Posted in: Movies, Recent Updates, san diego comic con, TV | Tagged: carlton cuse, chuck hogan, corey stoll, david bradley, guillermo del toro, Nora Martinez, San Diego Comic Con 2014, Sean Astin, the strain

Live From The Strain Panel In Hall H At San Diego Comic Con – Peeling Del Toro's Banana

The audience screaming for The Strain, the first show to make it into Hall H for its first season, were promised a cannister of gummi worms afterward, Straing style. What followed was a preview viewing of today's episode of the show so those traveling wouldn't miss out.

After the screening, Guillermo del Toro, Carlton Cuse, and Chuck Hogan introduced the cast members. David Bradley, justifiably, got the biggest round of applause. Nora Martinez was a close second. Corey Stoll, also to big applause, came out wearing an 80's mullet black wig in dialogue with all the discussion about his hair online.

Chuck Hogan was asked about his collaborative work with del Toro, and he cited del Toro's "infectious curiosity" and the "organic" development of the writing on this, Hogan's first collaborative project. Del Toro said they had a "handshake deal" and then just started writing, exchanging chapters once they were ready. They each came up with separate characters while writing and surprised each other.

"I never got my rocks off with this kind of [romantic] vampire. It never peeled my banana", del Toro laughed about his research into the history of vampires.

Cuse said they see this as a five season show, and each book will be two seasons of television. They intend to follow the books and tell the story from beginning to end, but have some extra material beyond the books.

Hogan said that after seeing 2-3 shows in production, they could see the development of the actors in the roles and started to "write to that". Seeing the Abraham character in Bradley's performance made him feel like the books had "come off the page".

Bradley was asked about being a "bad ass senior citizen" who is not "limited by age". Sean Astin said that he does feel like a "hero inside" despite the ambiguous decisions of his character because of being CDC in the show, with the weight of responsibility of first responders. Astin was asked if his character's role, going forward, is about making amends. Astin said, it's more about whether the others can forgive him, but he's "morally compromised".

The "monsters" of the group were addressed, those who are now less than human, and  "monsters are a matter of perspective" apparently. The actors felt very much that the characters continue to show their personality traits post-transformation including being single-minded. "It's vampire time", they said, and "now they'll take over the world". Jack Kesey was teased about what happens in this week's episode involving his "frank and beans". Ben Hyland, the youngest actor, tries to watch the show to see how he does, but finds it the scariest thing he's ever seen. Is Eph a good guy? Natalie Brown says her character's timing might be off in making that decision in the negative since he's the one person who can save them now.

In terms of sets, del Toro said, they are the "ambulance chasers of producers" because they are always looking for shows that have been cancelled to buy their sets and use them.

Del Toro decided to freak out the audience by telling them that right now all humans are host to around 80-100 parasites, and the idea behind that was part of his inspiration for the show.

Cruse said that they prep the show much more like a movie than a TV show, and so using puppets and effects, they decide what each scene needs, which is more common working on a movie than a TV show.

When asked about designing the "look of the show", del Toro said they were looking for a consistent palette in color, and they use a filter to give a very cinematic look. Stoll says they spend a lot of time in "some incredibly dank tunnels" under Toronto for filming, and at one point they found some "crazy vampire graffitti" deep underground, thought it was part of the set, then realized it wasn't, which was unsettling.

Richard Sammel was asked about use of makeup and makeup application in this week's episode, and he told the story of arriving on set first and realizing the set had been worked on for around a year. He spent 3 1/2 hours in makeup application for this week's episode, particularly impressed by the "teeth". The fact that it's all inspired by "biological facts" and "nature" astonishes him, and even if things don't exist in this form in nature, "it could".

"Nature is creepy as hell, man", said del Toro.

Stoll said that seeing vampires in front of you, without CGI, is like actually seeing a vampire and he now feels he has.

Del Toro called out Bradley for having more energy than any of the other cast members, Astin for being "trustworthy and adorable", and also for being a "Goonie" and he thought it would be the funniest choice to pick the most famous sidekick of all time and make him a betrayer.

Del Toro said that for him it's very important to have Latin characters in the series, and expects them to become even more important as time goes on. As a Mexican, he wants to show a character starting on a show to appear in terms of the stereotype and then become more multi-dimensional and a hero. He predicts they are going to "kick so much ass" in the future.

"Each survivor reacts to the curse of vampirism differently", del Toro warned, and said that Kesey's character, as a rocker, is going to finally become what he's always wanted.

"If the world says no, no, no, go round the block, smoke a cigarette, have a beer, and come back and maybe they'll say yes", del Toro said about the history of the property, taking it to book form before finally making the show.

A young fan asked how del Toro has managed to keep a love of fantasy and sci-fi throughout his life. He answered quite seriously, "Some of us give up, some of us don't. You stay true to what nurtured you, and if you're faithful to yourself and what you love, an ddon't give a flying fuck, then that's it. Fuck the world" (this got resounding applause).

When Sean Astin was asked why he took the role, whether it was the character or the series. Astin said that it was Pan's Labyrinth and Guillermo del Toro that brought him on board (this received a round of applause again).

When asked what film was del Toro's favorite (by a tiny young girl), he said of the ones she can watch, it's Pacific Rim, or if PG 13 is allowed, Hellboy. "All my monsters are my friends and I love them equally", he said.

Del Toro commented on the influence of Salem's Lot and the 1970's horror shows that were "goddamn brutal and goddamn fun".

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