[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Army of the Dead.]
Many key characters meet an especially brutal demise in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead. But personally? The one I can’t get out of my head is the fate Maria Cruz played by Ana de la Reguera suffers. The connection between Reguera and Dave Bautista as Scott Ward is one of the strongest elements of the film, with the pair sharing an infectious chemistry I couldn’t get enough of. Between that and the fact that they are the first two members to join the heist crew, I had made up in my mind that, at the very least, they were going to be some of the last characters standing - until they weren’t.
It comes as a huge surprise when Cruz is the very first character targeted by Zeus (Richard Cetrone) and the Alphas when they make their way down to the vault. Upping the shock value of that moment even more is how quickly it happens and how graphic the scene is. Mere seconds after having a heart to heart with Ward, Zeus appears and doesn’t just snap Cruz’s next, but rather, does a 180 with it.
With Army of the Dead now available to stream on Netflix, I got the chance to chat with Reguera about her experience working on the film and absolutely had to ask about what it took to make that stunt happen. Here’s the picture she painted:
“Because my face is supposed to be turned around, they literally put my boobs in the back and my ass in the front. They just changed my body and then they put this prosthetic with a thing [around my neck]. And I was in the prosthetic since 7am and I started shooting that around 1 and it was very uncomfortable and it was hitting right here, so that was my least favorite day because it was like carrying this thing.”
Reguera continued by explaining that the positioning of this prosthetic was hitting a specific spot of her neck that actually sparked an emotional response:
“It was so weird, because it was hitting something here and it was making me emotional. I don’t know why! So I just started crying in the middle of the day. And then they gave me some CBD gummies and then it was fine.”
While it does sound like a mighty challenging scene to film, everything that went into it paid off big time because the shot looks incredible. If you’re looking for even more spoiler-filled Army of the Dead content, be sure to check out our chat with Omari Hardwick who details where Vanderohe’s head was at in his final scene of the film.