Jai Courtney went to "boomerang boot camp" to prepare for ‘Suicide Squad’.
The 30-year-old actor – who portrays Captain Boomerang in the upcoming Warner Bros. and DC Comics anti-hero movie about a mercenary team of super villains – had to learn to successfully wield the traditional Aboriginal hunting weapon and despite his extensive preparation, he is thankful he’ll never have to use one in a real situation.
He said: "I had my own little boomerang boot camp. I would hit the park.
"I didn’t know how much I’d be throwing them, but I thought it would be foolish to show up and have no idea what I was doing.
"They’re pretty easy to throw poorly but it’s quite hard to master. I’m glad I’m not hunting kangaroos with it because I’d do more harm than good."
While Jai found it "liberating" to play a character from his native Australia, he also felt the pressure not to offend anyone.
He said: "It’s incredibly liberating to actually play an Australian in a mainstream Hollywood film, but the boomerang was something I was slightly nervous about.
"I knew it had to be handled with delicacy because you’re talking about a sacred weapon to the indigenous people of Australia.
"I wanted to know that it was done right."
And the actor was thankful his character wasn’t portrayed as as extreme in his views as he is in the comic book series.
He told SFX magazine: "There’s some racial slur things he throws around in the coming books where I thought, ‘Man I hope we’re not going there’ because in this world we’re obviously all bad guys, but there’s something incredibly charming and likeable about everyone, and while I can have fun investigating the darker side of the man, it probably wasn’t necessary to make him someone I was embarrassed to play."
Jai Courtney’s boomerang boot camp
