WonderCon 2016: First Look at Containment with Executive Producer/Writer Julie Plec
Ted Hentschke
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I always love covering new TV shows at conventions. Not only do I get an exclusive peek, feeding my desire to be treated like I’m special, but the show has all sorts of potential. The writers haven’t written themselves into a corner yet, so it can still go anywhere and do anything without feeling silly. These perks make attending the screening and working the press room a worthwhile trade-off for the possibility that the untested series might just be shit.
Sitting in the Microsoft Theater at WonderCon, waiting for the first episode of “Containment” to screen, the mood was muted. This is probably because most of the audience was press, compounded by the fact that the Microsoft Theater is designed with the comfort and convenience of an iron maiden in the back of Daedalus’ Labyrinth. The mood was significantly livelier after, since the first episode is good. Not sure how much more I can say about it, but you can check it out yourself April 19th on The CW and see what I mean.
Afterwards, most of the cast was there to answer questions and tell some stories about working on the show. There were some cool feel-good stories about life on set, but they were tight-lipped as to specifics on the show. It was fun, but overall more fluff than substance. That changed when I had the chance to speak to executive producer, writer, and overall Wonder Woman Julie Plec. She had a lot to say about why horror fans would like “Containment.”
Julie: With “Containment,” I wanted to tell a monster story where the monster was everywhere. When you sleep, it’s always under your bed. When you brush your teeth, it’s always just right behind you. You can see it everywhere in the faces of the sick and dead, but can’t see it if it’s right in front of you. How do you defend yourself against that? But there’s more to it than that…
One of my first jobs was working for Wes Craven, and he had a great talent for creating suspense and terror. There’s a visual language to horror. The way the camera creeps up behind someone and suddenly cuts to someone in front of you. You get into a rhythm, and every shot makes you creep closer to the edge of your seat. That’s the kind of style I wanted to use with “Containment.”
She went on to explain how she thought the show would be scary:
Julie: It’s certainly a gruesome show, so there’s a lot to that. The way that the virus kills you isn’t pleasant, and with the bodies piling up, the decay permeates everything. We see a flashback of the impending riots in the first episode and get to watch as things spiral from control into chaos. But it’s different than watching teenagers get slashed to bits or ghosts tear people apart. In “Containment” there’s always that prevailing theme that this could really happen. We actually had consultants from the CDC come by to make sure that we got it right. The scary thing is that we got the sense that in real life, it would be even worse.
The last thing she wanted to talk about was what set “Containment” apart from the original Belgian series on which it’s based, “Cordon”:
Julie: One of the things that made my job easy was the strength of the writing in “Cordon.” The characters and relationships were great, so pulling from that and making things work was a good start. I then got to thinking about how this setting changes the narrative. Right off the bat, Belgium is a pretty racially homogenous society. The United States, and especially Atlanta, is far from it. So that racial interplay became a natural part of the relationships.
The CDC headquarters is also located in Atlanta, which gave us a good natural explanation as to how this all happens so quickly. I didn’t have to force anything into the plot for the sake of making it different. It all came out of natural changes and what those changes would mean for the story.
It was an enlightening conversation and helped me appreciate “Containment’s” stylistic choices. The more I delved into it, the more I liked it. I hope the show maintains the same level of quality that I saw in the first episode. If so, “Containment” will be a show you shouldn’t miss.
Check it out April 19th, and let me know what you think below!
Categorized:News
