Robyn Candyce
Walking the streets of New York City, Vasiliy Fet (Kevin Durand) – an exterminator for the NYC Bureau of Pest Control – can’t help but notice a sudden surge in the city’s rat population. Wondering what’s driving the rats to the surface, he ventures beneath it, only to discover something awful is hiding there; dwelling in the shadows and waiting to feed.
On ”The Strain”, these eerie creatures carry an infectious contagion capable of turning its hosts into vampires. Luckily for Fet, he’s the best rat exterminator in the city. It’s a skill that comes in handy for fighting the “children of the damned”. Unexpectedly, he finds himself working with an unlikely group of heroes determined to stop the spread. Earlier in the week, FX hosted a press call with Kevin Durand where he talked about exterminating vampires, his relationships with the characters, and how he got the role. Moviehole was on the call.
What is it about this, I mean, the series is incredible, it’s unlike anything we’ve seen, what is it about it you think that is so appealing to a horror fan that we may not see in other things?
Well, you’re seeing this story being told from the perspective of Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. But Guillermo has his eye on every single frame and he brings a certain beauty to the most horrific things, and it’s very hard to look away. You can’t help but stare at the Master’s face when you’re in an extreme close-up and look at the beautiful, intricate details. I think he has such a unique take on horror. I remember watching Pan’s Labyrinth and just being in absolute awe of the things that scared me, because they were so beautiful.
Have you read any of the books or where did you get the inspiration for the way you play Fet from?
Well, I read all three of the books before I fully signed on. And my inspiration to play Fet, I guess in reading the books I kind of saw him very similarly to the way that I’m playing him. I feel like a lot of it was on the page. I hear that he’s a lot more of a charming kind and happier than people had anticipated, but I kind of always saw that because through the journals and the books see how he really finds himself within this apocalypse and is blooming like a beautiful Ukrainian flower amidst the apocalypse.
My question is The Strain trilogy has also been adapted into a comic book series, and being a big comic book fan myself I was wondering if you read them and if they helped you prepare for your role at all?
Yes, it’s really interesting. When I got the books initially and read the books, Guillermo also gave me some of the graphic novels, and reading through them it was very informative to kind of see the physicality of Vasiliy. And even though my ideas were a little different, I still did take a lot from it. Very helpful to get to see an artist’s rendition of who your guy, who your character looks like, and even in every frame you get a sense of his movement and it just gives you more artillery to go into work with.
Obviously we’ve seen that he [Fet] has become kind of a full-fledged member of the team now. What kind of effect do you think that had on the character?
Well, I don’t think he’s used to playing with other kids in the sandbox, but he’s a smart guy and he understands that there’s a lot of power that comes with numbers. He looks around the room and he has a genuine respect for everybody in that group and knows that we can all play our role in taking down the Master.
Why do you think he was so willing to take the leap from exterminating rats to exterminating vampires? I mean he did take a little while to consider it, but he jumped in with both feet.
Yes. Well, I think that Fet has this inner kind of warrior, this Viking warrior inside of him, and it was always kind of living within him. But in this specific circumstance, when all hell has broken loose and the vermin have turned into human bloodsucking vermin, it feels like way more of a natural transition than probably you would assume. He’s a master at exterminating, and this new world really needs him and I think he’s so happy to step up to the task.
I think it’s cool that this show has taken vampires back away from those books, TV shows and movies that want to make the vampire charming, sexy, brooding and angst ridden. Do you kind of take pride in being involved in a show that makes vampires truly bad again?
Absolutely. I mean, obviously, I can’t take credit for that at all. It lays in the wonderful, crazy, beautiful, dark mind of Guillermo del Toro. Because he’s been having dreams about these vampires and making sketches and taking notes since he was a child, and that’s how these vampires came to fruition. They’ve been a part of his nightmares for decades. So what’s really satisfying is to see Guillermo, who is such a lovely, charismatic visionary, actually get those nightmares out of his head and onto the screen. And I’m so grateful to be a part of it and help him tell the story.
Okay, Fet thinks very quickly and has nerves of steel, even when he was facing that sleeping hoard of strigoi in last week’s episode. Given that, what do you think it would take to really unnerve this guy and put true fear in his heart?
