Author: Derek Kraneveldt

Derek Kraneveldt is Geekscape's managing editor. A media, comic, and technology enthusiast, he's happy to call Geekscape home. Looking for more from Derek? Keep up with him on twitter or email him here!

New ‘Supergirl’ Trailer Tells Us ‘Her Story’

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: With just a couple of months to go until its premiere, CBS today debuted a brand new, action-packed trailer for its upcoming Supergirl series.

I have to say that I’m really excited to check out Supergirl. Sadly, I missed the pilot screening back at SDCC, and haven’t watched the leaked pilot just yet (we’ll see if I can hold out), but the premise of a fun, not super dark and gloomy superhero series is beyond intriguing to me.

From the looks of this latest trailer, the series looks light-hearted as hell, and we definitely need more of that on television today.

Take a look at the trailer below, and let us know what you think! Supergirl premieres on October 26th!

Watch The First Three Minutes Of ‘Fear The Walking Dead’!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Can you believe that Fear The Walking Dead is finally just a few days away from premiering?

AMC today debuted the series’ slow and stressful opening scene, and I have to say that it definitely has me looking forward to Sunday.

I’ve felt a little iffy about Fear The Walking Dead since the companion series was first revealed. Sure, the world wants as much The Walking Dead as it can get (again, you do know that there’s both a comic book and incredible video game too, right?), but would this series simply be the same show in a different location, and without the survivors we already know and love? How could it differentiate itself from what’s essentially the most popular television series on the planet?

After having an opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the series last month at Comic-Con, any concerns that I had about Fear the Walking Dead disappeared, and I’m now simply excited to see where East Los Angeles, and the beginnings of the infection, take this dysfunctional blended family.

Take a look at the opening scene below, and be sure to let us know what you think. As I mentioned above, Fear The Walking Dead premieres this Sunday on AMC!

If you’re looking for more from the series, my interviews with the cast and producers are here:

-Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason
-Kim Dickens and Alycia Debnam-Carey
-Frank Dillane and Creator Dave Erickson
-Cliff Curtis and Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd
-Elizabeth Rodriguez and Lorenzo James Henri

‘Rainbow Six Siege’ Is The Latest AAA Title To Be Delayed!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Sorry Shane O’Hare.

Our very own Brony, along with many of you readers, were eagerly anticipating the release of Rainbow Six Siege this October. Unfortunately, it looks like you’ll be waiting a little longer to take down those terrorists, as the game has been pushed from October 13th to December 1st.

Here’s what Ubisoft said about the delay:

“Whether it’s been through playtests in our studios, the closed alpha, or recent hands-on demos at events like E3 or Gamescom, player feedback has been essential to the development of Rainbow Six Siege. Getting the game in people’s hands and listening to what they have to say helps us understand how we can improve their experience, and we’d like to thank everyone who’s taken part in the process so far.’

 

“With that in mind, we’ve decided to push the release date of Rainbow Six Siege to December 1, 2015 for all regions. This wasn’t an easy decision, but based on the feedback we’ve received, and based on our own internal tests, we felt there are adjustments and improvements we can make, including improving the co-op experience across all game modes, weapon and gadget balancing, as well as menu and interface navigation. We’re taking a little more time to make these changes, and we think it’s the right call.’

 

“The closed beta for Rainbow Six Siege will still start on September 24, 2015 as planned, and the additional time will allow us to further test things like infrastructure and matchmaking. That extra testing and added polish will make for a higher-quality experience at launch.”

What will you be playing from October-December instead? As long as the game is better in the end, I’m okay with a delay like this, and it’s only a couple of months at least, right?

Me? I was probably never going to play this one, and instead transition right from Metal Gear Solid V to Fallout 4.

Rumour: Has The ‘Uncharted 4’ Release Date Been Leaked?

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: All of us were pretty bummed out back in March when Sony revealed that its highly anticipated exclusive Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was being pushed into 2016.

Naughty Dog’s been pretty quiet on that subject since that day, and though the E3 demo was beyond impressive, all we want to know is when we can play the damned thing.

Take it with a grain of salt, but the game’s released date may have been leaked by Amazon Germany.

A reddit user received an email from the company, which contained a hard release date of March 9th, 2016. This falls right in the window that Naughty Dog gave us, and while it could be an error on Amazon’s part, it could also legitimately be the date that we’re able to continue Nathan’s journey.

Are you looking forward to the game? What do you hope to see in it? Sound out below!

German

Source: GameInformer

D23 2015: The Upcoming Darth Vader PS4 Is Incredible!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Well, this is a good way to move some additional PS4 units.

During Disney’s amazing D23 expo, Sony took to the stage to reveal a duo of awesome upcoming PS4 bundles.

Now, I’ve owned a PS4 since launch day, and the unit is basically impossible to see in my entertainment unit, but I have half a mind to replace it with this fantastic special edition. Just look at the damned thing:

DarthVaderBundleThat’s probably the best looking limited edition PS4 that we’ve seen thus far (and yes, I’m including the slick-as-hell white Destiny unit).

The bundles will be available on November 17th (with pre-order information coming soon). Both bundles will include the Darth Vader 500gb console, a slick controller modelled after Vader’s chest panel, and a Star Wars Classics download code, which includes Super Star Wars, Star Wars: Racer Revenge, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter and Star Wars Bounty Hunter (playable for the first time on PS4, and sporting enhanced graphics and Trophy support).

Where the bundles differ? One will include the Star Wars Battlefront digital deluxe edition, and the other will come with a physical copy of Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition, the Disney Infinity Base, the Rise Against the Empire Play Set Pack (featuring Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa figures, as well the Rise Against the Empire Play Set piece), and the Boba Fett figure (which is exclusive to PlayStation through this holiday).

So, which one are you going for? PS4 owners, do you regret not waiting for this special edition console? Sound out below!

‘Rick And Morty’ Renewed For A Third Season!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Rick and Morty has been renewed for a third season.

The animated series from Community‘s Dan Harmon and House of Cosbys’ Justin Roiland follows a sociopathic scientist who drags his unintelligent grandson on insanely dangerous adventures across the universe, and it’s absolutely freaking hilarious.

If you haven’t seen the show, I’d implore you to check it out. In my opinion, it’s the funniest show on Adult Swim right now, and Harmon and Roiland have developed a masterpiece. Seriously, the parodies and homages here are perfect.

“It’s an honor to see ‘Rick and Morty’ join the exclusive club of shows with over nineteen episodes,” said co-creator and executive producer Dan Harmon. “It’s time to demand that the network allow us to draw the characters going to Hawaii.”

“I am blown away by the seemingly instant success of ‘Rick and Morty.’ I look forward to continuing their adventures!” said co-creator and executive producer Justin Roiland.

Have you been watching the series? What do you think of season two so far?

https://youtu.be/90wG8ObCBE0

‘Batman: Arkham Knight’s 1989 Pack Will Make You Buy Some DLC!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: No, it’s not a Taylor Swift DLC pack, thought I would likely buy that in a second.

I’m not typically one for purchasing DLC. I often don’t have enough time to finish the base game, let alone purchase more content for a title. Aside from some standouts, like Bioshock Infinite: Burial At Sea, or any tracks that ever come out for Mario Kart 8, I don’t remember the last time I bought DLC.

That being said, the just revealed 1989 pack for Batman: Arkham Knight is DLC that I’ll be picking up, even if it’s only a tiny bit of content.

It’s just a character and Batmobile skin, and one track to take the Batmobile out on, but being a 1989 themed-pack, it’s, of course, all based off of the Tim Burton film. And it looks freaking awesome.

That track though, right? The pack is set to release later this month. Will you be picking it up?

Guillermo Del Toro Will Never Work On A Video Game Again

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: This is truly the darkest timeline.

Just a year ago, PS4 players everywhere were being scared shitless by Lisa and the countless terrors of the dreaded hallway in P.T., a new ‘indie’ title that actually turned out to be a ‘Playable Teaser’ for Silent Hills.

The game was set to reboot the once venerable and now beyond mediocre horror series, and was to be an incredible collaboration between three fantastic artists, Hideo Kojima, Guillermo Del Toro, and Norman Reedus.

Then, shit hit the fan, the game was cancelled, Konami all but stopped making video games (a hyperbole, but barely), and we heard rumours that Del Toro and Kojima still wanted to work together on a gaming project.

Del Toro just revealed that that’s never going to happen. In an interview with Shack News, he said the following:

I have proven to be the albatross of video games. I joined THQ, and THQ goes broke. I join Kojima, and Kojima leaves Konami. I have decided, in order not to destroy anyone else’s life, I have decided I will never again get involved in video games. Otherwise, I’ll join someone and his house will explode, or something.”

Has 2015 been the worst year for video game news? Is there a year that’s had anything worse happen? Or has it just hit me especially hard because I’m a Silent Hill fan?

Do you hope to see another Del Toro and Kojima-less Silent Hill game? Even with the series’ recent track record? Sound out below.

‘Inside Out’s Riley Is Already Going On Her First Date

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: It may be hard to believe, but our little girl is growing up.

That’s right, Inside Out‘s Riley is going on her very first date.

Riley’s First Date is a new Pixar short that’s set to debut with the Inside Out Blu-Ray release on October 13th. Based on the first clip from the short (watch it below), it looks like Riley’s set to go skating with a boy (yep, that same boy from the end of the film), and her parents are not having it.

You can take a look at the clip below, and be sure to let us know just how much you loved Inside Out! We’d also love to know just how many times you cried during the feature. Me? Definitely less than 10.


ABC Latest News | Latest News Videos

#ThankYouKarellen For This Awesome ‘Childhood’s End’ Trailer!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Well this looks awesome.

Back at San Diego Comic-Con, Shane and I were treated to lunch by a creepy, semi-pushy religious woman who said that our meal would be taken care of, and all that we needed to do was thank our new saviour Karellen.

We were confused as hell, and it wasn’t until we saw dozens of these ‘followers’ walking the streets (and anti-Karellen protesters on the other side of it) that we realized it was an incredible guerrilla marketing campaign for something.

Turns out that something was Syfy’s upcoming miniseries, Childhood’s End, based on the novel by Arthur C. Clarke.

Childhood’s End follows the peaceful invasion of Earth by the alien Overlords, who promise to eliminate poverty, war and sickness – ushering in a golden age of peace, health and security for all of humankind. But why do the Overlords insist on hiding their appearance – and what do they ultimately want from Earth? While much of the world enjoys its newfound utopia, some suspect there’s a price to pay. As the truth about the Overlords’ intentions are revealed, humanity will discover its actual destiny may actually be a nightmare, instead of a dream.

Childhood’s End will run on Syfy from December 14th – 16th, and it looks freaking awesome. Take a look at the trailer below, and let us know if you’ll be checking it out!

Watch The Hilarious Red-Band Trailer For ‘Sleeping With Other People’

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: This looks pretty hilarious, and I’m not just saying that because I have a huge crush on Allison Brie.

Can two serial cheaters get a second chance at love? After a one-night stand in college, New Yorkers Lainey (Brie) and Jake (Sudeikis) meet by chance twelve years later and discover they each have the same problem: because of their monogamy-challenged ways, neither can maintain a relationship. Determined to stay friends despite their mutual attraction, they make a pact to keep it platonic, a deal that proves easier said than done.

Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn’t it? Yeah. It looks pretty ridiculous too. Watch the red-band trailer below:

https://youtu.be/bMft3Vx9MTE

Sleeping With Other People hits theatres on September 11th.

Watch Conan Try To Figure Out Why ‘Fantastic Four’ Flopped

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Everyone on planet Earth already knows that Fox’s newly released Fantastic Four reboot is dismal (both in quality, and its box office performance).

Conan found it fairly surprising that the movie didn’t do better. To make viewers understand where he was coming from, he showed off a couple of new clips from the film, showcasing the movie’s incredible special effects, as well as the actors fantastic emotional range.

It’s a great watch, and might just help change your tune on Fantastic Four.

Take a look at the video below, and let us know what you thought of the film! If you’re looking for more Fantastic Four discussion, you should probably check out this week’s episode of Geekscape.

Watch A Gameplay Trailer For ‘The Walking Dead’s Official Mobile Game!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Aside from the terrible voice acting, this actually looks pretty cool.

Next Games has just debuted the very first gameplay trailer for The Walking Dead’s upcoming official mobile game, The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land.

The game has survivors, Daryl Dixon, fighting the walker menace and saving other survivors from Terminus to the Prison.

Teemu Huuhtanen, Next Games CEO noted that “The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land is devotedly crafted for The Walking Dead fans. We are very excited about the momentous opportunity to bring one of the most adored TV shows into the mobile realm in collaboration with our partner AMC, the creators of the TV series. We combine IP, TV show talent and join forces with AMC in a never-seen-before way. This game is a big first step in Next Games’ strategy to become the premier partner for TV networks, movie studios and beyond who aspire to work with a veteran game studio in extending their IP into mobile games.”

