In the season [premiere], Eph [says] that he’s not a good vampire killer so he’s going back to what he knows. Now that he’s on to something, what’s driving him at this point? Is it vengeance, or redemption?
Corey: Well yeah, I think it’s really both. I think obviously it’s personal now that Kelly has turned and is actively trying to turn Zach, but I think just his personality is such, too, that he’s won at everything pretty much in his life, up till now. Now he’s in a situation where he’s lost more in the last week than he has in his entire life. So he’s obviously a very—he’s always been a very alpha guy and very type A. He’s been knocked down numerous pegs and is admitting such, but he still can’t let go on either front, so it’s personal but it’s also professional.
[Most] of your roles…are very much more reality-based than this scenario on The Strain. How has it been as an actor for you to operate in this world, especially one created by Guillermo del Toro where anything can really happen?
Corey: Yeah, it’s an interesting challenge and it’s one where I think we took—Carlton and I at the beginning of season two felt the need to sort of adjust a little bit because so much of what the show is about is the tone and the look and the style and the feel of it, which is unique. There are other vampire shows and other vampire movies out there, but Guillermo brings something unique, and so trying to find that right balance to sort of be in the same show.
I think it’s a pretty good challenge with this show where the stakes are incredibly high but it’s not the same world that we live in, and there’s also a real, sort of a wicked sense of humor that runs throughout the whole thing. I think in this season there are a lot of conversations between Carlton and myself about how to have me participate in that sense of humor, because I think the danger is often to sort of fall into melodrama. It’s sort of about being in that same world where these stakes are incredibly high, but you have to sort of keep one part of your tongue in your cheek a little bit.
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