Why Peter Capaldi Loved Acting In Three Days Of Rain For The Suicide Squad

Nothing can rain on Peter Capaldi's parade — not even literal rain itself.

During the second weekend of DC FanDome, the digital event celebrating all things DC, Capaldi appeared alongside a handful of his fellow cast mates for an extra-special The Suicide Squad Q&A session. When it came time for Capaldi to field a few questions about the upcoming film — a sequel-slash-reboot of David Ayer's Suicide Squad from 2016, directed by Guardians of the Galaxy mastermind James Gunn — the actor got candid about his favorite moment on set. Surprisingly, the standout "moment" was more than a moment — it was Capaldi's time spent shooting a three-day sequence in fake "Hollywood rain." 

While some stars would find filming in such conditions for the better part of a work week totally grueling, Capaldi loved it. The reason why? The experience cemented in his mind that he was actually part of a superhero movie.

"I had lots and lots of favorite moments, but there's a thing that we do in the rain. Now, I'm Scottish, so I've spent a lot of my life in the rain. But this was Hollywood rain — it came from way, way up there, in these magic rain machines. And we did, like, three days in this rain — all of us, the entire Suicide Squad," Capaldi shared. "And James would play really cool music — really, really loudly — while we were doing it. And you couldn't help but feel as if you were in a big superhero movie when you were doing this scene. So that, I think, was my favorite. It wasn't just a moment, it was three days, and we were all soaked to the skin, but that was part of the fun."

As Capaldi mentioned, he portrays just one member of an enormous crew in The Suicide Squad – playing Clifford DeVoe, better known as the Thinker. A failed former lawyer who turns to a life of crime, the Thinker possesses powers of telepathy and mind control, using them for less-than-virtuous purposes when he becomes a new member of the Suicide Squad.

Capaldi shares the screen with both familiar faces from Ayer's Suicide Squad and fresh faces that are joining the franchise via Gunn's new movie. These include Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Nathan Fillion as Floyd Belkin (aka T.D.K.), Idris Elba as Robert DuBois (aka Bloodsport),  John Cena as Christopher Smith (aka the "douchey Captain America" Peacemaker), Jai Courtney as George "Digger" Harkness (aka Captain Boomerang), Alice Braga as Sol Soria, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2, David Dastmalchian as Abner Krill (aka Polka-Dot Man), and, well, way too many more to list here.

For his part, Capaldi couldn't be happier to have worked with such a cool crew of people for The Suicide Squad. He shared with a smile during the FanDome Q&A, "I think doing this film was a very special experience because James Gunn, the director, and Peter Safran, the producer, put an extraordinary cast of incredibly talented and also extremely friendly people. So, the Suicide Squad, despite how they may appear on the screen, are in fact enormously good fun. Making a film like this is ... it's a blast, really. I can't believe we actually get paid for it. But it is — it's amazing."

The Suicide Squad is schedule to hit theaters on August 6, 2021.