Among the many things to look forward to at the upcoming Comic-Con film festival in San Diego is a “Grimm” fairy tale-detective fusion that should quench both mystery and sci-fi cravings.
The pilot for NBC’s new TV series based on the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales will premiere at the festival on July 23. Created by the writers of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel,” “Grimm” brings to life the classic characters that haunt the imagination at night.
In a world where monsters lurk under the human skin, homicide detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) finds that he can see the paranormal. Once Nick learns he is one of the last Grimm hunters, the job of keeping the world safe from fairy tale villains becomes his responsibility.
The Epoch Times chatted with Sasha Roiz, who stars in ‘Grimm’ as Captain Renard. Most recently, Roiz left a lasting impression as Sam Adama on Syfy’s “Caprica.”
ET: How did you react when you were approached to play Captain Renard?
SR: I was very happy. I think it’s a great show. It’s a remarkable team that they assembled and all the executive producers are highly experienced, highly successful people. David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf who are the producers and head writers on our show—they know their genre exceedingly well, and it was a very welcome decision.
ET: Did you have to audition for the role?
SR: I did. I initially auditioned for the role of the werewolf, which Weir Mitchell is playing. Then they called me back for this role, which I think was last-minute and had just opened up, and they realized they wanted to make it a regular. So I came at the very last minute and it just worked out. It was a serendipity I guess.
ET: Did you read some of the Grimm Brothers’ stories for the series?
SR: I feel like I’m going to definitely educate myself a little better on Grimm’s Fairy Tales. I’ve only kind of looked at a few and was reminded how many in fact they’ve written and how many of them you actually know. I was trying to get some preliminary research, but I’m definitely going to be sitting up in Portland where we’re shooting, and reading a lot Grimm’s Fairy Tales as the series progresses.
ET: As a child what were some of your favourite fairy tales or stories?
SR: I liked “The Frog Prince,” I liked “Hansel and Gretel.” I enjoyed some of the [Brothers Grimm] tales. They’re always a little creepy. They’re very dark—it’s not like Mother Goose or something. It carries sort of dark and sinister tales that have, I think, some pretty interesting lessons in them for both adults and children. So they’re actually a better read even a second time around as an adult. You get a little bit more out of them.
ET: How did you go about building your character?
SR: Well, we’re still kind of building them. It’s also early on. There’s still a lot of room left to grow. We’re still, along with the writers and producers, discussing and building up the back story and a world and an arc to our character. There’s a lot that’s going to come in that’s going to be very interesting. But initially in the pilot it’s very sort of straight forward.
ET: Because “Grimm” has fairy tale elements in it, do you think it might appeal to a younger generation?
SR: I think it’s going to appeal to a lot of different generations because there will be the ones more familiar with it who welcome it back, and there will be the ones who discover it for the first time. It’s very dark, [but] I think it will definitely appeal to the vast majority. I don’t think there’s going to be a specific age that’s going to appreciate it. I think it’s going to be widespread, which will be fun because it will encompass more than just a specific demographic.
ET: What are you working on right now?
SR: I’m just finishing up some work on “Warehouse 13,” a sci-fi series for the Syfy channel up in Toronto. Then we move to Portland in a couple of weeks to start production on “Grimm.” But it’s been a treat to get back here and to have a chance to revisit Toronto and friends.
ET: How do you find Toronto now?
SR: I love it. I’m always amazed at how Toronto just never stops growing and evolving. I moved out of here four and a half years ago and just in that short time it has changed so much and grown so much, and there’s been so many new neighbourhoods popping up. I just love coming back and discovering all the new stuff that it has to offer.
