Sacha Baron Cohen opened up about his experience signing on to play the demon Mephisto in the Marvel Cinematic Universe during a live “Happy Sad Confused” conversation at New York’s 92nd Street Y. The actor, currently on tour promoting “Ali G: Who Iz I?,” recalled how the creative team working on last year’s Disney+ series “Ironheart” took an extra careful approach when pitching him the idea of playing a character representing the devil.
“It was a wonderful meeting when I was offered it,” Baron Cohen told Josh Horowitz Wednesday night. “It was primarily, I think, an almost entirely Black producing and directing team. And they said, ‘We want to offer you Mephisto, but we are aware of the negative association of Jews historically with the devil, and we want to make sure that you’re not insulted by us offering this.’ It was such an amazingly considerate, empathetic thing to say. And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m good.’”
Stereotypes associating Jewish people with horns and other demonic characteristics stem from a centuries-old mistranslation of the Bible, which helped perpetuate the antisemitic myth. “Since medieval times,” the Brandeis Center writes, “Jewry has frequently been depicted as a wealthy, powerful, menacing and controlling collectivity, demanding the sacrifice of others to their own greed.”
Mephisto, inspired by the devil-like figure Mephistopheles, has a reputation in Marvel comics for tricking superheroes into making deals with him, often in exchange for their souls. And in the series finale of “Ironheart,” Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams strikes a deal with Baron Cohen’s Mephisto to bring her deceased best friend back from the dead.
“I think for the Jews out there, sometimes we don’t feel seen,” Baron Cohen explained. “We don’t feel like people can empathize with us, that we are suffering too. And so to have this entirely Black producing and directing team be so empathetic, was a moment of being seen. It was an amazing experience.”
“Ironheart” was created by Chinaka Hodge, with “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler and Zinzi Coogler among its executive producers.
Marvel Studios did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.