Karen Strassman – Preacher

By: Kelly Kearney

Q) You play All father’s mad messiah scientist, Dr. Slotnick in Season Three of “Preacher.” How did the role come to you and were you familiar with the world of “Preacher” prior to booking the role?

Karen: You know, I really haven’t had an opportunity to read the books, but I look forward to that. I was Afterbuzz on Monday night and they were talking about the book a lot and I was very curious about the differences between the book and show, but I was not familiar with it. I had heard about the show before I auditioned for it and then I started watching it and got hooked! My agent, Susan Tolar Walters at STW Talent, got me the audition and apparently the original role was written for a man, a Dr. Louis Slotnick. And from what I understand, they had been auditioning men for the role and hadn’t quite found what they wanted. So, they changed it and put it out to women which was kind of cool.

Q) How was Dr. Slotnick originally described to you?

Karen: Its interesting because the description was not that specific. The description was that she was a scientist and passionate and excited about her work and that was really all I was given. It didn’t say anything about nationality, ya know, just a scientist and she was very eager and passionate about her work.

Q) Last week we saw Dr. Slotnick’s secret weapon, The Tom/Brady, successfully used to create a Jesse Custer inspired messiah. If you were to slice, dice and mash-up souls to create a new messiah, whose souls would you choose? 

Karen: That would depend on if we were going with the theme of the show and we were going to mash up a good and evil. I mean, you could do a Mother Theresa and Martha Stewart. I mean, you could go that way or you could do Pope Francis and Trump or you could…Gosh, thinking about the people who really inspire me in the world to make a real messiah you can take one of those women in Africa who walk twenty miles every day to get water for their children and mash one of those with a doctor. [pause] Gosh, it’s a tough question. [laughing]

Q) What else can you tease is in store for Dr. Slotnick this season?

Karen: I can’t really say anything more; the rest is up to the writers. I really shouldn’t say anything past what has been written, but I can’t wait to see what they have in store for next season!

Q) The brilliant Jonny Coyne plays Allfather, Slotnick’s revolting, horse eating messiah making, boss and leader of the Grail. What’s it like working alongside Jonny? 

Karen: Jonny is just brilliant and he’s got this relaxed brilliance that you don’t feel him working. Like so many of us, he loves what he does and he loves to work. He’s just like everyone on set, they make it feel just so effortless. You know, you don’t feel like he’s working you feel like he’s playing, like a big kid. You just felt on set, that everyone was there to work and play. Jonny and everyone just relaxed and had this sense of humor and everyone was friendly and happy to be there. They were getting towards the end of the season, so people were a little exhausted, but everyone was in a good mood and really had a sense of play like, “Lets do this. Lets try this. That would be really cool.”

Q) Was Dr. Slotnick’s thick German accent a decision of the writers and show producers or something that your background in dialects inspired? 

Karen: You know what happened wa, when I did the audition, like I said, it was sort of written for a man and they didn’t say anything about nationality or dialect. So, the way they presented the audition was just some American passionate scientist and I did a take like that for them but, ya know, in my own insightful way. I just felt like it was just nudging at me to do an accent and I just thought it would be really, really fun to do it with a German accent. I actually sort of just did that for me because I thought it would be really fun in my own playful way and I thought they wouldn’t be interested because they didn’t say they wanted an accent, so I assumed they wouldn’t want one. I did it anyway just because it was an instinct and it felt like fun and it turned out they really liked it. So, that was my idea and they embraced it. It’s a really good lesson about trusting your instincts and it was a good reminder for me about that.

Q) Is there someone from the cast that you haven’t worked with as of yet that you would love to in the future?

Karen: Well, I worked with Pip [Torrens] (who plays Herr Starr) and he’s just brilliant I mean…he’s just brilliant! I would love to work with him more, but you know, I would love to work with the women. I think Tulip (Ruth Negga) is just fantastic and Featherstone is hysterical. Julie Ann [Emery] (Featherstone), we haven’t met in person yet, but she’s been on Twitter tweeting out support for me. One of the first days I was on set she saw the Dailies and got my number from someone and texted me and said, “I love what you’re doing, and I think it’s fantastic. It’s great to have another woman in The Grail. Welcome!” She’s been on Twitter tweeting about Dr. Slotnick and another woman in The Grail and it’s just like with the cast you really feel a sense of solidarity and that doesn’t always happen. You know, if another person comes on set and you don’t work with them, that kind of welcome just doesn’t usually happen. So, I would love to work with those two women, I just think they’re fantastic and fun and powerful and I would love to maybe get into a conflict with them. T,hat would be so much fun!

Q) With such an incredible cast of characters, there must be a few hilarious behind the scenes stories you could share with the fans. 

