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There are a lot of people responding to the fact Doctor Manhattan is being embodied in a black man, and basically the show is saying that God lives on earth in the body of a black man. Right now, people are having a conversation about identity, about representation. Once it came out, I've gotten so much gratification out of the response to the character because now it's a bigger conversation. When I was telling this story to myself, I was just amped up to be playing Doctor Manhattan, to be stepping into those shoes. It's great to be able to tell it that way. That really kind of distills this season of Watchmen, I think. This is a huge figure in the superhero canon being reimagined as a person of color. And then I tried to make something that was unique and make something that was my own. I did look online to see how people talk about this character. I knew that I had an opportunity to create something that was unique: This was Doctor Manhattan from my point of view, from the perspective of a black man. There was a lot of discussion between myself and Nikki. It was really nice to create a different sort of physical vocabulary that will still be able to tell the story onscreen. I finally get here, eight episodes in, my episode, 16 pages of the bar scene and I can't show my face? But after that, I got to really sit down in those scenes and step into the body of Doctor Manhattan and really thought about his physicality, about his movements and his articulation and his body language. As an actor, it's a little bit frustrating because I want my face to be on the camera, that's the instinct. Speaking of that relationship, the intercut scenes of Doctor Manhattan and Angela meeting for the first time are a lovely part of the episode. But people needed to understand Cal and his relationship with Angela as it was before.
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I wanted Cal to be well-rounded so that once the change happened I could create a different distinct character. He's not aware of it and I didn't want to do extra work to get in the way of that character. I chose not to let that knowledge influence how I played Cal. Do you think in his quieter moments throughout those 10 years he maybe felt something was off about himself? Did it affect the way you played Cal? There are clues in those first few episodes if you're looking. When you look back on it there are certain clues here and there. I came out and said okay, number one: I'm playing Doctor Manhattan. I was going crazy! I was going nuts about that. I was sat down on this little couch, and very early into the conversation he said, "So, basically, Cal is Doctor Manhattan." He said it so matter-of-factly and without a whole lot of fanfare, and I remember falling into that same energy and receiving it that way, very calmly. So we shot the first episode, and I might even have started the second episode when Damon called me in to talk a little more about the character, where he'd be going. I think the character's name was Cal Abraham at the time or something. Right? Yeah, I'd gone through the audition process, I'd tested with Regina.
![blue watchme t blue watchme t](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ab/25/93/ab2593dcf0b041ddf403e33f8352f4a5.png)
Can you tell me when you were told about Cal's secret identity? I mean, presumably, it wasn't on the casting sheet.