Mac McKean, senior vice president of digital media for AMC adds “The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land has the thrill of hand-to-hand walker combat, but players also get the opportunity to solve strategic puzzles, build their own survival refuge and develop their group. It’s a beautifully rendered, thoughtful and engaging mobile game, and we’re so pleased with what our partners at Next Games have created. We’re looking forward to giving fans an exciting new way to engage with the world of The Walking Dead.”

Take a look at the trailer below, and let us know if The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land will be enough to pull you away from your Candy Crush addiction. The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land is slated for release on iOS this October!

https://youtu.be/7mxtwAnaKzg

Check Out The ‘Ghost Dimension’ In The New ‘Paranormal Activity’ Poster!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: While I thoroughly enjoyed the first three titles in the Paranormal Activity franchise, the fourth chapter was absolutely abysmal. Luckily, Gregory Plotkin took over for last year’s spinoff, The Marked Ones, which resulted in an acceptable, creepy flick that took the series somewhere that it’s never been before: outside.

Now, after a myriad of date shifts, the next (and apparently final) chapter in the Paranormal Activity saga is set to hit theatres on October 23rd, 2015. The film is supposed to answer the big questions that the series has been asking for years, and even reveal the mysterious Toby.

The end of The Marked Ones certainly did a good job preparing us for The Ghost Dimension, as it saw the main character somehow teleport into Katie and Micah’s home just moments before Micah was murdered. It’ll certainly be interesting to see what comes next, and how well the film will tie in with everything that’s happened so far (as the series is damn good at doing).

A new poster for Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension has just debuted online. Take a look below, and let us know if you’re looking forward to the series end!

GhostDimension

The Character Names And Descriptions From The Upcoming ‘Power Rangers’ Movie Have Been Revealed!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: We’re still not seeing the film until January 2017 (damnit), so until then, we’ll take every morsel of information that we can get.

Collider has just published descriptions for the film’s main characters, which were appear to have been provided by sources close to the film.

I don’t know what our resident ranger expert, Eric Francisco thinks, but these characters certainly sounds developed, and far more like kids with kid problems than we saw in the original Mighty Morphin series.

Take a gander at the descriptions below:

Jason – 17 years old, the makings of someone or something great if he would just get out of his own way. Jason was a legend of this town—a freshman quarterback with the skills to take him all the way. People knew his name. Children wore his jersey. Until, one night Jason wrapped his car around a pole and busted out his knee. Everything Jason was going to become ended in an instant. And with it, he lost himself. When we meet him at the start of the film, he’s a kid in need of redemption. By the end, he’ll be leading this disparate group of teens to shed their individual baggage and find who they truly are.

 

Kimberly – 17 years old, unconventionally cool all in a way the popular girls wish they were. In fact, she was one of those girls, but isn’t anymore. Not since she’s returned to school after an absence of 6 months. Rumors are flying as to why; rumors she seems not to care about, because she’s come back with this new rebel-without-a-cause, edgy attitude. But the truth is, it’s all masking a deep secret that makes her feel profoundly vulnerable.

 

Trini – 17 years old, mysterious and extremely bright. Her parents constantly move for work, making Trini the perpetual new girl to any school. A loner who owns it, Trini is self-sufficient, contemplative, but always observant. All she wants is to find her gang of friends, but she’ll never admit it – least of all to herself.

 

Billy – 17 years old, slight and awkward. Billy is challenged in his abilities to communicate and interact socially. Whip-smart and sweet, but always odd. Sometimes in a fun way, sometimes not, Billy is a kid with no filter. Showing his emotions, understanding sarcasm, and dealing with his OCD is a constant challenge. Has never really had any friends and instantly gravitates towards Jason.

 

Zack – 17 years old, always the life of the party. Filled with bravado and swagger, Zack’s tough and cool on the exterior. A charming guy who’s never had trouble with the one-liner, nor lacked confidence around women. A great athlete that’s never wanted to play on any team but his own. Zack advertises everything about himself, except the truth, which is that he lives in a trailer park with his single mom, and because of it, feels deeply inferior to all his peers.

Are you looking forward to the Power Rangers film? Are you worried about your favourite childhood brand, or do you think that Project Almanac director Dean Israelite and team have a good handle on the property? Sound out below!

New ‘The Hateful Eight’ Poster Puts Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh Front and Centre!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: We still have some time to wait until The Hateful Eight‘s December release date, but this new poster is pretty damned cool.

The stylized image features stars Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh trekking through a mountainous environment, and it looks as though two of the eight symbols on the poster are greyed out, making me think that we’ll see similar posters for each of the other main characters.

Take a look at the poster (via EW) below, and let us know what you hope to see in the film!

Hateful

In The Hateful Eight, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…

Take A 13-Minute Look At ‘Rise Of The Tomb Raider’

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Thankfully, Rise of the Tomb Raider is eventually coming to PS4. Otherwise I’d really be regretting getting rid of my Xbox One right about now.

Microsoft has released an incredibly gorgeous 13-minute gameplay demo for the game which debuted at last week’s GamesCom.

The video includes a ton of beautiful action, raiding tombs, injured Lara, and much, much more, and it really looks like Rise of the Tomb Raider could be one of the Xbox One’s best titles yet. If you enjoyed the Tomb Raider reboot, even a little, you’ll find a lot to love here.

Take a look at the video below, and be sure to let us know what you think! Rise of the Tomb Raider launches on Xbox One on November 10th, and PS4 and PC sometime way later.

For Some Reason, Fox Is Still ‘Committed’ To ‘Fantastic Four’s Characters

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Well this is interesting.

Fox’s new Fantastic Four film has received nothing but hate since it was announced. Now that the film has finally released, it appears as though all of the negativity (or at least most of it) was warranted (listen to our thoughts on the film via the newest episode of Geekscape), and fans, moviegoers, and keyboard cowboys everywhere have already decided that this new films abhorrent reception and box office performance means that the rights are definitely headed back to Marvel.

Well, apparently not.

The studios chief of domestic distribution, Chris Aronson said the following to THR earlier today regarding the film’s performance, as well as the franchise’ future:

While we’re disappointed, we remain committed to these characters and we have a lot to look forward to in our Marvel universe.

Our Marvel universe. Sure sounds like they’re not ready to give up the ghost just yet, doesn’t it? Constantin Film also has until 2023 to release another Fantastic Four film before rights would revert back to Marvel, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing something from the IP in the coming years.

Have you seen Fantastic Four yet? What did you think? What do you hope happens to the franchise next? Sound out below!

Watch The First Clip From ‘Agent 47’!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Alright, as not good as 2007’s Hitman was, this year’s reboot looks pretty bad-ass, and as neat as it would have been to see Paul Walker in the role of Agent 47, Rupert Friend looks like he’s killing it.

Fox has just debuted the first clip for the upcoming film via EW, and it’s an action-packed scene that really excites me for the upcoming release (and for Friend’s performance).

Could Agent 47 be the first good video game movie we’ve seen in years? I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks!

Take a look at the clip below, and let us know if you’re looking forward to the film! Agent 47 hits theatres on August 21st!

Netflix Renews ‘Sense8’ For A Second Season!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Netflix has just renewed J Michael Straczynski and the Wachowski’s divisive Sense8 for another season!

The renewal was revealed this morning via the following video on the official Netflix twitter page:

In speaking to Variety about a potential renewal last month, series creator J Michael Straczynski noted that “The way that the Wachowskis and I tend to work — we created the show together and we are running the show together — we are long-thinking people. We look down the road and we say to ourselves, ‘Where is this going to go?’ … Season one is like an origin story and season two has some particular arc, and we figure it out from there. But to spoil that here would not be the best interest of the surprise at the end.”

Sense8 features a rather expansive cast consisting of Brian J. Smith, Tuppence Middleton, Jamie Clayton, Miguel Angel Silvestre, Tina Desai, Doona Bae, Aml Ameen and Max Riemelt. Also, Daryl Hannah, Naveen Andrews, Terrence Mann, Freema Agyeman, Alfonso Herrera, Erendira Ibarra, Adam Shapiro, Ness Bautista​ and ​​​Joe Pantoliano, among others.

All 12 episodes launched back in June, and while I haven’t had an opportunity to watch the series just yet, I’m looking forward to checking out the divisive original.

New ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5’ Images Show Off A New Art Style!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Last month, a new (and in my opinion, pretty cool) trailer for the upcoming Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 was released online. Gamers balked at the video, and while I agree that the game’s visuals looked terribad, I otherwise watched the closest thing to classic THPS that I’d seen in years.

Haters, you now have one less reason to hate the title, as Activision has just revealed a new cel-shaded art style for the title.

Yep, it looks much better. It’s hard to feel too positive for THPS5 after the franchise’s track record in recent years, but Tony and team are aware of the series’ missteps, and is certainly looking to fix them with the upcoming release.

Take a look at the new screenshots below, and be sure to let us know what you think! Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 hits stores on September 29th.

THPS5_Berrics_2P_RileyCrooked_zgpcrh

THPS5_City_3P_NyjahShoveIt_Revised_wwn0bl

THPS5_City_Gonzalez_Tailslide_djdvku

THPS5_City_Tony_360Flip_tnsvae

THPS5_School_4P_TonyTailslide_Revised-Edit_x6hozg

THPS5_School_Jaws_Overturn_w49cuu

THPS5_School_Lizzie_Boardslide_aw6vss

THPS5_School_Reynolds_GymnastPlant_ohysl7

THPS5_SkatePark_2P_NyjahInKick_sltdxs

THPS5_SkatePark_9P_Ramp-Edit_bk0yup

THPS5_SkatePark_Riley_360Flip_wdquv4

THPS5_SkatePark_Tony_Crouch_xavnql

Geekscape Interviews: ‘Fear The Walking Dead’s Elizabeth Rodriguez and Lorenzo James Henri Talk Parenting And More!

by Derek Kraneveldt

It’s been a few weeks now since the always-incredible (and always exhausting), events of San Diego Comic-Con, and I’m beyond excited that I’m just now able to talk about one of the highlights of this year’s week in San Diego.

If you’re a long-time reader of Geekscape, you’ll know how huge of a fan of The Walking Dead I am. I’ve been keeping up with the comic book since I was in high school, passionately wrote Geekscape’s Walking Dead Weekly column before life got in the way, and of course, ate up every single second of Telltale’s incredible The Walking Dead video game.

So of course, I jumped at the opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the new, mysterious companion series, Fear the Walking Dead.

Now, that being said, I’d felt a little iffy about Fear The Walking Dead since the companion series was first revealed. Sure, the world wants as much The Walking Dead as it can get (again, you do know that there’s both a comic book and incredible video game too, right?), but would this series simply be the same show in a different location, and without the survivors we already know and love? How could it differentiate itself from what’s essentially the most popular television series on the planet?

After having an opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the series last month, any concerns that I had about Fear the Walking Dead disappeared, and I’m now simply excited to see where East Los Angeles, and the beginnings of the infection, take this dysfunctional blended family.

And that was all before that awesome trailer was released.

The interviews were run in a round-table format, and had journalists speaking to a few of the actors (or producers) at the same time. As it was a round-table, not all questions were mine, but all of them are definitely worth reading. It wasn’t the fantastic trailer or meeting these actors that made me really excited for Fear The Walking Dead, but the passion, excitement, and chemistry that all of its talent have with the project and each other.

Here’s what Elizabeth Rodriguez and Lorenzo James Henrie, who play Liza Manawa and Chris Manawa had to say about the series.

Question: Can you start by introducing us to your characters and how they fit into the world?

Elizabeth: Yeah, well. In my world, it’s all about me so… [laughing]

Lorenzo: See you guys later.

Elizabeth: And my son, even though it’s not. I’m playing Liza Manawa and Lorenzo’s playing Chris Manawa. He plays my son and we are Cliff Curtis’ first family and we got separated a few years ago. The great thing is he didn’t leave me [chuckle] so there’s not that victim thing that gets boring for me. So we had a kid, I put my jeans on the back burner, I want to go to med school, it didn’t happen. We were raising him, cut to we grew apart, things didn’t change. We separated three years ago.

Now, I’m sort of burning the candle on both ends and going back to school. I know that as a single mother predominantly, I can’t go to med school, so I go to nursing school, which plays a big factor in what happens along the way and I’m very protective of Chris. We have a good relationship with his father. His father is part of a different family now, the Clarks, which require more time because the Clarks’ children, one of his, you’ll see and so I think I’m just…the only hiccup is that when he says he wants to pick up his son, he needs to do that and be a man of his word when it comes to his son. And then Lorenzo… [crosstalk]

Lorenzo: Hello, hello.

Elizabeth: As a teenager has his own issues.

