There's a new king and queen in Las Vegas in Army of the Dead, and you don't want to
be one of their loyal subjects.
Viewer beware: spoilers ahead!
Zack Snyder's wild new movie takes audiences to Sin City after a government-created creature
known as Zeus escapes confinement and quickly starts turning unsuspecting gamblers into
bloody-thirsty shamblers.
Not only does Zeus take down the entire city with his infectious bite, but he also transforms
one Las Vegas native into a queen who helps him rule over his undead kingdom.
It took a lot of prosthetics and makeup to make this gruesome twosome look so royally
terrifying, but beneath their rotting exteriors, the actors portraying Zeus and the Queen are
actually quite gorgeous.
Here's a look at what these mighty biters look like in real life.
Portraying patient zero in Army of the Dead is actor and stuntman Richard Cetrone, who
has worked on a number of Zack Snyder's other films.
In fact, he's had a role in every live-action movie Snyder has directed.
Cetrone's relationship with Snyder started on Snyder's directorial debut, Dawn of the
Dead, a clever re-imagining of George A. Romero's film of the same name.
Cetrone's considerable stunt skills can also be seen in Snyder's war epic 300 and his 2009
comic book adaptation Watchmen.
In addition to those, Cetrone played CJ in Sucker Punch and Tor-An in Man of Steel.
Cetrone went on to serve as Ben Affleck's stunt double in Snyder's other DC movies,
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, including the revamped, extended,
and extremely popular Snyder Cut.
After collaborating with Cetrone on those superhero spectaculars, Affleck continued
to work with the stuntman, who contributed to both The Accountant and Triple Frontier.
Cetrone doesn't just share Affleck's rugged good looks and chiseled chin, either.
He also has the actor's respect.
After their fifth project together, Affleck shared a selfie with Cetrone on Instagram,
calling him a, quote, "legend."
On top of all that, Cetrone has also been a key stunt player on several other high-profile
projects, including Marvel's Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America: Civil War, which saw
him doubling for Paul Bettany as Vision.
He also lent his stunt expertise to Star Trek: Into Darkness, Solo: A Star Wars Story -- which
again saw him doubling for Paul Bettany -- and Underworld: Awakening, where he was unrecognizable
as a Lycan.
Cetrone also took on the villainous role of Big Daddy Mars in John Carpenter's Ghosts
of Mars.
On the TV side, Cetrone has worked on series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sleepy Hollow,
and The Mandalorian.
And while Cetrone is gorgeous in real life, he's also proven that he can also be quite
effective underneath heavy prosthetics, including his horrifying portrayals of both the werewolf
and the merman in The Cabin in the Woods,
"Aw, come on."
The actress portraying the Queen in Army of the Dead, Athena Perample,
is also quite striking underneath all of the goo and green teeth, especially when she gets
into the groove with her dance and gymnastics routines.
Perample's talents as a dancer are well-earned, too: she first began training when she was
only 11 years old.
She's had an eye on Hollywood for a while, as well.
Perample's first screen role was as one of the Cheerios on Glee, and she went on to bring
her dance moves to the NBA court as a dancer for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Since then, she has become an established actress and a stuntwoman.
She's done stunt work on several prominent series, including Legion, Euphoria, and Animal
Kingdom.
Recently, Perample's stunt skills helped make WandaVision a resounding success.
On that show, she doubled for several actresses, including Kat Dennings and Kathryn Hahn.
Not only did Perample execute some incredible maneuvers in Army of the Dead, but thanks
to her dramatic chops -- and chomps -- she managed to make us feel sympathy for a flesh-eating
zombie queen.
Now that's talent!
Thanks for watching.
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