Celebrity Interview: Colman Domingo Fear the Walking Dead

Colman Domingo has more than solidified his place in the world of Fear the Walking Dead. After joining the show in season 2, Domingo has become one of the stalwart characters of the show. Even as friends such as Kim Dickens and Garret Dillahunt have left the series, Colman Domingo has remained and welcomed new characters and expanded his character, Victor Strand in directions that he had never imagined. Now, with season 6 of Fear the Walking Dead underway, Colman is still bringing life to Victor in front of the camera while finding new life for himself behind the camera as a director.

I recently had the chance to talk with Colman Domingo about Fear the Walking Dead, the nature of playing drama amid so much trauma, i.e a zombie apocalypse or a worldwide pandemic, and about directing for television. Colman Domingo directed the Fear the Walking Dead episode titled Alaska which debuts on AMC television on Sunday night, October 25th, 2020. If you'd like to listen to this interview as a podcast you can find it here. And if you like Fear the Walking Dead, check out my interview with Colman's co-star Alexa Nisenson by clicking here.

SP- Fear The Walking Dead is in its 6th season now, you’ve been there, playing the role of Victor since season 2. What has this experience been like for you?

Colman Domingo- Dude, it’s been the time of my life. It’s been a roller coaster, it’s been exciting, it’s been transforming, it’s a show that keeps changing what it even looks like and even the locations. I’ve been able to live in L.A and Vancouver and Baja, Mexico and now Austin, Texas, where we shoot now. So it has a different personality every season. It gets more exciting, the storytelling gets exciting so, even playing a character like Victor Strand, it’s not like I am playing the same character. He keeps changing and shifting, he keeps shifting with the times. It’s just so much fun and thrilling and I think the fanbase is just awesome and I love engaging with them. It’s just a good’ol time man.

SP- Sometimes I think people underestimate what it is like to play something like Zombies, as a concept, obviously there is an action element, there is a supernatural element, but you have to deal with serious trauma on a regular basis and incorporate that into your character…

Colman Domingo- (Laughing) It sounds like what we are dealing with right now right? (Laughing) It’s (Zombie media) always been a metaphor for society but, I feel like now, even more so, even when were shooting back in March, before we shutdown, we were like, wait a minute, so this is really happening? We’re actually on an apocalypse show and the apocalypse is actually happening now? (Laughing) So, it was really strange to be very honest, but, I think the show has always been a metaphor for other things that we find tricky about other human beings. Because, you know, the show, I always tell anybody who says, ‘oh I can’t watch The Walking Dead or Fear the Walking Dead, it’s too gory, it’s too scary.’ I always tell them, it's not that bad. It’s not that scary, because it’s not even about the zombies or the walkers, it’s about the people. The people are trickier. The zombies just want one thing, they just want to eat you and you can kill them and get away. But, the people are much trickier. Trying to get people on board to fight this thing together isn’t easy. And doesn’t that sound familiar. (Laughing). That sounds familiar as yesterday, you know.

SP- You’ve got this very complex character, you start off as a con-man and now, through this experience, he’s become a friend to people who he would never have met outside of these strange circumstances…

Colman Domingo- When I first read this character, I was like, he’s a self-made millionaire, he starts off wearing a Ralph Lauren suit, he looks good, he’s shiny, I never thought that I’d be doing what I am doing now. I had no idea about the stunt work, all the storytelling we are doing but I am excited that I am. I thought it was one thing, but then it just peeled away like an onion and became something else. So I think, I love it, I think my character, Victor Strand, has been an examination of deconstructing western civilization. Basically, my character has been stripped DOWN through these seasons. He’s had to find out who he really is and he’s had to get back to basics. So, it’s sort of like what we’ve been doing for the last 8 months, so suddenly you're stripped down not wearing your fancy clothes anymore. You're in your sweats and you’re making sourdough bread, that’s who you really are. That’s the real you. And then you build up your armor, you become this other thing. I think that’s exactly what the examination is.

SP- This week’s episode, you directed, it’s a new aspect, a new part of your arsenal, behind the camera…

Colman Domingo- Yeah, I’ve done a couple episodes before, but, I’m telling you each time it feels brand new. I’ve directed this episode called Alaska and it stars Maggie Grace and Austin Emilio and there’s a lot of great surprises in it. but it’s also a very ‘Die Hard’ episode, it’s a vertical episode, the stunts, the visual effects, special effects, and really complex, interesting storytelling. So, I’m really happy we shot that, man, it’s been a really great episode to shoot.

SP- So, you’re on set, you shoot the episode, what happens next, how involved is a TV director after an episode is shot?

Colman Domingo- You bite your nails, (Laughter), no you go into the editing bay and you make sure that you have a point of view. You get all the material and you put it together, that’s the fun part, then you put it together and you make choice for the music and the way it looks and all that, and then you collaborate with your showrunners and your other producers as well to make it some really complex storytelling. And then, the best part, which I am excited about, you just get it out there in the world. People actually get to see it and get to see what we did. Because, I think, our show, for it to be a genre show, a heavy genre show, it’s really simple at its core because it really is just about people just trying to… find agency in the world and find love and find each other, and find some joy. I think, at the end of the day, it’s just a simple story.

SP- I like to ask this question when I am talking with someone from The Walking Dead or Fear the Walking Dead because I think it is a strange and fascinating question, people have the perception that being on these shows must be a state of constant anxiety about whether or not your character will live or die with each script, what’s it been like for you?

Colman Domingo- (Laughing) I don’t think there is constant anxiety, I think there used to be. I think when you first start out on the show, you think I’m going to die at any moment. And you never know how long it is going to last. After 6 seasons I think I have more of an understanding so I am not so much stressed out about that as much. I think we just take care of each other, we actually laugh a lot. We laugh a lot, right before we go into these heavy duty scenes and we just shot some heavy duty scenes last week, but I just remember that we are always laughing and trying to make each other feel good because we know the work we have to do. And, it’s a team of such huge professionals. And you just want to make sure that everyone feels relaxed and feel good to do the work they have to do, which is really demanding work. We compete with the elements, we’re working 12 to 16 hour days, we’re exhausted at times, we do night shoots, you name it, we’re expected to do it. We have a great stunts team but we actually like to do our own stunts as well. So, I think, we just want to be fit and together and just work hard together. So it really is a team effort.

SP- For you though, you get to spend all this time bonding with Kim Dickens and Frank Dillane and then they're gone and you have to play that…

Colman Domingo- Dude, that’s emotional. That’s emotional. They’re not only… the relationships you build on-screen are the relationships you build off-screen to. Kim Dickens and Frank Dillane are two of my best friends, so that doesn’t end. But it was very emotional, season 4 especially, was very emotional because you had a lot of characters leaving and then welcoming in new characters. So, you have to find open, loving, space for Garret Dillahunt and Jenna Elfman and Lennie James coming in, but also hold on to that… there was true grief, honestly, true grief that these people that you spend 12 to 16 hour days with are going away. But they are just going away from the show, I talk to Kim Dickens just about every day, every other day, and Frank Dillane get on a good skype call once in a while and chat and check in. So, they are still an active part of my life. But yeah, boy, I do miss them. I think about them all the time. All the time.

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sunday nights on AMC. Find Colman Domingo on Twitter @ColmanDomingo. Find me on twitter @PodcastSean