A quick heads up to Sam Witwer‘s fans in the Michigan area!
Sam is appearing as a guest at this weekend’s Motor City Comic Con 2012, Friday 18th through Sunday 20th May, at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, MI.
For further information and ticketing details, check out Motor City Comic Con’s website here.
…with love from Sam’s Admin Queens ~ Tracie, Adie, Satu, Katie.
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(image courtesy of Syfy and Philippe Bosse)
A bit of fun with Sam Witwer‘s Admin Queens…
'Colorful of the Stereo' by The Crashtones
30th April has been designated International Crashtones Lyrics Day, and everyone is invited to take part. We thought it would be a fun way to bring together all Crashfans from across the globe with a little bit of meaningless nonsense.
To join in, simply post a snippet of your favourite lyric from one (or more!) Crashtones song from their first album ‘Colorful of the Stereo’, either on Facebook as your status update, or on Twitter using the hash tag #crashtoneslyricsday
If you haven’t yet discovered the sheer awesomeness that is The Crashtones, then treat your ears to a feast of yummy ‘Colorful’ deliciousness, which is available in hard-copy CD or mp3 download format from CD Baby, or by download from iTunes.
HAVE FUN! 
~ Tracie, Adie, Satu and Katie
'COLORFUL OF THE STEREO' CD album cover art concept by Chuck Hirstius, photography by Tim Sabatino, photo composite created by Jim Van Over Sr.
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Video interview by Andrew Young for the Geek Hard Show.
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Long time followers of Geek Hard know that we’re big fans of the SPACE/Syfy series Being Human. Join Andrew as he once again talks with Sam Witwer, Sam Huntington, and the 2011 Geek Hard Guest of the Year, Meaghan Rath, as they discuss moments from Season 2 of the series, as well as the finer points on “how to properly start an interview” and “where to keep your comb”. Always funny, enjoy the snapshot of these 3 fine actors of genre television.
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OUR THANKS to Andrew and the guys at Geek Hard for this video link.
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This article (below) written by Keith Stuart was originally posted by the guardian.co.uk back in October 2010. However, it’s well worth a re-post, which we do now with huge thanks to Keith and The Guardian.
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Starkiller, the moody hero of The Force Unleashed video games, has become a key character in the Star Wars canon. But what’s it like bringing him to virtual life? Sam Witwer discusses the challenges of working in interactive entertainment.
Bringing life to The Force Unleashed II. From left – David Collins, Sam Witwer and Darragh O’Farrell.
On the set of Star Wars, a long, long time ago, an exasperated Harrison Ford is alleged to have yelled, “you can type this shit, George, but you sure as hell can’t say it”. He was referring to the tortured sci-fi exactness of lines like, “It’ll take a few moments to get the coordinates from the navi-computer,” but it’s the whole arcane language and terminology of the Star Wars universe that must befuddle some actors. Through all his years of repertory theatre, through the Ealing comedies and that magisterial work with David Lean, Alec Guiness would never have had to say anything like, “And these blast points, too accurate for Sandpeople. Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise.”
So what does it take to act in a Star Wars production – especially a video game? Last week, Gamesblog was lucky enough to visit LucasArts in San Francisco and got some time with actor Sam Witwer, the voice, face and body of Force Unleashed hero, Starkiller. In an engaging and interesting chat with David Collins (sound supervisor, voice director and voice of Proxy) and Darragh O’Farrell (director of audio), he talks about some of the challenges and rewards of game acting – and the way in which Hollywood is now looking toward games for its talent and ideas…
So did you use full performance capture in Force Unleashed 2?
Darragh:No, for TFU 2, we were in a voice-over studio in LA, but we had HD cams on all the performers. Sam had at least two, sometimes three. It was a cast recording so all the actors – Sam, Nathalie Cox (Juno), Cully Fredricksen (Kota) – everyone was there, playing off each other. Generally, line counts and logistics don’t allow for that, but with this game we felt it was important. And unlike in TFU1, we allowed the performers to step on each other’s lines. In reality, when we talk, we tend to overlap each other – in a game it gives a much more natural and realistic performance.
And so, Sam, this felt more like a TV or film job?
