Operation Taco Gary's follows two brothers who embark on a cross-country road trip that quickly devolves when they become involved in a global conspiracy.
Described as "pure comic momentum, full of nonstop jokes, infectious fun, and the exact kind of shared experience Chroma wants audiences to have," the movie marks the feature directorial debut of Mikey K. The cast, meanwhile, is led by Simon Rex, Dustin Milligan, Brenda Song, Tony Cavalero, Arturo Castro, and Doug Jones, with Jason Biggs.
Last week, we sat down with Doug Jones to discuss his role as the movie's alien Elder. The actor, a frequent collaborator with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro on movies like Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, and The Shape of Water, is also known for roles in Hocus Pocus, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Star Trek: Discovery.
During our conversation, the actor explains how he approached this character, reveals why he was drawn to a sci-fi comedy like Operation Taco Gary's, and what exactly his transformation into this character entailed.
Jones also opens up on Julie Garner's Silver Surfer and whether he could return as Norrin Radd in a future Marvel Studios project.
Check out our full interview with Jones on that and Operation Taco Gary's in the player below.
I'm a longtime fan of your work, and what a fun role The Elder is. I can only imagine how much fun you had on this one.
I had so much fun playing him. Well, Josh, my first love as an actor as a child was comedy. I grew up watching sitcoms and variety shows, and if something was musical or made me laugh, I was the audience for that. So, it was kind of odd to me that my career took me into horror and science fiction and comic book movies and fantasy as much as it did because comedy is like, "No, I really want to be on a sitcom. I really want to be making people laugh."
So this has been kind of a late-bloomed thing for me to come into more comedy after my recurring role in What We Do in the Shadows which was a laugh fest every day, dream come true on set, and then shortly in my final season of What We Do in the Shadows this came up and when this was offered to me I was like oh my gosh what a great transition piece for me because I'm playing fewer monsters now and more humans in my old age now that I'm 65 years old. It was just perfect. It's an alien, but he looks like me, basically painted grey with a bald cap and some gold contact lenses, and we're good to go. Like, that's amazing. Offered at the right time.
And even when the humour gets a little naughty, and this one got kind of naughty, I'll read scripts often and be like, "Oh, I don't know if I can do this or not. I've got such a wholesome audience out there." But when it's for the funny, all bets are off. I will do most anything. And this was most anything. It's storytelling.
As you said, the transformation is maybe not as extreme as some of your past roles, but it is still a transformation. So, what was that process like for you? Was it a long time in the makeup chair?
Well, it was only maybe two or three hours. It wasn't long enough to be like, "Oh my gosh." The bald cap was the first thing that happened, and then there was some airbrushing and spot painting. It took two makeup artists to get me ready, and contact lenses were the last thing to go in. It was really pretty simple. Because it was just a smooth, all one colour thing, so it didn't really require a lot of intricate shadings and highlights and all that. It was very simple, but needed to be smooth and streakless. And mind you, when you start the day in a g-string in a makeup trailer with your arms up like, "Okay, here you paint me." It can be chilly. It can be a little bit exposing, but makeup artists and I have had a very tight connection over the decades that I've been working for almost 40 years now. So these makeup artists were top-notch, knew what they were doing and were very quick about it, and we laughed and listened to music and had a great time in the makeup trailer.
Of course, you have a pretty unique costume as well. A pretty revealing costume, I guess you could say. That must play into things as well?
Well, first of all, yes, of course. Of course, when you meet me, I am an alien who's trying to pose as a human who might be like the manager of a taco fast food joint. And so that's the fun, that's where some more funny lives is that I look like something looks kind of off about me because of my colouration and my nakedness. But I'm wearing a Taco Gary's apron and a little paper hat for behind the counter and thinking like, "Oh, this is what humans look like at a fast food joint." And so I look naked until the big reveal at the end, where I remove the apron, and you see my little gold lamé speedo with a package that doesn't look quite human, or actually it looks human-plus, I should say. That was more exposed than I normally feel comfortable being, but when it's a comedy, all bets are off. I'll do it.
You primarily work with Simon and Dustin, and there's a great line about your character's guacamole-themed ability. I'll just say that. But I can imagine you guys must have been cracking up on set, working on some of these lines and going back and forth together.
Oh gosh, yes. Laughing back and forth all day. And working with Simon Rex and Dustin Milligan as closely as I did. And also, I had scenes with Jason Biggs as well. Yeah. So each one of these actors has a sense of the funny, and they all have their own brand of funny, and I thought they channelled all their funny into their characters so beautifully. But my big finale scene with Simon Rex and our handshake to cinch the deal was what a good sport he was. My gosh, because I'm like, you know what this is for, the funny. Let's go for it. He was like, "Yep, let's do it."
You've been part of so many projects of different sizes, from the huge blockbusters to the smaller ones. Why is it important for you at this stage in your career to come on board a film like this and to support a movie that is still hugely ambitious, but it obviously doesn't have that Marvel money behind it, so to speak?
You know what, I think since Hocus Pocus 2 came out and with its big budget splash on the screens and since Star Trek Discovery and What We Do in the Shadows are completed now for me—they're both wrapped—I have enjoyed these last couple years now doing mostly independent film. And they've been everything from not much budget to Operation Taco Gary's had enough of a budget that it felt like a big budget movie as we were filming it. But when you're doing an independent film, there is so much creative passion on set for all of us. Our filmmaker Mikey was just fantastic for him to be able to write and direct and see his vision come true without layers and layers of studio execs telling him you got to do this, got to do this, can't do this, can't do that. He was free to do whatever he wanted. And that's why you have such a zany product with Operation Taco Gary's because our filmmaker had the freedom to do whatever he wanted to do. And I think there's an audience for that kind of, yeah, let's watch this.
I saw a great quote about it being very comforting that it's Doug Jones leading an alien invasion. I think you might have even shared that on your social media, but what was your take on that quote?
I thought that was really beautifully said. And it was a lovely compliment. I have gotten that kind of reaction from the fandom out there over the years and over all the projects I've done that the monsters I've played have often had some sort of soulful connection to the audience or some kind of sympathetic connection where they realise, well, he's not all evil. He's got his own reasons for doing what he does, and he's just trying to survive like the rest of us. And I think that this alien, the Elder alien in Operation Taco Gary's is just been given an assignment. He's here to oversee the takeover of this planet. And this is what we do. This is how we survive. So sorry if that puts a wedge in your plans, Earthlings, but this is what we have to do. So there's something about that. He's not evil. He doesn't want to laugh as earthlings die. So I'll take that as a humongous compliment that someone thought that it's comforting that if an alien invasion were led by me, that it would be okay.
Operation Taco Gary's opens in theaters on February 27.