DAREDEVIL dropped a fire extinguisher on my head in episode 2; AMA.

if your character came back as a Fire-Extinguisher weilding foe, what would your supervillain name be?

the Fireman 0__0

False. He would be The Extinguisher.

That's funnier, I like that.

Fun fact: The Aberrant tabletop RPG had a character named The Fireman. He was the first known person to manifest super powers (specifically control over fire), and did so while working as an actual fire fighter trying to save kids from a burning schoolbus.

Here's him on the cover of the Aberrant Players Guide absorbing the fire, and holding a kid he couldn't save at centre-right on the cover of the Aberrant core rulebook.

Okay, so that fact wasn't very fun.

Totally fun fact.

Would you believe I was watching that very scene as I came upon this thread? Surreal, man...it was like someone was watching what I was doing!

I hope you enjoy!

Me too! Just finished that episode. You did an excellent job. I really felt like you took a fire extinguisher to the noggin.

Gee thanks!

Holy crap, I've been binge watching the entire Season 1 since this morning as well as I'm recovering from surgery! Great job, sorry you got sacked from the roof so early.

Btw, how beautiful is "Karen" in real life?

And what is your favorite snack?

I hope your recovery goes as smoothly as possible!!!

My favorite snack is sometimes pickles, sometimes cherries. I think I love any kind of snack. Snacks are great!

this is off topic, and i'm a guy so take this as you will, but you have an incredible face, from your brow to your chin, you are a classically handsome man.

aww thanks!

Watching this very scene right now! How random and funny! Hope this isn't the last of you, "extinguisher".

How did you come to get this role?

Thanks! I auditioned for it.

How do you audition for something like that? Do they bash you in the head with something?

Definitely had that scream ready to go.

Was it soft enough?

I made a lot of the props and stunt props for that show. Rubber fire extinguisher is a classic.

Such a small world!!!!! It was perfect.

Do you have any advice on how to be Russian?

Well, I was born in the Soviet Union, but grew up in Ohio. So - advice on how to be Russian in what context? In a tv show? - just practice an evil sounding Russian accent and you're golden.

Yay Ohio! It's the place that's nice to move to if your not from here, but the one your kids would want to inevitably make it their goal to leave

Source: 20yr old Ohioan (still haven't moved out damnit (college is why))

I love and miss the place - my band heads in the middle of May. Stop on by and say hello!

Ohio is a big place. Where are you guys paying?

Playing Cleveland at the Music Box Supper Club on May 14th, Columbus at the Basement on May 16th :)

Might hit up the Columbus show...been craving some live music

Stop on by! We love Columbus.

How did that not kill your character? I feel like that would kill someone. Or at least give them a severe concussion and not really in any condition to be questioned after.

In reality, it probably would have.

Just finished watching Daredevil on Netflix, loved it. How was working with the Charlie Cox?

Charlie is one of the kindest, brightest and talented people I've met. He was amazing to work with. He was very thoughtful during the more physically choreographed sequences. It was amazing to watch him problem-solve in an incredibly high pressure situation while maintaining just the kindest and most generous attitude. I'm excited to watch his career skyrocket.

What was more fun? Being a Russian badguy or being Tesla?

They were fun in different ways.

Without revealing too much, in Daredevil, it was exciting to play a character that can pretend to have a flawless american accent and then switch to sounding like a Russian thug.

As Tesla, it was amazing to walk around the set and have all of the technicians on set greet me as though I were endowed with some sense of magic. Tesla is a super interesting character in our history. Really looking forward to more stories being told about him.

When you go to sleep at night, do you see the daredevil?

YES

Follow up. Is your dad Willem DeFoe?

He is not

No offense, but you look like he and Fred Savage conceived ^{~^}

Many thanks to you for that image.

He is not actually.

Since when do you reddit, bruh?

Have always loved reddit.

Smart to use different account for this.. don't want the Marvel pr team coming down on you for lookin at any of those "weird" subreddits..

All of reddit is a weird subreddit. But I love it!

How was working with Rosario Dawson? Is she as flawless in person as she is on screen?

She's a veteran; amazing to work with and to learn from.

If you could dine with any one person, living or dead, who would they be and why?

Leonard Nimoy. I really looked up to him...

Live long and prosper

The universe will unfold as it should.

How did they film that scene of you getting knocked out with the extinguisher?

Cleverly.

Hey, thanks for doing this ama. If you could have 1 other marvel super hero do a minor appearance in the show who would it be? And do you really wear that much cologne?

