David Giuntoli on Grimm’s Deadly Finale, What Nick Would Do in His Downtime, the Undead in Portland, and Much More
Steve Barton
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“Grimm” was recently renewed for a third season, and big surprises are in store for the finale, which airs on May 21st, with David Giuntoli teasing that one of the cast may not live through it.
We recently chatted with the leading man to discuss “Grimm” and its evolution up to this point. Giuntoli also stated that there is a chance we will see the return of Nick’s mother, Kelly Burkhardt, played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, in tonight’s episode, “Endangered,” while Nick and Juliette continue trying to repair their relationship.
Before getting into the hardcore plot points of what is ahead, I chatted with David about some of the things he likes to do for fun, including what video games he plays–hey, I am BioGamer Girl after all!
AMANDA DYAR: Hey, David. I want to know- on the show Nick never really gets a lot of downtime. So what do you think he would do if he actually had some time to himself? Do you think he would play video games, or what kind of shows would he watch? And what do you do during the downtime of the show in between takes and such?
DAVID GIUNTOLI: That’s a very good question. I think Nick’s a Palm Springs kind of guy. He wants to get down there with a group of friends. I think he probably drinks canned beer and wine. He’s nothing too sophisticated, though now with Monroe introducing me to a whole other world of foods and wines, maybe I’m enjoying the finer things.
But he needs some sun. So I’d say like Palm Springs, Hawaii, Mexico. It’s all kind of West Coast.
Let’s see what else he does. In the real downtime between sets, between takes I mean, it’s just – you would get so annoyed with us. It’s hijinks really. We laugh all of the time, talk, I mean ongoing jokes, play games that you’d play in long car rides when you were a kid.
One game we play is dictionary, which is – this is Silas’ game of course. You just go into your dictionary app on your phone, find a word that’s pretty hard but you probably know it, and you tell another person the first letter of the word, the part of speech, and the first definition. And that person has to figure out what that word is — makes you smarter.
AMANDA: Do you see a “Grimm” video game being a possibility in the future? And would you be up for working on something like that if it was?
DAVID: I would be completely up with that. That is what I like to think of as a revenue stream for me. But I don’t know if a video game is in the works. I have some very good friends who have voices on video games. A good friend of mine who’s on the show “Being Human” — Sam Witwer — is a voice for someone in one of the Star Wars video games. I think like the main dude. And he loved it. So I would love to get into more voice acting.
AMANDA: Well, how did you like working on the episode “Nameless,” which was about the video game Black Forest 2? Did you find that episode fun, and what would you do if you were kind of trapped in a video game and you had to survive? What would you do if you were trapped in that world?
DAVID: Ah, I’m seeing the through-line now (laughs). What would I do? First of all, I’ve enjoyed video games in my adult life though I try not to let it take over, which it can. It’s a nice way to totally turn off though when you’re an actor. Turn off your brain and like just get away or whatever.
I enjoyed the episode “Nameless.” I thought it was really smart. It was written by a really smart girl, and I thought it was such a kind of, you know, a current thing that we’re dealing with. If I was trapped in a video game, I would imagine I would find the nearest video game and just end it. I couldn’t handle being trapped inside of a video game. I’m not that much of a fighter.
It depends what video game I suppose.
AMANDA: Yes, well, do you actually play any video games in real life, or do you actually have any time to?
DAVID: I don’t now on set because I’m so busy. But most recently I was a big Call of Duty guy. That’s the last video game I really got into. It’s been a couple of years now.
That’s all the time we had one-on-one with David, but to answer all of your “GRIMM” questions, check out the full conference call below:
How do you feel about the Season Three pick-up and the move to Tuesday night?
I think it’s all very exciting. I think that NBC is showing a lot of faith in “Grimm” by moving us to Tuesday nights. I think actually what they wanted to do was hopefully see if “The Voice” can start getting some of our followers. I know that show’s been struggling. So… (laughs). No, we’re very excited to expose “Grimm” to an entirely new audience and, you know, scare and befuddle a whole new segment of the population.
