Everything You Need to Know About Isaiah Mustafa
What a difference a decade makes for Isaiah Mustafa. Going into 2010, he had been attempting to transition from football into acting with little success. But it all broke big for Mustafa with his portrayal of "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like," a smooth-talking absurdly comic commercial character for Old Spice that took TV by storm. What followed was a boon in Mustafa's career, as the "Old Spice guy" would go on to star in Horrible Bosses, as well as main character Luke Garroway in Shadowhunters. His newest project is September's It Chapter Two where, as the adult version of Mike Hanlon, he tries to bring his childhood friends together to ward off unspeakable evil.
Mustafa spoke with Parade.com about his experience working on It Chapter Two, his love for Stephen King, as well as some updates on his other projects.
Related: The 15 Best Stephen King Movie Quotes of All Time
What was your first reaction to finding out you would be playing Mike?
I was super excited. I was a fan of both the book and the mini-series from when I was in high school. That was back when, in television, they would make it an event. They would have these limited series in the primetime schedule, so it was a big buzz around my school. I was very excited to be in that universe. I read the book about five times before I ended up getting the role.
How much of your performance is based off Chosen Jacobs' performance as the kid version of Mike from the 2017 movie?
Chosen laid an amazing foundation for me. What he did in the first film was an easy thing to draw from because it was so good. I watched and studied his performance about six to seven different times. Then I got the opportunity to meet him right before we started shooting. It was awesome. I really had an opportunity to dig in and go from there.
Which of Mike's qualities do you find most appealing as an actor?
That's a tough question. The quality I admire most makes him a little "off" in the movie. He's so dedicated. There's almost this insanity he has when it comes to figuring out what "It" is. He's stayed in Derry, so he's remembered everything for so long that now it's starting to have its way with him. So I admire his obsession and his desire, at all costs, to figure things out. But at the same time, it's driving him mad. (Laughs.)
Press materials have said that Mike suffers from a substance abuse problem while trying to manage all this. Can you elaborate on that?
I wouldn't call it a substance abuse problem. When you see it, you'll understand what the reference was there. I think people took that in a whole different direction and went down the wrong road. They heard "substance abuse" and classified it the way people would for someone who needs to go to A.A. I wouldn't classify it as that. I would say that Mike is finding answers and he's using whatever he has around him to find those answers. If he's addicted to anything, it's information. (Laughs.) He can't stop digging in.
You had the opportunity to work on set with actors like James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, and Bill Hader. What was it like building a group rapport as the adult version of "The Losers' Club"?
The camaraderie came naturally. We first shot a scene where we were having dinner together in a Chinese restaurant. We had also gotten dinner together prior to filming. We were able to really draw upon getting to know each other.
What would you say is the most significant difference between King's novel and It Chapter Two?
I think book fans are going to be extremely happy with what they see on screen. [Director] Andy Muschietti is so meticulous. He really wants to nod to King and pay homage to all the parts and scenes that fans love. I would say the biggest difference would be the pacing. It's a long book, so you can't have screams and scares throughout. But the movie is a roller coaster. It hits you in the mouth, and then you're off and running. There's a small part in the movie where it gives you a chance to catch your breath, but then it's right back in. It moves at such a fast pace for such a long movie.
In working on It Chapter Two, you've had to deal with a lot of dark material. Were you able to decompress at all from the subject matter?
It was a pretty long four-and-a-half month shoot. I read everything: Under the Dome, Tommyknockers, The Stand, The Long Walk. What I did--which I don't advise anyone does--was ingest about fourteen King books. It just gets really, really heady after a while. It's hard to decompress from all the stuff that goes down in his novels. I loved reading them. But man, if you read fourteen of them, it gets heavy quick. So I wasn't able to decompress for quite some time. We finishing shooting on October 31; I didn't come down off all those books until about February.
How much did your family help anchor you emotionally to get you out of that place you were in by the time shooting wrapped?
My wife was pretty much like, "Stop reading Stephen King!" My daughter is into horror movies, so she didn't really care. But my wife told me to stop reading Stephen King and chill out for a while.
Now that you've had some time away, are you itching to get back into his work?
I'm looking forward to his next book The Institute, which comes out right around the movie. It focuses on a bunch of kids; they actually say, "Not since It has Stephen King written a coming-of-age story." I'm very excited to read that. I'm going back in!
Related: Who Are the Highest Paid Authors of All Time?
I know on top of the movie and the new book, the film adaptation of Doctor Sleep is coming soon, and a remake of Pet Semetary came out earlier this year. What do you make of all the King adaptations as of late?
I don't think it's ever not timely, to tell you the truth. He's so prolific. There's always a Stephen King adaptation in the works. He has so many people who have optioned and adopted his work. You're always going to find something of his on TV or film. I think he has such a rich way of telling a story about everyday things that go wrong. It's a group of normal people in a normal town, then suddenly this thing happens. It puts ordinary people in extraordinary situations. That's what I love about it.
If you had the opportunity to play another character from any of King's works, who would you choose?
If you read enough Stephen King, you start to see that certain characters are in other books. For example, Mike Hanlon is in four different books. He's in Insomnia and mentioned in 11/22/63 and Dreamcatcher. There's also Dick Hallorann, the cook in The Shining and Doctor Sleep. He's in It, in the same regiment as Mike's father. They were both in the burning of the Black Spot and helped each other escape. If I could play any character, I would love to play Dick Hallorann. I always found his ability to "shine," which I think would be cool to play with.
Let's talk about some of your other projects. You were a mainstay on Shadowhunters, which ended a few months ago. What are your feelings on both finishing the show and how the audience perceived it?
Shadowhunters was the perfect job to work on at that point in my career. It allowed me to be on set all the time and learn. I loved it. The fanbase is so loving and appreciative of the fact that this book that they loved so much was coming to television. They went out of their way to let the cast know that they enjoyed it. We even just won a Teen Choice Award. The fans are still out there, letting everyone know, "You made a mistake taking this show off the air." They're still very vocal, which is super cool. That's probably the biggest I took away from Shadowhunters, how awesome the fanbase was.
You've recently done a reprise of your Old Spice character for a Hulu ad. What's been your reaction to this character standing the test of time?
It keeps going! It's nice to know the fans enjoy the character so much that it still has legs. What I really think is cool is that a lot of my Shadowhunters fans are just finding it. When I first did the commercial ten years ago, they weren't really watching TV. But now it's interesting because they can say, "Oh look, it's Luke from Shadowhunters!" (Laughs.) As opposed to older fans who are like, "Oh, it's the Old Spice guy playing a werewolf."
That ad has you shirtless the entire time. Have you had to keep up a physical regime to keep that figure?
I always joke that the Old Spice job is a gift and a curse. It's been so beneficial to my career, but I have to stay in shape. Sometimes I just want to eat a pizza! (Laughs.) I always have to stay within striking distance of being lean. I do some of the same stuff I did warming up back when I played football. I do a general warm-up that I used to do, which is just going out and doing about 40 minutes of cardio. But the diet's always changing. I'm a sucker for fad diets. I try them all.
What's your most recent diet?
I've been doing intermittent fasting for a while; that's always fun. I've tried basically everything but Paleo. For some reason, it just doesn't strike me as something that would work for me.
I know you're a big comic fan, and Marvel has been making headlines as of late with the announcement of its next slate of movies and TV shows. If you could play any role in the MCU, what would it be?
There's this character in Doctor Strange who's pretty fun from the 70s. His name was Brother Voodoo. I think he was this Caribbean version of Doctor Strange, where he was dealing with some of the folklore. I don't know if they're even thinking about making that character real or infusing it into the MCU. But that would be a fun character to play.
