The Warehouse 13 roundtable at Comic-Con gave us some pretty interesting insights into what the cast thinks about their characters, the direction of the show and what they are doing in their live outside the Warehouse.
Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek told everyone about how he enjoys working on a show that gives him the opprtunity to be an active participant in each story line, rather than being “just the boss” who “sends people out to do some stuff.” He also discussed the fact the writing on the show is sharp, smart and that as an actor, it makes demands of him. Warehouse 13 has been the number 1 show on the network for three seasons now and Sual attributes that to the fact that the quality of the writing and stories “attracts smart women”. He’s pleased by the fact that there are many women in the fan base, but also thinks that the show’s ratings may not reflect the actual numbers it is drawing. He mentioned that he gets a great deal of recognition from people who are in the same age group as his daughter (college age). Saul has written a play that is being directed by Frank Oz which will premiere in London this September.
Eddie McClintock
Eddie spoke about the addition of Aaron Ashmore as agent Steve Jinks, and how it can be difficult for an actor to join a show with an establishedcast of characters. He related his own experience with the show Bones, and how as a late addition he was very unpopular with the show’s fans whoalways made complaints about his hair. He also mentioned that he gets mistaken for Bones star David Boreanaz fairly often. Eddie then talked abouthow he and actor JoAnne Kelly who plays his partner Micah on warehouse 13, went to dinner before the new season to try and reconnect and establishmore chemistry between them. He noted that Joanna is very “Type A” while he is much more “Type B” and that the two of them work hard to interact and accomodate each other’s personalities.
Jack Kenny
Warehouse 13’s Showrunner (the executive producer responsible for the day to day operations) Jack Kenny shared how he comes up with ideas for the show’s storylines. Jack told us about how he gets his ideas from a wide variety of sources. He starts with a premise and typically follows up with a lot of background research. He uses Wikipedia a lot as a research tool to fleash out details on the stories. When he and the writing team develop storylines, typically, the artifacts get generated by the stories rather than the stories. The Warehouse 13 Christmas was generated by the short story that also inspired the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.” This season he added a new character, Agent Steve Jinks to keep the audience off balance and keep the show fresh without changing it too much.
Neil Grayson
Neil told us about how he originally got the part of Fargo. The description of the character was only “Warren’s mousy assistant” so actors of all different types and appearances auditioned. The director remembered him from his work in Wonderfalls so that helped out for him when it came down to actually getting the part. He went for the the role of Fargo because he was attracted by what he read in the script and thought the writing was intelligent. The most challenging thing that Neil has done on the show so far this season was a stunt where he was set on fire. He related that stunt people consider fire the most dangerous type of stunt since it has a higher rate of unpredictability. He got through the stunt and was worried at the end because the person manning the fire extinguisher took a bit too long to get the fire out. Melted Neil is not a good thing. Like some of the other actors, Neil has projects outside of the warehouse. Currently he making a film with some friends that has just entered the post production phase.
We had hoped to chat with other Warehouse 13 cast members Joann Kelly and Allison Scagliotti but they were not available due to time constraints. This season of Warehouse 13 has great guest stars and exciting surprises for fans. Warehouse 13 is broadcast on Monday nights on the Syfy network.