“Grimm” has so many elements to it — drama, action, romance, fantasy… you know, everything. Are there any of these that you enjoy performing in the most, or do you appreciate the variety overall?
Well I do appreciate the variety. Though I will say it is a dark show, and I really love when we get to squeeze in some more comedic elements. And every now and then we’ll have a more comedic episode — one of which would have aired maybe three weeks ago.
We had a Ziegevolk lawyer charming the entire jury. And Rosalee was on the jury. And Sergeant Woo was testifying, and he changed his testimony. There were a lot of many great comedic [moments] in that. So I’d say the comedy is something I like squeezing in there.
Nick was temporarily blinded in the recent “Mr. Sandman” episode. Could share what acting without sight was like?
Well, I could see. I had prosthetics in my eyes. I had lenses in my eyes. That was crazy. But I could see through them. It was – I’d say really fun. It was fun finding new ways to make that work — to sell especially fighting without seeing. And I was pretty happy with how it turned out. So all in all I was very pleased with the challenge of acting without sight.
So, David, if you told fans at the start of the season that we’d be this far into the season and Nick and Juliette would be apart and Nick and Renard would be working together so closely, I think they’d be pretty surprised. I’m wondering if that surprised you and what you think of the state of these relationships.
That’s a good question. Nothing really surprises me on “Grimm.” Our writers are not afraid to go anywhere. So nothing really surprises me. I want to speak especially to the relationship between the Captain and Nick.
I wanted to make sure that even though we are working together, I’m not too easy with him. I wouldn’t call it a friendship. I wouldn’t call us pals. I wouldn’t – we wouldn’t go out and eat together. I think we more or less have a common enemy.
When I’m working with the Captain, I always think about that picture from World War II where Stalin and FDR were sitting next to each other with Churchill. You know, like how did Stalin get there? But they just had a common enemy. And so we’re working tentatively together. He did after all try to kill my aunt.
So as far as Juliette goes, you know, I think we’re going to be seeing us kind of patching things up — turning things around a bit. And I’m sure that in “Grimm” fashion they’ll find some way to make that as difficult as humanly possible.
Obviously you guys did great on Friday. It’s moved now behind “The Voice.” Why do you think your show has worked when maybe some of the others haven’t?
I’d say the roguish good looks of lead David Giuntoli. I think we have… listen, a successful television show is a mystery how to make it. But there has to be certain components. We have writers and creators who are seasoned and excited, and that’s a really great combination. They know what they’re doing. They have found the sweet spot. David Greenwalt, you know, has this gallows humor about him, as does Jim Kouf — our two main writers, executive producers. And they balance story well with a lot of darkness and a little bit of levity. And, you know, there’s some very lovable characters. And that’s what it takes. They just know their stuff.
So have you gotten any hints from David or Jim about Nick’s heightened abilities? We saw him playing Fruit Ninja in one of the episodes right after he lost his sight. So have you gotten any intel on what that’s going to mean for the character in the coming season.
Nick hates fruit so bad. I have not received any nuggets of what’s to come as far as Nick’s supernatural powers. At the end of Season One I did get some info that they wanted to turn me more into a hero with supernatural abilities. But I did not ask what they were. And I just kind of found out a month before the viewer did. I would imagine going forward we’re going to revisit some of what we kind of teased with my super-human hearing and ability to fight fruit with a bat.
Working off of the Nick and Juliette split, no one is doubting his devotion to her. But the character’s not a bad looking man. So I’m assuming, especially after this week with the muse coming in and kind of him getting wrapped up with another woman even if it’s only for an episode, I imagine there’s going to be a point where he doesn’t want to wait for Juliette anymore. Or is he just kind of going to wait for her forever? What’s your take on that?
I certainly hope he wouldn’t wait forever. I am personally more shocked at the point that she would be interested in me after all I have done – I mean truly cowardly moves on my part as far as Juliette’s relationship is concerned. I wouldn’t tell her about any of this after she’d lost her mind, went into a coma, just really struggling with memory loss and like what is happening to her–going, you know, crazy. And I’m still sitting back like, “I don’t want to tell her. What if she leaves me?”
