Joseph Gilgun interview on AMC’s Preacher (Cassidy)

By Abbie Bernstein On July 27, 2016 In Actor Interviews, Science Fiction & Fantasy Actor and Author Interviews No Comments

JOE GILGUN “PREACHER” INTERVIEW

The social media slander, the comic to tv adaptation and the challenges of playing Cassidy - an alcoholic vampire.

By Abbie Bernstein

Joseph Gilgun

In AMC’s PREACHER, Joseph Gilgun costars as Cassidy, an alcoholic Irish vampire who literally falls (from a burning airplane) into a small Texas town where all hell is breaking loose. Cassidy befriends the title character, Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), a man of the cloth who has returned home as demonic forces converge there – and Jesse’s assassin ex-girlfriend Tulip (Ruth Negga) is along for the ride.

For all of its dark elements and plentiful bloodshed, PREACHER, based on the graphic novels by Garth Ennis, is filled with crazy humor. Adapted for television by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (who directed the pilot together) and Sam Catlin, the series is a study in extremes.

In fact, Gilgun says, “I feel the need to undertake a letter that will just explain everything afterwards. ‘This is why it is the way it is.’”

Gilgun, a native of Lancashire, England, got his start on British soaps in CORONATION STREET and EMMERDALE FARM. Since then, he’s been in the film THIS IS ENGLAND and its two miniseries follow-ups, the English series MISFITS, and the features HARRY BROWN (which starred Michael Caine), SCREWED, LOCKOUT, PRIDE, THE LAST WITCH HUNTER (with Vin Diesel) and INFILTRATOR (with Bryan Cranston).

When AMC has a Q&A panel during the Television Critics Association press tour for PREACHER, Gilgun appears with cast mates Cooper and Negga, and executive producers/writers Goldberg, Rogen and Catlin. When the panel ends, Gilgun sticks around for some follow-up discussion.

PREACHER, already picked up for a second season, is Gilgun’s first gig in American television. He says he expected a much more regimented experience in the U.S. than what occurred when he arrived at PREACHER’s New Mexico locations.

“When I worked on in the U.K., I’d been quite, well, just loose. It’s not been tied down. I worked with Shane Meadows a lot, and everything’s improvised. So I find my strengths lie there, and they really offer that up. So it’s nothing like I thought. I genuinely believed I’d get there and it would be like, ‘You say this! You bloody well stand there, and don’t get it wrong.’ But it’s nothing like that at all. [Goldberg and Rogen] are lovely. They’re lovely, lovely lads. I’ve had two directors [working together] before – you can get conflicting interests. Because of them being as close as they are, there was none of that. Evan and Seth are just [wonderful] – it’s ridiculous.”

preacher comics, garth ennis, joseph gilgun interview

Original Preacher comics by Garth Ennis

It helps, Gilgun adds, that the series creators are such fans of Ennis’ work on the original PREACHER comics.

“They’d been looking to do this for a long, long time. This had been in the pipeline for a long while. And we spoke about how lucky they felt to just be a family. For me, Ruth and Dom alone, it was enormous, enormous to be in the presence of [the creative pairing].”

There was major reaction online to Gilgun’s casting as Cassidy. The actor says he purposely stayed away from any social media comments on this.

“No, no, no. I am bipolar, so that would just be a death sentence for me. And I think that some of the things that people have to say online, I just think, ‘Do they even know it’s 2016?’ Some people are remarkable. I can’t be a part of that world. I appreciate that people do social media, but I like this, I like seeing your actual faces. F***ing Facebook. I’ve got friends who’ve been in pubs. I’ve gotten, ‘I messaged you on Facebook and you didn’t get back to me. What’s that all about?’ Well, you’re there now, he’s in front of you. Tell him what it is!”

Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy on Preacher (2016)

How does Gilgun see Cassidy? He replies with a laugh.

“I think what’s wonderful about Cassidy is, he’s been around for as long as he has and achieved nothing. It’s like putting an end to all of this sexy vampire business. I think that he’s a rogue, isn’t he? He’s a traveler, and he’s out to move. He gets in trouble here, and then he has to go there. And then he gets into a lot of trouble there. He consistently makes terrible decisions, and that’s why I’m perfect for the role. Thank you.”

There was one aspect of Cassidy that Gilgun says he had to work on – vampires talk more slowly than the actor does normally.

“I spoke too fast. I realized after the pilot that, actually, I was too fast. So it’s been a learning process of just realizing I have to slow things down. I went into the ADR [automated dialogue replacement, or ‘dubbing’ session], and just gauge it. I guess you have just got to feel your way through. I thought when you come to work in America, it’s all kind of tied down, but it isn’t at all. It’s a bit of a collaboration. It’s very loose on the day, so you don’t feel this overwhelming pressure. You’ve got time, and if you feel like you screwed it up, then go again. But it’s terrifying doing an accent.”

Fights are also a big part of life for Cassidy. Gilgun recalls,

“I walked in on a rehearsal. [Negga] was choking a man’s throat in the back of a car. I walked by. ‘Are you all right, Ruth?’ ‘Yeah, I’m not so bad.’ Essentially, [fight choreography] is like a dance routine. Doing choreography in a fight scene is just, ‘You stand there. [Other actor], you stand there.’ ‘Please try not to hit me in the bridge of the nose,’ those kinds of things. We all did loads of our own stuff.”

What would Gilgun most like people to know about PREACHER? The question draws a startled chuckle.

“You’ve thrown me a curveball. What would I like people to know about PREACHER? I’d like people to know that it isn’t violence for the sake of violence, it’s not blasphemy for the sake of blasphemy. It’s for you as an audience to decide for yourself, and I think if you are looking to watch something different, this is that thing. I’m proud to be a part of it.”

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