Welcome back for a very special episode ofCollider’s The Witching Hour! This episode of the show is brought to you by FX’sWhat We Do In The Shadows. you’re able to view the trailer for Season 3right here.
Inspired by the 2014 film, the show is a mockumentary series about the day-to-day lives of four vampires living on Staten Island — Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo (Matt Berry), Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) and the resident energy vampire, Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch). Colin Robinson’s a day walker with a nine to five job where he can feed on his co-worker by boring them. Nandor, Laszlo and Nadja, however, can’t be exposed to sunlight and are also incapable of doing any household chores so they require the services of Nandor’s extremely dedicated and hardworking familiar, Guillermo played byHarvey Guillén.
With Season 3 ofWhat We Do In The Shadowspremiering on Thursday, September 2nd on FX and streaming the next day onFX on Hulu, Guillén took the time to join us for an episode of The Witching Hour! During our conversation, Guillén detailed his journey to the show, an experience that included a very unusual casting process.
It all began with a friend’s wine and cheese night. That’s where he metWhat We Do In The Shadowsexecutive producerGarrett Basch’s fiancée, and she’s the one who recommended he audition for the role for acclaimed casting directorAllison Jones. That right there is one major step forward in the process, but then Guillén learned he didn’t totally fit the character description. He explained:
“Guillermo is 20 years older than I am. So yeah, I read it and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s 20 years older than I am, but this character’s really cool and I can play him. How do I make myself look older?’ So I went into my closet and got a rusty orange long sleeve shirt and a brown sweater vest — and I never do this. I never dress for the part, just maybe have an element of the character feel to it, but for this I wanted to make an impression on Allison, even if it was a bad one, I guess. [Laughs.]”
RELATED:‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Season 3 Trailer Is Full of Werewolves, Vampire Hunting, and Atlantic City Gambling
Unfortunately Jones wasn’t there to witness Guillén’s audition in person, but that didn’t matter because he still made an impression — a big enough impression to take yet another step forward:
“Two hours later they called and said that they had all voted unanimously to test me with Kayvan. They had FX, Paul [Simms], Stephanie [Robinson], Taika Waititi, Jemaine [Clement], everyone for the first time because they had people on hold for the role, but they were 60-40 votes or 70-30. They weren’t on the same page, and for the first time they unanimously voted to test me. And I was gonna be the ‘wild card’ because I wasn’t old enough for Guillermo.”
A couple of days go by and Guillén realizes it’s down to the wire. Production is supposed to begin that week and he still hasn’t received a call to do that chemistry test. That has to mean it’s over, right? But then the phone did ring:
“The phone kept ringing from a 16-digit number [and] I wouldn’t pick it up. I was with my sister and then she finally said, ‘Will you pick up the phone!’ And I was just like, ‘Okay!’ ‘Hello?’ ‘Hey! Is this Harvey?’ And I was like, ‘Uh, yes?’ ‘Hey! It’s Taika and Jemaine!’ ‘Oh, yes, yes. I’m testing for you.’ He’s like, ’No, you’re not testing for us.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, okay. Thank you so much for considering me then.’ ‘No! You’re the guy.’ I was like, ‘What?’ He’s like, ‘You’re the guy. We’ll see you on set.’”
Guillén got the part on a Sunday, he was in a fitting that Tuesday, hit the set that Wednesday and now we have our Guillermo, a character who’s simply impossible not to root for.
If you’re looking for more inspiring stories from Guillén, you’re going to want to catch our full Witching Hour conversation with theWhat We Do In The Shadowsstar. He revisited how he overcame his most significant challenges while trying to break into the industry, how he scored some of his biggest roles, he teased what we can expect from Guillermo inWhat We Do In The ShadowsSeason 3 and so much more. You can watch the interview in the video at the top of this article or listen to the conversation in podcast form below.
Be sure to catch Guillén and the rest of the What We Do In The Shadows cast, including special guest star Kristen Schaal, when the all-new season premieres Thursday, September 2nd on FX, streaming the next day on FX on Hulu.
KEEP READING:What We Do in the Shadows Season 3 Review: New Responsibilities Bring Fresh Blood to FX’s Great Vampire Sitcom