So I hope we have to talk about things in a real way before we get back together. I think Nick’s a guy who knows what he’s done to her and would probably do anything to get her back. So I think he’d wait for a long time.
It’s been such an intense Season Two. Even going into the mid-season finale so much happened. So what could possibly happen for the season finale of this season? Could we see a Nick and Juliette reunion? What about Adalind’s baby? Maybe Nick’s mom will return? Is there anything you could tell us?
All three of which are very much on the table. You could definitely see a Nick and Juliette reunion. And again, in “Grimm” fashion they love tearing people apart and bringing them back together, and who knows how hard they’re going to make that for Nick and Juliette?
What you will be seeing that I haven’t spoken about yet is a lot of… we deal with the undead in a way that’s really never been approached before — in very typical “Grimm” fashion. So zombies, quote unquote, will be coming to Portland.
And I would also say [regarding] the cliffhanger of this season, I don’t know how the writers are going to get themselves out of this corner that they’ve painted themselves into — one of the cast may not live through the finale.
Being renewed, congratulations on that again. Is it nice to have that comfort level to know that you don’t have to kind of wait around to hear about that? Do you guys find you’re more settled into your characters this season from last season knowing that you have a long run ahead of you?
Yes, you know, I speak with other people who have been on shows that have lasted for several years, and there is a typical psychological arc that takes place or phases that you go through the first season. You’re really concerned with the acting. You don’t quite know what the show is in the beginning, and so that forms underneath you. And everybody kind of starts to gel together by the end of the first season and the second season. But there’s always an energy of – it’s being spent on just wondering how long this will last. And you’re whole personal life — am I going to live in Portland? For how long?
And now it’s to a point where we kind of know we’ll be there for a while. So it’s very comfortable. And there’s a lot more room to play with the characters because a lot less anxiety is involved in our actual lives.
So do you have a favorite scene or storyline in the episodes that is going to be coming our way in this last month?
That’s going to be coming your way… Something about Season Two that I’ve really loved and going into Season Three that I’m going to continue to love is more and more of the main characters are in the know sort of speak, which means that certain characters can interact that wouldn’t have during much of Season Two, all of Season One. And it brings a fresh, lovely dynamic to scenes where I’ll be in a room with, say, a completely new group of actors and watching them interact. And there’s comedy to be found in it when someone is learning the ropes of the “Grimm” world for the first time. I really enjoy those scenes where we all get to spend the whole day together. I really do enjoy the moments of levity in the dark world of “Grimm.: And there was a scene in particular that played in the “Volcanalis” episode where Russell Hornsby’s character, Hank, went on vacation.
It was so – it was almost out of another show like an “Ally McBeal” episode. But it was very fun. It was fun. And here’s a fun bit of info. That scene was written in reaction to Russell in real life snapping his Achilles tendon. So he can’t walk, and we had to somehow keep him in a chair and get him off of the show for two episodes so he can get surgery. So this is some of the behind-the-scenes info that I always find very interesting. People ask things, and I’m like yes, Russell tore his Achilles tendon while watching the Super Bowl — literally. And sober as a judge.
So he’s going to be out of the next episode as well then?
Two episodes and then he’ll come back.
Did that cause a problem with the storyline at all?
No problem really. Just a couple of things had to be tweaked. I’ll do a little more working with Wu, with Sergeant Wu, which was really fun and a pleasure to get to work so much with Reggie Lee. He is just a phenomenal actor. So it shook things up for a little while. But I think it was fresh and really wonderful. And Russell I think is fully repaired at this point.
What other character if you weren’t playing Nick would you like to play?
Oh, boy. Someone with like a glandular problem because I want to eat whatever I want to eat. I just want to be a slob. I would… you mean what character on “Grimm”?
Oh, my gosh. I can’t say Juliette because that’d mean I want to kiss myself.
I would say – boy, I mean Monroe would be fun, either Monroe or Wu. It’d be fun to kind of live in that world for as long as I could handle it.
Are we ever going to see or hear anything about Grimms in the rest of the country, the rest of the world?
