Marilyn Manson is mostly known for creepy stage makeup and singles featuring titles like “This is the New Shit” and “The Beautiful People,” but the man has done some acting in the past, probably for movies you’ve never seen nor heard of. Additionally, he played himself on Showtime’s hit series, Californication. Now he’s branching out and taking more mainstream gigs, including a role on Eastbound & Down’s final season and on ABC’s family-friendly program, Once Upon a Time.
Once Upon a Time showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz broke the news this week to Rolling Stone, noting that they actually invited Manson to join the show to voice the character of Shadow, who has already appeared in Season 3. It looks like the guys actually reached out to get Manson on the series.
"We've always been enormous fans of Marilyn Manson. We wanted to cast someone with the vocal ability to make our skin crawl."
Since Shadow is a character in Neverland that’s a little different than fans of the Peter Pan story may remember, that “skin crawl” comment makes sense. The character is interested in horrid activities like kidnapping and soul stealing. It’s always fun for any actor to play a villain and the gig should be a great way for Manson to get his feet wet on network TV.
While Kitsis and Horowitz were stoked about booking Manson for the role, Eastbound & Down had a super easy time nabbing Manson for a guest stint. That’s because Manson has been a longtime fan of the show and has popped up on set during filming before. TMZ reports the man actually had to lobby for the gig for a couple of years before the HBO comedy made room for him, but it eventually happened after some North Carolina tour dates landed him close enough to where the show shoots. He’ll be popping up in Season 4 as a regular-looking dude, which should be a treat for those who think the man’s in stage makeup all the time.
I don’t know if this means Manson is slowing down his music career somewhat to pursue acting gigs on the regular. The aging-ish rocker did have a stage collapse back in February. While he’s still touring, I could totally see wanting to do acting gigs on the side. I do know that if I were him, I would take any reasonable side gig that was thrown my way. It’s a day you would get to spend on a some sort of stage, playing cool characters and trying new things. If anyone can relate to becoming a persona, it should be Manson.
We’re not sure when Manson’s Eastbound & Down appearance will hit the schedule, but his Once Upon a Time episode will air in November of this year.
