What We Do in the Shadows‘ Mark Proksch Reflects on Colin Robinson’s Energy Vampire Journey

FX’s vampire comedy kicks off its sixth and final season October 21.

Full Article

When What We Do in the Shadows premiered back in 2019, one character immediately stood out: Colin Robinson, energy vampire. He represents a monster type we’d never seen depicted on screen before, but was also instantly recognizable; instead of blood, he feeds on energy and sets out to frustrate and aggravate everyone he meets in pursuit of his next meal. He’s played with wry hilarity by Mark Proksch, who io9 got a chance to talk to ahead of What We Do in the Shadows‘ sixth and final season. Cheryl Eddy, io9: It seems like the writers have a great time tormenting your character; in the first three episodes of season six alone we get a big physical transformation and he also gets tossed around a lot. What’s that like for you as an actor, when you read how mangled Colin Robinson is going to get in a particular episode? Mark Proksch: I feel good. I mean, as an actor, you just then realize, this is already doing so much of the work for me. Any time you’re throwing my schlubby, doughy body around, it’s endlessly funny to the writers and I assume the viewers. When I see [a physical scene coming up for Colin], I honestly feel a little relieved because then I won’t have to think as hard to make the scene work.  io9: What was the most challenging scene you had to film? Proksch: Gosh, they all melt together. You know, we film in the middle of winter in Toronto and we’re often filming throughout that night. And so any time you see us outdoors on the show, we’re freezing and the crew is freezing and everyone’s freezing and it’s probably like three or four in the morning. So that is usually the most difficult stuff. io9: We see a vulnerable side to Colin this season—recently returned roommate Jerry hurts his feelings, he helps with Laszlo’s monster because he wants a new friend, he admits he gets lonely. Do you think he’s the most “human” of the vampires? Proksch: Maybe. Yeah, probably. Colin also, for the most part, interacts with regular humans on a daily basis where the others don’t. I also think—not to get too in the weeds about this, but I think there is a desensitizing process that the other vampires go through because they literally kill regular people, whereas Colin tends not to. He’ll drain them, but he wants to keep them alive so he can keep coming back to them. I think he’s a little more enlightened in that sense. But yeah, I think his feelings can get hurt. But that’s the curse of being an energy vampire. How close can you get to a person? io9: I always appreciate his approach to pop culture. He’s obviously the most pop-culture savvy of the vampires, but he picks up on the weirdest stuff. Proksch: Yeah, that’s usually coming from me. Usually any time I go off on a rant or anything, that’s absolute worthless information that I have stored in my brain over the 40-plus years of my life. io9: He also proves to be scientifically inclined; he’s persistent and succeeds in the experiment where Laszlo has failed, but both characters take it in stride. What is it about their friendship that makes them so non-competitive? Proksch: We’ve talked about it just in passing. I mean, we don’t get too actor-y about anything on the show, but I think the juxtaposition between the way Matt plays Laszlo and the way I play Colin really works. They’re an odd couple. Laszlo is this huge blowhard and a moron, and Colin—in order to share time with people and spend time with people, he acquiesces to them. So he puts up with Laszlo being a bully and being an idiot. And I think Laszlo is just so self-involved, he doesn’t care who he’s around. He obviously has some soft spot for Colin because he raised him as a child, as much of a soft spot a vampire can have for something. So, yeah, it’s probably a more complicated relationship than Matt and I have ever talked about, just because neither of us are very—you know, we didn’t really go to school for acting. We didn’t train as actors or anything like that. So we just do it instead of focusing on the meaning behind it. That’s probably why it works, is that they’re an odd couple. io9: Colin Robinson as an Uber driver is the most perfect choice, I’m shocked it didn’t get used in earlier seasons. Did you draw from any real-life experiences for those scenes? Proksch: Gosh, yeah. I’m really a sponge for anything when I’m out and about, and I always have been since I was a little kid. We had a mall near our house, and we would go over to the mall and my brothers would bet me to go up to