Honestly, not as of yet that I know of. You would think that does have to become a storyline at some point – are there only a couple Grimms left, and are there just a lot of little Santa’s little helpers out there who are Grimm-like. I don’t quite know. The only Grimm that they really currently want to deal with is me. Because they know that I have one of the keys.
As far as the Royals are concerned, they know I have one of the keys. And that’s why they even care about me at all. So who knows? That’s a good question.
Looking at Season Two, have you found any new acting challenges with playing the Nick character? And how did you see Nick sort of grow and develop in Season Two also?
Yes, [in] Season Two Nick was written as a little more accepting of his role. In a way Nick went through the stages of grief of finding out that he was a Grimm and the loss that that would entail with Juliette, revisiting why his family is no longer with him. You know, a lot of lies had happened in his life systematically, and he found out about it all kind of at once. So he was in denial [with] anger toward it, befuddlement, you know. And finally I think he’s kind of accepted it, and throughout Season Two he’s owning it now. So it’s more fun to play — as far as I’m concerned — a very confident guy who’s coming into his own and becoming more of a — I’d say — force to be reckoned with in the Wesen world. So it’s been really fun to play that.
I love the Nick and Monroe relationship, and I love the fact that they’ve become roomies this year. And the chemistry between you and Silas on the screen is just great. Can you talk a little bit about that relationship, how you’ve seen that develop – further develop this season? And what maybe you enjoyed most about that relationship.
I think Silas put it best. He said, “Everybody has seen the cop and partner relationship, the detective and his wife or girlfriend relationship. There are a lot of dynamics that have been played out and some really well and some not so good. But in our show we have the detective and this thing which is Monroe. It’s a totally different thing. And it’s been such a pleasure to work with Silas and have this wonderful dynamic that plays out on screen. The writers have done a very good job with that.
As far as the relationship and how it’s grown, I’d say we were always reluctant. We allied in the first season. But he could always turn into a creature, and I could always behead him. And this season we are more, I’ll just say friends. You know, he’s housing me in his attic for God’s sake. And I love the relationship he has now with Bree Turner — Rosalee. And I believe in this next episode [“Endangered”] there’s a funny scene where I perhaps walk in on a moment I shouldn’t have walked in on. So that’s fun to play with.
How do Wesens recognize you as a Grimm? What’s a Grimm face look like to them?
It looks like my face, believe it or not. Truly. They don’t see anything aside from they are not used to having their emotions in check. Because human beings, non-Grimm human beings, cannot see them. And then when they see someone reacting to this or they sense someone knowing what they’re going through and watching them change, they’re on to me. And they’ve learned from a young age through their storybooks about Grimms and how evil we are and, you know, almost like we’re this supernatural thing that may or may not exist. They’ve been told by their family, their parents, and their grandparents about us. So when they actually see them, it’s like they’re seeing a ghost, but not literally. But they can’t believe that one actually really exists.
I think you hinted about Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio coming back as your mother, Kelly. We’ve wondered when that was going to happen because she still has those coins. And she faked going into the station. So she’s been hanging around Portland a long time. What’s she up to?
Well, I think she stole a car at the station. And I think she was just pretending [to leave], in my head when I saw that, which was a great scene…she just didn’t have a train ticket because she’s like, why [do that] when I can just rob someone or steal this car and go? But I do believe she is dealing with [things] right now. And I believe in the coming episode on Tuesday — unless I’m wrong and it was in another episode — there’s communication with her. And I believe that that in “Endangered” if I’m not mistaken.
Now I was just on Facebook and they had a little ad that said, “What is a Grimm?” Is that going to be answered in “Endangered”?
What is a Grimm… is that going to be answered tomorrow? I think we learn a little bit more about what a Grimm is every couple of episodes. I don’t think this episode coming up… First of all, forgive me. I know what’s happening on our show. I just don’t know when it gets billed out. You know what I mean? I watch it all the time. I usually don’t watch it on Friday nights. I usually watch it well before that. But certain storylines I know exactly what happens; I just don’t know in which episodes what happens in that storyline. So I don’t know if it’s “Endangered,” but we do… the Captain will be giving me a stern Captain-esque lecture as to a little bit about my history and the Royals and why they want me in particular. In this coming episode I know we’re going to be seeing something very paranormal – I want to say almost “X-Files”y that is not a standard Grimms fairytale and almost like we’re dealing what people on the Earth think are aliens. But we tell you what they really are — the real explanation for them.
