That would be Simon, the Survivors bullying, peacocking second-in-command played with sinister relish by Steven Ogg in the series' seventh season, now available on Blu-Ray, DVD and digital.
It's been a banner year for Ogg, who also had his share of screen time on HBO's "Westworld," and he sat down with Moviefone to recount the creation of nasty Simon, his as-yet-undepicted backstory (wouldn't you just know Simon sold subprime mortgages before the zombie apocalypse) and what's ahead with Simon and Negan's "Plan B."
Moviefone: It is no small feat to create a villain that stands out against Negan, and you did that in the season. You created, very successfully, an equally villainous but distinct character and I'm curious how did you go about it? Given that you had, of course, the writing to start from, how did you create Simon?
Steven Ogg: Simon was created for me. It's a product of the words and how fortunate we are on that show to have such amazing writers. I'm a big believer of "its all about the words." So when you are given these delicious words to say and the way Simon speaks and the words and phrases he uses, it's all right there. So when you're given that, your job as an actor is easy.
Simon was there on the page, and I just tried to obviously put a little mayonnaise and Dijon mustard on what was there. A little of this, a little of that.
What was the aspect of Simon that you really latched onto and said "Yeah, I can do something with this?"
The way he speaks, the way he talks and teases and has fun, and in a world like that, to have sort of that level of bullying and to f-ck around so much, it's very interesting. It's like "What are you getting at man? Why are you being such a d-ck?"
I read that you came up with a bit of a backstory for Simon. Tell me a little bit about where that inspiration came from.
Scott Gimple and I were talking and I was like, "What is his back story? Go through the backstory," because not being in the comics means there is no blueprint for him. So do I need to concern myself with where I'm going? Because you also don't want to do stuff that might not reflect what they actually want or are trying to show or reflect.
We were sort of talking about "Glengarry Glen Ross," and that combined with "The Big Short." So the idea of someone like Simon being a character who might have been one of those f--king douchebags that sold subprime mortgages and did all this sh-t. And living in New York I went through it. I knew these people, I saw these people. They really didn't believe they were doing anything wrong.
I believe Negan in the comic books was a gym teacher. And I had a gym teacher, Mr. Ferguson – and if you're reading, Mr. F--king Ferguson! – he would throw the football at my stomach from like 10 feet away when I was in elementary school. What a douchebag, man! Picking on a kid when you're an adult, throwing a football at me.
And so Simon is like the guy who does these things, that it's a job for him. He doesn't really see anything wrong with it. Like a criminal defense lawyer right? Someone defending pedophiles, some disgusting human beings. How do you do it? Well someone has to, it's my job. I put a distance between what I do.
You're a pro, you've paid your dues, and now you have a year like this last one where you've had a great character to play on "The Walking Dead," a great showcase for your talents, and also you had "Westworld" – tell me what that sort of extraordinary opportunity has meant to you.
It's been wonderful. The universe is always balancing everything out. So the attention and the notoriety doesn't appeal to me. I've just always wanted to work. I'm only gonna be better if I work with better people and so the opportunity to work with these people and to be on these sets that has just been great. I'm very grateful and very blessed and I feel very fortunate to do it.
I just want to work with these people that are at the top of their game because if they''re at the top of their game, then I've got to be at the top of my game. That pushes you and it just makes you want to be better and to raise the bar. So it's not so much sitting back and going "Aw, yeah – this is awesome!" It just pushes you further because you want to better yourself and you want to ideally make the person next to you better and create a better product and just be better.
So it's wonderful to go between "Westworld" and "The Walking Dead." It's kind of crazy, like "Wow, I am on two big shows," but I always say I'm very grateful and I'm blessed and my hand is always reaching out for the next thing. I always want more, but not in a greedy sense. I just want to do my job as a storyteller, a performer.
Simon looks to be pretty integral to the next season. What can you tease about him and perhaps "Plan B?"
Well, in season eight, Simon takes over the entire world, he kills everyone and it becomes sort of a rom-com. He falls in love with a zombie.
You guys are going to win all thee Emmys!
[Laughs] No, it's gonna be huge! Oh, it's huge. Good Lord! It's fun – season eight is a lot of fun and sh-t goes down. We're on to more solid matters and it is all-out war. And the show changes and it gets fun, it gets crazy. Its like "Wow, sh-t! Hold on, people!" Hopefully the bar will be raised and everyone should enjoy it.
Every show is unique, so what's your favorite part of "Walking Dead's" uniqueness? What was sort of the most interesting facet of why that show stands out from all other shows?
The people. Cast, production – I miss everyone when I'm away. I'm, again, very blessed, "Westworld" is the same. I was back there recently for season two and we're all in the trailer and everyone's hugging each other and we're like "Missed you! "Missed you!" And "Walking Dead," we text each other – last night, yesterday we're just like, "I miss you". We're ridiculous. We're lying there at night going "What are you watching?" "Well, I'm watching this..." "Okay, have you checked out this one?" The work is wonderful and I I love to be working every single day.
At the moments when your not working, the relationships, the bonds, the friendships, the family – these f--king people are just incredibly beautiful people that I feel absolutely so grateful that I've got in my life. They're family. We might be traveling circus gypsy freaks, but I'll take it because the love and respect we have for each other. One of them calls and says "I need this..." and I'd be there in a heartbeat for anyone on my show because they mean that much to me.
These people are incredible human beings and we all enjoy that. These cons, these Walker Stalker cons they do, we love them because we appreciate our fans, but we just love hanging out with each other. We know we are going to be together going for dinner at some great restaurant in Whereeverthef--ckville.
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