i have a question for the actors

[darkhadou]

i did not no where to put this but here it goes have you ever found yourself doing what your chacter would do at any point in the day when off of the set and if so could u give me an example just thought this would make an interesting topic

[Zangief]

I think I may have accidentally Flying Powerbombed somebody out of my way on the subway.

Actually, anything I have in common with Zangief is strictly coincidental. I'm the last guy in the room to get a joke sometimes, yeah, so I see some similarities. I'm very physical with people and I'm known to bear hug a lot.

I'm somewhat of a narcissist like Zangief so I stop in front of mirrors, too.

I'm sure there must be others which I'll add when I think of them.

[im 3ky]

Well i have a question to Mike Fass.How r they find you to play the perfect Zangief?

[Zangief]

My marketing rep put me forward for the part of Guile, actually, when the first casting notices went out but that was only because he was described as a Viet Nam veteran and "shell shocked" (I've since realized that Guile, who's even younger than I, couldn't possibly have been old enough to serve in the Viet Nam war). Since those are among the types of characters I play, I suppose that's why I was submitted for the role, even though I look nothing like him (although I might still have come closer than Jean Claude Van Damme, LOL).

My people were told that I'd have to do a monologue and College Humor were told that I don't do monologues any more but that enough of my professional work was out there already to give an idea of what I do. They then requested a reel and I think my manager was the one who told them that there wouldn't be an updated one until 2007 at which point they asked when my next television appearance would be. Marketing told them to watch me that coming Saturday (it was a live concert, actually) but CH said that, no, they were casting the next day (Wednesday, I believe).

So College Humor said they'll just pass but thanks anyway and that was that. Then we were contacted and asked if I could do a Spanish accent. My rep told them that, no, that's one accent I don't do so they thanked us and passed again but this time either my rep or my manager told them that I'd call them that evening. Then my camp contacted me and asked me to call Sam Reich. I called that evening and left a message. Sam got right back to me and said that he'd just been looking at my resume again more closely and realized that I'd be perfect for another role. He noted that it said I do a Russian accent. I told him that was correct, although what Sam didn't know was that I'd only just acquired it (and barely at that) for a couple of screen tests I had just completed for the part of a "hulking Russian axe murderer" in a new horror film. Sam then told me that the only reason for the monologue request was that the script for the pilot episode hadn't been completed yet but that they'd do their best to have a side ready for me if I could come down tomorrow.

On my way to the camera test the next day, I wondered what kind of Russian character I'd be reading for. I thought it might be a scientist or a KGB officer perhaps. When I arrived at College Humor's offices, I was given a side to look over before my test. I asked the lady who provided it if she knew which character I'd be doing and she said she didn't know but would go ask. While she did so I was still scanning the script trying to find a Russian sounding name in there somewhere but found nothing. I began to think I had the wrong script (that's happened a lot at camera tests for some reason) because the only Russian name on those pages was Zangief. I knew, of course, that they were casting a Russian bodybuilder for that role so I just had to sit and wait for a moment for the production assistant to return.

When she did she informed me that I'd be reading for Zangief. That excited me! I had no idea that I'd be testing for the role of one of the actual Street Fighters themselves!

When I camera tested before Sam Reich and Vince Peone, the director of photography, it seemed to go really well and, judging by the wicked smile on Sam's face, I could see him visualizing the famous squared-off, buzzed Mohawk on my already shaven head. I came away with a pretty good feeling that I'd probably gotten the part.

A few days later I was officially asked to portray Zangief and I happily accepted. Sam asked me then to research the character and to brush up on my Russian accent. Of course, as you know by now, on that first episode, shot on September 14th, 2006, I still only barely had command of the accent but I used the month's hiatus before we shot Episode 2 to perfect it which, thankfully, I finally did.

I knew next to nothing about Zangief except that which I knew some 15 years before when I first saw him in Street Fighter II; basically that he's from the Soviet Union and that he's primarily a wrestler. I had never even played the game (I'm a Boomer, not an X-er, so I'm too old to have grown up with the video games of the 1990s). So I researched the living hell out of him only to find that, the more intimately I got to know the man, the more I could see that Sam had written him with pinpoint accuracy. He'd really captured the Red Cyclone's established personality so there was really very little, if any, need of input from me. Zangief came to me a complete and fully formed character who was rendered by Sam very faithfully. That made our presentation of Zangief so comfortable for SFII fans because Sam presented him just as they'd always known him to be. The only difference being that he's a washed-up 50 year old has-been whose star has fallen hard. The "sensitive side" requirement in the casting notice for the role also serves him well and reminds people of his diametrically opposed personality traits; the badass show-no-mercy head smasher in the ring who cries at weddings and sad movies.

No wonder they made him a Gemini!

This has proven so successful that I'm certain that Zangief and I had always been destined to meet and I'm so glad it happened.

Now if I can only find a way to make myself seven feet tall...

