Kevin Durand Talks About ‘The Strain’ and Playing Vasiliy Fet

Kevin Durand Interview on The Strain Season 1
Kevin Durand as Vasiliy Fet in ‘The Strain’ (Photo by Frank Ockenfels/Copyright 2014, FX Networks)

Season one of FX’s horror series The Strain draws to a close on Sunday, October 5, 2014 with an episode titled “The Master.” The final episode of this riveting first season will find Eph (Corey Stoll) and Fet (Kevin Durand) preparing for an assault on the Master, and in support of this season’s finale Durand took part in a spoiler-free conference call to discuss his character and the appeal of being a part of The Strain.

Did you read the books and where did you get the inspiration for the way you play Vasiliy Fet?

Kevin Durand: “I read all three of the books before I fully signed on. And my inspiration to play Fet, I guess in reading the books I kind of saw him very similarly to the way that I’m playing him. I feel like a lot of it was on the page. I hear that he’s a lot more of a charming guy and happier than people had anticipated, but I kind of always saw that because through the journals and the books you see how he really finds himself within this apocalypse and is blooming like a beautiful Ukrainian flower amidst the apocalypse.”

What’s been the biggest challenge so far?

Kevin Durand: “It’s just been such a blast and so much fun shooting. I mean, we had long hours, it was cold. I know that a lot of the cast members found the climate to be a bit challenging, however I’m from 20 hours north of Toronto so I kind of felt really at home. So challenge wise I feel like all my preparation was there going in and my challenge was just to try to be the best that I could be every day.”

Are you normally a horror fan?

Kevin Durand: “Yes. Since I was a child, much to the chagrin of my father, my mother would keep me up and I would watch horror films with her since I was about four years old or five years old, so I’ve always been a fan. They always say that you marry your mother, and my wife is the biggest horror fan ever, so I kind of experienced a rebirth in terms of my interest in the genre since I married Sandra four years ago. So when this opportunity came along, we read the books. We were kind of like snickering and giggling like some little kids going, ‘Oh my God, this is going to be awesome!'”

What do you think is so appealing about this series to horror fans that makes it stand out from other shows of the genre?

Kevin Durand: “Well, you’re seeing this story being told from the perspective of Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Guillermo has his eye on every single frame and he brings a certain beauty to the most horrific things, and it’s very hard to look away. You can’t help but stare at the Master’s face when you’re in an extreme close-up and look at the beautiful, intricate details. I think he has such a unique take on horror. I remember watching Pan’s Labyrinth and just being in absolute awe of the things that scared me, because they were so beautiful.”

Why do you think he was so willing to take the leap from exterminating rats to exterminating vampires? He did take a little while to consider it, but then he jumped in with both feet.

Kevin Durand The Strain Interview
Kevin Durand as Vasily Fet (Photo by Michael Gibson/FX)

Kevin Durand: “Yes. Well, I think that Fet has this inner kind of warrior, this Viking warrior inside of him, and it was always kind of living within him. But in this specific circumstance, when all hell has broken loose and the vermin have turned into human bloodsucking vermin, it feels like way more of a natural transition than probably you would assume. He’s a master at exterminating and this new world really needs him, and I think he’s so happy to step up to the task.”

How satisfied are you with the season one finale and with Fet’s journey overall?

Kevin Durand: “I have to say I feel so good about it. Even the way that from the first time that we get to see Fet and the journey to where he’s at now, I mean, the whole journey I’ve been just kind of tickled by. And to see where he’s at now…you could see that things are getting more intense as the minutes roll by, and it’s kind of like seeing a great kind of prize fighter before a big fight staying really calm and relaxed and ready for action. I think that’s where Fet’s at. I mean, he’s making google-eyes at this girl when the world’s going to crap. That’s because he’s very comfortable, he’s ready, he knows that if there’s anyone for the job that he’s the guy.”

He’s become a full-fledged member of the team now. What kind of affect do you think that had on the character?

