Regé-Jean Page IS XENK

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BY ALANA JOLI ABBOTT

Q:You play Xenk, a paladin who is a bit of a stick in the mud. What can you tell us about your character?

REGÉ-JEAN PAGE: I don’t think he’d describe himself as a stick in the mud. I think his action sequences would also beg to differ. He’s not necessarily no fun. He’s just very effective and lawful good, which is often mistaken for lawful boring. The joy of every character in this movie is realizing their own absurdity very slowly while also holding on to their heart. That’s the tightrope that I think we’ve walked very well. The movie is really fun and funny but it has so much heart.

You said lawful boring, which means that you are familiar with how much grief paladins get at Dungeons & Dragons tables. I’m more D&D adjacent. I grew up playing a lot of JRPGs. I spent far too many hours of my teen years playing Diablo, in which I usually played paladins. Clearly, I was drawn to this.

You mentioned your fights—what kind of training did you do?

Infinite training. I did a lot of straightup conditioning because you have to be in much better shape than you think to get through hours and hours of stunt choreography, particularly in a full suit of armor and a cape. We broke the first law of Edna Mode—I am absolutely wearing a cape, and it’s fabulous. It doesn't make the fighting easier, but it does make it fancier.

What’s your favorite part of your costume?

The sword occupies that gray area between wardrobe and props, but it’s very much a part of the look. Xenk would say it’s very much part of him.

If you were surrounded by goblins, which character would you most want to have your back?

If I feel that I’m in any kind of danger, then it’s a fairly easy pick for Holga —Michelle Rodriguez’s character— because she has the most incredible fight sequences and she is just unstoppable. For pure entertainment value, if nothing else, being able to have the privilege of sitting back and watching Holga dispatch with goblins, I could think of nothing better.