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How would you get into character before each
episode?
Based on what was going on in the script; I’d breakdown the script and do my homework before
I got in – just focus on where the character was in that part of the story. I’d really take a look at which
characters I was interacting with; which was a big part in it because I really didn’t interact with everybody –
and the few people that I did was either antagonistic or I saw them as my only friend so to speak. And then just my
imagination; made stuff up.
Can you relate to your character, J.D.?
I think so –
I hope that’s his appeal for the viewers as well… that he seems to be misunderstood. I know he’s
painted as the black sheep and he’s painted kind of negative, but analyzing it… he’s extremely sensitive
about things and at the same time he’s having trouble dealing with the fakeness that surrounds us in the world…
and his outlet sometimes seems a little extreme, such as the tattoos and wanting to be left alone or even fighting for what
he believes in. I think in that sense people can relate to feeling like an outsider or feeling alienated themselves.
It was such a serious show; was it that way on and off the set as well?
Mostly the opposite;
on the set it pretty much was, we kind of rolled through it quickly because we didn’t have a lot of time – we
couldn’t really afford a lot of screwing around. Definitely off the set… we would hit the town –
we were up in Vancouver so we only had each other to hang out with; some of the people on the show were local Canadians so
they kind of showed us a lot of their spots. If we weren’t working; we were pretty much doing something.
So being the outcast on the show didn’t make you an outcast off the show…
Yeah,
thankfully not. [laughs] When we shot the pilot; a lot of the same people cam back for it and my character wasn’t
in it that much in the pilot – so at first I really didn’t know people. And it was great to be outside of
L.A. filming – that kind of helps us focus on the show and be away from others influences that could get in the way.
What was your favorite scene to shoot and why?
I like the fighting scene… the very
first one where the character really gets introduced. They were talking about him the entire episode and you see him…
in sort of a great way… I didn’t have a lot of lines in that; I’ve been talked about for a long time and
the reveal was this embodiment of who this person was. So they did all the work for me by talking about him for the
episode, and I thought that was good introduction for my character. That was fun, plus it was the first day of filming.
The stuff with Abby is always great; the jail stuff was pretty fun… I kind of liked all of them. I felt like
I was pretty lucky – it wasn’t just me and a group… it was me and somebody else… like the little
girl.
Fingers were pointing at you pretty early in the series; did you ever think you could be the killer?
I did, yeah. No one knew who it was, nobody was told who it was… but we were asked “Well, if it’s
you… would you want to know?” – so I was like "Well, no… not until I needed to” …
because it may influence things in a negative way. But them just asking that kind of planted that seed… “Why
would they ask me that?” It’s gotta be me, they’re not asking everybody… they just asked me.
Early on I had the feeling that it was possible; I thought I was only up there for two weeks, but it ended up being a six
month thing. But yeah, I thought it could have been me… then half way through I thought that maybe it wasn’t
me, but I could be there until the end to prove myself innocent or prove myself useful for the group. And once you learn
that there’s two people… you start putting it together by trying to figure out who was where at what time.
I thought that maybe it was Abby for a while; then I thought it was Shane and his buddy Jimmy… but it would change
every week. We would get the scripts before we shoot, and we would just quickly sit down to read them… to figure
out if we were dead or not.
 While you were filming your death scene; what did you think J.D. meant by his last words “It’s all about you,
Abby”?
Well, in the script it was written a little bit differently – then when we were actually
filming it on set they gave me a couple more phrases to say, and that was one of them. So when I was dealing with it
at the time… it kind of felt that it was a little vague on purpose and misleading, but it was definitely a warning
for her. That’s how I took it. I wasn’t pointing a finger at her; just that “this is all about
you”… this isn’t just random, this has to do with you.
What did the original script
say?
I want to say it actually said “Henry”… like dot, dot, dot… But they
didn’t want it to be an answer, because I didn’t even know at that time that it was him… I assumed it was,
in reading it my gut told me that it was. So, I don’t think it was an answer to her question as much as it was
like the beginning of a sentence… and you’d just assume that he’s [Henry] there to help. Maybe he
got scared and ran off and doesn’t know what to do. So I can see why they changed it; it was a little too heavy.
I heard they also cut a lot of footage from
your death scene…
You know, not a lot… they basically shot it several times; they had guts…
like sausages really. I was basically holding them; they were fumbling all over and I was trying to keep them contained.
Then we shot some without that, and that’s what they showed… it got a little too gory for them.
Is
that going to be on the DVD?
I heard it was; I know some of the other peoples cut deaths are going to
be on the DVD, so I think that one might be. But it’s not gruesome, it’s not like Malcolm… when he gets beheaded; I think they’re actually going to show the head that they throw in. But mine doesn’t
seem like it’ll change that much; it was a minor kind of edit I guess. Because even though you can see me…
you don’t know what happened. People didn’t even know if I was dead… or if I got shot, but it was
basically a stabbing of some sort.
How did the producers tell you that you were the next victim?
I was headed home from the grocery store and I got a message earlier in the day from Karim; Karim was one of the producers,
and he was known as the assassin. He was the guy who pretty much told everybody who was going to go next. I think
I got a message from him earlier in the day saying something like “Oh, I’ll call you later” – they
were still filming; so I thought he was wanting to go out that night to do something. Then he finally gets a hold of
me and I say “What’s up?” and he’s like “Ah, we’re still here; we’re going to be
here longer… well, the script comes out tomorrow and you don’t make it”. I didn’t really comprehend
what he was saying at first; “What do you mean I don’t make it?” it didn’t occur to me because
I wasn’t expecting it at all. So it completely took me by surprise; then he went into how he does it and tells
me the scene… and that was it. At least it wasn’t a text.
Looking back at the show;
what are your favorite top three death scenes?
I liked Matt Barr’s [Sully]; it was very dramatic and slomo… by then they built this great relationship and he almost becomes a sucker by then…
the audience knows who the killer is and he doesn’t; he just doesn’t understand he feels Henry is messing with
him… then he gets it. That one was different from the rest; there was a little more emotion involved. I
liked the Sheriff’s; I didn’t know what was going to happen – then he just gets slammed through the window…
I thought it was great. I think that one was done really effectively, because at first I thought that there was a trip
wire and he was going to get shot. Then the third one, the fire is pretty intense – a lot of people didn’t
even want to watch it after that. So that’s kind of memorable, but I think those other two are probably best.
And then the father [Richard] gets harpooned, but I liked when they found him – it was the aftermath of the killing.
So what
else are you working on right now?
I’m just auditioning; I did a little spot on "Lie to Me" a couple weeks ago, and that was it. I’m just auditioning and trying to book some more roles. I’m
doing some writing for short films with friends, no big series like that one [Harper’s Island] just yet.
You
came from doing theater, right?
Yeah, I did a lot of it in… after Detroit I moved to Chicago and
did a lot of it there… then when I moved here I didn’t think I would do as much, and I did actually – I’ve
done more than I thought I was going to do, but in Chicago I worked on a lot of student films and Indie films, and that’s
what gave me the idea to try it out here. So I’ve done quite a bit of theater; it’s a different sort of
feat to tackle.
Is that something you’re still going to do? Or are you just pursuing being
an actor on television and film?
My pursuit is kind of that focus; just because I’m trying to pay
the rent [laughs]… you don’t really make a lot in theater unfortunately, but it definitely still is a love…
I love seeing it and going to it… and working on it. I think I’ll continue doing it, but I don’t
know when, where or how it’ll fit into my life at this point yet.
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