Sam: We had conversations about the difference between shooting a TV show and shooting for a video game. The first game was tiring but this one was absolutely exhausting, and I said to David, was I just a tougher guy back then?
David: Well, no. In the first one, we had a camera set up and all the other actors were behind it feeding lines, we recorded one actor at a time. But here, you’d just be yelling for four hours straight. In a TV show, you give it your all then you take a break and go back to your trailer, because they’ve got to do another set up. And an hour later, you’re ready to do the next scene. But with a video game you just don’t have that – it’s four continuous hours of screaming.
Sam: Not to mention that the character is going through a hell of a lot more in this game. There’s an emotional distress to being in that place for hours at a time.
David: In the first game you’re a Jedi hunter, now you’re a fugitive.
Sam: And even though Starkiller was off balance with Vader and with Juno in TFU1, when he was on the mission, he was ON that mission. This time, there’s no mission.
David: You and Cully Fredricksen had it the worst. Those two had to do a lot of intense screaming. There was a scene that we shot that took about 24 takes – we called it The Widowmaker. Darragh’s script was just filled with pencil markings!
Darragh: That stuff is exhausting. You may get the performance, but then the engineers will say, ‘we were overblown on that one line’. It’s like, ‘Arrrgh! Okay, roll – let’s do another one.’
Sam: Plus, I had several HD cameras on me for the voice-over sessions. And in those situations, the actors need to stay put. I didn’t stay put.
Darragh: No. Sam’s a challenge.
Sam: Well, you put a camera on me and I’m going to be moving around!
David: But there’s no boom following you!
Darragh: Sam’s such a dynamic actor though. It’s challenging to record, but the end results are always better with an actor like him, who’s always giving it 110 percent.
David: I don’t think we’ve ever had an actor who gives that much energy and passion in front of the microphone. I remember during shooting, there’s a scene where Starkiller’s all worked up, going through all these crazy emotions and Sam just went for it, I mean his face was red, just screaming out these lines in anger and frustration. It was chilling to watch. It was terrifying. But that’s what Force Unleashed 2 needed. And as a Star Wars fan Sam knew that.
Sam: I have to thank you actually, David, because at one point in the first game, Haden [Blackman, the co-creator of Force Unleashed] felt that some of the screams that Starkiller yelled should be taken out, but I think it was you who said, ‘but they’re really cool Harrison Ford screams!’ So he changed his mind…
David: There’s an art to screaming and you modulate it really well.
Sam: Thank you. But Harrison Ford does it better than anyone.
Sam as Starkiller (image courtesy of Lucasfilm)
Sam: I think we’ve been more confident with this in Force Unleashed 2. At times in the cut scenes, we have these long performance beats where the camera might hang on a character for six seconds of screen time while they’re thinking. We would never have had the courage to do that on the first game because, if it doesn’t work, you have six seconds of nothing, just a character model looking slack-jawed. So this time we took more risks with acting beats, and it’s been fun to see that develop.
David: Even with plot points, there was a time when we were in the table read and things started to emerge in Starkiller and Kota’s conversation, specifically about Kamino and how to tie a couple of scenes together, and the scriptwriter was there, and it was re-written on the fly and became an integral part of the scene.
Sam: And Haden was more confident, because he now had a Writer’s Guild award under his belt. On the first game he was very tight about things, and that’s very common for people who are new to writing and seeing someone perform their work. When writers first have that experience, they get very uncomfortable, because they’ve seen it some way in their head, and then when they watch someone performing it differently, they assume it’s wrong. But no, it’s an interpretation of what you wrote and in fact, it might be exactly right. If the story’s coming across, it doesn’t have to be exactly what you see in your head. Young writers are not used to that. But Haden surrendered to the creative process – the collaboration.
Sam, because Starkiller is such a close physical likeness to you, you’ve become one of the first video game actors to be recognised in the street. Do you think this will become more common in this industry?
Sam: Yeah, if Force Unleashed had just been a voice-over gig, I wouldn’t be recognised. But you look at Starkiller and he’s me, he even walks like me – I showed the animators how I thought he should walk and they took that onboard. They’ve video referenced the hell out of me, they’ve mo-capped the hell out of me, they have all this information, so this character has emerged, and it’s about as much me as anything I’ve ever done.
