[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for The Suicide Squad.]If you could have a superpower, what power would you chose? That question is an oldie and always a goodie — but, I could never imagine myself answering that question with, having the ability to communicate with and control rats. However, James Gunn's The Suicide Squad might have just changed that.
Not only does Daniela Melchior’s performance as Ratcatcher II and the character's arc make her one of the strongest players in the massive ensemble, but so does her connection with the rats. Her special bond with Sebastian is hugely charming, what she’s able to accomplish with the rats is exhilarating and then, to top it all off, the rat-based lesson instilled in her by her father (Taika Waititi) is incredibly inspiring; “Rats are the lowliest and most despised of all creatures, my love. If they have purpose, so do we all.”
While discussing her journey to Hollywood and her experience making The Suicide Squad on Collider Ladies Night, we put a pretty heavy focus on digging into what it was like bringing Ratcatcher II's ability to screen, beginning with the broadest question of the bunch -- how much of what we see in the final product is real rats vs. CGI rats? Here’s how Melchior broke it down:
“All the tsunami of rats that we see in the movie, it’s CGI. But every time I could, I had one rat with me so sometimes I have the real rat in my hands or on my shoulder, but every time the rat would wave and do some particular stuff, it would be CGI.”
As a huge animal lover, I’ve wanted every type of pet imaginable throughout my life -- rodents included. The problem is, I vividly remember wearing gloves when I was a kid while handling hamsters because I didn’t want them to bite me. Melchior, on the other hand, looks so comfortable handling the rats in the film and behind-the-scenes. Is that because they’re so highly trained or because she's simply at ease in those kind of situations? Here’s what she said:
“They were trained. They were trained to behave and to stay on my shoulder, if they had to, to stay quiet in my hands. They’re really smart and they never felt that they were in danger with me, so that’s why they were never in a defensive posture or something, so I never felt that the rat could bite me because I was really respectful with them. Because many people, when they have an animal in their hands, they want to touch all of the body and I had many cats when I was younger, so I never touched their belly. So with the rats, [it was] the same. I could have them for many hours with me, but if they don’t like something, I’m not the one that will teach them to like something in particular.”
Melchior also took a moment to discuss Ratcatcher II’s relationship with specific rats. Is Sebastian special or does she have the ability to form that kind of close connection with any rat?
“I feel that Sebastian is her best friend and could probably be the one that she cares the most [about]. That’s why he’s the one having clothing with his initial. But she’s fine with the rest and she can control them, but it’s like, if she goes to Portugal, she controls them, but she’s not their best friend. If she goes to Corto Maltese, it will be the same, and Sebastian will be the only rat that goes with her everywhere.”
From there we jumped into the heavy spoilers -- The Suicide Squad’s big finish where one of the most unlikely characters winds up saving the day. Had you asked me at the beginning of the film if Ratcatcher II would be the one to give the team a fighting chance in the eleventh hour, I probably would have said, no way. Turns out, according to Melchior, Cleo thought the same thing about herself:
“I would say that Ratcatcher II doesn’t have a clue about how powerful she is, and it was something that came from her core. Of course Harley saves the day too, but she didn’t have a clue that she would be surviving, she would be the one with this tsunami of rats that could save the day or help Harley to save the day. So it was something that I never thought about it with that point of view, neither Ratcatcher II.”
But of course, ultimately, Ratcatcher II steps up in the biggest way imaginable, summoning a “tsunami” of rats and significantly weakening Starro so that Harley (Margot Robbie) could deliver the fatal blow. What exactly does that level of rat control feel like versus what she had done before? Here’s how Melchior explained it:
“I would say that it’s more emotional and mental than physical, because as we see in the movie, she doesn’t run, she doesn’t even try. It’s crazy! She only runs for her life if she feels Starro is coming right after her because in other ways, she wouldn’t even try. So when she starts to think about her father and to think about her purpose or finding her purpose, I really feel like she’s really trying and she’s suffering more with her heart and soul and mind than in a physical way.”
Looking for more from Melchior? We’ve got the uncut version of the conversation for you in podcast form below. We discussed how she made her way from Portugal’s film and television industry to Los Angeles, why she was apprenhensive about auditioning for Hollywood films, what happened during her The Suicide Squad audition, what she thinks could be next for Ratcatcher II and loads more!