Very few, if any, performers have built a career quite like that of Doug Jones.

For decades, he has been the man behind some of modern genre cinema’s most unforgettable creations. There’s the raggedy, zombified Billy Butcherson of Hocus Pocus, the strangely alluring Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water, and the haunting Faun and Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth, not to mention his fan-favorite turns as Abe Sapien in the Hellboy movies and Saru in Star Trek: Discovery.

Often buried beneath elaborate prosthetics and towering creature designs, Jones has become synonymous with physical transformation, expressive movement, and deeply empathetic monster performances. But beneath the latex and lenses has always been something else, as well: a born comedian who grew up on sketch shows, sitcoms, and slapstick.

That comedic instinct comes roaring back in Operation Taco Gary’s, a scrappy, offbeat sci-fi comedy from director Michael Kvamme that casts Jones as “The Elder,” an alien attempting to pass as the manager of a fast food taco joint that may or may not serve as neutral ground in a global conspiracy. It’s a special appearance rather than a leading role, but it’s certainly a memorable one.

Jones appears gray-skinned and glowing-eyed, wearing little more than a Taco Gary’s apron, paper hat, and a pair of gold sparkly shorts, calmly explaining humanity’s impending doom with absolute sincerity. In our conversation, Jones spoke about embracing the film’s bizarre tone, rediscovering his love of straight-faced comedy, and why - even after decades of playing creatures, monsters, and otherworldly beings - he still approaches every role with the same childlike enthusiasm of playing pretend.

Let's start with the obvious. How did you get involved with this?

Doug Jones: There's going to be several different production company names in the credits of this movie. One of them is Mosaic, who I'd worked with before on a movie about 10 years before, called Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story. That was a Slender Man story, and I played the Slender Man-ish character. That was more of a quiet, haunting horror movie. Producer [Matt] Riley from Mosaic was on set and worked closely with us on that movie. He's now involved with Operation Taco Gary's, and he contacted me. We hadn't seen or talked to each other in a few years. 

He said, “I want to send you a script. It's a comedy. It's bizarre. There's an alien character, but there's not so much makeup this time. And I remembered you being very funny, as we laughed a lot on set during this former movie we did together.” So that's what stuck with him, and he thought that I could possibly play the comedy in this! I was very complimented by this, by the way, because everyone thinks of me as the monster guy in genre movies, but not always the funny guy. I love being the funny guy! I was the class clown in school. I grew up on sitcoms and variety shows and sketch comedy, and that's what I really wanted to do. So having come at me with this funny movie with this bizarre alien character, I read the script and was like, “Oh my gosh, I have to be in Operation Taco Gary’s!” 

Similar to your role on the What We Do in the Shadows series, what did it feel like to get to flex that different kind of acting muscle again?

Doug Jones: It was wonderful. What We Do In The Shadows was a dream job for me, in that it took genre and added comedy to it. It took vampires and made them the silliest, most laughable things imaginable. My character, the Baron, was, you know, the granddaddy of all the vampires, and he was a complete doofus. I loved it. Going to work and giggling all day - that's a joy. Operation Taco Gary's was the same kind of vibe and the same kind of field. We got to work every day and laughed all day because we're taking a science fiction apocalyptic alien takeover of the world and making it bizarre and hilariously funny and outlandish and naughty and all of the things that make comedy what it is.

You'll notice that I'm not in the entire movie. I'm kind of a special appearance later on, when Simon Rex and Dustin Milligan’s characters get to Taco Gary’s. They meet the Elder, who is, like, trying to pass as a human who's the manager of this taco place, and I don't quite look right in that role. There's some funny built into just that alone, when I make my first appearance and I'm kind of naked under an apron with a paper hat on and a bald cap and gray skin and gold eyes. That was a joy to then play seriously. 

I think that's where the comedy lived. They were doing something so off the charts, off the wall, and doing it as though it's serious. The funny can live in that. Simon Rex and Dustin Milligan were both very good at doing that same exact thing, playing their roles with such conviction and such reality. They understood the assignment for sure, and Jason Biggs along with them. Those are the three that I really did most of my scenes with.

I feel like this is destined to become a cult film of sorts, the kind that friends discover at 2am while stoned eating pizza. Do you have any late-night, offbeat comedies that you loved growing up?

Doug Jones: I love the Police Academy movies, I love Airplane! and Naked Gun. All the Christopher Guest movies, whether it was Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, all those mockumentary style movies, I love them with a passion. But my secret guilty pleasures are cheesy movies like Mariah Carey's Glitter.

The Elder’s design in this is simple but instantly memorable, which I'm sure is part of the reason why he's right there on the poster. Do you have any favorite alien or creature designs that you've played?

Doug Jones: Yes, gosh, I've done the entire gamut of animal, human hybrids, otherworldly aliens, monsters from beneath, monsters from above - I've done them all. I think among the most memorable would be the two movies that had the most critical and artistic acclaim, the Guillermo del Toro films The Shape of Water and Pan's Labyrinth. I think The Faun character was so beautifully constructed and my makeup team won Best Makeup for that at the Oscars. The Pale Man in that too was such a bizarre and creative design and scary as heck. Then you come to The Shape of Water. That amphibian man was absolutely beautiful. It was a fish human hybrid sort of look, but the assignment was that he had to be dateable and kissable, right? So they spent a lot of time on the lips and the ass of that creature. To this day, I have women approach me at my convention appearances and say things like, “So, I have a bathtub at home…”

After doing this for so long and having played such a wide variety of characters, how do you stay creatively active and motivated?

Doug Jones: Oh golly, it doesn't take much for me. I never grew out of my “I want to pretend" stage. When there's a paycheck involved, that’s a high motivator for, you know, someone's paying money for you to do this, you better do it right. It’s also about the audience for me, especially when I'm given source material that already has a following. When I did the Hellboy movies and there was a comic book fandom already, or the Silver Surfer with a huge comic book fandom already, you are stepping into a role that you better get right. So I do want to commit 100% so that the fans are pleased and satisfied with my on-screen portrayal of their beloved characters.

'Operation Taco Gary's' is now screening in select theaters.