Lorenzo: Yeah, I mean Christopher is a product of a kid that his father and mother got a divorce so he’s very angry. More on his dad than on his mom. I mean how can you hate your mom if something bad happens? It’s just something about that. But no, he’s very wounded, he’s very angry with his father. He wants to become a man but now he does not have a father to look up to. So there’s going to be this journey of this kid who wants to stand up to his father. He wants to be like his father but he can’t because he doesn’t really like the guy anymore because he broke the biggest promise you could ever break, to his mother, to his son, so with the journey of this whole with the backdrop of the zombie apocalypse and stuff, will they come together as a family? Will they love each other? Will they grow? Will they survive and Christopher is trying to be the man like his father, someone like his father.

Elizabeth: I think there is a pull and push like there is with a lot of teenagers trying to figure out. What happens is…[crosstalk]

Lorenzo: I love you, dad. I hate my dad.

Elizabeth: Yeah, he comes and grabs us because he knows information before we do and I’m like, you’re crazy and then these family units come together…[crosstalk]

Lorenzo: That’s a big point too because Chris is at that end, I mean we both resent the other…I mean Christopher resents the other family…[crosstalk]

Elizabeth: I know.

Lorenzo: Christopher hates those other kids.

Elizabeth: I know you do.

[Laughing]

Elizabeth: Because you’re a teenager. That’s because you’re a teenager.

Lorenzo: No. It’s… [crosstalk]

Elizabeth: I don’t. As a parent, I ask him question. I ask about the kids and if he’s okay and what’s going on there. So these worlds come together, these families come together and along the way we pick up a third family which they’ll tell you about themselves later.

So we end up under a certain roof, and there’s parents and children and who’s going to protect whom and how is this going to sort of work along the way?

Talent left to right: Lorenzo James Henrie (Chris) and Elizabeth Rodriguez (Liza). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Lorenzo James Henrie (Chris) and Elizabeth Rodriguez (Liza). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: How do they realize that it is the apocalypse and that the zombies are coming?

Elizabeth: We don’t. It takes a long time.

Lorenzo: You’re going to have to find out soon.

[Laughing]

Elizabeth: We get information and then we get a little more information and then we get the trade and then things happen.

Lorenzo: You’re just going to have to watch. [crosstalk]

Elizabeth: Yeah, things start out slowly and then things happen really fast.

Lorenzo: It gets insane. It’s like lighting a cigar. Burning slowly.

Elizabeth: Yes. It has a slow burn and then things like this in real life take a trajectory that then things happen and we realize things really fast. In the later episodes but you see in things that if you know “The Walking Dead,” you’re like, the signs are right there, people! [giggling] But our heroes don’t watch “The Walking Dead,” so we are clueless.

[Chuckle]

Question: Do you watch “The Walking Dead”?

Elizabeth: Yes, but we can’t talk about that right now. [Giggle] We do but the thing is that it doesn’t inform the story we’re telling. It’s…[crosstalk]

Lorenzo: It’s completely – if you would have watched both shows side by side, they’re completely different…[crosstalk]

Elizabeth: Yeah, ours is definitely a family drama with that as a backdrop, with Los Angeles being a big character. And the greatest thing I think is just that. It’s not having the rules, the fear is in not knowing who’s alive, who’s not alive. What is this? How? Is it your neighbor? Is it your friend? Is it just a sickness? How do you make…It’s not just this person, oh, okay. Take that one out, take that one out, take that one out. It’s all struggling with the humans…[crosstalk]

Lorenzo: It’s got a lot of layers.

Elizabeth: With knowing people only as human beings. How do you get from that mentally to they’re not? How does one do that, you know, and hold on to your values and not lose your mind and not still survive and take care of your loved ones.

Question: So it’s basically a story about the characters and they happen to be living the zombie apocalypse. As a viewer we know it’s going to happen. We know like, there’s the killer. It’s going to get to you but for you, how is it to play this strong woman who has to take care of the family and then has to hear about this what all these walker zombies and…? [crosstalk]

Elizabeth: Well, because I’m a nursing student, I end up sort of learning more than some of them at some point. They start out knowing more than I do and then because that’s my instinct, I end up helping. I am more privy to information sooner than they are and so I think for my character, I love playing this. It’s incredible to be able to play. Oh, this woman is going to school that’s independent that is also single mother. That is no BS. I think that her thing is being able to help and how could she help? She can help because she can put her nursing skills to use and so I think any time – we don’t ever feel helpless. So you find ways to do that, however you can, and my character ends up doing that in a greater context.

Question: You talked a little bit about the family drama.  When we watch, how soon do we get to some action and how soon do we get to…? [crosstalk]

Elizabeth: You got…You do…[crosstalk]

Lorenzo: You’ve got to watch it.

[Laughing]

Elizabeth: You do…you get glimpses of it you will get things where you will be like, well, everyone was like, what just happened? You know, you guys, are like, people come on!  You do get that. You get that in the first episode. You get that going along the way and then it all falls apart the way apocalypses do. [Laughs] I mean I could only compare it to what were talking about this in detail before our principal day of photography, we were going to talk about in reference we know so it would be to me like a natural disaster, like you know, Katrina where you think oh, your government is going to take care, oh, and then you watch this on TV and you’re like, this is impossible that we’re not equipped and this is happening. So it’s that sort of idea like 9/11, where you’re just watching this thing and your brain can’t process it so you’re like, oh, this is a movie and I’m watching anything but what’s really happened.

And so it’s that sort of natural phenomenon to try to make sense of something within the realm of what we understand. Not we can jump to, this must be – this must be walkers, you know. [laughing] It’s that kind of thing and like along the way, making choices between bad choices and worst choices and how do you live with yourself and how do you redefine yourself every step of the way.

Question: What bad choices and good choices?

Elizabeth: There are no good choices, there is only…in the situation everything we do, you…

Question: The fact is you guys want us to survive, it’s a good choice.

Elizabeth: That’s just your natural instinct.

[Laughing]

Question: That’s good.

Elizabeth: Of course it is. That’s why we’re all here right now. [laughing] Survival of the fittest.

Talent left to right: Lorenzo James Henrie (Chris) and Elizabeth Rodriguez (Liza). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Lorenzo James Henrie (Chris) and Elizabeth Rodriguez (Liza). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: Will there be much humor in the show?

Lorenzo: What is that?

Elizabeth: Humor.

Question: Will there be any like moments or is there a character that brings in humor with them?

Elizabeth: Well, I bring a lot of humor off camera. [laughing]

Lorenzo: There is some humor.

Elizabeth: Is there humor? That’s a good question.

Lorenzo: Yeah. There is humor.

Elizabeth: I don’t. I can’t ever remember the differentiation between the camera is on or off because I’m such a clown. [giggle]

Lorenzo: She’s the best worker.

Elizabeth: Let me see. Is there humor?

Question: Don’t worry.

[Laughing]

Elizabeth: No, I can’t tell you whether there is humor or not. I don’t remember.

[Laughing]

Question: It seems like you genuinely have a motherly son bond…[crosstalk]

Elizabeth: Oh my god it’s so easy. Look at this one. It was so easy.

Lorenzo: She’s the best.

Elizabeth: I’m like he’s the sweetest thing and the great thing is that he gets to play this sort of good, innocent, the same energy and it’s so much easier. [chuckle] Like a guy showing up just like [laughing] and he has to play this little sweet guy and I love you. He makes it so easy. And immediately there was like this nurturing aspect to him. I find myself talking like, don’t’ do that! Oh my god, I’m sorry. I’m not your real mom.

[Laughing]

Question: Are the zombies still called walkers?

Elizabeth: They are walkers. They are infected. We don’t even know they are walkers. They are infected at first because that’s all we know that they are infected. We had no idea anything other than that.

Question: So how does it feel to walk on an infected set?

Elizabeth: It’s interesting because at times there were like it’s not…you don’t always feel like you’re in. Sometimes, it’s like this family stuff and other times I do these scenes where I’m like, oh my God, this is the genre. And other times I’m like I’m in an action film. [laughing] There are times when I’m like – it’s a total like action.

Lorenzo: It’s pretty surreal because you go home at night and you’ll be like, wait, what did I just do?

Elizabeth: Yeah, yeah.

[Giggling]

Lorenzo: And I try to fall asleep. What was I looking at?

Elizabeth: Yeah. There are days where it’s long and things happen and you literally have to come home and wash the day away of what you just experienced all day because they do a really good job of making it feel really real, all the chaos.

Question: Does it give you nightmares?

Lorenzo: No.

Elizabeth: Kim had some nightmares. Ask her about them.

Lorenzo: I don’t have any nightmares.

Elizabeth: I do have nightmares but I don’t have children in real life and all I keep thinking is if I did, I would be the worst mother right now because I would be like, you’re not going anywhere. You can’t go anywhere [laughing] I would be to my child to be like, you have to go a therapist [laughing] and get away from me. I need to go live with someone else, because there is no way not to bring that home. Like I drive now and in L.A. you sort of – like even in Vancouver, you see homeless, you don’t know whether they’re mentally challenged, drugs and you are like all these people could be walkers. Like you just can’t help it. What’s differentiating them? And I think the fact that it’s in L.A. it makes it interesting because you just assume that they’re just part of the characters of L.A. streets, much easier.

Lorenzo: Just go down to Santa Monica, and you’ll find…[crosstalk]

Elizabeth: Yeah or downtown, you know what I mean, they sound a hell of a lot more in Atlanta than they do in the streets of  L.A. We could be walking amongst them now.

Question: No one would notice.

Elizabeth: Yeah. No one would notice in L.A. for the most part.

Talent left to right: Lorenzo James Henrie (Chris) and Elizabeth Rodriguez (Liza). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Lorenzo James Henrie (Chris) and Elizabeth Rodriguez (Liza). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: So how does it feel, working in this environment than being in the city that’s so cynical in a way that people don’t really believe in this stuff and they are like, oh, we need hard science and we’re not going to believe these shenanigans and stuff like that? How do you feel about that environment? How do you feel especially you dealing as teenager with all this stuff that I know as a teenager? Your character must be going through a lot of things. How do you react to the zombie apocalypse?

Lorenzo: The fear really describes it perfectly because you really don’t know what it is and Christopher wants to put something to it but he can’t because he doesn’t know what it is and the only people he could turn to are his parents and he doesn’t really want to turn to his dad for the advice. So it’s the unknown, its the fear, the unexpected that you really just don’t know how to – it’s like going in cold water of the first time. You’re so shocked that it takes you a few seconds to really absorb what really happened. So it’s a lot of mixed feelings. It’s a lot of ultimate fear, right?

Elizabeth: I feel like the thing that these walkers in the apocalypse – the only part of the genre that you could literally replace that with anything. With ISIS, with – you get a place in you know, any war, you can replace it with terrorism and I feel like when I think about it – I would think that all these people are subdued on a day to day with these things. The only thing that they think is that it’s going to end. You know, that there’s an end date.

Question: So you can identify more with these characters than you do with the ones that you do in “The Walking Dead” for example?

Elizabeth: Right now we do because it’s about understanding. So we identify more with these characters than the ones we haven’t become them yet.

Lorenzo: And I think…[crosstalk]

Elizabeth: We haven’t gone to the place of it being okay and being able to go, they’re human or not. It’s that trace of going from being one of us to becoming – they accepted this is the world we are living in and these are the rules and this is it. This is how you take them out. [laughing] And this is how you keep living. So it’s that transition of us watching us become that or not.

Lorenzo: Thank you.

Elizabeth: Thank you guys

Question: Thank you.

Question: Thank you so much.

Elizabeth: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Fear The Walking Dead premieres on August 23rd. Looking for more of the talent? Here are the rest of the conversations:

-Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason
-Kim Dickens and Alycia Debnam-Carey
-Frank Dillane and Creator Dave Erickson
-Cliff Curtis and Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd

FearPoster

Geekscape Interviews: ‘Fear The Walking Dead’s Cliff Curtis And Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd Talk The Series’ Slow Burn And More!

by Derek Kraneveldt

It’s been a few weeks now since the always-incredible (and always exhausting), events of San Diego Comic-Con, and I’m beyond excited that I’m just now able to talk about one of the highlights of this year’s week in San Diego.

If you’re a long-time reader of Geekscape, you’ll know how huge of a fan of The Walking Dead I am. I’ve been keeping up with the comic book since I was in high school, passionately wrote Geekscape’s Walking Dead Weekly column before life got in the way, and of course, ate up every single second of Telltale’s incredible The Walking Dead video game.

So of course, I jumped at the opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the new, mysterious companion series, Fear the Walking Dead.

Now, that being said, I’d felt a little iffy about Fear The Walking Dead since the companion series was first revealed. Sure, the world wants as much The Walking Dead as it can get (again, you do know that there’s both a comic book and incredible video game too, right?), but would this series simply be the same show in a different location, and without the survivors we already know and love? How could it differentiate itself from what’s essentially the most popular television series on the planet?

After having an opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the series last month, any concerns that I had about Fear the Walking Dead disappeared, and I’m now simply excited to see where East Los Angeles, and the beginnings of the infection, take this dysfunctional blended family.

