Along with a roomful of journalists, Daily Dead participated in the Preacher press conference at this summer's Comic-Con in San Diego, and we have highlights from the event that will be of interest to fans of the series, including comments from executive producer Seth Rogen and co-stars Ruth Negga, Joseph Gilgun, and Dominic Cooper.
Tulip and Jesse are kind of meant to be, but Cassidy is over there waiting in the wings whenever Jesse messes up. Is there any hope for the two of them?
Joseph Gilgun: He’s like a turd that won’t flush, Cassidy. That relationship is constantly weighing—I don’t know what the turds weigh—but anyway, he loathes it. I know that feeling. I think everyone’s had that at some stage, and it’s really long and drawn-out for him, it’s a bloody shame. And he wants to be honest, he wants to be honest with his friend as well about what he’s done, and I don’t think Cassidy understands Jesse like Tulip does. He absolutely adores Tulip. He just wishes that Jesse maybe appreciated her a little bit more as well, and he struggles with that.
Ruth Negga: The dynamic is interesting. It feels like a male/female relationship reversed. He wants to be honest and have a candid conversation and pour his heart out and talk about his feelings, and Tulip’s like, “No, I don’t want to do that, actually, I like to be brash and compartmentalize somewhere else. Usually you don’t really see women portrayed as that, compartmentalizing their emotions. I love that dynamic, and that tension is a very constant theme. What I love about Tulip is that she doesn’t think it’s necessary to reveal everything.
In the last episode especially, Jesse went extremely dark—darker than we’ve ever seen him. Where do you think that darkness comes from, and how did you enjoy or dislike playing that darkness?
Dominic Cooper: I’ve always been aware that he possesses that darkness, and I think it comes from the incredible amount of guilt that he harbors for the death of his father, and the responsibility for the death of his father, and the life of living with the most crazy type of people who have been portrayed in anything I’ve seen—living in a coffin in a swamp as we saw in the comics. That darkness is constantly bubbling under the surface, and one thing which will really infuriate him and reveal that darkness is any [threat] towards the person he loves more than anything in the world, Tulip, because that’s the only family he has in the world.
As far as boundaries go, you were speaking about the writers’ room, do you ever find yourself having to sit down with AMC and convince them to do certain scenes?
Seth Rogen: Yeah. They’re phone calls, normally. No one wants to look each other in the eyes when you’re discussing this shit [laughs]. There have been a few of them. Hitler required a few conversations. But they just wanted to make sure there was thought behind it and an overall plan and that it’s not just doing it because we think it’s funny or something like that. Blowing up Tom Cruise [in the pilot episode] took two conversations. There are a few things now and then that require a conversation, but they are generally cool about it. When I watch the show, like most things throughout my life, I’m shocked at what we’re able to get away with. The things that we’ve been stopped from doing pale in comparison to the things we’ve actually done, and that is something that I’m constantly surprised by.
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In case you missed it, check out our Comic-Con 2017 coverage hub for all of our news and features from San Diego.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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