Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: paramount, robert kazinsky, Star Trek: Section 31, Sven Ruygrok

Section 31: Kazinsky & Ruygrok on GotG Influence, Costuming, Stunts

Robert Kazinsky and Sven Ruygrok spoke with us about their respective journeys as Zeph and Fuzz in Paramount+'s Star Trek: Section 31.

As heavily action-oriented Section 31 is, Robert Kazinsky feels right at home throwing his weight and muscle around with stunts and fight choreography, while co-star Sven Ruygrok, who possesses a gymnastics background, prefers to be at a slower pace. Kazinsky plays Zeph, the mech-enhanced muscle, and Roygrok plays Fuzz, the Romulan/Vulcan wildcard of the group of specialists led by Alok Sahar (Omari Hardwick) to recruit the former Terran emperor, Philippa Georgiou, content putting her past behind as a nightclub owner and living a quieter life while still indulging, to save the galaxy. Also in the crew for the Paramount+ standalone film are Starfleet's Lt. Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl), the Chameloid, Quasi (Sam Richardson); and the Deltan, Melle (Humberly González). Kazinsky and Roygrok spoke to Bleeding Cool about what director Olatunde Osunsanmi had the cast absorb to making their filming a "fun and entertaining" experience: Kazinsky's grueling process of putting on the Zeph costume, finding Fuzz's manic energy, and stunts.

Section 31 Stars Robert Kazinsky & Sven Roygrok on Embracing Zeph and Fuzz

Bleeding Cool: When you were cast as Zeph and Fuzz, did Olatunde have any required viewing before filming 'Section 31?'

Ruygrok: There was no real requirement. We did have a little bit of a conversation, and the question that was asked was, can you give me a sense of the style you're trying to go for? The two films that he pulled out were 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'Mission: Impossible.' We want something fun and entertaining, but we also want intrigue and mystery. Those are the two references that he gave me off the bat.

Kazinsky: I've seen every episode of every film and every part of Star Trek before, so I was familiar. There were no requirements to watch anything, and we were not basing on anything. Once we got there, we started talking about the Will Saddler (from 'Deep Space Nine') of it all, the episodes of 'Enterprise' where Section 31 appears, and the history of Section 31 in the Federation. Everybody got around to deep-diving into all of those.

Rob, I can only imagine how much of a pain it was to move in your Zeph costume. How did you get all the parts moving?

Kazinsky: It took a couple of hours every day. There was the first suit they had to go into, which was a wet suit with some padding on it. Then they would clip on various other bits that then had to be taped in with the chest, and stomach pieces would start to go on. The boots then had to go on, and after that, all of that had to be wired up. You had to get set up, and all the wiring had to go in before you could put the large chess piece on, which then they would have to spend about half an hour connecting to all the batteries and then refreshing all of that. There would be all the other parts going on over that, including the wigs, tattoos, and things. It was an arduous process, but nothing compared to what Joe Pingue (Dada Noe) or what I had to deal with daily.

Sven, did you voice your smaller counterpart? What went into developing Fuzz's quirks? Did you draw any extra inspiration to fine-tune the character's mannerisms and tics?

Ruygrok: There were a lot of mannerisms and takes, but a lot of it came by playing. I remember distinctly being in South Africa when we did our first table read, and out of the blue, I did this manic laugh, and for some reason, it stuck with me. I was like, "There's something there," and then the laugh perpetuated and got more manic as time went on. There were things that you discovered on the day in the moment – and one day, it was great to be able to allow us the opportunity to play and explore and give us the freedom and the responsibility to have fun. A lot of those quirks, tics, and nuances came from him stoking the fire and allowing us…the incredible casting is what you see as the team to do our thing and trust each other. We had so much fun on and off screen, mainly off.

Was the stunt work difficult?

Ruygrok: I stand on my background in gymnastics, but it was quite an arduous process, and we had limited time. A big memory of me with Michelle is how she was able to watch a sequence for the first time, and then she would watch and map it out like this, and bam, bam, bam, bam, she was able to do it for me. I'm not like that. I need to go right arm, left arm, left leg comes up over, right. I'm a little slower when it's all of that.

Kazinsky: You do yourself such a disservice. You were so damn good.

Ruygrok: It was tricky, and because we wanted to bring something new and fresh, I was jumping off walls and standing punching. It was wild.

Kazinsky: I've done stunts almost my entire career. Most of my career has been in action movies and set pieces, and I've always been proud of the fact I have, until this movie where they wouldn't let me do one of the punches, always done all my stunts. Stunt work is my thing, and I'm comfortable doing it. I'll tell you right now that Sam, Omari, Michelle, and Sven, if we hadn't had the cast, we'd had to be so good at tumbling, learning choreography with backgrounds in martial arts, physicality, committing to taking care of each other, and making it look great, we wouldn't have had the action in this thing. It wouldn't have worked without these guys, who were so utterly fantastic.

Ruygrok: I mean, he goes through walls [points at Kazinsky], goes through walls.

Kazinsky: I do, headfirst.

Star Trek: Section 31 is now streaming on Paramount+.

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