And that was all before that awesome trailer was released.

The interviews were run in a round-table format, and had journalists speaking to a few of the actors (or producers) at the same time. As it was a round-table, not all questions were mine, but all of them are definitely worth reading. It wasn’t the fantastic trailer or meeting these actors that made me really excited for Fear The Walking Dead, but the passion, excitement, and chemistry that all of its talent have with the project and each other.

This time around, it’s Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd, along with Cliff Curtis who portrays Travis in the series.

Question: Tell us, how did that happen? Was it AMC who came to you or did you go to AMC with the spin-off?

Gale Anne Hurd: Well, we had had discussions in the past, about doing another show within the universe that Robert Kirkman had created with the comic book hit “The Walking Dead,” but there was never a, we want to launch something, or, this is when we’re going to launch it. It was really, let’s get the right story.  Let’s have a reason for doing this, not just, oh, we need this for a particular time. That’s the way good television happens I think. You get it right, and then you put it on the air. Not only that, unlike “The Walking Dead,” which launched with a six-season order, we shot a pilot, so that everyone could decide, is this a series that stands on its own, that deserves to be on television? We went through the process as if we were a first show, and luckily everyone said thumbs up and here we are with a two-season order.

Question: We know the universe of “The Walking Dead.” We know how it works and we know that it’s going to be really fast.

Gale Anne Hurd: Our characters don’t.

Talent left to right: Cliff Curtis (Travis), Gale Anne Hurd (Executive Producer). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Cliff Curtis (Travis), Gale Anne Hurd (Executive Producer). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: That’s the thing, but how to play that with the audience? How to play the difference [crosstalk] that we know and they don’t.

Gale Anne Hurd: Well, you know what? I don’t know if you’ve already heard this answer, but Greg’s [Nicotero] not here anymore, so [laughs] I’m going to steal Greg’s answer. Imagine you’re watching a Hitchcock film, and you know there’s a bomb under the table in a briefcase. What that does is create tension and if you have done it right and if you invest in the characters, it creates real concern, and drama. If you do it right, it’s not just frustration that the characters aren’t smart enough to know what they shouldn’t really know, at that point in the apocalypse. I mean, and you can address that too.

Cliff Curtis: It is a basic tenet in genre, you know. There are basic devices that you can use in that genre that’s like, there’s a doorway at the end of the hallway, and you shouldn’t go down that hallway, and by all means you must not open the locked door. [laughs] There it is! [crosstalk] Of course!

Gale Anne Hurd: The movie and the TV show would be over if they didn’t do that [crosstalk] right?

Cliff Curtis: You know what I mean, that’s a basic – so that’s the same premise. That’s like, there’s something that our characters don’t know. It’s a mystery to us. It’s not a mystery to our audience, but we watch, and also we pantomime, like it’s a basic device that we use, that we say the pantomime, the character’s always right there. The kids are like, behind you! Behind you! The monster’s behind you! You know, the characters are like, busy, so they’re going on with their day. Audiences love that. We love that. We love to sort of repeat that for some reason, some mechanism in our brain that loves the entertainment of that tension. It doesn’t seem to hurt this at all. In fact, as you said, it creates the tension, it creates the possibility that the audience knows what’s behind the door, and what’s locked up there, and the characters don’t. The fun is watching the characters struggle with what’s out there in the world and not know. That’s kind of the fun of the show, which you don’t get from the other franchise and that’s the clear distinction between them.

Question: You will have to give several seasons that distinction, because if “Fear” comes to that point of “The Walking Dead,” it should be like something different so the audience…

Gale Anne Hurd: No, the difference really is we’re dealing with completely different dynamics in terms of a blended family, in terms of Los Angeles, an urban setting, it’s East Los Angeles. They’re not going to be out in the woods, it’s going to be a woods-free experience [laughs] and everything about this is dealing with, okay, what happens when your world that is, you’re concerned about your drug-addicted stepson, you’re concerned about your estranged ex-wife, your relationship with your son who feels he’s been supplanted in your heart by this new family. Those are your concerns. Those are what you really care about. Then this happens, and those concerns aren’t going to change, and once again, who can you trust, who can you not trust? What is the role of civil authority, the military, in all this? We’ve really not dealt with that at all in “The Walking Dead.”

Cliff Curtis: It seems the appetite for storytelling can never be satiated. How many ways can you tell a love story? How many ways can you tell…? How many ways can you explore a genre? I think that it’s really determined by how well drawn the characters are, and their relationships. One thing that the creators and everybody at the team are doing a great job of in the show is really working very hard to make the experience of the apocalypse, what’s coming, feel very real, and feel very authentic. There were times I’d walk on set and it really was impressive in terms of how real it felt. It didn’t feel like I was in a genre situation at all. It felt like I really was a high school teacher and we were dealing with a catastrophe, a natural catastrophe that didn’t make any sense.

Gale Anne Hurd: Remember, the characters of “The Walking Dead.” We started this actually with Rick Grimes, Shane Walsh, police officers. They’re used to dealing with crises and emergencies, with carrying guns, shooting guns. They are the people that we would look to, to save us. You’re not looking to an English teacher and a guidance counselor to help you navigate through this new world.

Cliff Curtis: An English teacher.

Question: Do you think with this particular series you are targeting a different audience because “The Walking Dead” is full on horror and gore and all of that stuff, very graphic. And from what I’m hearing, this one is more of a friendlier and you see more of the families and you get to see how the society…. [crosstalk] succumbs to the apocalypse.

Cliff Curtis: Then you have the… sorry.

Gale Anne Hurd: When you see the promo later on, you’ll see, it’s still the same universe. It’s not as if this is the sanitized version that we’re going to cut away, but because we are beginning with normal, real life, it’s as if it started happening today. What would happen? As we know from “The Walking Dead,” things tend to accelerate fairly quickly.

Talent left to right: Cliff Curtis (Travis), Gale Anne Hurd (Executive Producer). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Cliff Curtis (Travis), Gale Anne Hurd (Executive Producer). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: By the nature, it is a slow-burner. It’s actually [crosstalk] a slow…

Gale Anne Hurd: Yes.

Cliff Curtis: Yes, it’s… a slow-burner.

Question: “The Walking Dead” is not. It’s actually totally is the opposite. Do you feel that the audience could be surprised?

Cliff Curtis: I think, professionally it’s been a pleasure to be in the privileged position to have this mothership, which is, you know, the juggernaut, which is the original franchise, and to say we don’t have anything to prove. We’re not competing with that franchise. We’re not going out to sort of try and you know, sort of like be that on steroids. We’re starting afresh. It’s a new show. We’ve got nothing to do with the other show in all practical senses. And to have the quiet confidence of a creative team that knows what they’re doing. We will discover who our audience is, and we’ll take the time to earn that audience, and as that audience gets to know us, we’ll get to evolve as a show. I don’t think anybody or everybody knew what was going to happen with the original show, and if they started out saying, we’re going to be the biggest show in the world, they wouldn’t have become the show that they were. We certainly aren’t making that mistake. We’re saying, well, we’re starting off with a blended family in East LA who doesn’t know what’s going on, and we’ll see where we go with it, and we’ll see who the audience is who relates to these characters. Maybe there will be some migration over, that would be great. Maybe some audience will remain with the other show, and that’s okay. Maybe we’ll build a new audience, and that will be wonderful. We really don’t know. We can’t call it. Nobody can.

Question: Dave [Erickson] was saying that you’ve had quite a bit of input in terms of, like there’s a lot of you in Travis which is weird… How has that process been?

Cliff Curtis: Yeah, it’s strangely like playing… he’s still an American character, and he still is from East LA, well, from LA. He lives in East LA. They were very generous. Dave [Erickson], everybody, Gale [Anne Hurd], AMC, were very generous in giving me this opportunity to sort of allow me to sort of bring aspects, like my character’s name, my last name is Manawa, because I play a lot of Latin rolls. So they thought why don’t we try it with, you could be an American Maori perhaps? So we took that. I’m wearing my character belt today [laughs]. My sister made that, and the costume designer saw that, so that’s really cool. There are little hints, there’s little aspects of me, that reflect who I am and where I’m from, within the character. We don’t make a big deal out of it. [crosstalk] We don’t hit it too hard.

Gale Anne Hurd: That’s one great thing about Los Angeles. It is a melting pot of people from all over, living very tightly packed in an urban setting. In Atlanta you’re not going to find that or certainly in the suburbs around Atlanta. That’s why this is really a blended family in more ways than one. It’s blended culturally, ethnically as well as [crosstalk] there’s sort of stepchildren although they’re not married yet, there’s blended family in that respect.

Cliff Curtis: Yes. There are aspects about ethnicity that I’ve drawn upon that we’ve had, but it’s not really focused on at all. The parts of me that align very much with my character that I really enjoy is he’s an optimist. He believes in the goodness of humanity. He works hard to take care, he has strong core values about family and about people he loves, and about contributing to society. Practical-wise he’s a fixer. He fixes stuff. All of those are things that, I don’t get to play that a lot. I’ve got a lot more in common with an English literature character than I do with me in the character I play in films you know, that I played. I don’t have a lot in common with a CIA agent or an FBI agent or a detective, but an English lit, you know they study the minds, philosophy. My character’s got traits that are more along the lines of relationships. He believes in winning hearts and minds, that’s why he’s a high school teacher, and perhaps why I’m an actor. He believes strongly in the goodness of humanity, and that’s something that’s worth fighting and dying for, the goodness in humanity. I believe in those things and since Dave [Erickson] and everyone’s been very generous in terms of allowing me to affect the evolution of my character by bringing those things into the role. Perhaps that’s what sets him up as a character perhaps not best suited, for this new world. It’s like, oh, he has time to talk about stuff. It’s just he’s completely unprepared and his strengths are also his weaknesses. It’s been really fun.

Question: I heard you saying you’re trying to get them to go down…

Cliff Curtis: Not yet, that was a bit of a joke, but yes. I’m going to pitch [crosstalk] to everybody to sort of like do a season in New Zealand.

Gale Anne Hurd: Field trip!

Question: How does it feel playing this character that believes in the goodness of people and to play it in this world of “The Walking Dead” and specifically this world that is focused in a harsh city and going through a natural disaster, an apocalypse, how do you feel coping with those emotions?

Cliff Curtis: It feels good. It feels good, because it’s like, my character’s not numb to those things. I think that in a world like the other show, characters avoid – the characters are numb. They’ve cut that part of their humanity off. They just don’t deal with shit. It’s so – and perhaps there were other characters in our ensemble that were much quicker to adapt. My character’s not, and that feels good to me because I think I would – I perhaps wouldn’t get there so quickly, and perhaps that makes me vulnerable and I find that really satisfying to have a character like… For example, the distinction between my character and Kim’s [Dickens] character, Madison, mine is named Travis, she’s more of a pragmatist, and I’m more of an idealist. I want to fix stuff, she just wants to get stuff done.  You know, the American attitude… [crosstalk]  being not from America.

Gale Anne Hurd: Also, she’s like, get the college applications in.  I mean, she’s got a checklist because she has a lot of kids to counsel. You have to be quick, you have to get things done, you have to move on. Whereas with you, you know, he wants every student in his classroom to understand what he’s trying to impart.

Cliff Curtis: Yes, I’m studying literature! I’m studying what it is you think and how does… [crosstalk]

Gale Anne Hurd: Why it’s relevant to these kids’ lives.

Cliff Curtis: What you think matters, and how do your feelings and your thoughts correlate, and what actions should follow? You know, that’s like the back of the brain to the front of the brain journey, and this world has not a lot of time for that, to sort of like, let’s sit down and talk about this.

Gale Anne Hurd: Honestly, I know this sounds crazy but there are some things that are addressed in this show I wish I could tell you that will blow you away. That are simply relevant to the world we’re living in now, and that’s what we can do with LA, the urban setting, and these characters.

Talent left to right: Cliff Curtis (Travis), Gale Anne Hurd (Executive Producer). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Cliff Curtis (Travis), Gale Anne Hurd (Executive Producer). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: Does that mean the show is more pessimistic than the other one?

Gale Anne Hurd: No!

Question: Because we’re going to see humanity, civilization decline and fall off and people lose their…

Gale Anne Hurd: No, because… [crosstalk]

Cliff Curtis: I think that’s the fear part. So you can fear, you see…

Gale Anne Hurd: Yes.

Cliff Curtis: You know I’ve got family back home that are just so insanely addicted to the show. [laughs] You know, like, they screamed and yelled at me when I told them I was considering the show, that I must do it. The people that have committed to the show, they’re not just into it for like, the splatter effect. They really believe that the zombies, this is what I understand anyway, they really believe that the show is a metaphor for life and what it reveals is our deep-seated fears about life itself. We just use this device as a device to sort of say, what is your worst fear? You know, and your worst fear is that, to be stuck in a world where we’re all pessimists, and we have no hope of a future for our children and for the people that we love. That’s our worst fear. Our worst fear is not some outbreak or an earthquake, or like some people from over there coming and attacking us. Our worst fear is what goes on, and that’s what I love about my character. His weapons of choice are what’s here and here, not what gun you’re toting or what sword you’re handy with. I’m really excited about the potential of that character.

