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Video Interview: Reginald the Vampire Star Jacob Batalon

Reginald the VampirePremiering tonight on Syfy, Reginald the Vampire, based on the novel series Fat Vampire by Johnny B. Truant, follows Reginald, played by Jacob Batalon, who is transformed into a vampire and doesn’t fit into the expected mold of the beautiful and fit undead. Becoming a vampire only adds to the unlikely hero’s problems, but he soon discovers he has some new hidden talents in the process.

When attacked, Reginald is turned by Maurice (Mandela Van Peebles), and his maker becomes not only his mentor, but also his friend. “I would say it's probably the most important relationship that's in the show, only because it's sort of the whole reason why Reginald’s in this mess,” said star Batalon to SciFi Vision during a recent roundtable. “Mandela, and I absolutely wanted to make it a point that we are absolutely brothers. We are absolutely close, and that chemistry really plays really well in the show. But it is detrimental; the whole story is beginning because of the relationship. So, I would say that that's the hardest relationship we had to work on.”

Batalon not only is the star of the series, but for the first time, he also is a co-executive producer on the project. “I think, for me, they gave me a lot of reign over what I did for my character,” he told the site. “They just let me in on all the all the sort of messages we wanted to convey and the meetings that we have behind closed doors and sort of the understanding of what it means to push a certain image in a certain story and help that inform my performance.”

Reginald the Vampire“I'm never one to be like, ‘This person didn't perform well. I don't think they should be doing this thing,’” he added. “I'm just happy to watch people work, and then do my work, as well. It was a very enlightening experience. I think it's really helped me as an actor, to really see what it's like on camera every single day.”

During the roundtable, the actor also talked about how he related to Reginald on a deeper level. “I felt like just as an actor, just preparing for it emotionally and mentally, very much meant that I just had to really deep dig into the past sort of insecurities that I would have about myself and all those sorts of things,” said Batalon, adding that the writing made it a lot easier for them to convey the story. “I think that it’s written so well that really you just have to be good, and it'll come out great.”

During the interview, the star also took a moment to talk about choosing inclusivity driven projects. “For me, I think that it's a big point of contention for a lot of people,” he explained, “because unless you look a certain way, you feel like you're not really seen or represented, and I just want to be a part of the narrative of really pushing inclusion and inclusivity…I think it's finally time that we are all seen and respected and seen as equals, and for every marginalized group, for people of color, the gay community, women, all these things, all these people who've never had a chance, I would say, ‘it's finally our time.’”

Watch our portion of the interview below and be sure to tune into Reginald the Vampire, tonight on Syfy.

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