Grimm fans know that Monroe, played by Silas Weir Mitchell, can turn into a powerful and dangerous werewolf type creature (called a Blutblad). In spite of his ability to turn into a creature at any time, it is often Monroe that emphasizes the human element to the show in how his characters struggles to keep the balance between the man and the monster. This weekend at Comic-Con I was able to talk to him about what it is like to play this character and the play he was in during his break in the filming schedule.
Luckily, the audience is not the only one who thinks Monroe is interesting, Silas thinks Monroe is a complex and interesting character as well, and that’s the fun of playing him. “I think that what’s interesting about Monroe, among many things, is the fact that he is a different type of person than others of his (Wesen) ancestry. I think that what is fun as an actor… to play someone who is neither here nor there. I think that’s the truth of the human experience, it is complex and people are never just one thing. The more one finds a way to live in that ambiguity, I think the more true to life you’re being an more interesting. I think this year there is a big new storyline that is kicked off by Chavez (the Elizabeth Rodriguez FBI character) that I think will allow or force Monroe to deal with who he is again. That involves his strength and it involves his passivism. But this is an arc that will go the whole season.”
Is this exploration of a multi-faceted character something that you find most fun about being an actor? “It’s fun as an actor to get to play situations that are really extreme,” he said. “Because then you get to investigate the outer reaches of the human experience and that’s really fun, you know? You get to envision things that are completely outside the realm of your personal experience but they are very much embedded in the human experience. To get to go play in that water is really fun.”
Speaking of extremes and finding balance, Mitchell decided that to keep things interesting (and busy) he would also prep for a play, Three Days of Rain, to perform during the shows hiatus at the Portland Center Stage. How was that experience? “It was fantastic. It was foolish on some level because I had three days off before we started rehearsals and then I had two days off before we started shooting after the play ended. Which is ridiculous, I mean who does that to themselves?,” he asks with a laugh.
“It was an amazing experience to do that show, I loved it, and I loved working with Chris Coleman. One of the great things about having as long as I did with the script, I had 10 months, maybe more with Three Days of Rain, before we even started rehearsing. That luxury of time allows you to just, once you get off book and really running, that work pays off at the end. So by the time we were running the show and we were in previews, the fact that I had the play for so long, that foundation really kicked in and I was able to just fly. Just go out there and not even worry about the words at all and jump into the abyss. That’s when it is fun; it’s not fun if you’re worrying ‘What’s the word? ‘Where do I go?’ The longer you have with the script the more chance there is that you can get that take off, so it was fun.”
So how much time off did he end up getting after all? “Luckily they pushed out start date by a week so I got 10 days off instead of 2 days off.”
Check out what is next for Monroe and the rest of the Grimm gang when Season 4 starts on October 30th on NBC. For more information, videos, and pictures of the upcoming season go to www.NBC.com