For LucasArts, this game has always been about character, and I’ve been dragged along on that process. And I have had people approach me on the street and go, ‘Starkiller!’ Right now, I’m shooting Being Human in Montreal, and when I was first cast, I saw several write-ups that referred to me as, Sam Whitworth, brackets, Force Unleashed. I’ve been in Dexter, Battlestar, Smallville, but Force Unleashed was always on that list of stuff that I’ve done – I could never have guessed that would happen, that it’s actually helped my career.
In fact, when I sat down for a meeting with the Smallville producers, they wanted to know all about Force Unleashed. It’s because video games are evolving, they are growing up with the generation that invented them. And Hollywood is taking notice of that, it’s important. LucasArts decided to do this crazy thing where they’d get actors who not only have the right voice but the right look, and they wanted to use everything about that actor. And as a Star Wars fan, that’s been great.
David: And people recognise you just as much for Force Unleashed as for your TV roles?
Sam: Just as much.
David: That’s crazy to hear as a developer. I mean, it all came about when we moved in to the office with Industrial Light and Magic – they have this wonderful technology for likeness capture and motion capture. When Darragh was tasked with casting Force Unleashed, Sam’s name came up and we had this concept art created by a really talented artist here named Amy Beth Christenson, and Starkiller just looked a lot like Sam.
Sam: I have that art on the wall in my apartment!
David: You were on Dexter and Battlestar at the time, and so we said, ‘let’s get him in’. And when you submitted a demo – everyone was just blown away.
Darragh: We watched this crazy scene you were in on CSI and you were just this tortured guy, and we thought, ‘oh my god, that’s it’.
Sam: These two really put me through my paces. In a normal audition you act for maybe ten minutes and if you’re they’re for longer, you’re just talking. But this was acting for 45 minutes. I made the mistake of saying, ‘hey, so he’s a Sith apprentice – as a Star Wars fans I could think of 50 ways this might go…’ and they said, ‘okay, show us all of them’.
David: It was a discovery process for us as well. As a game company, seeing what Sam would bring to the script was almost an epiphany.
Darragh: I’ve been at Lucas for 15 years, I started with games like Grim Fandango, X-Wing Alliance, Jedi knight… what’s interesting is, during those early years, it was all primarily what we’d class as voice-over talent, people who could manipulate their voice, do lots of characters. But when we came to this game, it changed our approach. With the likeness capture, we thought, rather than going for voice-over actors, we had to look for on-camera actors – that’s what we did across the board. It’s been hugely beneficial for us. As gaming is evolving, you’re going to see games create their own stars. We’re not necessarily looking for the next George Clooney, but…
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (image courtesy of Lucasfilm)
Are there still some prejudices against acting in video games?
Sam: For me, it’s been nothing but beneficial – I mean, not only is it a lead character, it’s a Star Wars character – that brings with it a lot of goodwill and enthusiasm.
Darragh: Initially, back in the day, there was a lot of resistance from big name actors because they couldn’t control the final quality. But Sam has been hugely involved throughout the whole process. He’d be picking up the phone to Haden and saying, ‘hey, can we tweak this, can we change that?’
Sam: I got into a whole email chain with Haden and Darragh about a continuity issue! I have a habit of sticking my nose in where perhaps it doesn’t belong. Any job I have, I’m constantly getting involved in stuff I shouldn’t be! But somewhere along the line it’ll usually benefit me. And here, I’m just wandering the halls – I’ll say ‘hey, I saw this animation, I think it should go like this!’ It’s ridiculous.
Is Force Unleashed all about pain and torment?
Sam: No there are some funny lines in there, some good Star Wars-type back and forth dialogue. At some point the line, ‘I think we’re running out of bottomless pit’ comes out of someone’s mouth…
Darragh: It was the benefit of having performers who knew each other – moments just come out in the studio. And then I’m on the other side of the glass, and I’d say to Haden, ‘okay let’s keep that, it’s funny’.