Karen: I think there are a lot of things that happen behind the scenes that you don’t normally think about. For example, Jonny Coyne has to wear this huge and I mean HUGE, fat suit and he couldn’t get through some of the doorways in the suit. So, they would have to bring him in the room and then lug the fat suit in and then put it on him. It was also extremely heavy and hot, and the poor man was just sweating in that thing! I mean, it was really, really heavy and he could barely stand up because it was so heavy. Also, Tyson [Ritter], who plays Humperdoo, he is this extremely attractive rock star and by the time they put those horrible fake teeth in his mouth and gave him a hump on his nose and he also has to wear this contact lens that looks off to the side, it’s pretty uncomfortable. He can’t see through it so, when he is the Humperdoo, he can only see through one eye with all of these uncomfortable things going on. A lot of the stuff people have to wear is constricting but at the same time, you are concentrating on your acting and have to work through the discomfort and awkwardness of the prosthetic and costumes. This is something people don’t realize because actors like Jonny and Tyson make it look so easy. Not to mention, despite their discomfort they’re out there having so much fun and you would never know.

Q) What is it about this show that attracts such a loyal and rabid fanbase?

Karen: I wondered that myself. I know one of the things I find so fantastic is how cool the aesthetic of the show is. I was watching it with my boyfriend and we literally would stop and freeze frame every couple of minutes and every frame you freeze its just so cool looking and so well shot. Every director and DP they have on the show, it’s just so well shot and so cool from the wardrobe design, to the color choices, to what they chose for the set and how they chose the looks of the characters. When you are playing with a comic book the artistic angle is so important. You’re going for something surreal and cool and I think “Preacher” should be up for Emmy’s and awards. I also think something that is so cool about it is that you have all these comic characters that are so out there, but everybody brings them to life in such a way that you feel they are, no matter how out there they are, they are so human. Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) is so human. Gosh, I would love to work with him because he is so brilliant, but you just relate to him. Even though he’s a vampire, you can really relate to him with such depth. Same with Tulip and Jesse. Each of them, there is a caricature, but they are also so real and so believable and that was something I wanted to make sure I did with Dr. Slotnick. Create a character that was really fun and out there and yet, really believable.

Q) What has the social media response been like for the episodes?

Karen: As far as I can see people think it’s really cool and fun. I also have a lot of video game fans who really love that kind of stuff, that kind of video game, animation kind of stuff. They’re all really into it. People really respond well to it and I think in our society, there can be a lot of uptightness and it can be fun to have entertainment that goes really out there and you can laugh and be shocked by it and take a deeper breath and go, “Ok, we can go there.” In a world where so much attention is paid to politics, it’s just nice to break all the rules sometimes. Even though sometimes it can be like, “Ok, that was sort of really offensive [laughing],” it’s nice to get that break from reality sometimes.

Q) Besides playing the Doctor, who very well might hold the fate of humanity in her hands, you’re also a voice-over actress and dialect coach. For the fans that do not know, explain what a dialect coach does and their importance in the film and television industry.

Karen: Well, a dialect coach is somebody who coaches actors who work with other accents and dialects. So, I have actors that come to me because they are working on roles and want t to learn certain dialects. Like the other day, I was working with an actress that had to do a Bronx accent. The day before that, I was working with this beautiful gal that was working on a Russian accent for an audition. I also work with a lot of actors who come from someplace else and want to lose their accents and work on a standard American accent. So, I work with Aussies and Brits who come into town and want to work on their American accents. I’m working with this awesome Irishman, a Broadway actor. He is wonderful and people either come to my place or I work with them on site. I work with them all over the world. I have clients in Europe, India, New Zealand, Australia and occasionally some dialect coaches work on set. For example, on “Preacher” there’s a dialect coach on set helping everybody with their accents. It’s so funny when I was on set and heard Jesse, Dominic, speaking with a British accent because his voice is very different in British. It’s higher pitched and with his southern accent it drops and his voice is pretty low. He has this youthful bright British accent in person and nothing like the character’s, its delightful to hear that difference.

Q) Besides your arc on “Preacher” are you working on any other projects the fans can look out for?  

Karen: Well, I do have “The Onania Club” in production and talk about politically incorrect [laughing] I think, Tom Six is the master of that and I’m really excited about that film coming out and there is already a big buzz about it. We just had a fantastic time on set and it will be making a pretty bold and daring statement about what actual reality looks like. And, again, I think in today’s political atmosphere I’m really happy to be a part of this film and making such a bold statement. It’s going to be very shocking and yeah… really fun. Tom, again, is also a really aesthetic director and known for his shock value but if you’ve studied his films he’s a brilliant director. Aesthetically it’s going to be beautiful film. I also have some video game and voice over work I’m doing, but I can’t talk about any of them right now. The World of Warcraft: Azeroth just came out and people are really excited about that. A couple of “Persona” things have come out and a few really cool things I’m very excited about, but I can’t say a word because I signed a couple of NDAs.