Walker Stalker Con Boston 2015: 'Bitten' stars discuss show, their careers and more

Walker Stalker Con Boston 2015, held last weekend, was centered around one show: The Walking Dead. There were plenty of actors from the show (both present and past) in attendance and everything was zombie-themed, but there was also stars of other sci-fi shows. Among them were Laura Vandervoort (Smallville, V) and Greg Bryk (A History of Violence, XIII), two stars from SyFy channel's Bitten.

The show focuses on Elena Michaels (Vandervoort), the only female werewolf in existence who'd tried to leave the paranormal world behind but gets pulled back into it and finds herself feeling bonded to her wolf pack. The actors were on hand throughout the weekend to take photos, sign autographs, simply meet fans, and they even appeared in a panel together, to discuss Bitten, their careers and more.

TheCelebrityCafe.com had the chance to chat with both actors at their booths. Below are the interviews with them, as well as highlights from the panel.

Greg Bryk (who rocked a man bun all weekend):

TheCelebrityCafe: You're a very deep person and you've done mostly dark projects. Where and when do you show off a lighter side?

Greg Bryk: I have a playfulness and a silliness. I think when you have kids and you're a father, to keep everybody sane, you have to find that. The only place professionally that's ever been able to come out is my wife (Danielle Nicholas) has a design show on HGTV (Bryk House), and in real life I'm kind of goofy and silly, so that's the one area where it's really been shown — to the extent that the creators of Modern Family watched her show and they asked me about maybe playing a part on [Modern Family], but there was a scheduling conflict. So it's a weird, weird small world. But, yeah, I think the way I look and my sensibilities skew toward the world of shadows and darkness.

TCC: Is that tiring and stressful to always be so dark and deep?

GB: Yeah it is. I would love to do a light comedy, that's for sure. Because you always emotionally invest in a role and a lot of the stuff I've played deals with loss and vulnerability and tortured souls. And if you give yourself completely to that, then yeah, it takes a toll but it's an art and I live a charmed life. I get to visit extraordinary places and work on really exciting material and meet great people and travel, and I can balance that with having a stunning wife and three magical kids. So to complain about being a little sad from time to time would be looking a gift horse in the mouth.

TCC: Can you give any hints about what's next for your character on Bitten?

GB: I'm not going to give specifics but Jeremy's journey gets very dark this year. He's dealt with a lot of loss of loved ones and pack members and close friends, with Antonio, Logan and then Michael. So this year Jeremy acts out of fear for his pack and his descent into a very dark, dark place.

TCC: Do you have other projects in the works?

GB: Yeah, I'm excited. I have this really fun arc, darkish, on a huge new SyFy show called The Expanse, it looks beautiful. It's really, really great. That's going to start airing in December I believe. I do four episodes on that show and I was on Fargo this year for part of their season two, which will be airing soon. And I was on a show called Rogue in the off season, and I'm also in the process of, much like Laura [Vandervoort], I'm in the process of creating a series with the guys who did — there was a Canadian show called Republic of Doyle so we're in the works of creating a show, I'm writing it with them, so that's exciting as well.

TCC: Would you rather fight werewolves or zombies?

GB: Shoot, for me, facing werewolves because zombies are so unsettling, they're the undead. I'm going to stick with what I know, werewolf against werewolf.

Laura Vandervoort

TCC: You've done a lot of work in sci-fi, was that on purpose or did it just happen?

LV: It was something that just sort of happened. I auditioned for Smallville and got the role, so that sort of propelled me into the sci-fi genre and going to Comic Con and things like that. It seemed like the fans were happy with what I had done with Supergirl and I think that's what got me into the next series, which was V. And that was a wonderful experience. It ended too quickly. The sci-fi genre, the fan base is so dedicated. It helps steer a lot of the jobs I get. I don't go looking for sci-fi but it's nice that it happens.

TCC: How did you feel about where V went while it lasted?

LV: I thought it was an awesome show. I was really having a great time and I definitely thought towards the end, having Lisa play — or I was playing two different characters: her evil twin and herself. That was getting very exciting for my character, for a while she was rather robotic. But that's because she was supposed to be, which was actually tough as an actor to play, to try to downplay everything. But it was getting exciting and I was sad to see it go.

TCC: What was the fan response about the cancellation as far as you saw?

LV: I still get people really upset that it ended without being round up and summarized. It was unfortunate. We were all on hiatus when it was cancelled so we didn't come back and say our goodbyes.

TCC: On Bitten you're the lead character. What's that like, is there any extra pressure because you're a lead female character.

