'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina': Beelzebub has a clear agenda for Hell's Throne, says actor Nelson Leis
Nelson Leis, plays the role of Beelzebub, a minor character on Netflix's 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.' As one of the three kings of hell, he attempts to make sure that Sabrina Morningstar/Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) does not sit on the throne of fell. His power includes animal control, he can control insects. In conversation with MEAWW entertainment, Leis talked about his preparation to play the "hellish" role and what we can expect from Part 3 of the show.
Part of being one of the kings of hell includes intense makeup, horns and bloody scars. While the actor's face is mostly covered in makeup, the voice acting is put up on a pedestal and requires a lot of effort and control. When asked about his preparation for the role of Beelzebub, Leis said, "The creation of Beelzebub was one little piece at a time, both with the physical and the emotional. Once I saw what the prosthetic build was going to look like I realized that I wanted to give him a vocal quality beyond what I did in the audition. That process was me standing in front of the mirror moving my face in weird ways, trying out voices and recording the whole thing on my phone."
He talked about the makeup process for the role of demon king, saying, "It's about two-and-a-half hours to get on and 30 minutes to get it off. The tough part is taking it off. There's a lot of yanking on the mask, and vigorous rubbing on my face with alcohol-drenched Q-tips. I'm used to it. I go into a meditative place and let Mike Fields, who's this master prosthetics artist, do his thing."
He continued to talk about how he dealt with the intense prosthetics that were to be placed on him for the entirety of his role. "I had done one other prosthetic job, in a short film where I didn't have to speak, so it was a new experience. There was this 'aha' moment I had while talking to someone on the prosthetics team: They said that sometimes actors get overwhelmed by the prosthetics, kind of letting it overpower them, not working with or through the mask. That was a clue for me – I thought 'Oh I can really use this face piece to my advantage,' I gave myself permission to go physically expansive. I thought, 'Well I'm going to walk on set, and do this voice and bring this physicality on the first take, and if they don't like it, I'll adjust on the fly.' Nobody ever told me to stop, so I'm still doing it," said Leis.
When asked what drew him to the role of Beelzebub, Leis said it allowed him to work with a character so volatile yet controlled.
"What was attractive to me was that I felt like I had carte blanche for his creation, in that I wasn't even restricted by human qualities. Like I mentioned, I felt like the prosthetics also freed me up to create in a big way. And this season (Part 3) I felt further liberated like I could flesh him out even more given that I was playing in his domain now, which is the Infernal world. In Part 2, Beelzebub was this kind of monster in a closet who pops up to kidnap and kill Sabrina. Whereas this season he has a clear agenda, which is getting Caliban on the throne," said Leis.
With the much-anticipated Part 3 coming up, fans are trying to figure out the'new order' in the pits of hell. When asked how Beelzebub reacts to new changes in Hell now that the Dark Lord is imprisoned, Leis said, "He's not having any of it. He's outraged that Madam Satan is on the throne. I think essentially Beelzebub and the Infernal Kings are threatened by the fall of the status quo, which has been patriarchy up to this point. And so they've championed their own horse in the race for the throne."
While it matters what the Dark Lord things of the new order, it seems as though Sabrina may have to fight off more than just her father, the devil. Beelzebub "considers her (Sabrina) as much an interloper as Madam Satan. The idea that a half mortal-half-witch could sit on the throne is blasphemous to him."
All episodes of Part 3 of 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' will be streaming on Netflix on January 24, 2020.