Justice Leak Talks ‘Powers,’ Playing the Bad Guy, and Giving Advice to Tom Cruise [Exclusive Interview]

Justice Leak can write the book on playing a bad guy.

After an impressive start working alongside Denzel Washington in the film, The Great Debaters, he took on several roles that allowed him to get in touch with his inner villain, and he stirred up trouble on shows like The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, and Supergirl.

I recently had the chance to chat with Leak about portraying a villain and his current role on Powers.

“I came out here wanting to do multi-camera sitcoms, and in my first job I played a serial killer where I eviscerated women and sewed their mouths shut. That was pretty much it. I thought that was an outlier,” Leak recalled.

He continued, “I’m of the camp that nobody is truly a terrible person. I get a lot of opportunities to play some pretty bad people. Obviously, as an actor, I can’t play that from a place of being bad or evil. Everyone’s acting in their own best interests.”

Stirring up trouble and being just a little bit bad came in handy when he took on the role he’s most recognized for, Detective Kutter on PlayStation’s Powers, based on the comic series of the same name.

While Kutter is a human surrounded by others with extraordinary powers, he’s still able to stay on top of them.

“For Kutter, it’s frustrating. I think one of the reasons why he got into Powers Division was for a bit of the notoriety. [It was] his way of being powerful. He doesn’t have any special abilities on his own, but what he what he can do is have authority over them even if it’s on paper alone,” Leak said.

Powers Season 2 gave Leak a chance to flesh out his bad-boy character.

“I had heard rumblings that there was going to be some romance and that Kutter… you know, we were going to find out a lot more about him and how he ticks. And maybe he’s a little bit more than just the douchebag one-liners of Season 1.”

“It was certainly very exciting for me to be a part of it this season and see the arc sort of take place. I didn’t know who it was gonna be with. I thought it was going to be with a Power and it was going to be an interesting dynamic for Kutter who doesn’t really care for Powers, in general,” Leak said.

Fans were shocked to discover that Kutter had become romantically involved with Deena Pilgrim, played by Susan Heyward. They weren’t alone.

Leak remembered the moment he discovered that the two characters were going to take their professional relationship into the bedroom. “I was literally in my first fitting, and they were trying on different things, and one was for a post-sex, like, bedroom-wear. And I was like, ‘So…who is it that’s in the bedroom with me?’ They were like, ‘Oh, you don’t know?’ and I was like, ‘I have no idea.’ They said, ‘It’s Susan,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my god. I can’t wait.'”

Now that he’s romancing Pilgrim, Leak said that Kutter sees the world a bit differently.

“I think he was always a good person at heart, but his job, and other things sort of get in the way, and he feels this need to, sort of, puff up and put on this persona to be respected, which makes him seem like an asshole, but it really comes from a place of wanting to be liked, or wanting to be respected more than anything. I think his relationship with Deena has helped him definitely see the bigger picture.”

Leak also has admiration for Heyward. “I fell in love with her as a person, getting to know her Season 1. Obviously, she’s extremely talented. Just an amazing person, on top of being a great actor, and I just so looked forward to the chemistry that we already had off-set, basically entering in on set.”

As far as on set memories go, Leak said of Heyward, “My favorite stuff all season was any scene that we were together.”

Leak also enjoyed being a part of another memorable scene from this season of Powers.

“When Deena and [Kutter] are sneaking around the hotel room, while Walker and Agent Lange were going at it in the bedroom, that was a lot of fun. I got to be fun and kind of flirty. You didn’t get to see it in the final cut, but there was a lot of hemming and hawing before Kutter goes in for the fray, and I just had so much fun with that. And then getting hit with the ice bucket, and then trying to come to — and they focused mostly on Lange and Walker in that scene. They had that tension moment, but I love those actors, we have fun,” Leak explained.

“Tricia (Helfer) was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna be in my underwear today!’  I have no idea why she’s at all self-conscious. She’s like, ‘Well, I’m not like back in my Battlestar (Galactica) days,’ and I was like, ‘No one can tell, because you’re exactly the same.'”

“I had a lot of fun on this last episode too, Episode 8, even though I get gutted toward the end,” Leak continued.

That’s when we remember that Kutter’s life currently hangs in the balance.

I also asked him about his future after being gutted, and whether or not Kutter can survive. His reply was a simple: “Stay tuned!”

Looking beyond Powers, Leak has a few notable projects ahead.

“There’s a film that I shot right after wrapping Powers this season called Heart, Baby. It’s a true life story of a boxer in the Tennessee state prison back in 1984, right before the Olympics, who got a shot at the Olympics in exchange for his freedom, and he turns it down…It’s just a beautiful, beautiful story and they’re looking at a Sundance release this coming year.”

Also ahead for Leak is a role alongside Tom Cruise in 2017’s, Mena. 

“My stuff was all with [Cruise]. He was so great. So incredibly generous, involving me. Because everything we did was re-written as we were working. The script was changing every single day…my first day on set I was unprepared for them to be like, ‘Oh, this dialogue isn’t working, let’s try something else!’ I was playing a DEA Agent, and I’m supposed to be talking to a judge and a sheriff and other people, and I’m like, I can’t exactly improv technical jargon,” Leak said.

“And here’s Tom. He turns to me, and he was like, ‘Well, what do you think, Justice?’ and I’m like, ‘Why the fuck are you asking me Tom Cruise? You’re Tom Cruise!’…You know, Tom is asking me my opinion on how this works. So I’m like, ‘Glad you asked Tom, here’s how it needs to go…’ And so we went back and forth, and my mouth is so dry I can’t even tell you, you know? Cause as cool as he was…you know, he’s Tom Cruise,” Leak added.

“I have to tell you, he’s so kind, and so very generous, and everybody’s input counts. That’s probably why he’s continued to work so long…so, that was fun.”

With his talent, humor, and charm, there is no doubt that Justice Leak’s star will continue to rise.

“I’m starting to really like these darker, more complex characters. Although, my mom…she’s ready for me to play a good guy.”

You can catch Justice Leak as Detective Kutter on Powers, which streams new episodes every Tuesday on the PlayStation Network.

Save