David: But there are times when it doesn’t work. We’ll say we’ve got this hilarious sequence, and Darragh’s like, ‘no, it’s not funny’. I’d say, okay, let’s try it again!
Darragh: It’s like herding cats…
Sam: But Star Wars itself is so over-the-top. When ever we were doing a performance, we followed the George Lucas rule – when he was filming the original Star Wars, the acting direction he gave was, ‘faster, more intense’. The actors would complain about that, but when you watch the movie, it’s the perfect direction. It’s all 1940s clipped dialogue. And Darragh actually gave that direction on the first game. We’d do a scene and it didn’t feel particularly Star Wars, so Darragh would say ‘faster, more intense!’ and it worked. Bigger performances work better in Star Wars.
And Force Unleashed 2 is even more OTT. I’m very happy that Starkiller, gets to say, ‘I have a bad feeling about this.’ In the movies it’s always said a while before anything bad actually happens. In our version, Starkiller says it during the worst possible moment in the game – he just states the obvious, and it works really well.
Are you pushing to do any live action work for LucasFilm? There have been rumours of a TV series…
Am I in a live action show? No! [Long pause] Not yet… LucasFilm has been extraordinarily generous to me, they like to have me involved, but I don’t know what their plans are. I’m constantly introducing myself to people here and having conversations with people I shouldn’t have, but it tends to work out.
Darragh: Well, he’s a good-looking kid!
Sam: Who says some stupid things sometimes!
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Once again, our thanks to Keith Stuart and The Guardian for this article link.
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Wizard World‘s Philadelphia Comic Con 2012 is being held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, running from Thursday 31st May through until Sunday 3rd June, and our lovely Sam is scheduled to appear during the weekend.
This link is courtesy of Wizard World, and we thank them for the information.
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(photo composite courtesy of Wizard World)
Sam Witwer, Aidan from “Being Human,” Darth Maul from “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” & Davis Bloome/Doomsday from “Smallville,” Joins the Wizard World Comic Con Tour!
Sam Witwer headlines the SyFy series, Being Human, an adaptation of the popular British television series. The darkly humorous, provocative drama casts Sam as the heroic, “Aidan,” a sensual and brooding vampire. Feature film fans remember Sam as the sacrificed “Wayne Jessup” in The Mist, Frank Darabont’s adaptation of the Stephen King novella. Two independent features in which Sam stars await release: The Return of Joe Rich, starring opposite Armand Assante and Talia Shire and No God, No Master starring with David Strathairn and Edoardo Ballerini.
A favorite in the science-fiction world, Sam began his career in the memorable role of “Lt. Crashdown” in SyFy’s Battlestar Galactica and played “Davis Bloom/ Doomsday,” the man fated to kill Superman, on CW’s Smallville. Star Wars fans and the gaming community will also recognize Sam as Darth Vader’s vengeful apprentice, “StarKiller” in the LucasArts’ video game sensation Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Parts One and Two). Through high-tech digital referencing and motion capture, Sam has become the voice and face of this LucasArts’ creation in which the first title grossed over 500 million dollars and whose highly anticipated sequel will be released later this fall. Sam has also done extensive voice work for the fan-favorite Clone Wars, which includes his most current role as ‘Darth Maul’.
His other television credits include guest appearances on Bones, Star Trek: New Voyager, Navy NCIS, Dragnet, Cold Case, JAG, and ER.
A Chicago native and a Juilliard-trained actor, Sam is also an accomplished musician who performed in the LA music scene with his band, The Crashtones.
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PODCAST with our Sam – from those awesome guys at The Force-Cast.net.
LISTEN TO IT HERE.
“This week: actor Sam Witwer, fresh off his performance as Darth Maul in The Clone Wars, joins us for a lengthy conversation about his Star Wars experiences, characters and more.”
Original interview/article by Jason Tabrys at nerdbastards.com
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Yesterday we spoke with Sam Witwer about playing Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, his love of the force, the chances that he might come aboard Frank Darabont’s upcoming series, LA Noir, and I asked Sam if some around The Walking Dead had tried to diminish Darabont’s contribution to the show. Part 1 can be found here, but today Part 2 is ALL about Being Human (well, almost ALL about Being Human).