Ha! I don't wear cologne. I just stick to deodorant.

I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the lady superheroes come front and center.

Was this your first acting role? If not did working on a "marvel" project stand out as different in any way.

I'm loving the show FYI.

This was not my first acting role. The marvel project stood out first and foremost because of how secure the team was with keeping a lot of the material secret for so long and so well :)

That does make me curious: how much did you know of the plot surrounding your character / episodes beforehand and whilst you were recording the scenes in question?

It was limited - The team and the director, Phil Abraham, were very good at deciding what information was important for me to know in order to give the performance that they needed.

Certain people were privy to more parts of the script than others. It was a very well organized system of keeping as much of the story a secret as possible.

That's interesting to hear!

Can you give examples of things that surprised you when you saw the episodes? (At least, I assume that is when you learned of the full plot!)

Hmm, plot wise I was surprised by everything - truly, I knew very little about the ultimate arc of the narrative.

As a performer, the most surprising thing - watching it, I definitely understood more clearly what the director was communicating to me in the process of shooting those scenes. Sometimes in the heat of getting a scene shot in time, there's little room to reflect and ask why certain scenes get pushed in certain directions, but the director has the ultimate frame of reference. And watching it all come to fruition is very satisfying.

Thank you for your response!

I would never have thought you knew quite as little about the plot as you seem to have done; while on one hand I can understand you didn't 'need' to know, it just seemed natural to me that there'd be gossip and general chatter between the rest of the cast & crew in between the actual scenes.

I hope more opportunities will open up for you; for as far the typical 'beaten henchman' stereotype goes, I think you got a nice bit of screen time which you did pretty well on. I won't mind in the slightest if I see you get beat on some more in the future! xD

Mighty kind, thank you.

And there was definitely more revealed to me through the overhearing of chatter and subtle conversation than by reading the limited script that was given to me. That was definitely an exciting part of being on set - deducing as much as I could through the myriad conversations that were taking place between the producers, directors, and designers.

Replies like those make me salivate for some actual details of stuff you thought you figured out, or stuff you actually did manage to figure out. ^_^

At the beginning of the process, I had no idea if I was going to be in two episodes or just one. At the end of my week of shooting the scenes for the one episode, the director, Phil Abraham gave me a polite handshake and said he was looking forward to seeing me again on set soon.

That was the first clue I had that I'd be asked to be in another one.

That is so cool. Getting the performance needed without knowing or divulging exactly how it fit into the overall structure has got to be a difficult but interesting challenge for both actor and director.

Very much so - but the production team was very good at knowing how to get around this necessary hurdle.

Did Charlie Cox struggle with maintaining his American accent at all? Did he keep the accent when the cameras were off, or did he just switch it on when he had to?

He turned off the accent in between takes. He's a brilliant guy and so great to work with. He makes it all look very easy :)

Thanks for your work! What's one of your funniest memories on set?

The days were quite long - often running around for 12 hours. And of course there are the lunch and dinner breaks. But there's not a ton of time to get in and out of makeup and costume for those dinner breaks. Getting drenched in fake blood and then hoping that someone will want to sit next to you and socialize during the dinner break was pretty funny.

I was crew on a small horror film and we had to shoot all the fake blood scenes last because it's so hard to clean up. Hope you had a shower near by and good luck in all your endeavors!

Showers aplenty :) thanks so much take care!

Are you fluent in Russian?

Yes

да

FTFY

Nyet...

[deleted]

Do your homework and eat your spinach?

I just finished episode 2. What were you saying on the phone in Russian just before getting hit in the head by a fire extinguisher?

Yelling at one of the other Russian thugs to call the brothers and that I'd found 'him'

Hi Alex, what makes you laugh and are you tickly? Where are your most sensitive spots? :P

Your question makes me laugh. It tickles me.

Did you do your stunts or was that a double?

Definitely a double. Amazing guy named Aaron Vexler.

How did they do the knife in your eye?

Clever camera angle, good choreography on Charlie's part, and the director telling me to scream louder.

did you enjoy playing a russian?

very much so.

I'd just like to say that you were very creepy and did that part justice for sure.

Great work.

aw thanks.

any other TV roles you will be in this year?

Not that I know of. But my band will be traveling the country late spring and early summer. Hopefully we'll catch you on the road :)

Well, whats your band's name?

[(the PigPen Theatre Company)](www.pigpentheatre.com)

So close on the formatting!