Wow, that’s a really good question. I’m not really sure, because we haven’t gotten that yet. I don’t know if we will. I mean I think he has—it’s going to be interesting to see him in a group of people like this, and when you’re in a group of people under such a high level of duress there is a very high, intense level of bonding amongst the group. So I think the idea that “Fet” will develop feelings for people within this group would definitely raise the stakes for him and probably put fear in his heart.
It’s just like Setrakian has told us before, he said love is our downfall. And I think of him being a loner up to this point, like even seeing that he hasn’t seen his father or mother, he’s been estranged from there for years. He hasn’t really had to account for anyone for a long time, and now he seems like he really, genuinely respected “Setrakian” at this point and I see a relationship budding there, like a father/son relationship. It seems like he’s kind of interested in “Dutch” as well. I don’t see a whole lot of love lost between him and “Eph” but, who knows, they may become friends. I don’t know. But I think that that might be the thing is connection to these human beings under that duress may take him to that point.
What’s been the most challenging for you so far?
It’s just been such a blast and so much fun shooting. I mean we had long hours, it was cold. I know that a lot of the cast members found the climate to be a bit challenging; however I’m from 20 hours north of Toronto so I kind of felt really at home. So challenge-wise I feel like all my preparation was there going in and my challenge was just to try to be the best that I could be every day.
Is there a story behind how you hooked up with this show and with this character?
I was prepping for a film at the time called The Captive that I did for Atom Egoyan; I lost like 40 pounds, and I had this little mustache, and I looked like a very different person. Then I found out that Guillermo and Carlton wanted to meet me on this project. So I had three days. I read the book, went in, and after I read that first book I was like there is no way that Guillermo del Toro and Carlton Cuse are going to see me at this big, robust, heroic, stoic fella Vasiliy Fet, because I was so skinny and sick looking.
And we had this meeting and sat down and I assured them that I was kind of starving myself just for this project I was going to do and then I was going to get back to normal. In the room they asked me if I wanted to be Vasiliy Fet. Every day since I’ve been so grateful for that meeting, because in playing him I don’t know if I’ve ever had so much fun, ever. And also in watching it, it’s been so incredibly gratifying to watch the season unfold.
So are you normally a horror or a thriller fan of films or television?
Yes. Since I was a child, much to the chagrin of my father, my mother would keep me up and I would watch horror films with her since I was about four years old or five years old, so I’ve always been a fan. And they always say that you marry your mother, and my wife is the biggest horror fan ever, so I kind of experienced a rebirth in terms of my interest in the genre since I married Sandra four years ago. So when this opportunity came along we read the books. We were kind of like snickering and giggling like some little kids going, “Oh my God, this is going to be awesome.”
Since you’ve read the books is there a particular scene in the second book coming in the next season that you’re really excited to watch come to life on the show?
It’s so hard to pinpoint a specific scene, because even in just trying to imagine what we’re going to do in the second scene, because the books have really served us but they’ve been almost like a skeleton, and then Carlton Cuse and Chuck Hogan and the amazing writing room they kind of like put the flesh and the blood and the muscle on that skeleton as the season goes. So I can’t even tell you what I might be up to.
And one thing that’s interesting in the transition is in the second book I have a lot of—well, in the first book it starts and then I have it all the way through the third book as well—but Vasiliy is journaling a lot. So for me I’m starting to read the second book again just so that I can try to figure out how to play that kind of between-the- lines of just kind of like he goes through this almost like a rebirth. As everything goes to crap Vasiliy keeps getting stronger and more confident and more able. So I’m really looking forward to that evolution.
What’s the deal with Dutch? Does he like this girl, or is it just harmless flirting? What can you say about that?
We haven’t really explored it a whole lot. I think that he sees a spectrum of things in her. Obviously, she’s not hard on the eyes, but she’s hyper intelligent, she’s rebellious like him, she’s tough like him, she doesn’t take any crap like him, and he really gets a kick out of it. I think he sees she’s kind of reflecting to him kind of like a mirror in some ways in the short time that they have known each other, so he’s just intrigued.
Actually, as you probably know if you’ve read the books, I mean she doesn’t exist in the book.
