Terry Crews Reveals Which of His Iconic Characters Would Survive 'The Killer's Game'

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The Killer's Game (2024)

The Big Picture

Terry Crews stars as Lovedahl in 'The Killer's Game' an old-school assassin who butts heads with Dave Bautista's Joe Flood.
Crews discusses his friendship with Dave Bautista and what kind of projects they'd love to do together next.
Crews gives advice to athletes such as Travis Kelce, who are trying to break into acting.

Terry Crews is easily one of the greatest athletes turned actors to ever grace the screen. He's proven that he can do it all, from his memorable sitcom roles as Sergeant Terry Jeffords on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Julius Rock on Everybody Hates Chris; playing an exaggerated version of himself in Old Spice commercials, starring in cult-favorite comedies like Idiocracy, action movies like The Expendables, and hosting the reality competition series America's Got Talent.

Crews' latest role is the "old-school" assassin Lovedahl in The Killer's Game, an R-rated action-comedy starring Dave Bautista. The film follows Joe Flood (Bautista), a mercenary who learns that he has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. To make his death come faster and to ease the inevitable heartbreak from his girlfriend (Sofia Boutella), Joe sets up a contract for Marianna Antoinette (Pom Klementieff), another assassin, who has long been his rival. However, Joe soon learns that there was a mix-up in the lab report and that he's not actually dying after all. However, Marianna is unwilling to cancel the contract, meaning that Joe will now have to fight for his life.

I was fortunate enough to sit down and talk with Crews about his role as Lovedahl in The Killer's Game as well as his friendship with Bautista, who of his past characters would survive the movie, and much more. You can check out our conversation below.

COLLIDER: I am a huge fan. I've been a day one fan of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. So, this is a dream come true for me.

TERRY CREWS: Oh, thank you so much, Nate. Thank you. Man, I'm so honored, brother. I love, love Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Which of Terry Crews' Characters Would Survive 'The Killer's Game'?

"He'd have the guys so drunk and partying that they wouldn't want to fight anymore."

So, out of all the characters you've played, who do you think could survive being in Joe Flood's shoes in The Killers Game? And why would it be President Camacho?

CREWS: Listen, Camacho would definitely survive. And you know what other? I think Hale Caesar from The Expendables would probably survive. He could blow everything up. You know what I mean? And Camacho would entertain his way out of it. He'd have the guys so drunk and partying that they wouldn't want to fight anymore. It'd be all good.

Terry Crews and Dave Bautista Have Always Wanted To Work Together

So, I noticed that your casting for this movie was announced a little bit later than everybody else. So, how late into the fold did you join the project?

CREWS: Yeah. They had just done prep and the whole thing. And Andrew Lazar and the other producers, they were literally like, they had the whole epiphany about me being a part of this movie because I've worked with Andrew on Get Smart and all these other things. And it just kind of came together. And Bautista and I have always, always talked about working together. And I actually got a call from David like, “Hey, wait a minute, man. Would you like to be a part of this?”

Like we're looking at this role and we're looking at this thing. And originally it was Ice Cube that was going to play in it because it was originally announced as Ice Cube. And due to some conflicts, they had to go make another move.

But when this happened, Dave was like, “You'll be perfect.” And I was like, “Man, you had me hello,” because this is something we always have been talking about doing. And it just was so organic and beautiful, and I'm happy it worked out the way it did.

So you brought up Bautista, and I know both of you have expressed interest in doing a Gears of War movie. Did that conversation ever come up on set?

CREWS: Yeah, we talked about it a couple times. But, you know, we're all talking projects, talking things. Let me tell you, it's one of those things where you can only control what you can't control. We don't own the IP. Listen, we talk about a lot of things. I was talking about a sequel to The Thing. Where I would play, the son of Silverthroat (Keith David).

We were talking about Thing 2, we were talking about Alien, we were talking about all these different things and Gears of War came up. And it was just like, man, we would love that. But when you don't own the IP, there's only so much you can do.

I remember I wanted a part in A-Team years ago, in the A-Team remake. It was Bradley Cooper and all those guys, and I put together a film, and did my whole thing, and it turned out wasting a whole lot of time. Because it's almost like if you put yourself out there, that ensures they won't do it. Because they want to be like, oh, we weren't convinced by you, and we have to go a whole other route because we don't want people to think that you influenced our decisions. It's kind of weird how this town works. Things that you think would be what they call, you know, no-brainers, instantly become brainers, big-brainers.

So, what can I say? It's just one of those things that, you know, you just don't understand, and there's a lot more that I don't know about this biz, but if they ever did want to do a Gears of War movie, listen, Dave and I would be in line right away. We would be the ones that would jump at the shot.

Terry Crews on His Diverse Portfolio

Terry Crews as Lovedahl screaming on a character poster for The Killer's Game.

You bounce back and forth between comedy and action, and America's Got Talent. But what was it about The Killers Game that made you want to return to the action genre?