Kevin Durand: “Well, I don’t think he’s used to playing with other kids in the sandbox, but he’s a smart guy and he understands that there’s a lot of power that comes with numbers. He looks around the room and he has a genuine respect for everybody in that group and knows that we can all play our role in taking down the Master.”

Is there a story behind how you hooked up with this show and with this character?

Kevin Durand: “I was prepping for a film at the time called The Captive that I did for Atom Egoyan. I lost like 40 pounds and I had this little mustache, and I looked like a very different person. Then I found out that Guillermo and Carlton wanted to meet me on this project, so I had three days. I read the book, went in, and after I read that first book I was like, ‘There is no way that Guillermo del Toro and Carlton Cuse are going to see me at this big, robust, heroic, stoic fella , Vasiliy Fet,’ because I was so skinny and sick looking.

We had this meeting and sat down and I assured them that I was kind of starving myself just for this project I was going to do and then I was going to get back to normal. In the room they asked me if I wanted to be Vasiliy Fet. Every day since I’ve been so grateful for that meeting, because in playing him I don’t know if I’ve ever had so much fun, ever. And also in watching it, it’s been so incredibly gratifying to watch the season unfold.

Do you kind of take pride in being involved in a show that makes vampires truly bad again?

Kevin Durand: “Absolutely. I mean, obviously, I can’t take credit for that at all. It lays in the wonderful, crazy, beautiful, dark mind of Guillermo del Toro. He’s been having dreams about these vampires and making sketches and taking notes since he was a child, and that’s how these vampires came to fruition. They’ve been a part of his nightmares for decades. So what’s really satisfying is to see Guillermo, who is such a lovely, charismatic visionary, actually get those nightmares out of his head and onto the screen. I’m so grateful to be a part of it and help him tell the story.”

Fet thinks very quickly and has nerves of steel, even when he was facing a hoard of strigoi. Given that, what do you think it would take to really unnerve this guy and put true fear in his heart?

Kevin Durand: “Wow, that’s a really good question. I’m not really sure because we haven’t gotten that yet. I don’t know if we will. It’s going to be interesting to see him in a group of people like this, and when you’re in a group of people under such a high level of duress there is a very high, intense level of bonding amongst the group. So I think the idea that Fet will develop feelings for people within this group would definitely raise the stakes for him and probably put fear in his heart.

It’s just like Setrakian has told us before, he said, ‘Love is our downfall.’ I think of him being a loner up to this point, like even seeing that he hasn’t seen his father or mother, he’s been estranged from them for years. He hasn’t really had to account for anyone for a long time, and now he seems like he really, genuinely respected Setrakian at this point and I see a relationship budding there, like a father/son relationship.

It seems like he’s kind of interested in Dutch as well. I don’t see a whole lot of love lost between him and Eph but, who knows, they may become friends. I don’t know. But I think that that might be the thing is connection to these human beings under that duress may take him to that point.”

Does he like this girl or is it just harmless flirting? What can you say about that?

Kevin Durand: “We haven’t really explored it a whole lot. I think that he sees a spectrum of things in her. Obviously, she’s not hard on the eyes, but she’s hyper-intelligent, she’s rebellious like him, she’s tough like him, she doesn’t take any crap like him, and he really gets a kick out of it. I think he sees she’s kind of reflecting to him kind of like a mirror in some ways in the short time that they have known each other, so he’s just intrigued.”

Actually, as you probably know if you’ve read the books, I mean she doesn’t exist in the book, so her fate and what she ends up doing within the show are completely a mystery to me. It’s one of those things that I’m so excited about with this show is that we really don’t know what’s going to happen. So if I make it through episode 13, then I’ll get to shoot a second season, and then maybe we can find out.”

Can you talk about the role of hope in this series? It’s more important for the show than it was for the books.

