An Interview with Dead of Summers’ Zelda Williams at San Diego Comic-Con 2016

Oh god, when we got the parts? Like nothing. (laughs). We actually don’t find out about what we are doing until a week before we do it. We get scripts while we’re filming the episode prior to the one we are going to shoot. So I didn’t get the last episode, we’re shooting nine right now, and we just got the last episode the season finale two days ago. I can’t tell you anything.

So you can’t tell us if there are any big revelations? (laughs).

It’s a finale, it’s completely boring and nothing is going to happen. We actually all go barbecue and then swim. It’s great. So mellow. (laughs). 

Are you a horror movie fan yourself?

I’m a horror film nerd. I just went downstairs and bought a Wolfman pin from them. I am obsessed with horror films so actually, this role is a lot of fun for me.

What is your favorite horror movie?

Aliens One. I know a lot of people like Two more, but honestly, Ripley’s story is in one. I was a really tough, loner girl growing up with a shaved head and Ripley was my spirit animal. To this day she is still everything I would love to play in a movie. Please make me a survivor who kicks an alien out of an airlock. (laughs). I would do that in a heartbeat. Even if I had to work with a cat. I don’t care. I don’t love cats, but I would do it. I don’t mind.

So did you see all the movies the show has referenced? Elm Street, Friday the 13th, etc?

I’ve watched all of them way too many times. (laughs). I’m not kidding when I tell you Comic-Con is literally the two things for me that I really, really love. Well, actually three because books as well. Horror, books and video games. And I grew up on the fringe of Manga. I read a lot of Manga growing up as well because they are a bit more like books and I’m part Filipino so I really gravitated towards a lot of what was more of the Asian culture in the nerd community. I always loved it. You know how it is, I’m obsessed with it, but this is why I came to Comic-Con the last five years, four or five years. I’m so tired today that I’m not sure, but I always came in costume. (laughs).

Last year I was Harley Quinn, but from the cartoon, not the movie. I’ve been Death from the Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Chronicles. I’ve been quite a bunch of characters. It’s really lovely to be in a place that it didn’t matter. The way I grew up it was very strange because I think a lot of people thought they knew something about me by knowing who my parents (Robin Williams and Marsha Garces Williams) were. No one cares here. If I come in costume I’m just Harley Quinn and it was really lovely. I’ve come out of costume too. When I did the cartoons, I would tweet out “Hey, if any Legend of Korra fans are at Comic-Con you can come meet me here.” It’s really fun to also see them in costume as characters I’ve voiced. That was so fun. I’ve recorded a bunch of voice mail messages for people. I grew up loving this so much that to be a part of it is actually a big deal for me, honestly.

Since you are a self-proclaimed movie/TV fan did you approach acting on Dead of Summer differently?

No, but I haven’t done anything yet that I would consider the kind of thing I would have been a fan of, to be honest. I really love what I do, it’s a wonderful job. I haven’t done the kind of things… My favorite character growing up, so to speak when I was of an age when I could watch them, was Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. I reread the books once a year with my mom. It’s what we have done since I was young. So when those movies came out, that’s absolutely the kind of character I would love to play.

Has that happened? No, because those movies come along once every fifty years, but that said, I do look forward to the first time that I get to play something that I would nerd out about as me. Like if I ever get to be a superhero or preferably a super villain, I would love it. That’s the kind of stuff I look forward to if I do continue to be an actress and if not I will enjoy continuing to be a fan.

What do you like to watch ?

I watch a lot. Truthfully I will watch about two movies a day because I write and when we are on set we have a lot of downtime. I’ve gotten into Stranger Things. I really enjoy it. I really do. I’m a huge Winona Ryder fan so it’s awesome to see her working again in something that I think is worthy of her again. Because people like to push her off to the fringes and that’s a shame. She’s so talented.

They did a lot of what you guys are trying to do. Going back in the 80’s.

It’s the same time period and deals with the similar tropes, but I think ours being a camp is a lot campier whereas Stranger Things is this incredibly beautifully shot auteur piece that I’m obsessed with. Although the aliens had to further evolve and now I can’t say anything. I said I won’t spoil it for yor people. It weirded me out. I didn’t like it. (laughs).

 

 

 

*Interview was done by TNWU’s on-site SDCC reporter Anna Ruth Ramos