CREWS: Wait, you got to know, man, I am everything. I am literally an athlete.I am a warrior. I am a comedian. There's no lane that I feel I can't. I'm a host. I'm an action star. I'm dramatic. I've just decided to never, ever, you know... One thing is that you can't live your life based on the limited expectations of others. And this is what I found a lot of actors and people who perform do. They go, “I do magic. How will people see me? If I did something else, if I started to dance, they would flip out..”

But that's not true. None of that is true. In fact, I have several different audiences that don't know each other. I have the Camacho audience doesn't really know the Everybody Hates Chris audience. And the Everybody Hates Chris audience doesn't really hang with the Expendables audience. So I've been doing action. I did three Expendables. So action is really one of my things.

And then for me to jump back into the action genre is natural. It's wonderful. One thing is I never rule out any specific thing. Never. I'll go back to slapstick comedy in a second. If it's the right movie or project, I'll go right back to a TV series if it was beautiful and amazing. To me, it's just the quality of the project and if I'm right for it. And I jumped at this chance.

And also, I love playing bad guys. I have a really, really dark streak in me. And, you know, God forbid anybody has ever seen it before. I do a lot to resist it. A lot of therapy and a lot of self-thought and really working on myself. But when I get to go back into really bad dudes, I know what makes those guys tick. And so this role of Lovedahl was just beautiful.

You’ve built your own gaming PC to play with your son.In some of my other interviews, I’ve asked people “Are you a gamer?” But I want to know if you think Lovedahl ever plays video games.

CREWS: He's an old-school dude. think if he did, it was Pong. He's into old. He's into the original. This is the man who will tell you where that sample came from. Everybody's blinging on the new jam, but he's like, “Man, but you gotta check out that original Aretha Franklin. You gotta check out that James Brown. You gotta check out that Isaac Hayes.”

He's from the Stax era. And he's not apologetic about it. In fact, he thinks he's the only assassin with style. And he thinks that's where the styles came from. He thinks that all great things came from that. And you can't convince him otherwise. Everybody else is kind of a Neanderthal compared to him. And I remember that. That was in my head while I was doing it.

Like, he's a tastemaker, but he's also very, very, like, if it doesn't hit his aesthetic, you're nothing to him. He's definitely a snob.

Do you have any, like, favorite action stars that you grew up even watching?

CREWS: Oh, I mean, not only watching, but actually having the chance to work with. I worked with Stallone and Arnold and Bruce Willis and, Jason [Statham]. I know we were about the same age, but then he was doing action movies before I was even, I was still in the NFL. Dolph Lundgren, all those guys, man.

But I also grew up on Bruce Lee, who I think is just such an iconic [action star]. It just, there's very few people that have ever dominated the action genre with as much charisma as Bruce. I would literally put him at number one. And he changed the game for everybody and changed what action was. And Jackie Chan, a lot of the Asian influences were just so incredible in action movies.

What I will never forget is getting to see Jet Li live when we were doing Expendables 2 and him work out the whole beginning of the Expendables with him and his crew. I was blown away, man, because I grew up watching this dude and he was raised in this.

And I have such a respect for what this action genre is because what it is, it's truly what we all aim to be, you know? There's no better dream than to have a goal and then you have to take action in order to do it. It's literally, it gets to our base elements as human beings where we have a dream, we have a goal. What are we going to do about it? And that's what action movies are. It's pure essence. What the hell are you going to do about it? And I love that question. And that determines what an action movie is. and it's beautiful.

Terry Crews Gives Advice for Athletes Branching Out into Acting

You are one of the most prolific NFL players to shift into acting. We keep seeing football players take the shift into movies now. Tom Brady is doing it, Travis Kelce is doing it. What do you think is the best advice? Was it a natural shift for you?

No, nothing's natural. Everything is earned. And that's what people have to understand. And I think the lane for Travis, the lane for Tom Brady is wide open. I think it's great and they want to do it. But my advice is always to humble yourself and learn from square one. I think the problem is if they feel like they're already a star, and they walk into another place and want to be treated like one, it's hard. Because you're going to fall on your face, and that's the hard part.

You just have to start from square one. I wouldn't do that if I was trying to be a doctor and I just walked in and was like, “I'm a doctor.” And they'd be like, “Okay. You've got to be a nurse for a while." And that humility is what helps you. But the one thing about athletes is athletes have a work ethic. They are, if they're willing to humble themselves, they will work their way into it. And I've seen some brilliant people do it, like Michael Strahan.

Even the guys that are doing it right now on TV and in movies and different things, I've seen some great athletes make this transition. But it's not as many as people would think. Just because you're famous doesn't mean you're automatically owed a movie or a project or television. But there are some stars coming, and I want to open a door for them. I always, always like telling athletes to get over on the side and take advantage of this.

I think that wrestlers, football players, athletes of all kinds, there's room for you. I mean, me and Dave talk about it all the time. We're just looking at each other like, wow, former athletes, look at what we're doing. But Dave is a humble person. Dave really, really studies the craft. He's an artist first. And just like me. And we want to serve in the best way. And we serve the project. We serve the fans. We serve the people and give them what they want. And I'm telling you, The Killer’s Game gives the people what they want.

The Killer's Game is now playing in theaters.

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