On the series, Witwer plays Aidan, a Boston-based vampire who is trying to find the way to normal. He shares an apartment and a life with Sally (a ghost) and Josh (a self-hating werewolf). The concept is based on the popular UK show of the same name but the two aren’t particularly identical at this point and Aidan has been on the edge of a downward spiral all season long.
In this half of the interview, Witwer discusses that potential spiral, the journey his character is taking, what he doesn’t like about his vampire super powers, and the chances that we’ll see zombies on Being Human.
Any chance that we’ll see zombies on Being Human? We’ve got werewolves, we’ve got ghosts, vampires…
SW: I guess there is always a possibility, you never know. I tend to believe we wouldn’t, though. You know, I think were presenting a weird world, but we do want to frame it within the real world. So, I don’t know about zombies… maybe, I mean if there’s a really good take on it, it’s always worth doing.
It’s a funny thing when it comes to Being Human. It’s a story about a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost who live together in an apartment; well, that sounds like a terrible idea. Bringing back Darth Maul, that sounds like a terrible idea. None of these things are terrible ideas if you do them well and if there is something really worthwhile at the end of that journey.
Would anyone argue that bringing Spock back in Star Trek was a bad idea? No, it had to happen for the continuation of that story for that franchise, and I thought it was a pretty cool story in how they brought him back. I mean, they got Spock back but it was with a great cost. Here’s another geek example: I was reading an outline for the end of season 2 when I was working on Battlestar, and I remember reading that Ron [Ronald D. Moore] wanted to jump ahead a year in time at the end of the season, and I remember being like, “That is the worst idea I’ve ever heard, Ron is gonna blow the whole series, that is a bad, bad idea.” And then you see how he does it and your’re like, “Wow, I’ve never seen a television series pull this off.” The reason I thought it was a bad idea is because I underestimated the skill with which he and the filmmakers would use to pull this idea off. I underestimated them. It’s simply that, it’s not always just the idea, it’s the how, it’s the dramatic wrinkles in that idea that make the idea good or bad.
It kinda feels like the three of you are growing apart a little this season. Can we expect some kind of unifying event like the fight against Bishop last season?
SW: You may see that unifying event happen sooner than you think. The next episode is one of my favorite Being Human episodes ever. This one coming up on Monday, it’s really, really well done. I mean, when we received the script we were like, “Well, this is gonna be good, I don’t think there’s much we can do to mess this up.” And we’ve seen it since then and we’re very very happy with it. But yeah, there may be a unifying event or, or you never know, it might split some characters off even more. The thing about what happens with Aidan [the quick double murder from last week] is that, that is a piece of damage that doesn’t heal by the end of the season. How do you fix that? And even if other people are trying to ignore it, he is not ignoring it. So, it’s something that I think will carry into the third season.
On the UK series, they’ve lost 2 of their 3 original characters. Would you continue if Sam Huntington and Meaghan Rath left?
SW: That’s a good question, that’s a very good question. Because I think the British series, as I understand it, I haven’t watched their 4th season yet, but as I understand it they’re doing well, they’ve introduced new characters that people seem to care about, at least that’s what I’ve heard from my friends — they were very happy with what they’ve done. It would be hard to go back without Sammy [Huntington] and Meaghan [Rath], it really would. Because as far as I’m concerned, they’re the reason to show up to work; they’re two extraordinarily bright, talented, and insightful actors and very very funny people. We get along well, we get along really really well, and that’s how we get through those long days. This season was… being apart from them so much was very difficult. Yeah, I don’t know, that’s a very good question — if someone left, uh yeah, you know it could very well be it, who knows?
Going back to Aidan and what happened in the last episode, it seems like he’s searching for peace, for normal — can he actually handle that, or is he addicted to being able to reach back and do something bad in the name of good?
SW: Well that’s the thing, the last episode was pretty much bad in the name of bad. You know, hopefully with the flashback, people understand his mindset toward this Henry character. But I can also step outside of it and go, yeah, Henry is a murderer and Suren is a maniac. These people are not people he should be hanging out with. If audience members pay attention, they’ll notice that Aidan starts saying at the end of the season things that are completely opposite to what he was saying at the beginning of the season, in terms of what he says he wants for his life. That changes and he’s very confused by that, he doesn’t even know how to handle himself, so Aidan is in trouble, and he’s going to be in trouble going into the 3rd season.
