Greg Bryk

Q) What do you think it is about “Bitten” that has drawn in so many viewers?

A) I think Laura Vandervoort has a nice built in fanbase and I think there is a duality with the popularity of the books as well. The Bittenseries was a New York Times best seller. Also, there is an appetite for that type of show right now. Vampires, werewolves and mythical creatures resonate with an audience because I think we’re hungry for something more in the cold computerized world that we live in.

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) I’m off to Africa in a couple of weeks to shoot a miniseries, which is an AMC series called “The Divide.” “Bitten” also occupied six months of my life, happily.

Q) Please talk about the premise for “Bitten” and about your character.

A) The series revolves around Elena, who is the only female werewolf in the world. It pivots between her responsibility and loyalty to the pack and her trying to start a new (more human) life in the city. As the series progresses, there is a mutt uprising and she has to come back and join with the family to try to put down the mutt rebellion. I play Jeremy Danvers who is the pack alpha, the head of the werewolf family and sort of her surrogate father. I struggle with the definition of manhood, what it means to be strong, when to use violence and when you actively guide your packmates or let them explore on their own. Hopefully, they make the right decision more often than not.

Q) Have you based your character solely on how it is outlined in the book or have you brought in some of your own interpretation as well?

A) I think that every actor that approaches a role has to work from themselves otherwise they are doing a facsimile or an impersonation of someone else. The role was a challenge for me and I had some hesitations. In the book he is a very well established character and in the book he is half Asian, his mother was Japanese. I am clearly not that. So, how I had to approach it was, “What was the essence of the character?” The spirit of this character is an alpha who is a strong male with a wonderful maternal side and a sensitivity and empathy that didn’t exist in past alphas. So, it’s a new definition for what the man is and, for me, I drew a lot from my own life to be a father and what it means to be a man in my own life, my responsibilities, how I can fulfill those responsibilities and also how I can fully realize myself as a man in that role. Also, the televisionshow honors the root of the character. Definitely Kelley Armstrong’s books are an important backdrop for our story and television is a different medium. If we want to keep telling stories for a number of seasons and our whole story revolves around the werewolves and it doesn’t deal with the other elements of the supernatural that Kelley’s books delve into. So, there are going to be similarities for the audience, but also something new and exciting. They are going to have to have characters that will liven their imagines and we hope they fall in love with the character we create as well.

Q) Was there instant chemistry when the cast began working together or did it take time to develop?

A) I’ve been blessed that I have worked on a lot of different series and a lot of movies and the chemistry with this group was second to none. It was instantaneous and everyone just really connected with each other. We created an atmosphere where people felt safe to take risks. It’s a very physical show. As the series progresses, there are some really heavy emotional moments and dramatic moments that deal with issues of lust, family, loyalty and betrayal,. It was very interesting for me to watch the first few episodes because everybody got along and you could just feel that chemistry. The structure of the story is a pack dynamic and the actors followed that closely and genuinely cared about each other. As the show progresses, those relationships got so much fuller and that affection became a real love for each other, a real genuine sense of family. We’re all very close with each other, supportive of each other and protective of one another. It just grew and grew and the relationships so fully flowered that I think by the end it is going to be exciting for the audience go on that journey with us.

Q) What kind of stunt training did you do to prepare for the role?

A) The first two episodes of the series really sets the structure. They introduce the character and say what the structure of the world is going to be. After that, the action in the show ratchets up week to week. We had a wonderful fight coordinator named John Stead who I worked with before, but was new to some of the younger actors on the set. He built some extraordinary fight scenes. The thing I liked about the series is that the violence isn’t gratuitous. it’s very much into the storytelling, but also the nature of us as wolves. It’s a very primal existence. The sex is lustful. The violence is brutal and powerful. Each of us has a different style of fighting that is consistent with our personalities. Jeremy is a much more thoughtful and watchful with echoes of martial arts in his combat. Episode thirteen is one of the most extraordinary fight scenes and battle sequences that I have ever been a part of or scene.

Q) What kind of feedback have you been getting from fans via social networking sites and why is it so important for you to connect with viewers that way?

A) It is such a different world now where there is such a connection and immediacy between fans and actors whose work they like and support. What I like most about the medium is it is instantaneous and it is back and forth. A fan can ask you a question and you have the chance to respond. You can talk about a show that you enjoy on a certain day. The shortness of a tweet makes you feel like you get things down to an essence and I think you can sometimes have powerful realizations about yourself in that discipline since you don’t have a lot of words to express what you want to express and it creates a nice biofeedback. Fans respond to the episodes and we hopefully can give back in a way that is enjoyable and informative to them. It’s a much more personal medium. Without their support, a series has no chance for survival and a chance for renewal. So, it’s critical and luckily with Syfy the fans are so passionate that they really lend a strength within program decisions to keep shows like “Bitten, “Lost Girl” and “Being Human” on the air.