Which Grimm story has not yet been told that you are really pulling for the writers to tackle next season?
The sausage and the fork go to town (laughs). No, I actually don’t know. I feel like we’ve hit all the classics. And every time I see a new Grimms fairytale I’m almost learning about it as we go through the season. What I do really enjoy now about our show is the fact that we’re kind of straying from the Grimms fairytales.
And remember in the lore of our show — in the world of “Grimm” — there are only Grimms fairytales because they’ve been written about in a book. Now certain things that have not yet been explained, maybe they just haven’t been written down yet. So I get to add to that book.
And thus a phenomenon that is heretofore unexplained gets written down in the Grimms fairytales, and it becomes a legend for kids to learn about forever. Was that the most confusing sentence that’s ever spoken? In other words, we’re borrowing from a lot of lore that’s even outside the standard Grimms fairytales. And we are adding it to those Grimms fairytales.
What is the nicest thing a fan has ever done for you.
Well, they’ve affirmed to me over and over and over again all the time, which is lovely. But what is the nicest thing? Well, a really great thing a young man did for me… I met him at I believe Comic-Con. And he read somewhere I always use ChapStick. And I didn’t have any that day. And he got a brand new package for me and gave it to me. Because I’m addicted to Burt’s Bees ChapStick. And it was very kind. There’ve been so many things that people have done and said and written. And I love it all. But that moment kind of sticks out. Because I was in such need of it. And he happened to have it and gave me this gift.
Okay, you’ve talked a little bit about some of the things that we might be seeing this week. Can you just give us a little more depth of some broad strokes about some of the plot lines for the remainder of this season?
Absolutely. Nick and Juliette start patching things up. And it’s looking very hopeful for us come the end of the season. Two, a level 10 — as I like to call it — Wesen comes to Portland who is pulling the strings controlling a lot of other types of Wesen. We can call them the undead. And he has an army of people under his control that wreak havoc. And this is a longer story arc. We’ll be visited by an actor named Reg E. Cathey. He’s a wonderful actor who’s just been in “House of Cards,” and he’s been in everything. And he’s great. And he plays this kind of powerful Wesen that we will be introduced to in the next couple of episodes.
The Royals get closer and closer to me. They come to Portland, and they want the key. And I learn much more about why it is they want the key. The Captain and I start working together.
Let’s see. zombies are entering Portland. And also as far as Adalind goes – the Adalind storyline is insane. And that’s all I’ll say about that.
Okay, and looking forward to Season Three what would you like to see happen with your character — both professionally and personally?
Well, I’d like to see some resolve — some real closure — to the Juliette storyline. I love working with Bitsie Tulloch, and it’d be nice to be just a couple again. I want to get Sergeant Wu into the fray of the knowing. That would be really fun to work with him in the way that now Russell, Hank, and I can work together and Bree and Silas and the Captain. I would love to get Sergeant Wu into the fray.
Looking back now that you’ve completed two seasons, what has this whole experience meant for you as an actor?
Oh, gosh. I look back at the beginning of Season One, and I’m like, who is that kid, that supple little kid? It has been just an absolute gift to me and a blessing. And I’ve learned so much. I feel like I get paid to learn every day. And I’ve become very good friends with a lot of my cast. We live in Portland together, and they’re my group now. It’s been so lovely. And there’s the producers and the writers, and my bosses are also giving. They leave us alone. They give support. You never feel criticized. It’s a very healthy place to be. So I’m very grateful.
You’re on Tuesday nights for the rest of the season. Do you know if you’re going to be on Tuesday nights in Season Three?
I don’t know if we’ll be on Tuesday nights in Season Three. I guess we’ll all kind of figure that out together based upon how we fit on Tuesday night for the rest of the season. I have had that thought myself. I do not know the answer.