The thing that we definitely do this year, and I said this early on, I said this at press things, if there is a villain this year it could very well be Aidan. Certainly things can get worse, last year, the first season we suggested to the audience that Aidan was dangerous, he was the worst of the worst, he was a bad ass, and everyone feared him and everyone gave him a wide berth, and this year, I think we’re showing you that. So, the fun of that is that if we introduce him back into the human population in the 3rd season, I mean, how dangerous is that? You know, you could have had Aidan be around people this entire season, and that would have been dangerous because you understand he’s a vampire, he does bad things, he wants to be like people but he also wants to eat them, it’s tough. Well now in this season, you actually see how nasty he can get. It could be very thrilling to see that character try to re-assimilate into any kind of civilized society, and maybe he’ll fail, you never know.
I’m sure you’re familiar with vampire lore at this point. Any traits that you kinda wish Aidan had? Do you want to change into a bat, do you want to sparkle?
SW: (Laughs)
Please tell me you don’t want to sparkle.
SW: I think I’m doing fine with the traits I already have (laughs). It’s funny, if I had it my way he wouldn’t be able to run super fast; if I had it my way that power would not exist. It’s a little bit tricky in terms of things he can do, running a little bit faster than humans is one thing, but the whole super speed thing…
Well yeah, last episode when he crossed the bed in the blink of an eye…
SW: Exactly, and he kills two people really really quickly. You know, it is what it is, we’ll see how it all evolves. I’ve oftentimes suggested to the writers, I’m like, “I think we need a scene where Aidan is running through an alley at full speed and he can’t make a turn in time and he slams into a wall,” just to illustrate that you don’t go 80 mph down a residential street.
It’s a good life lesson.
SW: Yeah, I think so. I’m always interested in the limitations of stuff. People are always like, “What are the powers?” Yeah, but isn’t it cool to talk about the limitations of those powers? Where do you not use them because they would hurt you or, you know, you would get yourself in trouble?
Is there a Marvel character or another DC character that you fantasize about playing? Namor, or Black Adam, I’m just picking…
SW: Batman.
Oh, Batman, it’s not even a question?
SW: Yeah, very simple, Batman. It should be said that I have loved the Chris Nolan movies, they’re just killing it, they’re doing so well. But I do think there are other things that you can do with the character, I think there are different things, things that would be worth making movies about. I have a lot of ideas about that.
I can’t imagine it stopping.
SW: I know, of course, right? Chris Nolan will be done and then they’re gonna want to reboot it again. Look at the Spider-man thing, they wasted no time, which by the way, I don’t necessarily think it’s great to reboot things so fast. However they will reboot it again, and I’ll probably still be within the age range of a Bruce Wayne, and I think there’s some really cool things that you can do with that character. I think some comic books really get that guy, some graphic novels and stuff, and the other ones really kind of gloss over what’s awesome about that guy, and what’s scary and what’s disturbed and you know, the parts of that character’s personality that no one should want to be like.
Me personally, I want to see an R-rated, deeply f****d up, psychotic Batman. Not like throwing people off roofs with reckless abandon, but someone who is tortured.
That’s exactly my take on it, that’s precisely it. I mean, c’mon, can we tell a story about a world trying to react to the fact that a guy is dressed up as a bat, and he’s taking people out? It would be terrifying. Or, or there would be people who think it’s funny until he starts doing terrible things to their friends, and then they’re terrified of him, and it’s like, my God there’s a crazy guy out there. For my money, you don’t need any super villain in the first Batman film, you just need the world reacting to one crazy guy, and that’s him.
Check out the world reacting to Aidan on Being Human, Mondays at 9pm ET on SyFy. Check out Part 1 of this 2 part interview here.
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ONCE AGAIN, OUR HUGE THANKS to Jason and nerdbastards.com for these links.