LV: I think there's always pressure as a leader and as a female in the industry regardless if that's separate or one in same. It definitely was for me, in the beginning of show, trying to be one of the guys because my character is one of the boys and you want to have that level of respect with your peers and your bosses, but also have fun while you're doing it. So I did put a lot of pressure on myself and once we all got to know one another and I became comfortable with the character and it felt like I had proved myself a little bit, I felt like I deserved to be there, and then I was able to have fun with it. But there's always pressure. You have a lot of people you want to please, and as a lead female on television there is a fine line you have to walk to making your voice heard but not in a negative light.

TCC: What are your thoughts on the upcoming Supergirl show?

LV: I think it looks awesome. I've seen the trailer and I think they did a great job with it.

TCC: Would you rather fight werewolves or zombies, as a human?

LV: Werewolves, because zombies freak me out.

Questions from the panel:

From a moderator: Laura, having lived in both cities how do you compare Toronto and LA?

LV: When I first moved to LA I was completely on my own, I didn't know anybody, I had just decided to move, so I hate it. I had a really rough time. But it's been three, three and a half years so I've developed my core friends, planted my roots. But I loved Canada and it's always nice to go home.

Moderator: Bitten has a really serious approach that holds off the campiness of other shows in genre.

LV: We wanted it to be more of a family drama-based show. I think that's why you don't see the wolves as much as we continue, because it's more about our relationships.

Moderator: Jeremy is such a calm, intellectual person but he can go from nice to badass at the drop of a pin. How hard is that?

GB:It's interesting, when this role came out I was at a point in my life, I'd just turned 40 I have kids myself 19, 16 and 12 year old. When a man comes to a certain age... and you start to look at what your life looks like and where you fit in the larger scheme and what's the best version of yourself, you have a responsibility to your family you, have a responsibility to the community... So I was really doing some soul-searching and the role came along where the position he held in the pack was so close and resonant with me because it was things I was feeling in my own life so it was a blessing.

I think I'm a sensitive person, I'm empathetic but I also grew up boxing, playing football and I understand the languages of violence and that it's intrinsic to human nature. But if it's used judicially it's strong. If it's used out of fear it becomes very destructive. So it's a great balance for Jeremy learning to love, allowing himself to love the pack members but also maintain order and protect them, it's a very interesting dance for me.

Moderator: Laura how is it working with all those shirtless hot guys of the wolf pack?

LV: Yeah, it's really tough to have to wake up to go work but someone's gotta do it. The boys are all not difficult to look at but I always want to say the show is more than that. It is about performances, the characters and their relationships. But I am lucky that they're all rather charming and actually lovely human beings to work with. We all adore each other and it happened pretty quickly. We all just liked one another. There was no drama, no divas. Sometimes a lot of guys in one room can be a problem when they're doing pushups and flexing but these guys are all rather wonderful.

Moderator: Greg, you've been a cult leader, werewolf...

GB: Yeah I play a lot of bad guys. And it's strange because I think I'm a pretty good person, I love my kids, I bake cupcakes for my daughter's class... but [after a film History of Violence] I just played monster after monster. I find a grace in them, I try to make them human but I've played a lot of bad guys, so it's nice to transition — violence is always a part of my characters, accessing dark places — but Jeremy has his gentle moments which as a human, it's nice to have those.

Moderator: Laura you also have quite a background in horror, stemming back to Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire...

LV: I think I'm a nice person. As a kid I was really into Buffy the Vampire Slayer to be honest, I actually wrote in to Joss [Whedon] asking to play her sister. That's why I went into martial arts growing up. So I think Buffy sort of directed my taste in TV. Then I did Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire. I did a lot of really cheesy, horror movies as a child, which you don't really need to ever see. But anyway that sort of directed my career —

GB: Let's talk about Laura for one second. On the show she's asked to carry a very heavy load. And it's complicated to play someone with femininity but also intelligence that finds strength at their core... it's an incredible testament to Laura as a person and an actor that she's so effortlessly taken the lead of the show in literally a world of men. She sets the tone, she's been incredible, she navigates so beautifully that struggle of Elena wanting a normal life, and what's that mean and really longing for it... but also finding loss. I know the martial arts background helps with the physicality of that but more than that, she has a great internal strength and she's an amazing role model. I have a 12 year old daughter who spends time with Laura — I think the world needs strong female role models that don't run from femininity but just own the s*** out of that.

Fan question: Did the dynamic change on set when more women joined season two?

