Mark Strong is on a hot streak, with back to back appearances on the HBO genre dramas The Penguin and Dune Prophecy. Strong played mob boss Carmine Falcone on The Penguin, and he made his debut as Emperor Javicco Corrino on Sunday. In an interview with Comicbook.com ahead of the premiere, Strong discussed the challenge of playing a powerful leader and how these two characters are similar.
“I think the similarities are that I’m now obviously of an age, and I have achieved a sort of – I don’t know, status, or whatever – where I get offered these parts now of the guy who is in charge, the guy who controls everything, the guy who has the power,” Strong said. From there, the two characters don’t have much more in common. He went on: “The interesting difference between the two of them – obviously, Carmine Falcone is incredibly confident, sure of his position, totally in control, and consequently very scary.”
The emperor’s position is not nearly as secure, as you can tell in Strong’s performance. He continued: “Corrino should be that way. He should be somebody controlling the world that he’s in, with an ability that allows him to take care of all of his enemies and really make sure that everything’s ticking over as it should be, but he isn’t. He’s the classic example of somebody who’s inherited power without having done anything to achieve it, so he’s ridden with guilt, insecurity, paranoia, and doesn’t really have the means to be able to exercise the power that he has. Unlike Carmine Falcone.”
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Strong only appeared in one episode of The Penguin, but he is in the main cast of Dune Prophecy, and it’s clear that he will be an important player in the story going forward. The emperor is caught between opposing political forces, including The Sisterhood (which will one day become the Bene Gesserit), the noble Great Houses, the economic power of Spice, and the machinations of his wife and daughter.
Who is Emperor Javicco Corrino?
Prophecy takes place within a few generations after humanity won its war against artificial intelligence – an event known as the “Butlerian Jihad” in the Dune timeline. Consequently, the political and economic unity of the empire is still relatively new and untested, leaving Emperor Corrino uncertain. He is in a precarious situation, and while he knows it he seems indecisive and ill-equipped to fight back. This show is based on the prequel trilogy Great School of Dune, but its a very loose adaptation. In the books, Javicco Corrino is a child, and while he is the heir he doesn’t assume the throne during the story. However, his characterization matches that of Emperor Salvador Corrino in the books, so it seems the names have merely been shuffled.
There are lost of mysteries to unravel here, and they’re all the more exciting because the show is not following the books too closely. Dune Prophecy airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max. The novels are available now in print, digital and audiobook formats.
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