‘Peacemaker’: Jennifer Holland on Filming Dance Intro – Television

You can love “Peacemaker.” You can hate “Peacemaker.” But what you can’t do is skip the opening credits to “Peacemaker.” James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” spinoff has become a runaway hit for HBO Max, with the John Cena series arguably outpacing the cultural footprint of the movie that inspired it. After a shocking season finale, the show was just renewed for a second season, and Gunn has hinted that another series in the “Suicide Squad” universe is in the works. Much of the show’s popularity can be attributed to its irreverent humor and classic rock soundtrack, both of which have been trademarks of Gunn’s style ever since his success with “Guardians of the Galaxy.” The style is exemplified in the show’s opening credits, which show the entire cast performing an elaborate dance routine to the song “Do You Wanna Taste It” by Norwegian glam metal band Wig Wam.

John Cena was not particularly known for his dance abilities before the show premiered, but the sequence was the result of hard work rather than editing room magic. In a new interview with People, Jennifer Holland, who plays Agent Emilia Harcourt on the show, recalls the difficulty of filming the intro. She said that the dance routine is still “ingrained in my brain” and that she rehearsed it so many times that she “could flash mob it right now.” While every performer gets their moment to shine in the sequence, Holland says that the entire dance number was filmed at the same time, so there was no room for error.

“We’re all in the same room together. It’s not like they pasted us together in post or anything like that, so we all had to be on time with the choreography and the music as well as keeping a straight face the whole time,” she said. “So getting us all on the same page was definitely a task, but it was great. I love that we all got to have that experience together. It was so much fun.”

Holland, who noted that her background in gymnastics made the dancing easier, is thrilled that her “Suicide Squad” character has become such a major part of the cultural phenomenon. “When [James Gunn] first started writing it, he had absolutely no idea that Emilia was going to be such an integral part of the story,” she said. “The way his writing flows, he just lets the story take him where it needs to go. She became a very integral part of the story. I’m just so grateful for it because it’s all an absolute dream for me.”

Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.