Code 8: Part II star Alex Mallari Jr. opened up about his time on the new Netflix series, revealing that they had a human run the new police K9 units during filming.
The template was in the original Code 8 Sergeant “King” Kingston, but it was a small role.
This time he has been upgraded. Now King is the number one villain causing trouble for Stephen and Robbie Amell’s characters.
Alex Mallari Jr. reveals how Code 8: Part III filmed the K9 police robots
In an exclusive interview with The Direct’s Russ Milheim, Code 8: Part II star Alex Mallari Jr. talked about how they filmed scenes with the new K9 dogs, preparing to play the big villain and more.
Keystone Part IIThe plot is the introduction of new K9 units that can kill criminals, including powerful individuals, although it doesn’t go as smoothly as it sounds.
When it came to filming their scenes, Mallari revealed that they did “a person in one of those spotted suits” acting out scenes where the dogs had to move:
“So there was a practical dog, but it didn’t move. But when the dog did move, there was a person in one of those polka-dotted suits doing the twirl and whatnot. It was hard to be a king and not laugh during those moments. But we got through.”
![K9 in Code 8: Part II](https://images.thedirect.com/media/photos/k9.png)
As for whether the actor named his character’s personal K9 unit, Mallari noted how it felt more authentic to King not to. After all, the villain is”someone who uses things and people:”
“No, no, I just went to King, who uses things and people. So the identity for him was like, ‘I don’t care about that. What can you do for me?”
Although Mallari Jr.’s Sergeant “King” Kingston first appeared in the original Code 8his role in the story grew exponentially for the sequel.
The actor explained the joining Part II “it was exciting and scary” and how he had to respond to the increased intensity that co-star Stephen Amell brought to the table:
“It was also exciting and scary. When I got the call from our director, Jeff Chan, he said, ‘Yeah, let’s make a movie.’ And I was so excited. And then he goes, ‘But here’s the thing. Stephen (Amell) has brought a whole other intensity. So you’ve really got to bring it.’ So right away the nerves hit, man. And boy, did Stephen ever bring it. It was mean to work with all of them.”
As for being promoted to the main villain, the actor said the director “gave (him) complete creative freedom:”
“It was great. The writing was really good. So I was able to work with my instincts. And Jeff, being as collaborative as he is, just gave me complete creative freedom. And I could handle it, day-to-day and moment-to-moment. With Stephen and Robbie it’s great to work with, of course, and Serena was great too. So with everyone’s support, I think we came up with something special and we did it. Everyone made everyone’s job easy.”
When he got into the character, Mallari told how he “I would listen to Jay Z’s album, American gangster:”
“I’m listening to Jay Z’s album ‘American Gangster’. There’s an intro that I really liked. And then putting all the Lincoln City PD gear in the trailer was also very helpful.”
The actor was then asked if he added certain elements to the character that weren’t on the page, to which he pointed his character “very cliche police mustache:”
“The moustache, as it was. I really just wanted that classic, very clichéd cop moustache, I guess from before or someday to represent something that people recognized. Other than that, it was Jeff’s call. and take his direction.”
![Alex Mallari Jr. Sgt](https://images.thedirect.com/media/photos/alexmallarijr2.png)
Mallari stars alongside the Amell brothers Stephen and Robbie, with whom he only has a handful of scenes. While working with them, Mallari opened up about how “It was just great to learn from them:”
“Great. They deliver, they show up, they know their lines, they’re professionals. They’ve been doing this a lot longer than me and leading the way for so long. It was great to learn from them, to be able to watch someone work and see how they do things and get things done done. It’s just great. And a place to learn.”
“My favorite scene was my first day of shooting” Mallari said, noting how it involved getting “spit in (his) face” What”really set the tone for the rest of the film:”
“My favorite scene was my first day of filming. And it was with Jean Yoon. And King was getting out of the police car to go to his character… He spits in my face. So it was a practical situation. And just to have Jean Yoon spit in my face, that was great… It really created the tone for the rest of the movie… Someone spat on me on the first day. You can go ahead and be that guy now.”
Warning – The rest of this article contains spoilers Code 8: Part II.
However, his most difficult episode to film was the moment when King’s telekinesis is revealed:
“That’s the part where we found out that King is a (telekinetic) person. Mostly because you have to do that thing for so long and then you clench your teeth and everything… And nothing happens, but you just flex, just move the jelly in your hand. That would have been the hardest scene.”
As for his experience Code 8: Part II helped him grow as an actor, it gave him confidence in knowing him “can handle such depth and range:”
“Knowing that I could pull off that kind of depth and range in the character just added to the level of people I was able to relate to. I felt like that was a wicked boost of confidence that I just needed to keep going.”
Many fans are probably wondering if they should resort to the inevitable Part IIIalthough Mallari himself doesn’t know about it:
“I haven’t heard anything about Part III. But I’m going to keep pestering Jeff Chan and Chris Perry about Part III and see what happens.”
But the actor knows what he’d like to see next in King’s story: he wants to “prison riot with Garrett:”
“I want something like a prison riot with Garrett. You know, he teams up with Garrett, and then there’s a badass prison riot. I don’t care about the rest of the movie. I’ll just give me a prison riot with Stephen Amell. . . . That would be fun.”
When asked what role the actor would like to play next, Mallari agreed.(He) would really like to be in a war movie” while joking about how he’s disappointed with Marvel’s anti-hero “The poison is full:”
“I’d love to be in a war movie… I love the World War ll movies. So, maybe in that area, and yeah… (Marvel’s) Venom is full. I’m into it.”
Alex Mallari Jr.’s video interview in its entirety can be viewed here:
Code 8: Part II now streaming on Netflix.
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