Gale Anne Hurd: It’s important to remind, I think, ourselves, and I think the viewers, that we’re living in a world in which the news is almost daily in assault and people do find hope in our characters. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t keep watching.

Cliff Curtis: We need characters that are going to say, and we need human beings you know, we are reflecting life we need human beings, we need people on our side who are going to say, yes, things are looking really bad, and that’s okay, and we’re going to be okay and we’re going to figure out what needs to be done so we’re going to be okay and things are going to get better.

Gale Anne Hurd: There are people who will be able to claim that and do it.

Question: All right guys, thank you so much.

Fear The Walking Dead premieres on August 23rd! Looking for more conversations with the talent? Here you go:

-Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason
-Kim Dickens and Alycia Debnam-Carey
-Frank Dillane and Creator Dave Erickson
-Elizabeth Rodriguez and Lorenzo James Henrie

FearPoster

Geekscape Interviews: ‘Fear The Walking Dead’s Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason Talk East LA, Snipers, And More!

by Derek Kraneveldt

It’s been a few weeks now since the always-incredible (and always exhausting), events of San Diego Comic-Con, and I’m beyond excited that I’m just now able to talk about one of the highlights of this year’s week in San Diego.

If you’re a long-time reader of Geekscape, you’ll know how huge of a fan of The Walking Dead I am. I’ve been keeping up with the comic book since I was in high school, passionately wrote Geekscape’s Walking Dead Weekly column before life got in the way, and of course, ate up every single second of Telltale’s incredible The Walking Dead video game.

So of course, I jumped at the opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the new, mysterious companion series, Fear the Walking Dead.

Now, that being said, I’d felt a little iffy about Fear The Walking Dead since the companion series was first revealed. Sure, the world wants as much The Walking Dead as it can get (again, you do know that there’s both a comic book and incredible video game too, right?), but would this series simply be the same show in a different location, and without the survivors we already know and love? How could it differentiate itself from what’s essentially the most popular television series on the planet?

After having an opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the series last month, any concerns that I had about Fear the Walking Dead disappeared, and I’m now simply excited to see where East Los Angeles, and the beginnings of the infection, take this dysfunctional blended family.

And that was all before that awesome trailer was released.

The interviews were run in a round-table format, and had journalists speaking to a few of the actors (or producers) at the same time. As it was a round-table, not all questions were mine, but all of them are definitely worth reading. It wasn’t the fantastic trailer or meeting these actors that made me really excited for Fear The Walking Dead, but the passion, excitement, and chemistry that all of its talent have with the project and each other.

First up, Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason, who play Daniel and Ofelia Salazar.

Talent left to right: Mercedes Mason (Ofelia), Ruben Blades (Daniel). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Mercedes Mason (Ofelia), Ruben Blades (Daniel). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: Hey, so what can you tell us about your characters?

Rubén Blades: Nothing! There are snipers. They’re reading your mouth. You go like, what do you think about…. No it’s interesting because they said we are going to talk to the media and I said, about what? [laughs]

Rubén Blades: You can’t say anything other than you know… yeah, well, yeah I…

Question : What can you not say?

Mercedes Mason: [laughs] Smart! Wow.

Rubén Blades: I have a relationship with a camel. But… [laughs]

Mercedes Mason: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rubén Blades: That would be the development…

Question: So, yeah…

Mercedes Mason: Episode 5, Episode 5. Yeah. [laughs]

Rubén Blades: I shouldn’t have said that but…

Question: Yeah.

Rubén Blades: What the hell?

Mercedes Mason: Now we have to kill him I think. That’s what happens.

I play Ofelia, Daniel’s daughter. I’m a daughter of immigrant parents. So, she’s very sort of ambitious but a naïve girl who is very Americanized. She’s you know… been an American now for her whole sort of conscious life. So she’s very protective of her parents and when all of this happens her instinct is to protect them. And little by little, she starts realizing, one, she doesn’t know who her parents are at all, which really has to dictate how she figures herself out, and two, she realizes she can start relying on them and there’s strength there. And it’s almost like they have to weaken to know each other all over again.

Rubén Blades: I’m Daniel Salazar… and Ofelia’s father, and Patricia Reyes Spíndola from Mexico plays my wife. She’s a wonderful actress, really solid. And we come from a Central American country to start a new life in Los Angeles. This scenario… this situation happens, and as this season develops you start realizing that my character has a background that no one knew.

Mercedes Mason: And that includes his daughter. I read the episode where Ofelia discovers something about Daniel. Literally emailed him in a panic. I was like, oh my God, please tell me that you read it. And he’s like no, not yet. And then every day I’m like bugging him I’m like, did you, have you read it?”

Talent left to right: Mercedes Mason (Ofelia), Ruben Blades (Daniel). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Mercedes Mason (Ofelia), Ruben Blades (Daniel). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: [laughs] What kind of background?

Mercedes Mason: Look at you, you’re good. You’re good.

Rubén Blades: It’s interesting because as the story develops his background ends up being helpful. [laughs] It’s interesting, it’s just everyone has a secret. We all do, all of us. And under certain conditions these things can end up being interpreted differently.

Mercedes Mason: But it’s also revealed to us as we go along so… Daniel’s secrets have been revealed to him, mine hasn’t been revealed to me yet so I’m dying to figure out…

Rubén Blades: And that’s like one category… that’s one of the things that…

[Crash in background]

Mercedes Mason: Ooooohhhh, Party foul!

Rubén Blades: Not my drinking. [laughs] I like that about this show though. It also…

Mercedes Mason: It keeps us on our toes.

Rubén Blades: Yeah, you don’t know. You can be anybody. You think, well, I’m a main character. No, [Sound] Fschwhip. [laughs] Not anymore.

I mean somebody bites your ass and you’re dead. I don’t care if you’re Meryl Streep, you’re going. You know they’ll kill you. You don’t know. My band is rooting – I’m a musician,  so my band wants me dead. As soon as possible. [laughs]

Mercedes Mason: [laughs] They’re writing anonymous letters…

Rubén Blades: As soon as possible. Why don’t you kill this guy, as soon as he comes in have somebody bite him. Because we want to work, you know?  I’m the singer so…

Mercedes Mason: [laughs] They’re just waiting.

Question: So is that what happens when you’re getting the script and every week you’re like, am I dead, am I dead? Is that how it can happen?

Rubén Blades: You don’t know what’s going to happen.

Mercedes Mason: [laughs] We read it backwards.

Rubén Blades: Not a joke. Really, we don’t know. Nobody knows. It’s very interesting.

Question: Do we see any of your musical talents on the show?

Rubén Blades: No, thank God. [laughs]

Rubén Blades: My life is very complicated as it is and… but it’s interesting because it’s not like stereotypical Latino. All of a sudden I’m going to start singing “La Malagueña.” [laughs]

Mercedes Mason: [laughs] He plays… he’s going to do the Polka just to mix it up.

Rubén Blades: So it’s interesting. I don’t know, I hope not.

Question: But if you die, “La vida te da sorpresas” is a really good song.

Rubén Blades: And die with that t-shirt on. [laughs] And have a little plug for myself. When did Salazar start doing that, he knows that song? [laughs] What year is that song? I have a t-shirt actually. I have it there. [laughs] No, I’m serious. “La vida te da sorpresas.”

Talent left to right: Ruben Blades (Daniel), Mercedes Mason (Ofelia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Ruben Blades (Daniel), Mercedes Mason (Ofelia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: So LA is the background. I mean there’s a lot of Latin community, especially in LA, so can we expect a lot of, you know thinking on the Latin audience like because…

Rubén Blades: No. Not like that because it’s about people. That’s what I like about this. It’s not a token thing. The thing begins to fall apart and all of a sudden because of the situation a family is thrust upon another family basically.

Mercedes Mason: For survival.

Rubén Blades: For survival reasons and all of a sudden, very happily they end up together. [laughs]

Mercedes Mason: And your culture doesn’t mean anything at that point.

Rubén Blades: It doesn’t mean anything. And they don’t care. I used to say this with friends of mine…

Mercedes Mason: Except there’s some respect things.

Rubén Blades: Yeah, absolutely.

Mercedes Mason: You know there are a few cultural things like that, yeah…

Rubén Blades: Cultural things that are different. That are…

Mercedes Mason: …make it difficult to live together, you know co-habitat.

Rubén Blades: You know, right… So it’s an outlook. It’s a way of looking at things. But I tell people, it’s an interesting thing, you go to a museum, right? When you walk in, you see a painting. You react to the painting. You don’t ask…

Mercedes Mason: Who was the painter?

Rubén Blades: Did a black person paint this, a gay person painted this? You know, you don’t ask those stupid questions. You’re touched by the thing. Okay, so, recently some watercolors by Hitler were sold for like $400,000. I looked at them. They were nice. But, dammit Hitler painted them… [laughs] So you go, oh no, I don’t want to have this, you know… so it’s very hard. So you get two families together because of the situation. And then you’re going to react to each other as human beings. Not as these are Latino people. You don’t give a shit, if you’re drowning, you’re like, excuse me, are you Christian? [laughs] No? Okay, but will you throw me that thing anyway?

Mercedes Mason: I’ll drown. [laughs]

Rubén Blades: I need to survive. That’s what happens here. So the Latino scenario is just we are Latins. It doesn’t dictate… no I like that, because it’s about people.

Mercedes Mason: It’s the human condition. It’s about right and wrong. Yeah it has nothing to do with…

Rubén Blades: What do you do in a situation like that?

Question: But I think that’s the best part of this presentation of Latinos because you are not a stereotype…

Mercedes Mason: It’s not a stereotype.

Question: Yes, exactly and that feels great because as a Latina I can relate to that instead of if you were wearing like a Mariachi suit. [laughs]

Mercedes Mason: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well Episode 2… No, I’m kidding… [laughs] But, let me show you pictures…

Question: How do you feel working… uh, it is a different culture. It’s not a stereotype. It is a different culture. We know Latino families are completely different from…

Mercedes Mason: There is a little bit of that. There’s some warmth, there’s some, you know… a little bit of difference there but it doesn’t dictate our behavior. Do you know what I mean? Whereas, traditionally a certain culture would dictate like… if you’re Latin, well you know I’m being stereotypical. You have to wear hoop earrings, you have to say this you have to eat that.

Rubén Blades: I would never permit that to begin with.

Mercedes Mason: I mean he wears hoop earrings in every episode, but that’s his choice. [laughs]

Rubén Blades: It’s like oh… like you said, the big mariachi hat. That has nothing to do with anything.

Question: You’re not Speedy Gonzales. You are your own person.

Rubén Blades: No, and on top of everything the other aspect that I thought was interesting was that the family is from Central America. So that’s unusual, you know… and it’s again more real because you have a lot of Central Americans here in Los Angeles.

Mercedes Mason: Yes.

Rubén Blades: The pupuseria’s and you have all those Koreans you know, also. It’s not like everybody’s Chinese.

Mercedes Mason: Yeah, I was going to say it’s not Asian it’s… right.

Rubén Blades: So, but it was interesting. The way that they came about this was interesting.

Mercedes Mason: And it adds the layers. Especially the fact that Salazar’s left El Salvador because of political reasons. That adds another layer, especially as an actor. You get to add so much into that. That knowledge really colors how you perceive things.

Rubén Blades: Yeah, and it was an interesting thing to do as an actor. If you’re going to be in a series you want something that will be surprising and something that will be challenging. And not this linear kind of, Ricky Ricardo… [laughs] You never know where it’s going and it has a background that is complicated. There are going to be moral judgements. It’s going to be very, very, very interesting to see what your reactions will be. Because, nothing is what it seems to be.

Mercedes Mason: Right, it keeps turning. I have to say I commend AMC as well because it’s quite recent that ethnic leads are even in shows. And again, as human beings not as African American, Latin, Asian, whatever the situation may be. It’s refreshing. It’s especially because the show’s shown in LA, we’re sort of a melting pot of all these cultures. And it’s really – you see all of us we’re sort of every flavor and color of United Benetton so everything’s represented.

Rubén Blades: How can you do a show in New York and not have Latinos in it, for instance, and there’s so many of them. There are so many shows. Right now in, for instance in ‘74 when I got to New York… I think there were two Mexicans in New York. [laughs] Maybe. Never saw a Paraguayan. I met a Paraguayan once and I asked for his autograph because I had never met a Paraguayan. But I’m not important. I said, oh yes you are. [laughs]

Mercedes Mason: Yes you are.

