Interview:Mark Steger
On the 3rd of Octor 2008, Heroes Wiki conducted a interview with Mark Steger, who played the Constrictor in the Going Postal webisodes. This interview was done by skywalkerrbf.
What was it like to work on the webisodes? Was it different from any other work you have done?
I had a fantastic time working on the webisodes. A great crew and cast to work with. �The kind of work that I usually do with my group osseus labyrint is very experimental and usually takes place in unusual environments like castle ruins or industrial sites. I also work as a movement coach and often get cast as a creature or apparition in movies. �It was really fun to just wear street clothes, speak lines and crawl through the dirt for a change. I really liked the rhythm of the shoot as well. Very fast, lots of energy.
Can you tell us more about your power?
The direction I got was that I when constrict someone a sort of paralysis sets in. And I can crush a person if I choose to without much effort. I’m not sure what other plans, if any, they have for my character(supposedly I have an identical twin) but it would be fun to develop the skill. I can see me taking someone to the ground with more of a struggle sometimes—a lot of winding about, though it would take some time to rehearse. I can also see my character using objects and obstacles to gain leverage on someone the way a snake does. Like constricting someone around a column or pushing against a wall. It would be great to uncoil from an overhead beam and snatch someone up.
Did you watch Heroes before you took the part? Do you still watch it now?
I don’t watch much TV so I wasn’t really familiar with it until I got the audition. I was pleasantly surprised to see how good it was. I’m looking forward to the new season.
Do you have any stories from the set?
The part where Echo |blows my brains out was pretty funny to shoot.The air gun that shot the blood and bits of brain—they were chunks of a bagel from craft service—misfired once or twice. I made a huge mess of the living room where we shot it, which happened t be in the house of one of the producers. When we finally got it right everyone burst into hysterics.
Did you have any lines which were cut from the final webisdoes?
Nothing was really cut. Things were rewritten, which is normal. Often in film and television lines are changed on the spot, though that didn’t happen on this episode.
If you could have any power, then what would it be?
That’s a tough one…if it could be something grand and really powerful I wouldn’t mind being able to create world peace. If it was a smaller, more personal local power I’d love to make people have fits of unbearable laughter as a means to overpower them.
Do you know that your character , according to NBC, has a twin brother? If this is true then do you know if you will be playing him in the future?
I heard that I have a twin but haven’t heard anything about future plans.
Can you tell us about any of your other work? Like I Am Legend or Men and Black II?
I had small part in Men in Black II. My collaborator, Hannah Sim and I came up with our own means of locomotion for that one. Rick Baker was the make-up artist on the movie and is one of the greatest in his field. When they were deciding what kind of make-up to put on the different characters he looked at us and said, “they don’t need any make-up, they’re weird enough already”.I was more involved with I Am Legend. I was a movement coach on that as well as one of the infected. We worked with about 40 performers and conducted a boot camp, rehearsal process before we started shooting. The performers were stunt people, dancers, actors and Parkour artists, which is a type of urban acrobatics that started in Paris. We spent about 6 weeks developing behavior and a movement vocabulary for the infected humans. Much of what we developed never made it to the final film and there was a lot of good stuff. So I look forward to using some of that movement for another project. I’m shooting a movie in Portland next month. It’s a supernatural thriller where I’ll be using my movement skills to play a ghostly demon-like creature that tries to inhabit the bodies of humans.