In the world of The CW's new series Cult, Cult is the name of an addictive TV show about an FBI Agent named Kelly Collins (Supernatural's Alona Tal) and her obsession with taking down cult leader Billy Grimm (Prison Break's Robert Knepper) and finding the whereabouts of her younger sister, who was under Grimm's control.
Are you with me so far? Okay, well the show-within-the-show, Cult, is more than it seems apparently, having a dangerous effect on its viewers and leading to the mysterious murders of those who delve too deep into the clues the episodes leave behind. So Tal and Knepper also play the roles of Marti and Robert, the actors who play Kelly and Billy Grimm on the series. Jessica Lucas (The Evil Dead) and Matthew Davis (The Vampire Diaries) meanwhile play Skye and Jeff, a duo in the "outer world" investigating the murders/disappearances connected with the series, watching their backs at every twist and turn.
I had the chance to speak with Robert Knepper and Alona Tal about their juicy new dual roles, with Tal playing an actress/crusader and Robert as an actor/madman, and what it's like to be a part of, perhaps, the most challenging and puzzling show on Spring TV.
"The thing with Robert is that he's very real and that's something that I really like," Tal said of her co-star. "I like it when he surprises me. He's unexpected and unpredictable in his scenes even though I know exactly where the scene is going. And he always has that little look in his eye like 'You don't know what I'm about to do.' And that makes me nervous. And it makes for good scenes. Because Kelly doesn't know what Billy Grimm is going to do at any moment."
Knepper and Tal on The CW's Cult, in the show "Cult."
Tal then addressed the challenges she faced in playing both Marti and Kelly, with one character only existing within the meta-confines of the Cult series itself. "I remember thinking it would be difficult to maintain the similarities between the two, and yet still make them very very different," she said. "Because they are. Visually we're very much different. But it's also not making the actress character a clichéd actress character and really asking 'Who is this actress who would be playing this kind of obsessive role?.'"
Knepper, half-joking, said of his role, "A while back I had an idea that it would be kind of fun to play a character who's an actor...who plays a monster", both poking fun at the complicated nature of the role as well as tapping into his own experience as an actor who plays villains. "So you then imagine what he would go through in realizing that he's playing a guy who's affecting so many people in so many different ways. The way I would walk down the street and people would react to me because they were affected by Prison Break's T-Bag. Or when I played Samuel on Heroes. And wondering what they really thought of you. And if you were really like the character you were portraying."
A Grimm of Thrones.
Billy Grimm has been positioned as this show's Bogeyman, and he has to be extra terrifying because he only exists within the TV-in-TV series. And his presence must be felt not only in the outside world of the show, but in our world as viewers. But Knepper insists that there is a humanity to him. "Not much though," Knepper laughed. "I think you have to see the humanity in him because as a person watching the show you have to know and understand why so many people would follow him. Otherwise they're just idiots. Lemmings falling off the edge of a cliff. People like Billy Grimm have to be so charasmatic that people see something in him that they can use in their life. That they need. But he also serves a purpose of being the center of the conflict. Every good guy has to have a good villain."
"I think the trick to playing this guy is to try and play the opposite," Knepper added. "And it's not what Billy thinks he knows or what he can take from people, it's what he thinks he can give to people. He has a huge heart and he can help out a lot of people. He has a moral comapss, but it's a little askew." Knepper, who also played a master manipulator on Heroes, then spoke of his inspiration for the Billy Grimm role. "I got Robert Mitchum stuck in my head for Billy Grimm. Somewhat for Cape Fear, but just also his overall presence. Just a strong, intimidating guy who people look at and don't want to mess with. Because he'll just squash you like a bug."
Cult premieres on February 19th at 9/8c on The CW.
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and on IGN at mattfowler. No other choice you will ever make will be as easy and render such a great reward.
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