THE ACTOR IS PLAYING A MUSEUM CURATOR IN 'DEVIL'S NIGHT: DAWN OF THE NAIN ROGUE'.

opular Tamil character artiste Napoleon, best known for playing sickle-wielding, dhoti-clad and mustache-twirling characters over the years, has landed a pivotal role in a Hollywood film Devil’s Night: Dawn of the Nain Rouge, directed by Sam Logan Khalegi, who has an Emmy nomination to his credit.

Talking about how he landed the project, he told reporters in Chennai on Monday that he’s thrilled about his Hollywood debut.

“One of the producers of the film, Tel Ganesh, is from my native, Trichy. We both know each other for a long time since we both run Software companies in the US. One day, he told me he’s going to produce a Hollywood film and he insisted that I should act in it. I told him I’m not sure because I cannot speak English and also have some film commitments in Tamil. But he was hell-bent on having me on board and agreed to shoot whenever I was free.”

In the film, Napoleon plays a museum curator and he thoroughly enjoyed playing the character, the actor says.

"The film is based on a true story and I shot for my scenes last October. We’re planning to release the film in Tamil as well as I want my fans to watch the film. We’ll make slight changes to the Tamil version and we have to shoot a few scenes for the same," he said.

The film also stars popular rapper Eminem’s brother Nathan Mathers in an important role.

Born as Kumaresan Duraiswamy, filmmaker Bharathiraja rechristened him as Napoleon. Recalling the incident when the director changed his name, he said: “I played a 60-year-old in my first film Pudhu Nellu Pudhu Naathu. A week before the film’s release, Bharathiraja sir said he’d like to change my name. I had suggested a few names but he wasn’t happy with any of them and chose Napoleon, but I wasn’t happy with the name. My friends mocked my new name but I told them that I don’t have to change it when I act in Hollywood someday. Today, I’ve made my Hollywood debut and I smile when I recall this day.”

Napoleon said he wants to continue doing more films in Hollywood.
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“Ganesh and I are already discussing doing another project. I have worked in Telugu, Malayalam and other languages as well. I don’t want to restrict myself to one industry. I was nervous about speaking in English in Hollywood, but I realized it’s not as difficult as I thought,” he added.

• "Justice League" made $96 million, and was the No. 1 movie at the box office this weekend.
• But it was the worst opening ever in the DC Extended Universe.

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Only in the modern era of superhero films could a $96 million opening weekend be considered anything less than impressive. But that's the situation Warner Bros. and DC's "Justice League" find themselves in.

The big budget superhero mashup came in well under expectations, which had pegged it for a $110 million launch in North American theaters. If studio estimates hold, it will also have the dubious distinction of being the lowest-opening film in the DC Extended Universe.

It has been a rollercoaster for the DC Universe since "Man of Steel" kicked off the comic book franchise in 2013, with films battling high expectations, critical reviews and the impossible standard of competing against the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" may have been a critical dud in early 2016, but it still opened to $166 million and went on to net $873.3 million worldwide by the end of its run.

"Justice League" comes on the heels of the widely well-received "Wonder Woman," the first DC Extended Universe film to score with both critics and audiences. It reunites Ben Affleck's Batman and Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman to fight a new threat facing earth while introducing new characters like Ezra Miller's The Flash, Jason Momoa's Aquaman and Ray Fisher's Cyborg.
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"Justice League" didn't impress critics, but neither did "Batman v Superman" or "Suicide Squad," which still managed to earn $133.7 million out of the gates.

Warner Bros. is remaining optimistic about "Justice League's" prospects, even with the lower than expected launch against a production budget that's reported to be in the $250 million to $300 million range, which doesn't include marketing expenses.

"I did have a higher expectation for the three days," said Jeff Goldstein, who heads up domestic distribution for Warner Bros. "(But) this is a big vacation week, and we have an opportunity to get a big audience to see us in a different pattern."

Goldstein said he is also encouraged by a few factors, including the overall B+ CinemaScore, the fact that women, who accounted for 42 percent of the audience, gave it an A- overall, and that Saturday earnings were up from Friday's.