Almost Human premieres Sunday night at 8PM on FOX, but before that, we have another interview to share with you from the show’s Vancouver filming location.
Today, the spotlight shines Michael Irby, who plays Detective Richard Paul, and Minka Kelly, who portrays Valerie Stahl in the series.
Irby describes his character as a “good salt of the Earth kind of guy, even though things are all changing around him.” When asked about the technology and future elements of the show, Irby points to the many forms of technology we already have today, and says it’s actually the crimes that set the futuristic Almost Human time period apart. “The fact that there are robots walking amongst us is also kind of cool,” he adds.
Minka Kelly doesn’t let the futuristic setting of the series affect her performance, and in fact, is not immediately aware of it when filming. “As far as the future goes in regards to the show, I’m not really aware of us being in the future aside from the fact that we have robots walking around,” Kelly admits. “I think that it’s when I see the show that I’m reminded that this is set so far in the future. I guess, also, the cases that we have each episode are pretty out there,” she admits, pointing out that it is fun to see what the writers come up with for the cases.
Irby feels that his character Richard Paul just sees the interaction with robots as a fact of life. “From my conversations with the producers, Paul is on the iPhone 28,” he admits. It’s just another thing to use. It’s just like a screwdriver. He’s just kind of a basic guy, so as far as that goes for me, I don’t think of the robotic aspect or all that stuff. It just helps me do what I need to do, and faster.”
Kelly seems to identify with the reaction John Kennex (Karl Urban) has in the series pilot. “I imagine, if I were in a coma for a few years and came back to a world where it was this different and there were robots and I had to work with them, I would probably resist it also, because that would be such a drastic, sudden change,” she admits. “I think it’s normal for humans to resist that drastic of a change, and I think for the rest of us, even how we are in real life, just like in this show, we’ve all gradually gone on this journey, and so it’s normal for us to have these robots everywhere. I think if we went from the brick phone to the iPad, it would be like ‘whoa! That’s a huge jump. I’m not sure if I can take that in,’ but because we’ve gone so gradually to the flip phone, to the Blackberry… we are on that journey. It’s a slow journey, so it makes sense to us. I think that might be why we don’t have such a particular problem as Kennex does,” she says about her character’s perspective.
Check out Almost Human Sunday night, November 17 at 8PM on FOX. Time is approximate as it will follow football. Here’s a new preview clip to whet your appetite:
