One of the stars of Hawkeye, Fra Fee, who plays the role of Kazi Kazimierczack as the right-hand man of Maya Lopez, recalls one moment of his casting where he revealed that auditioning via Zoom is “odd” and he also teases whether his character will reach its full potential as that in the comics where he becomes The Clown, the closest one the MCU could have as their version of The Joker.
In a recent chat with ComicBook.com, Fra Fee revealed that his casting process was an “odd” one as it did not follow the usual method, he shared, "Yeah, it was a Zoom thing, which I've come a little bit more used to now. I mean, it's the oldest thing whenever you're reading scenes that are actually meant to very intimate and you've got that thing in the middle of the screen.”
Due to the pandemic, casting directors had to be creative in their procedures in picking out the characters, Fee said, “But it was odd and that was something that we've all managed to adapt to. But that was how it happened, which is why I think the disbelief when I actually got cast was too was so paramount. Because all I'd done was do a few tips in my bedroom and all of a sudden I'm flying to Atlanta to be part of the MCU.”
Fee was thankful that he landed the role and he couldn’t believe his agent when he finally got the call of being a newcomer in the MCU, “Are you sure someone's not made a terrible, terrible mistake? But thankfully, it was all good, it was all good. I was meant to be there. It wasn't mistake. It was completely and utterly insane.”
Fee added, “My agent called me on a Saturday, which was suspect because he's usually pottering in his garden at the weekends and told me that I'd been offered this part. And I think I was in the state of shock certainly for the first 10 minutes of the phone call order, and then so much so that he had to call me back and go, "yeah. So we did just have that conversation."”
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He shared that he had been a fan of Marvel since childhood, “I've been a massive fan of, of Marvel stories since I was a kid. I used to watch the Spiderman cartoons and I've been a massive fan of the MCU since Ironman. I think it's still one of my favorite films. So yeah, mind blown really, I have to say. But it's been the best experience ever. It really, really awesome.”
When asked about his character fully transitioning to be The Clown, he was quite broad about it, “I was fully aware of the origins of this character. And I think it was a really intriguing character in the comics. And there was a lot that I was able to take from his persona in the comic books. What I love about Kazi, he's got this really intense, sort of brooding, everything's simmering at the surface sense of himself. And I believe that's because he's harboring a lot of stuff.”
He acknowledges that the character he will be suiting up for has an evil nature, “There's a lot of issues and there's a lot of painful things that have happened. And also deep rooted passions that make for this very intriguing character that doesn't necessarily wear on his sleeve, unlike his counterparts in the mafia that are big, brash versions of themselves.”
Fee said, “He's not, he's got a quiet intensity. Whether or not it is to be seen that he takes on this persona that is traditionally viewed in the comics, we're not sure. But like you said, I think that the comic book figure is inherently evil."
So far, Fra Fee has appeared in two episodes of Hawkeye where he was a faithful follower of Maya Lopez, a.k.a. Echo, and he has been her anchor since then. He gives her the talk when she really needs some reminders of how to take care of the team first before her personal vendetta over Ronin could endanger all of them.
Hawkeye could also see that Kazi is the only one Maya listens to and he asked him to convince her to stop the endeavor of vengeance on Ronin as he doesn’t want any more deaths to take place. Kazi was revealed to be connected to Jack Duquesne as he is considered an employee of a shell company the latter owns, Sloan Ltd.
See more of Fra fee as Kazi Kazimierczack in Hawkeye, now streaming on Disney Plus.
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