Vampire Veek
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Because thats a pretty big deal.
How was that achieved?
How did it feel?
Kayvan Novak (Nandor):About my hair?
I think that was … which John Travolta movie was it?
Matt Berry (Laszlo):Pulp Fiction.
Paul Simms (executive producer and showrunner):Perfect.
Yana Gorskaya (director):Yeah, I watched a lot ofPerfect.
Its nice to have a bit of a change.
Can you talk about that?
And its really put him on tilt.
Yes, it seems to have had a very negative effect.
Yana, you directed this episode.
Can you talk about where the idea for the wellness center came from?
And we were like,Well, where are they?
And then it just went further.
Gorskaya:We watched so much John Travolta.
We end the episode with Nandor in a cage still dressed that way.
Can we expect this to be a permanent change to his aesthetic?
Harvey, you had another huge fight scene in this episode.
Can you talk about what its been like to become an action hero?
Harvey Guillen (Guillermo):I mean, its pretty cool.
That scene was really fun to shoot with Kayvan.
And I like Guillermos badass side.
Will we get any more Nandor dancing?
Novak:I could do some for you right now, if you like.
Oh, do you want me to?
Novak:Im in my pants.
[He dances over Zoom for the Comic Con audience.]
Id really like to talk about The Cloak of Duplication, which was another big episode.
Yana, you directed this one as well, and Sam, you wrote on this one.
Can you tell me about how you approached it?
Did you go into it thinking that Kayvan could do all these impersonations of everyone else?
Sam Johnson (writer):Yes.
I mean, Kayvans amazing, and he has this whole other career that we havent fully seen.
But hes just an incredible impersonator, incredible mimic.
So we were really excited to have a show where he brings that talent to bear.
Natasia Demetriou (Nadja):[Does a funny voice.]
You cant imitate this.
Simms:Theres no duplicating Natasias voice, but it was astonishing how well he did it.
But I dont know if hes ever done it in front of the people hes actually imitating.
You havent seen the episode yet, have you, Matt?
Berry:Im afraid not.
It looked very good from what I saw back there.
Harvey, where do you think Nandor and Guillermo ended up after that talk with Meg?
What do you feel is going on there with them?
Can you share some stories of how that was to film?
Simms:Well, I came for five minutes, and Im like,Its too fuckin cold here.
Im going home, and left the actors to do the rest.
It was six feet of snow.
Obviously, the initial idea was based on thebaseball scene fromTwilight.
And then we realized,Well, its a bitterly cold winter.
We cant do that.
Kickball would be more fun.
We didnt plan for the six inches of snow, but it made it look great.
Demetriou:Yeah, it was so snowy.
I just stood looking at Matt, and there was just a pile of snow growing on his head.
and that was it.
And then its visual effects.
Demetriou:No, its not.
You do turn into a bat.
Berry:I do really, yeah.
Matt, this is also the episode where you get a car.
Your jalopy is in this episode.
Berry:I didnt know what a jalopy was until I read the script.
Id never heard the word, didnt know what it meant.
I still dont know what it means.
Was that a real car?
Simms:Yes, it was some kind of real old car.
Berry:Well, it belonged to Henry Ford, and it was given to him by Mussolini.
I didnt want to sit in it, obviously, but I was made to.
I want to talk about The Casino, another huge episode.
This episode felt very special.
Its another one you directed, Yana, and Sarah, you wrote it.
Can you tell me about what went into that?
Sarah Naftalis (writer):This was something that came up in the writers room.
How did you pull that off?
Gorskaya:Well, some of that is actually audience replacement.
So in like the big boxing scene, we didnt actually have that many people.
We had people kind of move around and tiled them so we were safer.
Was theBig Bang Theoryslot machine real?
Gorskaya:It was.
Its a real thing.
And they gave it to us.
Naftalis:you could watch people play it on YouTube.
You cant refer toThe Big Bang Theory.
You cant show any clips ofThe Big Bang Theory.
You cant do anything.
And we were like,Well, thats like half the episode.
I mean, theres no way to replace it.
It cant be like aCheersslot machine or something.
So that was very nice of him to help us.
Is that how the vampires support themselves regularly?
Because [Nadjas] powers were drained from not getting any sleep and not having her ancestral dirt.
She was not actually able to hypnotize the Rat Pack to get their money.
She just screamed at them a lot, and that scared them into giving it to her.
But in their day-to-day lives, would that be how they support themselves?
Simms:I dont think they have any idea how they support themselves.
Simms:And it happens more than you think, actually.
I dont know if youre a fan of the sweet science, Anne, but it does.
Demetriou:Oh, it was, but thats the funnest stuff to do.
And the guys who were the Rat Pack were so funny and so up for it.
And it was so fun and amazing.
Harvey, theres this great dinner scene in The Casino where theres so much going on.
How much do you think Nandor knows about what you were sharing at that table?
He spends more time with me.
I have another question for you, Harvey.
Theres a new animal in this season, the hellhound.
You seem to get the most face time with all the animal actors that come on the show.
I was wondering if you could rank them by how much you enjoy working with them.
They are Sam, the cat; the witchs goat; and the hellhound.
Demetriou:Because hes got an enchanted nut sack.
Guillen:The goat was the worst because at one point it was eating my costume.
And theyre like, Yeah, we gotta get the shot.
So it was eating my costume and then it wouldnt run out down the hall, remember that?