people and, you know, do stupid stuff and say stupid stuff—incredibly obnoxious, I’m sure. But yeah, I would soak up their reactions and all of that. And that’s the character I’ve played for most of my career: a normal person that’s just off a little, because that’s what I love and that’s what I find interesting when I meet people. io9: This season there’s great concern about how there’s not enough room in the house, with brawls breaking out over that tiny space under the stairs, but then we get a reminder of Colin’s huge area in the basement. What do you think he keeps in all those file boxes? Proksch: I think journals—journals of his, you know, every hundred years he dies and he has to relearn everything. And so I think those are full of his life, so he can reacquaint himself with everything that came before his dying and rebirth. We have such an incredible set design team, and they just knock it out of the ballpark every time. And so for that to be hidden behind Colin Robinson’s dingy walls—to me that was really funny. io9: What’s been your favorite What We Do in the Shadows moment so far?  Proksch:It’s coming up this season, I think. I liked when I was a teenager, Colin as a teenager—that was fun. Any time that I got to have scenes with Natasia [Demetriou], who has become a dear friend, who I think is absolutely brilliant and funny … I love them all, but, you know, Natasia and I didn’t get to have that many scenes together. So I really liked when we did have scenes together. This season is really funny and it doesn’t matter if I say that or not—you know, we don’t need ratings anymore or anything like that. I’m just so happy that we’re going out on a high note this season. It really is, I think, the funniest season. And I think the finale is unlike any finale we’ve seen on TV, especially in comedy. It sticks the landing, and I think people are going to be wanting more, which is exactly what you want when you finish the show. io9: What will you miss most about What We Do in the Shadows and playing Colin? It sounds like you made some lasting friendships there. Proksch: Absolutely. We’re all friends with everyone. And, you know, it’s rare in this day and age—I have been so lucky. It wasn’t planned. I do say no to a lot of stuff, but it’s not planned when you’re offered great stuff. And I’ve been lucky with, whether it’s The Office, Better Call Saul, Shadows, or on cinema, stuff in that world. I’ve just been really lucky. I’m going to miss that opportunity until hopefully the next time it comes up. It’s so rare to have a show you’re proud to be on these days. io9: Did you keep anything from the set? Proksch: I kept a lot of little things here and there. Worthless stuff. Some of the cast took rugs or furniture. I grabbed stuff that, you know, something that I saw every day when I would come to set. Just a small little thing that reminds me of Shadows, stuff like that. I took just a handful. I took one of those boxes, actually. The file boxes. Because it says “Colin Robinson” on it and has dates. And I have a box from The Office, a Dunder Mifflin box—for some reason, my characters are so boring and they keep grabbing lawyer’s boxes. I have the Baby Colins, they let me take those. And some of Colin Robinson’s journals, I grabbed. What We Do in the Shadows season six drops its three-episode premiere October 21 on FX, streaming the next day on Hulu. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

HorrorWhat We Do in the Shadows

Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily.

News from the future, delivered to your present.

Please select your desired newsletters and submit your email to upgrade your inbox.

Don Mancini, Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, and more horror stars reminisce in Thommy Hutson’s five-hour documentary.

A creator of the hit Showtime show starring Christina Ricci, Sophie Thatcher, and Melanie Lynskey teases 2025’s new season.

Creepy character posters for the December release urge viewers to reflect on where evil truly resides.

To celebrate Halloween, HBO has revealed new images and info for Stephen King prequel It: Welcome to Derry, coming in 2025.

Art the Clown is the murder machine of the moment, so we’re taking a look at our personal favorite death scenes across the series so far.

Get in the spooky season spirit and revisit Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson’s very own Treehouse of Horror comic.

Gizmodo’s Best of 2024 Awards ➜ We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.

©2024 GIZMODO USA LLC. All rights reserved. Mode

Follow us

Mode

Follow us

Read more at the source