Rubén Blades: Sign this. Because now I know you exist. You know? And there are shows in New York where you don’t see a Latino. Not one, not one. Not even a cab driver. You don’t see them… so now in Mexico… in New York… there are many. So the city has yet another added element. You have Puerto Ricans, of course. Dominicans, of course. And they’re contributing. We’re all contributing to the city. Now we have our Mexicans, we have Ecuadorians, now all of a sudden now there are more groups represented. And I know that… and maybe they think that we’re all the same. We all sing La Cucaracha and we all go bull fighting and have arroz. [laughs] But all that is different you know. The difference between a Mexican, and a Cuban, and a Paraguayan, and Ecuadorian is obvious to us. Not to others. But it creates complexity and they are respecting that in this one because they have a Central American presence. And it’s a very refreshing thing.

Mercedes Mason: But, hopefully if we’ll get to the point where, like AMC, it’s not even talked about. At this point it’s just a family. We’re becoming such an amalgam of different cultures in the world. I mean you know, in 2030 there’s so many mixes there really isn’t a clear line between cultures and the fact that we’re still deviating between well these are the Latins and these… It shouldn’t be like that. We should just all… and that’s what I love about this. One of the things I loved is none of this matters.

When the world is about to end, now what? It becomes a human condition. It becomes, oh my God, who do you rely on? What’s wrong? What’s right? If we were having coffee yesterday as my neighbor now you’re trying to eat my face, am I allowed to kill you? [laughs] I saw you…

Rubén Blades: Not this beautiful. That happens to be my daughter dammit. [laughs]

Mercedes Mason: Not the face, Not the face!

Question: He’s your dad, I wouldn’t do that.

Mercedes Mason: Thank you. Yes. He is.

Question: He looks dangerous.

Mercedes Mason: I cannot wait for you guys to see all… you’re going to die…

Rubén Blades: It’s very interesting you see. It’s going to be very interesting. I wish you…

Mercedes Mason: Hang on, when I read it, I literally emailed him in such a panic. I was so excited.

Rubén Blades: I wish I could see your… the faces of everyone here.

Mercedes Mason: Yes, yes, yes. Quick guys, give me all your numbers we’re going to Skype. [laughs]

Mercedes Mason: When it comes out…

Talent left to right: Ruben Blades (Daniel), Mercedes Mason (Ofelia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Ruben Blades (Daniel), Mercedes Mason (Ofelia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: I noticed that also that all the characters are blue collar or social workers but they’re kind of real. Does that add to the show or there’s no entertainment lawyer or artist. They would die first, no? [laughter]

Mercedes Mason: But it’s also East LA. Like to me, when you come to LA you’d want to be in the entertainment business. You go to Hollywood, you go you know… there’s a different vibe. For us, it’s survival. Again, like Ofelia’s parents came to create a new life. To survive. It had nothing to do with Hollywood.

Rubén Blades: I’m a barber.

Mercedes Mason: Yeah. It had to do with creating a new life. And I think, you know you go to East LA, you go to some other areas of Los Angeles, it’s real. You know people have this impression of glossy LA. And, I love that they’re presenting the gritty aspect of it.

Rubén Blades: And I’m a barber, and that’s it. That’s not what I used to do. But all of a sudden that’s what I need to do to survive. So, it’s interesting.

Question: Do you use a blade on one of the zombies? [laughs]

Rubén Blades: We’re going to get shot. [laughs]

Question: They can’t see me…

Rubén Blades: No, they’re over there.

Mercedes Mason: You know what we should do? They are recording we should just sign language and you know…

Question: [laughs] She said yes.

Question: [laughs] Were you fans of the show before-hand?

Rubén Blades: I read the… I’m a contrarian so if everybody talks about something I immediately suspect. [laughs]

So I’ve become suspicious immediately and my first reaction is, I don’t want to see this. But you know what I did though? I have all the comics I collect comic books. So, for many people here, this is the first time they’ve come to Comic-Con? I’ve been coming since ‘85 so… I have like 15,000 comic books.

Question: Do you come to Comic-Con?

Rubén Blades: I used to come more before because what is happening now is that it’s not anymore about comics. It’s more about other things and you go and you walk a block and you step on nine Wookies. You know? [laughs] And when it started getting like that I said it can’t really.

Mercedes Mason: He dresses as a Wookie in the privacy of his own home.

Rubén Blades: So, I’ve been coming here and buying comics and whatnot. So, I’m familiar.

Question: So, do you read comics?

Rubén Blades: Yeah.

Male Speaker 3: What are you reading right now?  What do you like?

Rubén Blades: I think, well right now… and you know I call it “Golden Age” but right now los hermanos Hernandez.  Do you know them? “Love and Rockets?” Boy, you have to read that.

Question: That’s the name?

Rubén Blades: “Love and Rockets” yeah, los hermanos Hermandez they’re Mexican, the best. Some of the best stories. [inaudible] And Frank… the new take on Batman. Frank Miller? Moore. Alan Moore. So I… the writing has become very, very advanced, I mean it’s pretty good. It’s really good. And I like it because it’s like storyboards so you know you get to develop also a way of looking at things.

Question: So as a fan-boy, a lot of for example Peter Jackson came dressed up.  Daniel Radcliffe dressed as Spiderman. So if you could dress up as something you know to blend with the main hall, which character would you choose?

Mercedes Mason: Good question!

Rubén Blades: I would like to be the Invisible Man. [laughs]

Mercedes Mason: I mean you have to do a little Wonder Woman. You have to have a little female power in there. 

Fear The Walking Dead premieres on August 23rd! Looking for more conversations with the talent? Here you go:

-Kim Dickens and Alycia Debnam-Carey
-Frank Dillane and Creator Dave Erickson
-Cliff Curtis and Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd
-Elizabeth Rodriguez and Lorenzo James Henrie

FearPoster

Geekscape Interviews: ‘Fear The Walking Dead’s Kim Dickens And Alycia Debnam-Carey Talk About Human-Looking Walkers And More!

by Derek Kraneveldt

It’s been a few weeks now since the always-incredible (and always exhausting), events of San Diego Comic-Con, and I’m beyond excited that I’m just now able to talk about one of the highlights of this year’s week in San Diego.

If you’re a long-time reader of Geekscape, you’ll know how huge of a fan of The Walking Dead I am. I’ve been keeping up with the comic book since I was in high school, passionately wrote Geekscape’s Walking Dead Weekly column before life got in the way, and of course, ate up every single second of Telltale’s incredible The Walking Dead video game.

So of course, I jumped at the opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the new, mysterious companion series, Fear the Walking Dead.

Now, that being said, I’d felt a little iffy about Fear The Walking Dead since the companion series was first revealed. Sure, the world wants as much The Walking Dead as it can get (again, you do know that there’s both a comic book and incredible video game too, right?), but would this series simply be the same show in a different location, and without the survivors we already know and love? How could it differentiate itself from what’s essentially the most popular television series on the planet?

After having an opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the series last month, any concerns that I had about Fear the Walking Dead disappeared, and I’m now simply excited to see where East Los Angeles, and the beginnings of the infection, take this dysfunctional blended family.

And that was all before that awesome trailer was released.

The interviews were run in a round-table format, and had journalists speaking to a few of the actors (or producers) at the same time. As it was a round-table, not all questions were mine, but all of them are definitely worth reading. It wasn’t the fantastic trailer or meeting these actors that made me really excited for Fear The Walking Dead, but the passion, excitement, and chemistry that all of its talent have with the project and each other.

You can read my interview with Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason, who play Daniel and Ofelia Salazar here, and this time around, it’s Kim Dickens And Alycia Debnam-Carey, who portray Madison and Alicia Clark.

Talent left to right: Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia), Kim Dickens (Madison). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia), Kim Dickens (Madison). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Kim Dickens: Hi, I’m Kim Dickens.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Hi, I’m Alycia Debnam-Carey.

Kim Dickens: She has an Aussie accent.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: I’ve got a crazy last name. Sorry. [laughs]

Question: So ladies, what can you tell us about your characters in the show?

Kim Dickens: I play Madison Clark, who is a high school counselor and mother to Alicia and Nick, a couple of teenagers. One of them is a ne’er-do-well and one of them is a golden child. I’m pointing to Alycia [Debnam-Carey] [Alycia laughs]. We’re sort of forming a new second family with my boyfriend I’m in love with, Cliff [Curtis]. I mean, not Cliff. [Alycia laughs] Cliff’s the actor. I’m kind of in love with him, anyway… Travis, and we’re joining our family, sort of a modern, fractured patchwork family put together. I play the single mom that has been raising her kids and meets the apocalypse.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: So, I play Alicia with the same character name as myself, which is kind of strange. But spelt differently so it is still a little different. [laughs] She’s kind of the weird sister with kind of frustrating needs. She’s the golden child as Kim has said and she’s an over-achiever. She’s in a really great position but she really wants out of Los Angeles. She kind of has a beautiful boyfriend and is ready to go to Berkeley. She’s from a bit of a broken home. She’s lost her dad and the brother’s a little wayward and gone off on his own. He’s suffering with addiction. She sort of feels like kind of caught up in the downward spiral in a way. Though she has a great love for the family, she just wants to get out.

Kim Dickens: To break away from the drama.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Yes.

Kim Dickens: Good luck! [laughs!]

Alycia Debnam-Carey: That’s not going to last long. [laughs]

Question: In the universe of “The Walking Dead,” everything is happening at the same time?

Kim Dickens: It is the same universe and mythology as “The Walking Dead” but we are before that. Before you meet Sheriff Grimes and his coma and everything, we are sort of what happens during that coma and a little bit before that, in a different part of the United States.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It shows you the crumbling of civilization and how something like this epidemic would affect society and the speed at which it happens, too.

Question: Is that going to go slow or –

Kim Dickens: It is a little bit, we call it a bit of a slow burn, you know.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It’s certainly what our first season really focuses on – the destruction of society.

Kim Dickens: It’s like the initial crumbling. It’s like the first three weeks where it’s all of happening. It’s really the Internet rumors and the paranoia of a virus….

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Conspiracy.

Kim Dickens: Conspiracy theories. We’ve covered about three weeks in our first season of six episodes.

Question: How soon in your show will be seeing walkers and things like that?

Kim Dickens: I don’t know. You have to tune in.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: I know! [laughs]

Kim Dickens: I don’t know. We could wait until the very end of the season and what that will be like but no.

Question: [laughs] So they’re not necessarily at the beginning?

Kim Dickens: I don’t think I could give any spoilers away but they’re going to be there.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It is the same world.

Kim Dickens: It will surprise you.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: We’re uncovering it in a very different way. These zombies, these are not looking like what we already know in “The Walking Dead.” They’re not kind of like those zombies as we know it.

Kim Dickens: They still look hauntingly familiar like your neighbor and your co-workers. It’s a little…

Alycia Debnam-Carey: They’ve very humanistic still. That makes it harder to tell.

Kim Dickens: It makes it very confusing as to how to handle it.

Talent left to right: Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia), Kim Dickens (Madison). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia), Kim Dickens (Madison). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: It’s not clear like what happened, how it all came to be like that. I was reading – it’s going to be happening with the rumors and everything. Do you think at one point, you are going to know what happened?

Kim Dickens: I don’t know. I don’t think that’s our priority to sort of unearth what the cause of it is, but you never know –

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Where the show might lead us.

Question: How would you say that the style of “Fear the Walking Dead” is different from the style of “The Walking Dead?”

Kim Dickens: How our title is different?

Question: The style, the style of the show.

Kim Dickens: Oh, the style.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: The style is really different. The setting of Los Angeles makes it initially so, the environment is different. I look at it because I’m a fan of the original “The Walking Dead.” It has got a quiet provincial feel in a way. It’s rural, it’s out in the woods and it’s very pulled back or stripped back. This one is very urban. It’s the community, it’s the city, and it’s a cultural melting pot. It’s in every sense artistic as well. It feels very layered. The original of course is, too. This one is stacked with so many layers. You slowly start to see how that crumbles away.

Kim Dickens: A very urban, grounded, diverse community. It’s not your typical Los Angeles with red carpets and stuff. Though I think it will be really fun if walkers did ruin someone’s red carpet moment.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: You see like, a Hollywood celebrity walking around with half a face. [laughs]

Kim Dickens: We have got to get some cameos.

Question: You’re a fan of the show. I mean how cool is it to get this role?

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Oh, it’s awesome. To be honest, I hadn’t watched it before and then I got the gig. Then at once I have to go and watch it now. It’s given me an excuse to like, binge-watch three weeks of amazing television. Then after that I very quickly fell in love with the show. It is such an amazing, complex drama and it’s almost like the walkers are like a side plot in a weird way. I think that’s how our show is great, too. It has so much dense drama, personal interactions and human dynamics and that for us I think is a real feast.

Question: Are they staying in L.A. or are they leaving L.A. at that point or deciding to run away from it?

Alycia Debnam-Carey: We’re staying in L.A. for the first season. We don’t know beyond that.

