Actor S. Joe Downing took a break from frightening elderly ladies in his underwear to chat about The Collectibles.
Q: How did you get involved in The Collectibles?
Wow, it’s so funny how things happen and how time flies. I’m still fairly new to the acting world and I first met Todd Downing when he was auditioning for Ordinary Angels, which happened to be the first audition I’ve ever been to and since then we’ve stayed in touch. I felt very privileged when he asked me to be in his music video On and On as one of the ninja that you see. Then (as I was reminded) a year went by. I remember that one day I was on Facebook and I saw Wonder Russell’s status update saying she was going to be playing a superhero on The Collectibles then a few days after that I saw Lisa Skvarla’s update saying she was going to be playing a superhero on The Collectibles. I was thinking to myself… huh I don’t remember seeing any audition notice for this… sounds like fun though. A week or two went by then I got the call from Mr. Downing. Needless to say I was very thankful and felt privileged that he and Mr. Heinrich would consider me to be apart of this project. They told me about Death-Wish offered me the role and I was thrilled and privileged to jump into the Power Posse pool.
Q: What was your involvement in the project?
Death-Wish is the only one on the Power Posse team who doesn’t have a “super power” per se, but he does have his mind and his strong will to fight any opposing force. He’s a vigilante at heart as well as a conspiracy theorist which brings out his paranoid nature. He does his job well when it comes to being a part of the team however he can be distant and a loner which will add some flavor when he’s around his sidekick. He’s had a tough childhood — take a look at his file and you’ll see what I mean. Three sets of parents murdered right before his eyes… that would make anyone jaded; he doesn’t allow anyone too close to him as to avoid seeing them murdered. He does participate in being social with the other team members and in meetings but it’s only to gain more information and to be two steps ahead of them. He’s very good with creating gadgets that can infiltrate a crime lord’s hideout or the Power Posse’s offices and homes, either way he’ll make good use of what he finds out.
Q: How much of your own personality went into the character, if any? What is your process for creating the character?
There wasn’t a whole lot of myself going into the character, even the delivery of my voice is changed to make Death-Wish come alive. Todd Downing and Dan Heinrich allowed me to expand the character as much as I like and they also were a huge source of knowledge in understanding the characters origination which is where my process begins when creating a character. His relationships of his past and present are also big keys to who this paranoid guy is and why he does what he does. His relationship to the other characters will show his underlining emotions which I try to capture in the script and find key elements on where those emotions would be at that time and place, yet with Death-Wish he won’t show his emotions on his sleeve, instead you’ll see a wall with some blunt reaction, usually on a semi-serious sarcastic tone. I think that’s the main thing I can bring in a humorous way is that this character is always serious and I can relate to being too serious at times. Of course if you knew me you’d probably wouldn’t see that side of me that often.
Q: What was your experience of the actual shoot? Any good stories from the set?
The day of the shoot was so much fun!! It’s one of the main reasons I enjoy acting so much, it’s the opportunity to get together, play and build friendships with a common goal. I’ve never been on a set that had 27 setups in two days… amazing organization!! What an amazing team!! And the costumes… wow!! I do remember when we were doing a take and I was in front of the CorpCo tools being interviewed with bloody tissues stuck in my nose and ears, well it’s hard to talk without any air coming out of your nose especially if your using a deep voice, while delivering a line one of the tissues shot down to the table and I do wish I could’ve held it together but it was too funny not to laugh. You can watch it in the blooper reel.
Q: What would you like to see happen in future episodes? To the series as a whole?
I’d love to see the development of each character and once we know about the character see the series develop. I think we have a lot of opportunity to make something enjoyable and funny along with a twist. What we have is the opportunity to create something in which the communities can be a apart of as well. We already are recognizing local sponsorship and it’s open to first come first serve. If people enjoy it they have the ability to keep it moving forward, not CorpCo. Oh and I want to see more bloopers…