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It’s hard to put my finger on it — the moment that I realized that Sam Witwer was really one of us — a nerd, a geek, a fan. Was it his hilarious Star Wars-centric voicemail greeting? The way he bemoaned his Being Human character’s use of vamp super speed or the way he passionately spoke to me about those who would deny Frank Darabont’s contribution to The Walking Dead? How about all of the above? Simply put, talking to Witwer was like talking to some guy you’re lined up next to while waiting to get into a Comic Con panel. The difference is he’s the guy who headlines those panels and he really doesn’t seem to be fazed by it.
In a wide-ranging, 2 part interview that touched on the above topics and The Clone Wars, The Muppets, the comic book superhero he wants to play, whether he would stay on Being Human if his castmates left, and the chances of him joining Darabont’s new series, L.A. Noir, Witwer came off as easygoing, affable and honest. A regular guy who doesn’t BS, an actor who is too excited by the work he does to come off as jaded.
Check out Part 1 today and look out for Part 2 tomorrow, only on NerdBastards.com.
I just watched the Clone Wars episode. It’s the first time that I actually watched the show. I’m gonna try to find time to actually go back now, which sucks because its like 4 seasons in and it’s at the end of the 4th season, isn’t it?
Sam Witwer: You know, it’s interesting, it’s partially serialized and partially not. You can definitely jump around the Star Wars universe to all these different characters, and they tell these one shot stories, sometimes stories that last 4 episodes, and then there are other stories that have to do with the greater continuity with what’s happening — so it’s something that’s pretty easy to catch up on, you pick up whats happening pretty quick. I assume you liked it if you’re talking about going back and checking it out.
Oh yeah, definitely. How do I put this? I thought it was more for kids originally, before I went into it, and now I see that there is definitely stuff that appeals to me and the animation is crazy good.
SW: It’s insane, right? You know, the thing is, the assumption that it was for kids comes from the fact that when it started, it was. You have to think of the Clone Wars kind of in the same way as you consider the original Star Wars trilogy, the first movie — it’s light, happy, there’s good guys there’s bad guys, and its optimistic. That’s sort of where the Clone Wars began, good guys and bad guys, it was kind of a very simple kids show, but every year there has been an effort to introduce some more adult content and age the series along with the generation of kids that are growing up with it. You know, so it’s actually becoming an older series as it goes on. And so now, with this Darth Maul stuff, were now officially in Empire Strikes Back territory as far as the life of the series goes, because Empire Strikes Back is darker and more adult, and that’s where the series is headed. And I kinda love that concept — what series decides to change itself slowly over time to appeal to a different audience? Only someone like George could do that.
Where is Darth Maul right now mentally, where has he been, and where is he going?
SW: Where is he? I will say that it is possible that people are going to see more elements of the Darth Maul that they thought they were going to get, you know, because when they met him this season, he’s not what you expected — he’s out of his mind, clearly part of that is our responsibility as story tellers, he’s been gone for 10 years.
It seems like that would be really fun to play also, look at Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys, playing fully insane seems to me like it would be a buffet for you.
SW: I’ll tell you, it’s really challenging, but we all felt, what I felt was that this is an opportunity to show the true nature of the dark side of the Force, because it’s not about having cool laser sword fights or throwing lightning or being able to do these flips — that’s not the dark side. The dark side is madness and despair and shame, and it’s just the worst, it’s awful. It’s agony, that’s at the center of it all. And so here was an opportunity to look at it completely untarnished, and look into the mouth of madness as it were. It’s a cool opportunity. Now coming from there, the character does evolve. With Savage and others, there is a motivation to put this character back together, and when that happens, that’s trouble for everyone.
If the live action show came to fruition, would you wanna do more Starkiller, or would you do something that’s a little more opposite of the dark side? Is there appeal in that?
SW: I wanna play a guy who is in the center, in the middle. I think that’s part of the appeal of the Starkiller character, he really has aspects of both and I would love to do that. That seems to be the biggest challenge. To play a straight up good guy would be great but, you know, to play a guy whose got some things that he’s struggling with — I think it would be even more interesting.
Who was your guy when you first found Star Wars?