Were like, Um …
Demetriou:They were like, Were so sorry.
Theres been problems with the goat.
There was a lot of traffic this morning that put him in a bad mood.
Guillen:So I would rate the goat first as worst.
Then, I mean, the dog was great.
There were two dogs, actually, so they were like the twins inFull House.
So maybe thats second place.
The best one was the cat.
I think the cat was great.
[The crowd cheers for cats.]
Guillen:Yeah, cats!
So there you have it.
I want to move on to The Escape, another very big episode.
Yana, you directed this.
Can you talk about the decision to bring the Baron back?
Berry:We didnt.
Gorskaya:Go, Paul.
Then we were like, Well, I guess the Barons not dead.
Like sometimes its Harvey hugging him, but the bottom half of it was a green screen.
Sometimes it was a puppet.
Sometimes he was sitting on a couch that had a hole cut in it.
Because he really is a great actor in real life.
Gorskaya:And never complains.
There are so many creatures in the episode The Escape.
There are gargoyles, and theres also the Sire himself.
Can you talk about how you decided to make the Sire look like that?
Because by the end, hes kind of cute, right?
Simms:Part of it is the eyebrows and his frown.
He looks like hes just been beaten down, and you feel bad for him.
That was a very talented stuntperson wearing this gigantic costume.
Gorskaya:And a very talented voice actor!
Simms:A very talented voice actor whos a friend of the show.
Demetriou:It did have the wings, but maybe the CGI was getting them to flap.
Kayvan, can you talk about your showdown with the Sire?
What was it like to face off?
It was pretty ridiculous.
And we filmed it in … was it a Best Buy we filmed it in or a Canadian Tire?
Simms:That was a Canadian Tire, which is Canadas version of Walmart sort of.
You guys have been tearing apart a few stores this season.
There are a few stores that just get decimated by this.
Is that a lot of fun?
Like the toy store as well with the balls?
Demetriou:Yeah, that was magical.
I mean, no pun intended.
And Matt, you got to go inside a Best Buy for one of the scenes in The Siren.
Was that your first time inside a Best Buy?
Berry:It was.
I didnt know until you just said it that it was called Best Buy.
I thought it was just a warehouse.
And it took a lot of wrangling.
Berry:It was very real.
Simms:Thats because itwasreal.
Can you talk about how thats different?
Novak:I got an email in the middle of the night from Natasia.
I was like, Hey, whats up?
Shes like, I think we should have more scenes together.
Id really love to work with you more.
Youre such a great actor, so funny, such a great guy.
I said, Let me speak to Paul.
Then we had an episode where we were just walking around holding hands.
It was great to spend more time with you, Natasia.
I dont spend enough time with you.
Demetriou:It was so fun, like Matt said, to explore different dynamics with the characters.
Because the way I am with Laszlo is very different to the way I am with Nandor.
Actually, Im just thinking, I just scream at both of you all the time.
Maybe its more similar, but no, it was super-fun.
And in The Siren, Nadja has this really intense kind of emotional breakthrough.
Is there going to be less yelling from Nadja?
Because thats my favorite part of her.
Demetriou:Oh, no, the yelling stays.
Oh, thats good.
Can you talk about the decision to make the Nadja doll walk?
Simms:When we started out the first season, we really scaled back our expectations.
We had no idea how they would make the doll walk, sword-fight, and all that.
And to me, it looked amazing.
Demetriou:Do you want to know what it looked like before the VFX happened?
It was two guys not young guys in green suits with the doll attached to their feet.
Simms:But you also have to picture that the green suits covered their heads completely.
Demetriou:It was the stupidest thing Ive ever seen in my life.
It was so funny.
This is also the episode where Scott Bakula makes an appearance.
Was he on your wish list from the beginning?
Simms:From season one.
Were you really on the Zoom with him?
We were actually on the Zoom call, and it was mainly just us in character.
So it did feel very real like we were embarrassing ourselves in front of this very successful actor.
Harvey and Natasia, can you talk about working with Scabby, the inflatable rat?
Demetriou:Yeah, that wasnt CGI.
And I didnt know about it I was like,Why?
So that was good.
Gorskaya:Yeah, I was worried about you.
Guillen:Statue wasnt there, right?
That was the green thing.
Demetriou:Yes, she was just a green pole.
And isnt the statue based on Yana?
Gorskaya:Thats my mini-cameo.
We have a couple minutes left.
We can take a few audience questions.
[The lights turn on, revealing a very big audience.]
Berry:Good God.
Audience member:Thank you, everyone, for the show, No.
But my question is for Harvey.
1, thank you for your brown and queer representation on the show.
c’mon be honest with me.
How many sweaters does Guillermo actually own?
Guillen:Actually, Guillermo doesnt own a lot of sweaters.
I mean, we do a good job of rotating them.
There are some really nice sweaters that look like some of them are vintage.
There are some sweaters they got out of rotation that I really like.
So I would say he owns five, six go-to sweaters.
We only have time for two more questions.
Lets go over here.
Audience member:Some of my favorite episodes are the ones with werewolves.
So youre going to have to wait a little while for that, but its going to be amazing.
Audience member:Do you think theres a possibility that we can see more of Jackie Daytona?
Berry:Youll have to ask him it has nothing to do with me.
Its very easy to do.
It just takes blue jeans and the toothpick and so on.
Berry:Thats all it is.
There he is over there.
[Points to an audience member dressed as Jackie Daytona.]
