After months of increasingly WTF marketing, The Strain FINALLY premieres this Sunday at 9 p.m. I’ll have a much longer post tomorrow about my visit to the show’s set and what to expect from FX’s answer to The Walking Dead (SPOILER: it’s pretty good), but until then, here’s a brief interview I conducted with jovial creator/director/supervisor/robot-smasher Guillermo del Toro during the Austin Television Festival.
UPROXX: First off, I enjoyed the The Strain pilot. It scared the sh*t out of me. What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever seen on a television show?
GUILLERMO: When I was a kid, it’s not a metaphor, but I actually soiled myself when I was a child watching Night Gallery. There was an episode called “The Doll.” I remember when the doll smiles, I literally lost control of my sphincter.
UPROXX: I visited the set a few months ago, and my favorite thing to see was the creature workshop. What’s your favorite prop you’ve used on The Strain so far?
GUILLERMO: My favorite is actually the Master puppet, because it’s a very complex puppet that we use very carefully. The creature shop and the VFX are the things that I supervise very carefully so that the show has a scope and a vision that is very different from every other TV show, and I fell in love with this thing. It’s seven feet tall.
UPROXX: Is there a scene from the books you’re really looking forward to seeing in the show?
GUILLERMO: Yes. I’m dying to see the Mexican wrestler. I want to cast him, I want to direct him.
UPROXX: Have you just directed the pilot so far?
GUILLERMO: Just the pilot, and depending on my day job, I’m hoping to direct an episode or two in the second season. If I can. But I’ve got to keep my day job going.
UPROXX: Yeah, you’re a bit busy.
GUILLERMO: But I’m there. The whole season, every VFX you see was supervised by me.
UPROXX: Is there a show that you’ve enjoyed binge watching?
GUILLERMO: I don’t follow TV because it’s hard for me with my schedule — it’s not about putting it on my DVR, because I simply don’t go back to the DVR for a year. So I binge watch, I just finished Breaking Bad, Justified, Game of Thrones, I love Louie but I watch it out without a particular order.
UPROXX: When are we going to see you on Louie?
I dunno [laughs]. But I hope I go back to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia!
