Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Abs Are ‘Real’ and ‘Beautiful,’ Says Kraven the Hunter Costar Ariana DeBose

Ariana DeBose is praising her Kraven the Hunter costar Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s impressive physique.

While at the fourth annual Academy Museum Gala held Oct. 19 at Los Angeles’ Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the Oscar winner, 33, was asked her thoughts on new Kraven the Hunter photos showing off Taylor-Johnson’s muscles.

“Oh, yeah. Those are real. I had the privilege of looking at those,” DeBose playfully told Variety when shown the photo.

“I think he might’ve been hungry. But, they’re beautiful,” she added. “I appreciate the male form just like many, many humans on the planet. He is a spectacular human; a beautiful and so sweet. He’s much more than his abs, you know? And, quite frankly, he’s a very good actor. Incredible actor. I was very, very proud to work with him.”

From A Most Violent Year director J.C. Chandor, Kraven the Hunter, based on the Marvel Comics character, also stars Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott and Russell Crowe.

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A synopsis teases that the R-rated action movie serves up the origin story of “how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be.”

Taylor-Johnson, 34, stars as Kraven, a man “whose complex relationship with his ruthless father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Crowe), starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.”

DeBose plays Calypso in the film, and she previously teased to ComicBook.com that fans “should expect the unexpected” with how her character will translate onscreen.

Taylor-Johnson has spoken about joining the Sony-Marvel movie, calling it a “different challenge altogether.”

“There’s the story, the character, the role; that’s one thing. But then you also step into a world where you’re dealing with a studio and a franchise — or possible franchises, though let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he told Rolling Stone U.K. this year.

“So they’re rolling the dice on me, in a sense, which is a lovely thing. But you’ve got to appease the studio, please the audience and do what’s dignified for you as an actor. I find all of that super challenging.”

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The actor, who has also portrayed comic book characters in Kick-Ass and Avengers: Age of Ultron, also explained what made Kraven stand out to him.

“I think there was something unique about this character, and something grounded,” he said. “We’ve all had enough of seeing certain studio films, a certain kind of pop culture … where they’re churning out stuff that dilutes wanting to go to the cinema. I wouldn’t have signed onto it if I felt there wasn’t something to really bring to life with this character.”

Kraven the Hunter is in theaters Dec. 13.