Question: Is it shot only in L.A.?

Kim Dickens: We shot the pilot in L.A. and then we had to go to Vancouver to shoot the rest of our season, which is another five episodes. Now we’re in L.A. for about three weeks shooting. We’re shooting right now. We’re shooting more exteriors in L.A. It’s not just like going in or out of the doors. It’s like full scenes that are in the environment of L.A.

Question: Anything there, anything iconic –

Kim Dickens: Right now we are in East L.A. That’s where we’re filming. They’re going to grab some skylines. We’re going to see the beach. They’re going to see stuff.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: We’re going to have iconic smoggy sunsets. [laughs] That’s so typically L.A. It doesn’t feel like any other city. East L.A. is such a different Los Angeles to what you typically think of as L.A.

Talent left to right: Kim Dickens (Madison), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Kim Dickens (Madison), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: How are the special effects? Was it a fun thing to do? Or a tedious process?

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Any kind of special effects is always really fun I think.

Kim Dickens: I like the action stuff that we’re doing. For me it’s been probably one of the most exhausting jobs I’ve ever had but the most fun. I get a little bit – I love the action stuff and if I get just a dialog scene, I’m kind of like, eh.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It’s a little give and take.

Kim Dickens: We can wrestle and fight.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: You are up until often the middle of the night. The next day we all just have bruises everywhere. The last couple of days I just had to cover up my legs with just make-up powder because it has been terrible. [laughs]

Kim Dickens: We like to do as much stuff as we can.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It’s just so fun.

Question: How is it working with Cliff [Curtis]?  Have you met him before?

Kim Dickens: I never met him before but I camera-tested with him for the role. He’s just a lovely person. He’s like a New Zealand manly man but there’s such tenderness and sweetness in his heart and soul. He’s just like really a magical person and such an artful soul. It’s such a joy to work with him.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: The way he works, too. He’s such a joy to watch. He comes into a scene sort of just nothing and then just finds it. It’s amazing. It’s such a treat. Both Kim [Dickens] and Cliff [Curtis] are amazing.

Question: How do you think a fan of “The Walking Dead” will react to “Fear the Walking Dead”?

Kim Dickens: I hope they have a strong reaction to it.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Whether they’ll love it or hate it I’m not sure. I think that it is so different. I think maybe that will be a little bit of a shock at first. It is very, very different. I think people will really come around to it especially by Episode 6 I think it will really get locked in. They’ll be like, wait a second. It’s a whole different game now!

Kim Dickens: I think it’s such a passionate audience. I think they’re ready to give us a chance. They really believe in the show runners and creators and all that: Robert Kirkman and… I think they’re going to have to make that decision when they see it. I think they’re going to have to allow it to be different. I feel like they’re pretty open-minded and like I said they have a very passionate, voracious appetite for it. I hope we please them.

Question: How hands-on is Robert Kirkman on the set? Is he there all the time?

Kim Dickens: He’s not there all the time but he’s our boss. He’s our guy. He’s our visionary.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: He’s very hands-on.

Question: What’s he like?

Kim Dickens: He’s great. He’s very funny. He’s fantastic. He’s a warm, big guy and he’s a fan of so many shows like himself. We were just talking to Elizabeth [Rodriguez] and he’s such a huge of “Orange is the New Black.” He just knows, you know, he just loves the work.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: He’s very invested in it.

Question: If you could actually meet some of the characters of “The Walking Dead,” which ones…?

Kim Dickens: Sherriff Grimes for me.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Yes, me too, or Norman Reedus. I think that would be a fun one.

Kim Dickens: Is he the character? You mean Daryl? [laughs]

Alycia Debnam-Carey: I mean Daryl or Norman [Reedus] I like! You know what I mean. [laughs]

Kim Dickens: Yes, that would be awesome.

Question: How does it feel working in this particular series because the writer is basically competing with himself from 20 years ago and it’s a different story? We’re seeing kind of the beginning and how everything went to hell basically. How does it feel working on something you know is going to end up badly? You have to pretend, oh, it’s just rumors.

Kim Dickens: I think we just really grounded and rooted the show in these characters and these relationships, you know, that are very real and now we just play into that. What would I do to survive? What would I do to figure this out? What is the best choice? As actors we get in there, we pretend. [Alycia laughs] I personally began watching “The Walking Dead” and when I got close to this role I stopped because I didn’t want to have a preconceived idea of what my character was going to know. In fact I was advised that I shouldn’t know any more.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: The discovery was kind of a hard thing. It’s a slow burn and it takes time to reveal itself.

Kim Dickens: It takes the moments of discovery and paranoia, the questioning, and naiveté. We’re in the dark.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: As humans you try to justify anything. Anything abnormal you really try to make it logical, make sense of it. All of those nuances are so important to making this world of discovery real. I think that’s what such an essence of this show, “Fear the Walking Dead.” It’s all about what is coming, the unexpected, and the unknown.

Kim Dickens: The audience is going to be just screaming at us on TV. What are you doing? Don’t do that!

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Yes, yes! It’s got some great little typical light moments. It’s great.

Talent left to right: Kim Dickens (Madison), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Kim Dickens (Madison), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: How much were you told about the character in your first season when you started? Were you told everything and how safe did you feel in “The Walking Dead” world?

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It feels like on every show now they’re killing off leads.

Kim Dickens: I was given the basic outline of my character and a lot of back story that really helped me inform her but beyond what happens in the future I don’t really know except when I get the scripts. I’m pretty excited.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: They’re pretty quiet in the scripts, too. They release them only when they need to. That’s the show. [Alycia laughs]

Question: Does the show talk about the official reaction of the government and the politics and stuff like that? Is it part of the show?

Kim Dickens: Is that a spoiler?

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Yes. [laughs]

Kim Dickens: It’s interesting because of what you do look for, you know… The biggest fear for the characters and I think the thing that will plug in with the audiences is the fear that you’re not able to protect yourself. You do turn to your authority figures.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Who do you trust?

Kim Dickens: Yes. Who do you trust and who can you trust and who shows up for these people? It would be interesting to see.

Question: How would you cope? How would you fare?

Kim Dickens: Terribly.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Badly. I think if there’s anything we’ve actually learned from this show it was, we would not do very well! [laughs]

Fear The Walking Dead premieres on August 23rd! Looking for more conversations with the talent? Here you go:

-Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason
-Frank Dillane and Creator Dave Erickson
-Cliff Curtis and Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd
-Elizabeth Rodriguez and Lorenzo James Henrie

FearPoster

Geekscape Interviews: ‘Fear The Walking Dead’s Frank Dillane and Creator Dave Erickson Talk Audience Reaction And More!

by Derek Kraneveldt

It’s been a few weeks now since the always-incredible (and always exhausting), events of San Diego Comic-Con, and I’m beyond excited that I’m just now able to talk about one of the highlights of this year’s week in San Diego.

If you’re a long-time reader of Geekscape, you’ll know how huge of a fan of The Walking Dead I am. I’ve been keeping up with the comic book since I was in high school, passionately wrote Geekscape’s Walking Dead Weekly column before life got in the way, and of course, ate up every single second of Telltale’s incredible The Walking Dead video game.

So of course, I jumped at the opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the new, mysterious companion series, Fear the Walking Dead.

Now, that being said, I’d felt a little iffy about Fear The Walking Dead since the companion series was first revealed. Sure, the world wants as much The Walking Dead as it can get (again, you do know that there’s both a comic book and incredible video game too, right?), but would this series simply be the same show in a different location, and without the survivors we already know and love? How could it differentiate itself from what’s essentially the most popular television series on the planet?

After having an opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the series last month, any concerns that I had about Fear the Walking Dead disappeared, and I’m now simply excited to see where East Los Angeles, and the beginnings of the infection, take this dysfunctional blended family.

And that was all before that awesome trailer was released.

The interviews were run in a round-table format, and had journalists speaking to a few of the actors (or producers) at the same time. As it was a round-table, not all questions were mine, but all of them are definitely worth reading. It wasn’t the fantastic trailer or meeting these actors that made me really excited for Fear The Walking Dead, but the passion, excitement, and chemistry that all of its talent have with the project and each other.

My favourite interview of the entire convention is transcribed in full below. Sons of Anarchy producer Dave Erickson acts as executive producer, writer, and showrunner of the upcoming series, and he had some incredible insights on what we’re set to see later this month. I really, really with that Frank Dillane was able to answer more questions, but Erickson’s enthusiastic, intricate answers took most of our allowed time.

Question: So guys, how do you feel that the audience and the fans of “The Walking Dead” will respond here?

Dave Erickson: I think they’ll love it. No. [laughs] I think the show’s – there is enough connective tissue – there is enough, we’re living in the same world that Robert [Kirkman] created and the same mythology, the same rules apply to the walkers are infected, and so I think there’s definitely – there’s enough. It’s in the heart and soul of the original and the comic is present. I’d like to think that, maybe, there will be some folks who come to the show who don’t – I know there’s maybe one person left in the world who hasn’t seen “The Walking Dead.”

Question: Yeah.

Dave Erickson: But there may be some who would – we’ll see. A lot of people have asked me that just because the show does 17 million viewers just in the States and I actually think there is – I feel like Robert [Kirkman] and now, Scott [Gimple] and that group, and [Greg] Nicotero and Gale [Anne Hurd], David [Alpert] – they’ve helped us, because I feel like they’ve created this world in which, I think, we will open strong. I think people will come out of curiosity, and then, I think, we’ve produced a good show and people respond to it whether – I’m not worried about the numbers. I’m not worried about getting near that particular mark because I think it’s a little bit unrealistic for any show to expect to do that, but I think people will like it.

I think there’s – you get to see, especially, the fans of the show because we’re living in this pocket for Season 1 that they didn’t explore in the comic and they didn’t explore in the original, which is we get to see what Rick missed. We get to actually see the fall of the society. You see the fall of the major metropolis, but do so through the prism and filter of this highly dysfunctional blended family, which I promise, there is no resemblance to my own – just watch everything kind of crumble. I think what people will enjoy is the steps and the first time people became aware that these – because one of the things Robert was interested in when we first sat down was you don’t assume just because somebody is turned, they’re coming after you.

You don’t assume that they’re dead. You think that they’re sick or you think that they’re on something. For our characters, it’s – when they actually get to a place where they’re forced to, and Frank’s character has to deal with this pretty early, when they’re forced to deal with somebody who was a friend a day ago, who now is acting this way and I have to do violence to protect myself, Robert and I really wanted to explore what does that mean emotionally and psychologically if you have to do violence, too?  Because our walkers still look for the most part – they look human. They have not been degraded and atrophied in a way the wonderful work that Greg and his team have done in the original show. They do wonderful work on our work as well, but it’s a very specific look.

You don’t know in the early days of this if you have to lash out in that way, you don’t know if two days later, the cops will come into your door and say, you know the guy you knocked up the other day, well, yeah. He was sick. So it’s an interesting exploration and it’s all elements of that. The nature of, I think, the brilliant narrative stroke in the comics and coma, it was wonderful and it came before Danny Boyle, I know, but it was a lovely way to dive into the apocalypse, but they really went from zero to apocalypse in a heartbeat and we get the opportunity to extend the season. So that really explains it, so it’s a long waited answer. But yes, that’s the idea.

Talent left to right: David Erickson (Executive Producer and Showrunner) and Frank Dillane (Nick). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: David Erickson (Executive Producer and Showrunner) and Frank Dillane (Nick). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: Setting it in LA, like, what was the reasoning behind that? Do you allow you to…

Dave Erickson: Well, both Robert [Kirkman] and I live there, which was appealing. [laughs] No. I think he very much wanted it. Robert’s from Kentucky, he’s from the South, rural Georgia, it’s been explored on the show for the past several seasons, so to do something that was distinctly urban, to do something that had a very different look, that was the, I think, the first impulse. Second is we definitely wanted to see a major city and try to depict the fall of a major city. What happens – we arrived in Atlanta at the end of the pilot of the original show and the city blocks the dead to try to dramatize what that process would have been like was, I think, was appealing.

For me, dramatically, the show is really about reinvention and it’s about identity and California, the West Coast, LA, specifically. It’s a place where people go to disappear and to reinvent themselves, to change, to become something else. Most of our characters, I won’t say which ones, they’ve had experiences in their past that have scarred them. Things that happened whether crimes done to them, things that they have done and they’ve moved here, they’ve arrived to distance themselves from that. With the onset of the apocalypse, some of these things – the secret that they’ve hid, the things that they have done, their personality traits are, actually, will better suit them for survival.

So it’s about how to become something completely different or dig back into what you were before and find ways to survive. But it just felt like it was a really interesting confluence of, I think, a thematic that works with the city we chose, but also works with our characters, which I think will come across, but that was the reason for LA, as opposed to – and then, also, I live there.  And then we went and shot in Vancouver, so it makes absolutely no sense.

[Laughing]

Question: Yeah.