Teach me teach me

How did you know she was lying?

Good ears ;)

Who does the lighting on the show? It is amazing.

Matthew Lloyd, a genius.

Thank you. Yes he is. My Brother and I talked about the lighting almost as much as we talked about the story.

He was meticulous. Watching him negotiate his choices with the camerman and the director was very interesting.

What was the atmosphere like on set? Were there expectations about how the show would be received? Could you tell whether people were worried about how the show would do during filming?

I guess just... what were people behind the scenes thinking about the show before it went on air.

Also, when did this actually film? Just generally curious how long it takes from filming to airing.

The brief time I was on set was in mid summer. I think they shot the whole series from then until December or so.

Most people on set were very excited. They were giving it their all day in and day out. A lot of strenuous work.

One of the sound engineers said to me that its impossible to predict if something is going to be brilliant or not. It may feel like its great on set but then the final product might not be that great. And vice versa - a project might feel not so good but end up being extraordinary.

This particular project was so much fun to be a part of and I think turned out to be pretty great!

10/10 would watch get hurt on film again.

Do you find acting to be your passion or music?

Also, How'd you land that gig?

Thanks! Hmm... it's so hard to choose.

What I will say is that in a musical performance, there are fewer questions that have to be answered in a straight-forward and literal way. In acting, there's a lot of information that has to get passed along with dialogue or whatnot...

Music has this mysterious ability of being just a bit more universally satisfying to all.

I saw The Old Man and the Moon when it was in Boston and I was blown away by it. Were you involved in the synthesis of the piece? If you were, what was that process like?

I was indeed. It's near and dear to me. The guys I work with in PigPen are guys I went to school with for theater. We formed the company whilst in school and have been working for nearly a decade together. The process is highly collaborative and not easy, but extraordinarily rewarding.

When Daredevil was jamming something into your characters skull, what was he supposed to be affecting?

Basically my eye.

I literally just finished that scene as I am typing this. What the hell was he stabbing at in your eye?

a paring knife. those sharp little knives that can chop your finger off...yeah

How is it playing the Banjo? Did you learn guitar first? Apparently, it's the thing now. I'll visit your band's site sounds cool! :-)

Can't recommend the banjo enough - if you haven't yet, check out Bela Fleck's documentary on the banjo and its very eclectic and not so obvious history. He is a hero of mine.

I grew up playing the piano. And then jumped to the banjo. Strange I know.

Hey! I literally just finished that episode! (Ep 2) If you could be any superhero, who would it be?

Doesn't really count but when I was little I really wanted to be the Terminator...or maybe Robocop. One of the two.

Perfect pizza?

I'm not sure what you are asking. All pizza's are created equal.

Currently on episode 11, will there be more seasons of daredevil on netflix and when does he put on the damn red suit?

I wish I knew! What I do know is that Marvel and Netflix are planning something huge.

How was Vincent D'Onofrio?

Unfortunately I never got to work with him. But I think he's incredible. He came to set one day. Really really really tall guy.

I just want to be a person in the crowd in a marvel movie. Far in the background during an explosion or something. It's on my bucket list. Where do I start? Where did you start?

Also, I just saw that scene yesterday, you are a very convincing Russian! :)

Thank you!

As for your bucket list. If you are interested in doing background work, it's actually not too difficult to land an audition to do that sort of work in movies and tv shows. If you do some digging online, you'll find the resources that will point you in the right direction.

I saw you guys do a performance of The Old Man and the Moon in Glencoe, Illinois! I thought it was definitely one of the best musical theater performances I've ever seen. Do you have any advice for a young, aspiring Bluegrass musician like myself?

Practice, and find people to play with.

Forget the fire extinguisher. How is your eye? twitch

It was a tough scene to film.

I just watched episode two not more than an hour ago! Quaint!

Did they let you keep anything from the show? Maybe the extinguisher?

Do you speak Russian or was that accent just good acting on your part?

Also, great job! That eye-stab scene looked pretty damn real, man.

I really do speak Russian. I didn't really get to keep anything. Maybe a tie clip.

Okay, this one's kind of boring compared to the other questions, but it appears nobody's asked it yet: what was the first speaking role you landed, and how did you get it?

I mean... I've acted in plays and done student films for a while...

If you could have any superpower, what would you pick?

Definitely no need for sleep.

Do you hate Ben Affleck as much as I hate Ben Affleck?

I think hate is a strong word.