rarely lets his opponents get the better of him in and out of the octagon.

Nick Diaz recently got the better of him outside of the Octagon. inside though, it was the usual dominance from GSP. The boring, jab and grab dominance that we've seen 20 times before.

Man, I hope Johnny Hendricks knocks him the fuck out.

 

[ASan83]

As a fan of cheesy super-villains, I'm stoked to see Batroc the Leaper on the big screen. Don't really give a shit who plays him.

 

[poiuppx]

Hell yeah Batroc!

...wow, given I adore the UFC, it says something about my sheer geekdom that THIS was my first thought when I saw the article.

 

[cathou]

of course french canadian accent while speaking English is a mile away from France accent speaking English. but let's not be too picky i guess.

the guy is great, he's a great champion, very nice guy too. but he's not an actor. not i good idea i think...

 

[Cyrromatic]

Haha, this was both unexpected and bloody awesome. BATROC ZEH LEAPAIR!

 

[keiji_Maeda]

...

I want to see this happen now, 't be nice to see GstP actually fight someone in his own league. Captain america, as someone who read marvel growing up i've never heard of "zee leper" but if andy chalk compares him to batman, then i'm pretty interested.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Not a selling point, to be honest. Too many movies have had sports stars try to act, to abysmal outcomes. I'm gonna look forward to the movie, I just hope he only really has a bit part in it rather than a major part. I would rather they perform a little movie magic with someone who can act rather than the real deal and the product is terrible. Time will tell.

This. Plus, as a French Canadian, I can't help but be a little peeved at the fact that GSP's going to be playing not only a Frenchman, but also a Legionnaire. If they ask him to put on a ridiculous accent on top of that, we'll end up with a trifecta of clichés being stacked together.

That's one thing that bothers me with Hollywood. They need someone to play a Japanese character but can't afford one of the few Nippon big-names they care about? Fuck it, let's just get a South Korean! Better yet, a Korean American! Nobody's gonna tell the difference!

It's honestly worse when it comes to French characters. When they do think about it, they drag Cyril Rafaelli or David Belle out of the mothballs. Or, y'know, Van Damme. As they usually don't, however, they figure that, hey, the average moviegoer knows jack shit about Canada or Quebec anyway! Case in point: Karine Vanasse playing in Pan Am. The producers figured getting a Quebecois actress pretty much equalled getting a "Cheap French Actress".

So, yeah. As a general principle, Hollywood tends to assume Quebec and France are one and the same because the average moviegoer is going to be too ignorant to tell them apart.

Trust me, there's over two hundred years of history that tells us apart from one another.

So I'm glad about Saint-Pierre getting this role, but I'm really not looking forward to him trying his hardest to sound like this. Or, should I say, like zis:

<youtube=ja66EOPw3-E>

 

[Fappy]

I never thought I'd see Batroc in a Cap movie, but I can't say I am disappointed by this news! I hope Crossbones ends up in one of the films eventually as well.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Sweet! This is bloody great. I really like GSP and I am looking forward to watching this movie. I will be nice to see someone who can actually fight in one of these movies. cough. Black Widow. cough. I could see those terrible wires moving that stupid female that can't act through those fight scenes she that should have been hired for. I shouldn't rant but what-ever-her-face is can't act and can't fight.

I know what you mean. yeah, Scarlet Johanssen's hot, but she's not very expressive. She only had, like, 1 facial expression in most of her pictures. I heard since Iron Man 2, Olga Kurylenko should have gotten the Black Widow role (and I know she's Ukranian, not Russian, but in Hollywood geography, that's "close enough").
Still, I'm super excited for Batroc in the next Cap movie! How will his mustache translate to film?

 

[drh1975]

The Falcon, Winter Soldier, (possibly)Crossbones, whoever the hell Redford's playing and now Batroc. Who's next? Nomad? That lameass, D-Man? Diamondback? Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing Diamondback. My point is, the cast is getting so big, there might not be room for Captain America himself.
This was a problem the comics had in the nineties: more and more characters would join the cast, leaving Cap as a supporting character in his own series.

 

[Kashagi]

At a guess this wouldn't even be too unfamiliar for him, as the format is along the same lines as most of his professional fights: first you talk a lot of trash, then you punch people in the face. Repeat.

Except that GSP doesn't really do any trash talking. He tends to be a gentleman and rarely lets his opponents get the better of him in and out of the octagon.

Nick Diaz recently got the better of him outside of the Octagon. inside though, it was the usual dominance from GSP. The boring, jab and grab dominance that we've seen 20 times before.

Man, I hope Johnny Hendricks knocks him the fuck out.

Ditto. St. Pierre is the most boring fighter in the UFC by a scary margin. Refuses to throw anything more dangerous than a leg kick, or strike with anything other than elbows while attacking because his submission defense is awful. If he faces anyone who can block his takedowns (that list is VERY short obviously), he's meat.

Jonny won't be able to get past that jab. Jonny has knockout power for sure, but those hooks are so wild, they will be easy pickings for GSP to avoid.

I don't understand the hate for GSP. He is one of the most technically dominant fighters in the sport. No one can stand up with him, no one can out grapple him, he makes top contenders look like amateurs. You say his submission defense is shit, how come he has only been submitted once in his career, to the second greatest Welterweight of all time at a much earlier age?

GSP has fantastic submission defense in that he is never caught in them, ever. I love seeing a brawl, but I also love seeing a fighter dominate their opponent like GSP does. It seems many others do too, as he is the biggest selling MMA fighter around right now.