So her fate and what she ends up doing within the show are completely a mystery to me. It’s one of those things that I’m so excited about with this show is that we really don’t know what’s going to happen. So if I make it through episode 13 then I’ll get to shoot a second season, and then maybe we can find out.
Do you feel like for a TV show it’s really important to give people, to give the viewers some kind of ray of light?
Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean I think you have to have a reason. You can’t be watching this show for five seasons thinking that they’re all doomed. There has to be some chance that they could make it, and this is the group of people that I would hope for in a vampire apocalypse. I hope that there’s a real Fet and an Eph and a Setrakian and a Nora and a Dutch out there to help take us through it.
On The Strain, what is the style of shooting, are there very strict story boards or animatics?
Well, the style of The Strain the directors are all different from episode-to-episode. So, for instance, on episode 8 we had Guy Ferland direct it, and he had a shot list that was, I mean it was truly insane, like, looking at this shot list at the start of every day. I mean we were just looking at each other there’s absolutely no way that we’re going to be able to shoot this in eight days. And Guy, it was phenomenal how he attacked it. No one believed that he actually got it all done, and not only got it done but did it in a way where I just think he really killed it and hit all the moments, and it’s one of my favorite episodes.
Then you have other episodes that are just like Peter Weller had a different kind of style. That’s one thing that I really loved about being on a TV series was that I got to work and learn from all these different folks, like every week it was a different plan of attack. So it was always trying to hold onto who you think the character is and how he would react in a certain moment and kind of help educate them, but at the same time be open to these different people’s opinions. That was kind of one of the fun parts of being a part of a collective.
Is there a particular character that either you as an actor or maybe, that you think Fet as a character would want more time with?
I love working with Corey Stoll [Ephraim]. Whenever we got to do scenes together there was just a shorthand. I think we’re both kind of as journeyman actors we’ve both been around, both done a lot of work over the years, and I think there was just like a really nice understanding between us. Also, I’m very, very impressed by Mía Maestro [Nora] as well, and we haven’t had a whole lot of interactions yet, but I’m looking forward to more of those as well.
I feel like [Fet] has a lot of judgment for the characters on the show – for Ephraim in particular – thoughts on that?
I don’t know. I don’t know if I fully agree with that. I think Vasiliy is very straight up and he reacts to people the way—he’s very reactionary. So Eph, off the top, just kind of gave him – I think he’s a little bit, he has a thing in terms of judging people. I think that he kind of gets set off a little bit, his temper gets set off a little bit when people look down upon him and when they just expect a lot less from him. People have been looking down on him for a long time because of his job, and I think he feels that from Eph. And Vasiliy’s a very learned man. He might not come off that way, but he never, ever sees himself as a step below Ephraim just because he’s a doctor. So he kind of takes people for the way that they react to him, I think. I don’t think he judges people.
As we gear up for the finale and everything, how satisfied are you with where that has landed at the end of the first season and going into season two?
I have to say I feel so good about it. Even the way that from the first time that we get to see Fet and the journey to where he’s at now, I mean, the whole journey I’ve been just kind of tickled by. And to see where he’s at now you could see that things are getting more intense as the minutes roll by, and it’s kind of like seeing a great kind of prize fighter before a big fight staying really calm and relaxed and ready for action, and I think that’s where Fet’s at. I mean he’s making googley-eyes at this girl when the world’s going to crap. That’s because he’s very comfortable, he’s ready, he knows that if there’s anyone for the job that he’s the guy.
For the first half of the season Fet is sort of unknown, he’s sort of stalking the streets as like the solo hero, and then about halfway through suddenly you’re in this big group dynamic. What is it like going through that change as an actor?
I really, really appreciated the opportunity to have the first half of the season to find Fet. I was really kind of exploring, trying to really feel him out, and by the time we got into the group dynamic I felt like I had a good hold on who he was. So when I started working with this group, who are all like such great actors and people that I genuinely fell in love with, became friends with, it was really rewarding to get to bounce ideas off of each other and move the narrative forward and find moments. Yes, it’s just really great to be a part of that group.
‘The Strain” airs on FX Sundays at 10PM. For more information about the strain visit the show’s official website at: http://www.fxnetworks.com/thestrain.