[im 3ky]

Nowadays getting an actor tall is no big deal(i think but say if im wrong) but no need it thats had to be like that besides getting old is shrinking some people (not everyone dough)and when you getting into CH they gived you a contarct of  SF:TLT? or you can go to other CH projects?I'll be happy to see you in other shows dough

[Zangief]

The joke we like to use is that Zangief's diminished size is due to his quitting the steroid abuse that dogged him throughout his fighting career.

So far my only connection to College Humor is the Street Fighter series although some of my co-stars such as Nick Raio, Lev Gorn and much  of our supporting cast can be seen all over CHTV's many productions.

My background outside of rock is primarily comedy and began in the 1970s, lasting all the way up until now. I don't think the CH staff is old enough to have been around for much of my comedy career, though, so I probably don't come to mind for them in that context the way I do for older casting directors (who, conversely, aren't young enough to remember Zangief and Street Fighter II, ironically).

But I have played a ridiculously huge array of comic characters on TV over the decades.

These days I get cast mainly as bad guys, though; a trend that began in the early 1990s.

[Beatnik Joe]

Cool story.  I'm totally amazed that you were originally going to come in to play Guile.  You fit the Zangief role to a T -- I'd have never guessed that you'd come in intending to play any other part.

Do any of the actors ever take time out for a nice in-game Street Fighter 2 rumble?  Any of you guys got game?  We gen X-ers need to know.   

Thanks for the series and answering all these questions!

[Zangief]

Thank YOU, BJ, and, as I've had to confess somewhere else in this forum, I've never actually played the game (here's where I duck rocks, cans and fruits and vegetables... Ooooh, a strawberry)! I suppose my age is no excuse since my manager is only three months younger than I and he used to play SF2.

I did have another fun idea, though. Many of you know that the classic scene in the video arcade, where Zangief gets fired from his job as a janitor, was shot at Barcade, a popular nightspot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I've read more than just a few sad posts from people who've been there a lot and have had to report that, alas, they never see Zangief there. So Sean Krishnan (Dhalsim) and I are planning to show up there one of these nights, hopefully with at least a few of our other Street Fighter buddies, and stage a surprise visit. Sean lit up at the idea so we're workin' on it!

Of course, with my luck, the owner will just hand me a mop.

[Beatnik Joe]

Heh, now that'd be a trip!  It's cool that you guys are all fairly close together geographically to do this kind of thing.  If you make it to Barcade, do try to keep your "sensitive bull*#($" under control this time though.   

If you guys stick with your own characters, you'll probably get a good idea of just how well-written those gameplay-referencing lines in SFTLY are.  The line from the Dhalsim player about how Zangief "can't even jump over my arms" might give you a hint of the trouble Sean will try to give you.    And as an old Zangief player, let me tell you -- watch yourself if you go up against Parsons!  That Chun Li can be a wall-bouncing nightmare, not to mention, "fast and cheap against bigger characters", heh heh heh...

[Zangief]

LOL! I stand forewarned, Joe! Yeah, I'm familiar, at least, with the dynamics of the in-game interplay between the characters. Interestingly, the original line that was in the script was shortened by one of the actors who apparently forgot what the whole line was. It really went:

"Look at him! He's so fat, he can't even jump over my arms!"

In the script, it was obviously intended for Zangief to be doubly hurt by the observation that, in addition to being a has-been, he's gotten too fat to perform well against Dhalsim anymore.

Also, I'll try not to get too sentimental and choked up walking into Barcade again.

[Shen Long]

For ALL the cast / Big 12: M. Bison., Zangief, Ken, Ryu, Chun Li, Guile, Blanka, E. Honda, Dhalsim, Balrog, Vega, Sagat.

 Before you guys took the role, how intimately did you know the characters you were to portray? I know Street Fighter is old, but not everybody was a game geek.

[Obruno.BR]

My quastion for the actor is: you got paid?
^.~

[Zangief]

LOL!!! Good one, Obruno!

Yeah, we got paid and, as mentioned earlier, my knowledge of Zangief before I took on the role was sketchy at best so I researched him so thoroughly before I actually played him that I knew him at an amazingly intimate level just before I did.

I think that's why I love Zangief so much. The more I learned about and understood him, the more the big, slow-witted but lovable lug endeared himself to me.

Sean and company, I'd love to hear of your journeys of discovery regarding your characters, too.

I just spoke to Nick Raio (Guile) the other day and he's still researching Guile to get to know him more intimately. Initially it was his son who introduced him to the character after he'd been cast in the role.

C'mon, you guys! Let's hear YOUR stories!

[Shen Long]

приветствие! to mike fass, THE red cyclone! and sam of course, you guys did a nice job of melding the actor and the character together, just as well as the other characters.

приветствие translated through www.freedict.com

Question:

 Have all you gotten together sometime to have a tournament on an NES / SNES emulator? or a real arcade machine?

[Zangief]

I'd get my hairy Russian butt kicked, LOL!

Hey, thanks, Shen, for the greeting and the kind words! I'll pass your sentiments on to Sam!