The Walking Dead Actors stop by for some lunch with Mark TufoWhat is going through your mind when are acting as zombies?
To be honest, I spend much of my time as a zombie doing my Transcendental meditation practice, or playing with Reiki. The days can be incredibly long and I don’t know if you have been to Atlanta during the summer, or even the winter, but the weather is neurotic. We go out there in just about everything accept big storms. When we are in between takes team zombie tends to be silly to try to make the long days easier.
Do you think if something in particular or do they have their minds blank? For my zombie walk, I tend to recreate the first time I got drunk, in my mind. I was 18 and downed 3/4 a bottle of 151 with a buddy of mine, it wasn’t pretty. I find this keeps my zombie walk uncoordinated and without a set rhythm.
What are the zombies eating or biting in the show when they are biting people or bodies?
It depends on the scene. They have used actual cooked meat for some of the longer eating scenes, although when the meat is fully eaten it can be any number of things.
I swear the KNB EFX guys can turn anything into a nasty effect. In fact, in the scene where I am biting Hershel on the leg, the tendon you see me pulling is in fact nylon. That is right, that nasty effect was created with pantyhose and a well timed squirt of fake blood.
What other roles have you played?
Well, the first role I had, about 10 years ago, was a featured role in a television commercial for Turner South. At this time of my life, I had just recently been homeless; in fact I had turned 19 on the street.
I was a young dread locked kid, with an unbreakable spirit. A friend of mine, sadly now deceased, told me about an audition his parents were having.
They run Stilwell Casting, here in Atlanta. They were looking for the stoner look, and I fit the bill. I prepared for my audition by getting stoned; I figured it was just a little method acting.
After the audition I figured that I had just had a really interesting adventure for a day stoned, and nothing more. Bright and early the next morning, I get a call from Annette, asking me to come in the following morning for a call back.
I really couldn’t believe it, but once again prepared for some method acting by getting stoned. Turns out I was meeting the director and he hired me on the spot. I guess I truly looked the part of the stoner.
From there I took part in a training video for the post office, as the ‘what not to do’, also by the same director. I went out to Arizona for school and then stayed years. I did not do any acting while I was out there and really feel that my life was incomplete.
Since coming back to Atlanta, I have been in Hallpass, Vampire Diaries, and 2 seasons of The Walking Dead.
After your scene, do you become one of the extra Zombies or do you go through the makeup for the one scene?
You are locked for the day; you just get rotated to a spot where you won’t be recognized by the camera. For last season’s finale many of us were inside the barn, breaking into the barn, up on the fence, and by the house. It was a long, cold two weeks, but damn was it fun.
Are you going to audition for Zombie Fallout if it goes to production?
Don’t hate me for saying this, but I haven’t read Zombie Fallout. Since my kindle broke I feel as if I have been out of touch with the literary world. I have learned to stay away from the bookstore as I have two 150 pound boxes full of books and I have moved, a lot. That being said, if a character really spoke to what I feel my skills are, I would be all over the audition like flies on a corpse.
C-Section Zombie Clair Danielle Canterbury
Who was the c-section zombie? My daughter thought she looked like Crystal from True Blood?
The c-section zombie was me, Clair Danielle Canterbury. As a fan of both True Blood and Lindsay Pulsipher (the actress who played Crystal) I'm very flattered at the comparison, though, thank you.
If you ate a Zombie would you turn into one?
I think everyone already carries the zombie virus. So, I suppose it wouldn't really matter if you ate a zombie or not. You're gonna turn either way.
Will a Zombie eventually just rot away?
At a certain point when the brain fully deteriorates, yes, I think so. But it would take a lot of time.
Do you think Zombies and Ghouls are the same type monster?
Nope.
Do you think denial is the zombie’s best form of defense against its upcoming meal?
No.
How long does makeup usually take and how long is the scene?
Transforming me into the c-section walker took three people roughly three hours. There were full body prosthetics involved so it took quite a bit of work. Generally speaking, though, it takes about an hour to an hour and a half to process a performer through the full zombie makeup.
