Peter Serafinowicz tells 'Tick' trick that adds dimension to his performance

Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Peter Serafinowicz says the set of giant insect antennae he wears in the live-action, superhero series The Tick literally has a mind of its own since a crew member is operating the appendages via remote control.

"They are attached to my head. Underneath the already quite bulky helmet piece of the costume is another hard plastic skull cap, which is clamped to my skull and tightened and then contains these metal things that can move in 360 degrees," Serafinowicz told reporters in a recent round-table interview in New York.

Griffin Newman, who plays The Tick's sidekick Arthur Everest in the comic-book adaptation, chimed in that the crew member has "what looks like a remote-controlled helicopter kind of thing" to help Serafinowicz appear more expressive through his antennae.

"Her name is Lars and she is a Jim Henson puppeteer and she also talks like she is a Muppet," noted Serafinowicz, 45. "When she was a kid -- she's exactly the same age as me -- and she was in love with Sesame Street and knew that's what she wanted to do and that's what she became, so I have Sesame Street going on, on my head."

"And I can see what she's doing, but Peter can't, I'm able to react to that emotionally," added Newman, 28. "The thing I said to Lars like a week or two in was: 'It's almost like you are the punctuation mark on every one of his lines. You get to choose whether it's an exclamation point or a question mark or an ellipses or whatever it is.'"

Turning to Serafinowicz, Newman said: "But you're entrusting a lot of your performance [to someone else.] It's like you're letting someone control one of your limbs."

"I know!" Serafinowicz agreed. "But she's great. I love her, I love her, love her. She's so sweet."

Co-starring Valorie Curry, Brendan Hines, Jackie Earle Haley and Yara Martinez, The Tick is now streaming on Amazon.