SW: My favorite character is Luke Skywalker; it’s his growth. Talk about characters who struggle with things, well, that guy struggled with a lot and he starts as a naïve kid and goes through hell and then comes out on the other side as a man who can make his own decisions, who does what he feels is right, not necessarily what anyone is telling him to do. That includes what the Emperor is telling him to do, what Darth Vader is telling him to do, but also Obi Wan and Yoda, he disregards their advice and finds a solution to the overall problem of the story that no one expected. Obi Wan is saying to him, “Hey, there’s this Vader guy and you’ve gotta kill him. Okay, all right, well, you tell me he’s your dad? Well, you’ve still gotta kill him.” Meanwhile, Luke is saying, “What if we don’t, there’s an option here, maybe we can bring him back,” and Obi Wan is like, “Nope, no way, that’s not gonna work. Kill him, you must. If you don’t kill him, we’re all screwed.” And Luke disregards that. It’s a really great story for that character; that’s the saga right there, it comes down to that guy’s decision.
You’re one of us–do you have a lightsaber?
SW: Lucasfilm has provided me with many forms of lightsabers, and some really talented fans have made me a Starkiller lightsaber, so that’s pretty cool.
What’s the crown jewel of the collection?
SW: I think I really like… I bought this replica Darth Vader helmet after the Force Unleashed, because I thought that that was, I don’t know, appropriate to have him sort of looming over me in my office.
That beats the crap out of the crown jewel of my collection. I have a life-sized Gonzo. I’m more…
SW: Thats awes… are you kidding? Dude, that’s awesome!
Dude, I’m more hardcore than that, but that’s like the crown jewel. It’s one of those Master Replica things.
SW: I didn’t know they made a Gonzo. That’s awesome. I’ve been looking to get more into the Muppets, I obviously watched a lot of them when I was a kid, but I don’t really remember very much, and I just bought the disc sets. Well dude, congratulations, the crown jewel of your collection is not lame.
I appreciate that, I’d still like a Vader helmet or a lightsaber…
SW: (Laughs)
Let me ask you: with regard to Mr. Darabont, your admiration is clear — is there a chance you might be able to find some time to pop up as a guest star on LA Noir?
SW: Well, I don’t think there’s any harm in saying that he wrote a part for me, but I can’t, I’m not available, can’t do it. Which is tough. I was reading script pages when he was writing it, when he was in the middle of writing it, when it wasn’t done, and I remember just being like, “Dammit, I’d really love to be involved in this but I cannot.” I cannot join the show, I have my own show.
I suppose yeah, there is a chance that I could show up as a guest. I’ve certainly told him the limits of what my guest starring abilities are every year, which is a certain number of episodes I can do on another show, so he’s aware of that, but it comes down to: does it serve the story? Is there a part that he could come up with that needs to be in that story that he thinks I’d be good for?
It’s like the whole good problem to have thing, I have a phantom resume which are things that people have asked me to do but I couldn’t do because I was unavailable, and LA Noir is at the top of that last in terms of projects that I could have been involved in.
Do you feel like some people maybe tried to diminish his contribution to Walking Dead after he was gone, maybe in an effort to win the divorce?
SW: They can say whatever they want about him not having a very profound impact on the series, but if you like the production design, if you like the design of the zombies, and if you like the cast and dozens of other things, none of those things would have been there if it weren’t for Frank. Very simple, that’s objective, that is objective truth right there; it has nothing to do with opinion. That’s simply the truth. People like Greg Nicotero, or Greg Melton, or the cast, none of these people worked for what they normally worked for in terms of cost, they all took pay cuts because they love Frank. Some of them went to fucking high school with Frank, so no, there were a lot of favors called in, tons of favors, Frank’s favors, that were called in to create that show and to create it for much cheaper than you’d get it anywhere else. So no, sorry, if you think that those things are minimal contributions, then yes, Frank Darabont’s contribution to The Walking Dead was minimal.
Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of our exclusive interview with Sam Witwer as we talk about his dream superhero role, whether he would stay on Being Human if his castmates left, and some genuine hints on where the show is going as it nears the end of it’s second season.
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HUGE THANKS to Jason and the awesome nerdbastards.com for this article link.
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