Kevin Durand: “I think that when you’re going up against the odds that we’re going against, I mean even just putting our little group just against that one seven foot, eight foot, maybe nine foot tall Master, I mean that’s scary enough as it is, but now we have a population that’s just exploding with these things. The only thing that you really have is hope. The only thing that you have is optimism. I think that’s part of why people have been drawn to Fet, because he’s not kind of letting the fall of civilization get him down. I think he truly believes and truly has hope in his heart, and not just hope, though. I think he really believes that he is going to get through it, and he’s starting to understand that he’s going to be instrumental in that and it really makes him feel good and strong and confident in himself.”

If you could play any other role on the show which one would you pick and why?

Kevin Durand: “It’s so funny because someone asked me that last night and I was so paralyzed by it like I am now, because when I read the first book I didn’t even know that they wanted me for Fet – and Fet doesn’t start in the first book until about page 240. But even in the last, I guess it was the second half of the book, just off of that second half of the book I was like, ‘God, I hope I get to play that guy. I hope that’s who they want me for.’

In watching the show I guess maybe Eichorst [played by Richard Sammel] would have been fun, because I usually, up to this point, people usually see me destroying the world as opposed to helping to save it. So I can’t really think of who else I could have played, but Eichorst would have been fun.”

There was an episode where you were down in the tunnels and had to crawl through that tiny hole. How in the world were you able to get through that?

Kevin Durand: “Well, you know what’s really funny about that is that they brought me in I think a week or two early and wanted to see if I could make it through that hole, because they knew that I was the biggest one in the group. So I came to work and I just shot through it really quickly, because I have way too much confidence in my athletic prowess. I was like, ‘Yes, look at that, big guy could do it really quick.’

I didn’t keep in mind, I didn’t do the math and realize that okay, well Fet has this really thick, bulky jacket plus his knapsack. So I got to set and Mía just shot through that thing like a lightning bolt and I was like, ‘Oh, I have to beat Mía’s time,’ in my head. I got in there and right from the start I could hardly move, and the panic on my face it was a real panic, like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this.’ So it really happened, I really did almost get stuck. It took a lot of me maneuvering muscles that I didn’t even know that I had just to move like half an inch forward. So, luckily I got out. I’m here right now still alive.”

You’ve played some different nationalities and you’ve done different accents. Do you work with dialect coaches or do you devote a lot of time to practicing different accents that your characters call for?

Kevin Durand: “I have a funny kind of OCD. I’m a little obsessive compulsive with sounds and people’s idiosyncratic behavior, and I generally don’t work with anyone. Sometimes the production will have someone that will kind of check up on me. But I’m so obsessive with this stuff that I usually just come to the table with what I end up doing.

For instance, for Robin Hood before Ridley [Scott] had actually given me the job I moved to Scotland for two months and was frequenting a lot of hangouts in Glasgow and Edinburgh and just recording people, having conversations. There’s this one fellow, Bill Haggerty in Glasgow, that I’d meet at a pub about three times, four times a week and I would record our conversations, and I was trying to become Bill Haggerty. So it’s always a different process and I kind of go about it organically. With Vasiliy I wanted to find a way to meld a Ukrainian sound with a New York sound. It was definitely a learning process trying to think out the marriage between the two accents, because Fet to me is like I mean he is New York, but it depends.

I think about it because I’m French Canadian and so my natural accent is not the one that I’m speaking in right now. I know that in certain situations I start to hear my accent again when things are a little bit more intense, or if I’m having a couple beers, or if I’m just talking to my mom and dad it all comes back. So I kind of implement that into Fet’s kind of life. If he’s hanging out and talking to his dad, like that one scene, it gets a little thicker because it kind of brings out the Ukrainian. If he’s just hanging out with some dudes from the neighborhood, then he definitely gets more New York. So it’s been really, really fun finding it, and I’m excited to keep finding it every day.”

– Additional The Strain Interviews: Guillermo del Toro / Jonathan Hyde and Kevin Durand / Chuck Hogan / Mia Maestro / Sean Astin