LV: We had some more ladies season two and Tommie-Amber Pirie who played Paige, one of the witches, she and I got along really well. I had that backup to make fun of the boys, someone to confide in and roll our eyes at them, so it was nice to have more women on set, it was definitely a different dynamic for all of us.

TCC, asking as an audience member: With your show being on Netflix and other streaming options, as well as on Syfy and a Canadian network, does that give it more reach?

GB: Absolutely. There's a sexuality and violence to this world that we can explore a little more fully on cable but Netflix has become such an entity unto itself that it's really more — shows can find a second audience, and expand their audience. You can binge watch. It's like a great book you want to know what's next right away and people have that opportunity now.

Other things we learned in the panel

- Bryk is from Toronto and still lives there. Vandervoort is from Toronto, but now lives in LA. Bitten shoots in Toronto.

-A castle they shoot in is supposedly haunted. Crews have heard children laughing while shooting and they've recorded paranormal sounds on the third floor where a bathroom used to be. An old sewing machine has been left there for the ghost of a woman.

-Bryk is compiling a poetry book of about 285 poems he's written on Twitter over the last two years. He expects to have the book out late fall. At Vandervoort's insistence, he shared one such poem: "He stood in her shadow, he memorized the temperature as it fell. His whispered words crawled to quiet ends and lay silent at the feet of her love."

One woman even teaches his poems in her English literature class and sent him a compilation of the responses she had her students write to his poems of the day.

-In figuring out to properly contort their bodies and act out the werewolf transformation, everyone has different styles. Vandervoort models hers after child birth.

-While filming fight scenes the actors have sustained bruises and gotten banged up but nothing serious, and Vandervoort said it only happens when the actors make a mistake because they never fight actor vs actor. It's actor vs. stunt double.

-Vandervoort was hesitant about taking on the role of Elena because she had done a lot of sci-fi and thought she should maybe get away from "not being human." She was also worried about it being cheesy, given Twilight's popularity yet reputation at the time. But through a conversation with an executive producer of the show, J.B. Sugar she felt it was more about the character and her background, "where she's coming from, what she's been through — she grew up in the foster care system, she's been through a lot in her life." She found that interesting, and liked that the werewolf thing was on top of all that, so in the end she was excited about the show. As she said, she ended up falling in love (platonically) with all the boys and "it's been a great journey."

-Bryk discussed a movie he did called Weirdsville, about two stoners who stumble upon a Satanic cult — Bryk plays a "small town, misguided Satanist who really fancies himself as the prince of darkness, but is really just a video store manager," — and a Satanic ritual goes awry. Bryk was surprised it didn't find an audience, and he praised his co-stars' performance in it — namely, Scott Speedman, Wes Bentley and Taryn Manning.

-Vandervoort wrote a children's book about an 11-year-old girl who finds out she has super powers. She's now turning it into a live action television series for kids called Super Duper Delia. They're in the process of casting it now and she's executive producing, creating it and will appear in it at times. She said that "it's for all your little ones out there who want to be that kickass female, have her own mind, her own abilities, dress how she wants but she doesn't have to be Supergirl or Wonder Woman. It's based in reality, she's a good role model."

-Vandervoort discussed a terrifying experience she had while filming Bitten, the only time she's ever panicked during a scene: When she had to get into a tub of blood (corn syrup). She's claustrophobic and couldn't move at all. It was just a box with room to put her head and shoulders in, with the camera over her, blocking that exit. They only had one chance to get the shot of the blood coming over her and her disappearing under it. When the time came for her to take a deep, shocked inhale, she inhaled too quickly and it went up her nose and gut stuck on her lungs for a week. She joked that it wasn't a bad experience, just life threatening.

-Bryk is a very deep person. Every answer he gave was poetically spiritual and long-winded. He joked about it at one point, but continued answering that way. It was certainly intriguing.

-Bryk doesn't mind if Elena takes over as the alpha in Jeremy's pack but he hopes rather than it being borne of conflict, Jeremy passes off the baton to her to do what's best for the pack.

-Elena's complicated back story may be explored a little more this coming season.

-Bryk thinks that it's the quiet moments, that people recognize they want a pack around themselves that loves them as the wolf pack loves one another, the relationships between pack members that really resonates with people. "Clayton and Elena have those quiet moments that lovers share just finding understanding and trying to learn how you can love and accept each other and still move forward," said Bryk. "It's quite an amazing journey."

-According to Bryk, season three will be "more psychologically intense. The relationships, the bonds that hold us so tightly together get frayed... the world gets very dark. And you'll learn more about your characters and our pasts."