Ben Mendelsohn 'Broke' The Secret Invasion Cast With Ginuwine (Yes, Really)

You wouldn't necessarily think of Ben Mendelsohn as an R&B type of guy, but his castmates in "Secret Invasion" know differently. In fact, the actor turned out to be something of a practical jokester during the filming of the Disney+ MCU show and became known for terrorizing his co-stars with a very specific jam when they tried to shoot serious scenes. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Samuel L. Jackson described Mendelsohn's affinity for bringing a portable speaker on set and blasting out Ginuwine's "Pony" at highly disorienting moments. 

"He walks around with a speaker," Jackson described Mendelsohn's on-set antics. "Imagine you're outdoors, you're doing a big ass gun fight and you're waiting for it to start and all you hear is 'burp, burp burp burp'," he imitated "Pony's" famous synthetizer bass hook.  Longtime Mendelsohn aficionado Emilia Clarke revealed similar experiences and noted that he tended to play the song right up until the filming started. It's clear, however, that both actors saw the funny side of Mendelsohn's Ginuwine moments — as did the rest of the cast, who were cracking up at the mere memory. "It's a beautiful, beautiful thing," Clarke said.

Mendelsohn didn't discriminate between scenes and freely blasted "Pony" before the camera started rolling during an incredibly sad shot. Not that the rest of the cast seems to have minded, though. As Clarke revealed, on one memorable occasion they filmed a dramatic scene without on-set sound, and predictably, "Pony" kept playing throughout the shoot. "There was a scene that we had where the cameras were pulling back," she said. "And it's just on the back of us. Obviously, we know there's no sound so we had it playing." 

With a deadpan expression, Mendelsohn himself attributed his on-set DJ habits to giving his co-stars a "running start" to filming the scenes and judging by how fondly they remember it, he certainly succeeded. As an actor, he has a notedly menacing vibe that has led to a host of awesomely menacing villain roles that range from "Star Wars: Rogue One" antagonist Orson Krennic to his breakout role as the infinitely creepy Pope Cody in David Michôd's 2010 crime drama "Animal Kingdom." In fact, it's precisely this propensity for devious characters that made him such a great choice for the not-so-antagonistic bait-and-switch role as "Captain Marvel's" Skrull leader Talos. Evidently, Mendelsohn is a much more lighthearted guy than many of his characters, and filming "Secret Invasion" was clearly all the more fun for it.