Actor and movement artist Luisa Guerreiro provided the physical performance of Toxie in the remake of The Toxic Avenger
Fans have been waiting a long time to see writer/director Macon Blair’s remake of the Troma cult classic The Toxic Avenger (watch it HERE), which wrapped filming way back in 2021 and unveiled a teaser trailer near the end of 2023, around the time it had its world premiere screening – but we won’t have to wait much longer. At the start of the year, it was announced that Cineverse had acquired the distribution rights with the intention of giving the film an unrated wide release, and we’ve since learned that they’re aiming for an August 29th theatrical release. As we know, Peter Dinklage stars in the film as Winston Gooze, the character who becomes the new Toxic Avenger – but it was recently revealed by Entertainment Weekly that Dinklage doesn’t actually physically play Toxie. Instead, “Luisa Guerreiro, an actor and movement artist, provides the physical performance of Toxie underneath all that makeup and costume.” Dinklage does still provide the character’s voice after Winston becomes Toxie. Guerreiro’s involvement has gone overlooked in a lot of reports, so we figured we should help rectify that with an article pointing out her contribution to the film.
Guerreiro took to social media to say she “had an absolute blast working on this with a stellar cast and awesome crew… not to mention the insanely great practical effects! Anyone who knows me knows I love combat, prosthetics, acting, and stunt work (when I’m allowed – big respect to the stuntees out there)… so THIS JOB… being Toxie and being able to employ all these passions plus some… well… I am so grateful, appreciative, and proud! Just wanna go see it for myself now. The script had me crying with laughter, so I WAAAANNNA SEE IT ON THE BIG SCREEN!“
Geurrerio’s online biography notes that she’s “an Off-West End Award winner, and dynamic actress working on stage and screen. Born in Maida Vale, London, UK – Luisa trained at Royal Holloway, University of London & The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She is a physical comedy actress on the Cirque du Soleil database. She is also a professional puppeteer, performance capture artist, creature performer, musical theatre performer and highly proficient advanced screen combatant. She also works as a movement artist / choreographer and is executive producer at Old Lamp Entertainment.” Her previous credits include Tree Fu Tom, Teletubbies, A Discovery of Witches, and many video game roles. She also makes an appearance in the new live-action version of Snow White.
Blair’s version of The Toxic Avenger centers on Winston Gooze, a stereotypical weakling who works as a janitor at Garb-X health club and is diagnosed with a terminal illness that can only be cured by an expensive treatment that his greedy, power hungry employer refuses to pay for. After deciding to take matters into his own hands and rob his company, Winston falls into a pit of toxic waste and is transformed into a deformed monster that sets out to do good and get back at all the people who have wronged him.
Dinklage and Geurreiro are joined in the cast by Kevin Bacon as villainous corporate overlord Bob Garbinger; Elijah Wood as Bob’s brother Fritz Garbinger, who is described as “sort of Riff Raff from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Danny DeVito Penguin mixed together”; a group of lunatics / musicians called the Killer Nutz, who are “a rock and roll group where their presentation is theatrical evil, like KISS or Alice Cooper, but their moonlight gig is professional assassins”; Taylour Paige as investigative reporter / vigilante detective JJ Doherty; Jacob Tremblay as Winston’s stepson Wade; Jonny Coyne as a “shadowy criminal figure”; Sarah Niles as a “corrupt city official”; Julia Davis as an unspecified character; and Blair as a guy named Dennis.
The Toxic Avenger remake was filmed in Bulgaria. Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz produced with Legendary Entertainment. The film has received an R rating for “strong violence and gore, language throughout, sexual references and brief graphic nudity“ – and the gore includes a moment that has been referred to as “the butt guts scene“.
Are you looking forward to seeing Luisa Guerreiro’s performance as Toxie in The Toxic Avenger remake? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
