The Sea Beast is full of, well, sea beasts. There are giant crabs, squids and the mysterious crimson creature around which the plot revolves. But perhaps the most scene-stealing presence in the film is a little fellow that Maisie christens “Blue.” Blue is an island-dwelling, exceptionally squishy creature with big eyes and an even bigger mouth. He’s adorable — and hungry. 

To get a look behind the scenes of the massive ocean-bound epic of The Sea Beast, Tudum spoke to Blue himself. The following interview has been edited and condensed for quality purposes [spoilers ahead]. It’s great to chat with you. Congrats on the movie. [Blurble]

Uh-oh. We didn’t bring a translator. Let me see if I can figure something out.  No, no. I’m just pulling your leg. I went to Juilliard. Class of 1992.  Oh wow, that’s great. So you’ve been in the performing arts space for some time now.  Yeah, I’ve been kind of rattling around the edges of Hollywood for a while. I’ve been an extra in Star Wars, Star Trek, Hotel Transylvania, pretty much anywhere you might need a blob guy. My dad played the lead role in The Blob, really put blob guys on the map in Hollywood. Big shoes to fill. But you know, I’m not pressed about it. Morgan Freeman didn’t hit it big until he was 50.  What was it that drew you to this part? Chris [Williams, director of The Sea Beast] just had this really naturalistic vision. He had a lot of great inspirations: Raiders of the Lost Ark, King Kong. And he wanted to tell a story that was kid-friendly, but that really got down on their level instead of talking down to them with fart jokes and the like. I respected that, and I really loved the script and the part.

What was appealing about playing Blue? In a lot of ways I feel like it’s the part I was born to play. I’m Blue, I’m a little blob guy. It’s a weird coincidence. If you look at all the concept art they did for Blue before I came onboard, it looks exactly like me. What was it like shooting the movie? Really hot. Out in the middle of the ocean, sun beating down all the time. And we couldn’t go swimming during the workday because it would mess with continuity. But the people were great. The [titular] Sea Beast is such a doll. A real professional. She did all her own stunts, you know. Really?  Oh yeah. They had a lot of trouble finding her a stunt double. Honestly, same for me. I’m no Tom Cruise, but I had quite a few tricky stunts to pull here. That part where my mouth gets really big? All me. Wow. And the bit where you eat all the fish? You must have been really full after a few takes. That was mostly CGI. I’m a vegetarian. Well, it was super convincing. I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more from you. That’s really nice of you to say. But careful now! I don’t want to go getting a big head. It’s just one role.  What’s next for you? I’m probably not supposed to say this, but I have a pretty big part coming up. An iconic character. You’ve never seen him like this before. Can you give us any hints? You can just call me Blob… James Blob.

The Sea Beast is streaming on Netflix now.