Question: There is no character that’s coming from the entertainment industry. Is it because none of those would survive after that time?

Dave Erickson: No. It’s funny because – no. We went through – Robert [Kirkman] and I went through the process where I would [laugh] I would write a lot of shit and I send it to him, he would go [laughing]. No. There was. There was actually, there was a couple of characters in the first, in the early incarnations, that were – and I think the feeling was and I ultimately agreed that it was an easy place to go. A little bit too expected and it begged for parity. It was the right move not to go in that direction. It’s not to say that that doesn’t happen in the future, but as it is right now.

So the thing about the Los Angeles that we’re representing on the show, it’s East LA. There’s a specific neighborhood, which is very close to the school we shot at in the pilot. The hospital – there’s a hospital, so I mean it all has a very un-Hollywood look to it and that was what was important to us as well. So you don’t see – you’re not going to see Hollywood Boulevard. You’re not going to see the Hills. You’re not going to see the West Side. It’s primarily East Side. The thing about, one of the great things, our director, Adam Davidson captured, he’s from Los Angeles, born and raised. He has a beautiful gift for really getting a sense of place and because our show, we’re catching up, the audience is well ahead of all of our characters, which is a big part of attention for this season is waiting for them to get it and to walk in that fine line where the audience never wants to just slap them and say, wake up, which I think we’ve done.

But it’s like every time you cut your wide shot, you’re looking at these stacks, hill sites, all of these homes, like, one on top another, you’re looking at these packed freeways. You’re looking at – and the audience is going to watch those. They’re great because they bring in the city and they keep the show cinematic and open, but from a story telling perspective, it’s like every person that’s watching the show is thinking they are all going to die, [laugh] and that dude doesn’t know yet. It’s working for us on a number of levels.

Question: I have to ask about casting. Plus, Frank, probably, well, is he kind of new to this role?

Dave Erickson: Any casting process, except for Frank because Frank came in pretty easily. It takes – I was just looking for actors that I hadn’t seen. Cliff [Curtis] has done television, but he hasn’t done a ton of television and I got very lucky because I was just going through, just trying to think of people that I admired and the people whose work I’d seen and I’ve seen Cliff in “Three Kings” and I’ve seen Cliff in “Training Day.” And then I got to watch “The Dark Horse.”

Question: That is new.

Dave Erickson: Yeah.

Question: Yes.

Dave Erickson: And it’s like, he’s a chameleon. He can do anything.

Question: Yeah.

Dave Erickson: And he has this deeply, empathetic quality and for this character because this is like he’s really the moral compass of the show and he’s just so grounded and so rooted and so honest in his performances, so we just got lucky. We Skyped and he was, I think, he was shooting and he was actually playing Christ.

Question: Yeah.

Dave Erickson: I think he [Cliff Curtis] was finishing that film. He was just incredibly gracious because we put him through – he had to fly out on a day’s notice and come to read and he had fly out again on another day’s notice to sit down and do a read with Kim [Dickens] and he was just lovely. And the second, we were talking about it before, the second we saw Kim and Cliff read opposite each other it just – it felt right, in the same way, when we had Frank [Dillane] read with Alycia [Debnam-Carey], it just felt like we had a family and there was, like, the chemistry which is really, really tricky. You hear about that, so many shows they shoot the pilot and then it’s just not working and they start re-casting and that was never ever a question or issue for us at all. Everybody just kind of clicked. And so he’s playing – we’ve also wanted to make sure we were just letting him bring some more of his own identity to the show, so he is of Maori descent. That’s the character. He’s been at America for – he was born and raised in States. I think it’s the first time he’s actually, aside from shooting in New Zealand, where he’s not – there is a quality to him, which is something I actually want to be talked a lot about, just his tats and his experience in his life and my hope is that it will continue to inform the show and inform the character over the next few seasons. No. They had a short answer. He’s awesome, so that was it.

[laughing]

Question: I think it is.

Dave Erickson: Yeah.

Talent left to right: David Erickson (Executive Producer and Showrunner) and Frank Dillane (Nick). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: David Erickson (Executive Producer and Showrunner) and Frank Dillane (Nick). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: If I got it right, there was long running in the alley in one of the teasers. Are you? What are you running from?

Frank Dillane: Ahh.

Dave Erickson: What do you think he’s running from?

[laughing]

Frank Dillane: My girlfriend.

[laughs]

Question: The husband of your girlfriend.

Frank Dillane: Yeah.

[laughs]

Dave Erickson: Yeah. Why do you think I’m running?

[laughs]

Question: How do you do a show that’s part of this huge world that it is “The Walking Dead” and future exist, and the people love it – how do you take this world and turn into something new because it is completely different from what we’ve been hearing and reading and all the things that you’ve been saying about this particular show? It’s going to feel like more like a drama. We’re going to get to know the characters and I’m assuming you’re going to make us fall in love with them and knowing that they’re going to die.

[laughs]

Question: So how do you do that? How do you take these challenges especially because there’s a big fan base?

Dan Erickson: It’s starting with, fundamentally, it’s starting with a family drama and the problems that the family has. Robert [Kirkman], at some point, said we’re just talking about “The Walking Dead” and talking about the quality of the comic and just the show at large. It’s your parents just got divorced, oh, there are zombies. He didn’t get out to the prom, oh, there are zombies. I think that’s, in principle, I think, there are elements of that in the comic and in the original show, but we’re able to, because we stepped back a little bit from it, we’re actually able to establish those dynamics, and really, cement them early on.

So it is about Frank’s [Dillane] character has a very specific problem and something he’s been dealing with for a long time. He will continue to deal with it throughout the season and throughout the show. It’s about Cliff’s [Curtis] character who’s divorced from Liza, played by Elizabeth Rodriguez, and he’s trying to bring his son into Madison’s family with Frank’s character and Alycia [Debnam-Carey] and just the everyday we’re dealing with, the difficulty of that. What does that mean? And what’s great is all of those problems, which I’ve dealt with in my own blended family are actually, they actually work in the world strangely.

It’s in the simple things. It’s like, okay, Dad, I know you want to go back and get your girlfriend. But why can’t we just go? Why can’t we be our own family? Why do we have to go on and blend and be with that family? And it’s putting those characters in this position where who do I save? Who do I love? Is it my biological son? Or do I owe it to – I have fallen in love with this woman. One of the wonderful things I think about the show is that between Cliff and Kim [Dickens], Madison and Travis, there is true love there.

They really do care about each other. You see them together and you want them to stay together and it’s the pressure of the apocalypse as they come that will create fractures of issues and that’s – but there is a love story, fundamentally, it’s a love story there. It’s a love story. It’s really pointing the story between Frank’s character and Madison, his mother as well.

So that, to me, is sort of the heart and soul of it. As long as we can hold true to the problems, those conflicts that we’ve established early on and continue to build on top of those rather than start with the supply run episode, which we will have to do because we have to get supplied. As long as we do that first, I think we’ll be okay. I think it will really be these characters, and yes, and the danger that they made. We will love them and they may die. That’ll help too.

[laughs]

Question: Thank you so much.

Dave Erickson: Thanks guys. I appreciate it.

Question: Thanks.

Fear The Walking Dead premieres on August 23rd! Looking for more conversations with the talent? Here you go:

-Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason
-Kim Dickens and Alycia Debnam-Carey
-Cliff Curtis and Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd
-Elizabeth Rodriguez and Lorenzo James Henrie

FearPoster

Joel McHale Says That ‘Community’ Is Over

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Is it finally over?

Could Community finally be finished?

I sure hope not. Last year’s Yahoo-driven season six was a comedic tour-de-force, and somehow surpassed many fans high, high expectations.

Once the sixth season concluded earlier this year, things were pretty up in the air as to whether or not we’d see a seventh season, a #sixseasonsandamovie style motion picture, or nothing at all.

Yahoo has expressed interest in somehow continuing the franchise, as has series creator Dan Harmon. Joel McHale, however, doesn’t think it’s going to happen, as stated in an interview with Metro Weekly:

“All of our contracts were up after six years,” McHale told Metro Weekly. “All the actors on the show, almost without exception — their stock has risen significantly and it’s out of the pay rate that is affordable to make the show. So you’re not going to be able to get Alison Brie or Gillian Jacobs at a normal television salary anymore. There is just not enough money to be able to pay for the show.”

So there you have it. Contracts are up, and pretty much everyone is a far bigger star than they were when they started the series, meaning another season would be very, very expensive.

Harmon, however, does think we’ll at least see a movie. He told TVLine back at SDCC that “We wait a little bit, let [the cast] explore their awesome careers, and then we get together for an incredible movie.”

It would be a shame to see a series very much in its prime series go the way of the dodo at this point, but after seeing five more seasons than I ever thought I would, I’m really just happy that the show went on as long as it did.

Do you hope that we see more Community? What would you like to see in a movie? Sound out below!

community-cast

This ‘Fantastic Four’ Honest Trailer Reminds Us Just How Bad Those Last Two Movies Were

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: We’re finally just a few days away from the anticipated (and already hated for some reason) release of Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot, and the hilarious team over at Screen Junkies has just released a hilarious Honest Trailer take on 2005’s Fantastic Four and 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Yep, those movies were pretty, pretty terrible. There are a ton of moments shown off over the course of this Honest Trailer that I’d long since forgotten, and now I just can’t stop thinking about them.

My favourite part? When it’s mentioned that everyone totally freaked out over a black Johnny Storm, but that a Latina Sue Storm was more than okay.

So, what do you think? Are you looking forward to the Fantastic Four reboot? Would you rather see the rights revert to Marvel? Sound out below!

Crowdfund This: Mark Webber’s Secret Movie!

by Derek Kraneveldt

We’re all pretty huge fans of Mark Webber around these parts.

Sure, we all loved him in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, but then he broke our hearts with The End of Love, and absolutely shattered us with last year’s The Ever After.

Mark is back to (probably) break our hearts all over again, and this time he’s taken to Kickstarter to make his new movie happen. Interestingly enough, we really have no idea what the movie is about. The campaign page is called ‘Mark Webber’s Secret Movie’, and it’s labelled as “a film so potent, vulnerable & personal that he can’t tell you what it’s about yet.”

Interested already, aren’t you?

So are a lot of other folks apparently. Even though Mark hasn’t really detailed anything about the project, his amazing track record and the enthusiasm that he exudes in the campaign video has already brought him more than halfway to his goal.

Here’s what Mark says about the project:

I’m returning home to make my most vulnerable and personal story yet…

 

Over the last few years I’ve developed a style of directing that uses real life situations and people, to tell stories that hit in a way you don’t normally experience. “The End Of Love” I starred in with my actual 2 year old son, “The Ever After” with my actual wife. Doing so gives me a level of vulnerability and intimacy that’s impossible to achieve in a traditional setting, that I use to push the bounds of truth, rawness, beauty, connection and emotion in storytelling. With this next film, due to the subject matter, and how I’ll have to shoot, I must keep the plot details and cast completely secret. It’s crucial in order to be able to successfully capture certain aspects of the story. Although the images I’ve included of my mother and I are very telling…

In keeping with the personal theme of the film, the rewards available to backers are also surprisingly personal. You’ll find no mass-printed t-shirts or posters among the rewards, but instead, some really rare items like Mark’s watermarked shooting script from Scott Pilgrim, one only 10 CD’s ever made of The Ever After soundtrack hand signed by the amazing Moby and Daniel Ahearn, and even some private acting lessons. Pretty cool, huh?

The project has just over two weeks left in its campaign, so watch the Kickstarter video for Mark Webber’s Secret Movie below, and head here to back the project!

What do you think the project could be about? Share your ideas in the comments below!

We also had Mark on the show just last week to talk about his Secret Movie, so be sure to head here to listen.

New ‘Dungeons And Dragons’ Movie In The Works At Warner Bros.!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Somehow, all of this slipped past me, but apparently, for some time now Warner Bros., Hasbro, and Sweetpea Entertainment have been in a legal battle regarding the rights to the Dungeons and Dragons franchise (THR has a great write-up about exactly what happened).

Warner Bros. lawyer’s have apparently passed their ‘persuasion’ skill check, as said battle has just ended, and the studio wasted no time at all in announcing a new Dungeons and Dragons film.

The announced, as yet untitled movie already has a script written by Wrath of the Titans scribe David Leslie Johnson, and will be produced by The Lego Movie and How to Train Your Dragon producer Roy Lee.

“We are so excited about bringing the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life on the big screen,” said Greg Silverman, president of creative development and worldwide production at Warner Bros. Pictures. “This is far and away the most well-known brand in fantasy, which is the genre that drives the most passionate film followings. D&D has endless creative possibilities, giving our filmmakers immense opportunities to delight and thrill both fans and moviegoers new to the property.”

Are you down for a Warner Bros. developed Dungeons and Dragons film? Or were you a bigger fan of the lower-budget SyFy entries? Sound out below!