So Nick deals with a lot of gruesome scenes and gruesome things. Have any of those scenes every stayed with you?
Oh God, yes. The horribly gross scenes. One of which was when Monroe gouges out the eye of a fly person. I believe the person’s name was David Jinnamuru Xunte, which sounds like someone who’d be touring with Erykah Badu. But it’s the fly person. That scene stays with me. That was hideous. Another scene that stayed with me was the Season One episode, maybe 5, where the rats are… I remember just before we even shot I was on set and I walked by this car in a parking lot that I didn’t know had a corpse with rats pouring out of his mouth — into his stomach out of his mouth. That ruined me for a good , oh, 90 days. I couldn’t handle. It was so gross. That was a very strange scene, [an] absolutely life-like reproduction. It’s so strange. The child in you does not know what’s real and what is not for a split second.
How do people react to you when they see you now that you’re playing this sexy action hero?
Sexy action hero. That’s funny. I guess… I don’t know. I definitely notice people looking at me a lot. In Portland and certain towns that are not L.A., I get approached quite a bit, and it’s lovely. I love it. Because all of us actors have the saddest little frail egos, and we need to be inflated constantly and flirt with narcissism. So that’s nice.
Well, along those lines are we going to be getting more shirtless scenes?
That depends how I’ve been eating. I think there will be some more of those. I’m seeing they’re training me really hardcore — pretty heavily — this summer in preparation for Season Three. I just got back from my trainer in fact. So if it gets to that point if I don’t think America will cringe and turn off their televisions, then there will be more of that.
What’s your favorite weapon that you’ve used, or what weapon are you looking forward to using?
Sexiest TV weapon has to be the crossbow. It’s just so cool. They do those shots that kind of pan up on the crossbow and then the eyes go right above it. But Nick really loves the… I believe it’s pronounced “conobo” or “conabo,” which is just a basically a baseball bat with spikes on it — nothing too technically fancy. But he loves it.
You were talking about getting used to living part of your life in Portland. And I’m just wondering how you’ve adapted to doing that. And whether you have some kind of rituals that you’ve settled into when you’re here.
I purchased a seasonal affective disorder lamp. I really did. Though I didn’t need it this year. And I don’t know if that’s because I’ve adapted to the rain or because the winter was so mild. But I don’t really notice the rain as much as I used to. I guess that’s probably a typical thing that Portlanders go through. I adapted. I’ve become an absolute food snob, coffee snob — absolute coffee snob. I brought Stumptown coffee home with me so I could make it here and not have to suffer the inferior coffee shops of Los Angeles… though there are some good ones.
Have I adapted to no sales tax? That’s not hard to adapt to. I’m happy about that. We all kind of settled in the Pearl originally. And now I’m thinking about purchasing a home there. People are kind of spreading out and settling down a little bit. And I think that also comes with knowing that we’re getting a Season Three, and if we get a Season Three, then we’ll probably get a Four. So [there’s] that security of knowing where we’re going to be in a couple of years. Out of nowhere I’ve become a basketball fan because of the Blazers. And with the tickets I get to those things, I get to sit on the courtside, which is amazing. So I’m a big fan. So these are all adaptations that have been slowly happening.
So if you bought a house, what neighborhood would you consider?
There’s a lot of neighborhoods I would consider. I dig the Northeast. I love the Pearl. I love the Northwest, Southeast. I don’t know the Southwest that well. But I want to be kind of close to action; I want to be able to get out of my house and have people walking around. So whatever can offer me that I would look into. Any realtors out there, you can give me a call.
What do you think of some of the Portland-based actors that you’ve worked with on the show?
I wish I could remember all of their names just right off the top of my head; I can remember a lot of them, but I don’t want to forget some. Portland has a great theater community. I’ve talked to a lot of these actors about why. Possibly because it’s raining so much that it’s nice to get into the theater. And people are willing to kind of sit through longer form entertainment than they might not be willing to do in some other cities. Portland — and Seattle too — both have great actors, and it has been really lovely to work with these men and women who working in TV. It just sweetens the pot a little bit. But their heart is in theater. And they’re always emailing me and texting me. I’ll give them my info, and they’ll tell me what shows are going on. I just had one guy, Jonah Weston, tell about this one-man show he was doing on the roof of some venue in Portland, but I was of course in LA. It’s great to meet these guys and girls.
