How Does Alan Cumming Bring Nightcrawler to Life Amid CGI Chaos?

I’ve always wondered this: do actors actually enjoy working on blockbusters like Avengers: Doomsday when most of it is just green screen, CGI, and a complete mystery of what the final movie will even look like?

And then I stumbled across this news: Alan Cumming, who you might remember as Nightcrawler from X-Men, is reprising his role in Avengers: Doomsday.

Here’s his own words:

"I did the entire film in isolation. Lots of green screen, face replacement. They even gave characters fake names. I don’t know who I was acting with half the time," he laughs.
"I broke the internet by mentioning something once, but honestly, I might have got it wrong."

And reading that, I thought, wow… how do actors even cope with this? I mean, personally, it would drive me insane. You spend all this time performing, and you literally have no idea what the end product will be.

Isolation, fake names, CGI-heavy sets — it’s all so secretive that even the actors themselves don’t really know what’s happening.

I get it, of course. Marvel wants to keep Avengers: Doomsday under wraps. No leaks, no spoilers, maximum hype. But still… doesn’t it take away some of the joy of acting? Are actors truly enjoying themselves when they can’t interact with other performers or even see the real set?

Maybe Alan Cumming loved it. Maybe he thrives on this kind of challenge. But I can’t help thinking: personally, I’d be irritated. Acting is supposed to be fun, collaborative, immersive — and if you’re basically acting alone in a green void, how much fun can that really be?

It’s fascinating though, isn’t it? Even with all the secrecy and CGI, the actors still bring life to these massive, epic universes. But it makes you wonder: do they feel the magic while filming, or only when the final product hits the screen?