Episode 9 of this second season was “La Llorona,” or “The Weeping Woman.” How was working with Mexican actress Kate del Castillo?
You know what she gave me as a wrap present? A bottle of like the finest tequila I’ve ever had in my life. So it was a joy. Kate del Castillo was almost like no other actor we’ve had. So fun to be with, even after we were working. She knows how to have a good time — is just so happy to be there. And of course she’s a star. So it was very good for our show to have her on this episode. We all would love her to come back; it was I think our second most watched episode next to our premiere. So obviously she brought with her some cache and popularity.
That episode in particular was really fun because it was largely done in Spanish. I can’t remember any other show doing that that wasn’t a Spanish-speaking show. So I thought it was kind of cool, and it worked so well. It fit so well into the world of “Grimm.”
Regarding the Wesen — the creatures of this show — it was established in the episode that La Llorona is not necessarily one of them. What do you think about this great idea of the writers about expanding the motility of the creatures of this show?
I really enjoyed that aspect of it. I think that it shows you, in keeping up with the lore of “Grimm,” the Grimms fairytales are just stories that have thus far been logged in these books. But they’re growing as the Grimms continue to discover more and more Wesen and reasons behind phenomena that human beings make up stories to explain. The Grimms can then explain it in this book and try to put it out to the rest of the world. I really enjoy getting to borrow from other folklore, you know, legends that had not yet been in the Grimm books.
You mentioned before about working with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Can you just tell us a little bit about what it’s like to have her on the show? And who is on your personal wish list for potential guest stars in the future that you’d like to work with?
Oh gosh. I can’t say that just because there’s so many. I wouldn’t want to offend the people, you know. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was wonderful to work with. And the episodes that she’s been in have been so work-intensive, and she has such a wonderful work ethic. Working with her I get caught watching her all of the time and almost forget that I’m in the scene. Because she’s so captivating and compelling and beautiful and just makes wonderful choices. I’ve really enjoyed the guest actors we’ve had thus far. And anybody’s who’s decided to come who can swing it we’ll love to have.
Is there like a specific type of actor that you think fits well into the “Grimm” family? Theater actors? What does an actor need to have to fit in with you guys?
Sure, character actors. You don’t have to be a theater actor per se. I mean, most actors have done some theater. But I love the local guys getting some jobs — guys and girls getting some jobs. Because you know these are people who have dedicated to theater and they live in Portland. So there’re not a ton of gigs that show up there. So I love when we get a really great new talent. But also it’s fun to expose viewers to people who you have not seen much. We had Brian Finney, who is a very well respected actor in Los Angeles. He works with the [Tim] Robbins Theater — the Actors’ Gang. And he played the Ziegevolk in the episode where he was a lawyer who charmed the jury. And it was great getting to have him. So, you know, that’s the type of actor.
When you’re on a break, do you seek out other projects like theater or movies? Or do you just like to take it easy until the season begins again?
I like to seek other jobs that I think will push me and do something that I’m not currently doing.
Episode 2.19 – “Endangered” (airing 4/30/13; 10:00-11:00 pm)
NICK FACES AN OTHER WORLDLY MYSTERY THAT MAKES HIM QUESTION WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT THE WESEN WORLD — Mysterious cow mutilations and reports of glowing creatures put Nick (David Giuntoli) on a case that forces him to question the existence of aliens within the Wesen world. He also meets a strange UFO expert who seems to know more than he’s letting on.
Meanwhile, Nick digs further into the key, and Juliette’s (Bitsie Tulloch) romantic memories of Nick start coming back in a big way. Erin Way and Eric Tiede guest star; Russell Hornsby, Silas Weir Mitchell, Sasha Roiz, Reggie Lee, Bree Turner, and Claire Coffee co-star.
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