GCE Exclusive: Interview with Kevin Galbraith, Tyler Chase and Moses J. Moseley

At the Carnival of ParaHorror convention, I had a chance to speak with The Walking Dead actors, Kevin Galbraith (swamp walker), Tyler Chase (Ben) and Moses J. Mosely (one of Michonne’s pet walkers). We talk makeup application, upcoming events and the way they follow the show and comics. WARNING: There are season 2 and 3 spoilers!

How long did your makeup processes take?

Kevin: Over three hours, mostly because I wasn’t wearing a shirt. It’s usually a 90 minute to 2 hour process if you are, but it was all airbrushing on the chest and upper body and they had to do it really close up. It’s hypnotic to watch the makeup guys put on layer after tedious layer–over and over again, I don’t know how they actually do that. I would love to see what they see. Watching Kevin Wasner while he’s doing makeup…[mimics Wasner’s focus doing makeup] and I think ‘what are you seeing? What kind of dimensions does your brain perceive things that I can’t wrap my own head around?”

Tyler: My makeup was a quick process. It was a prosthetic on a shirt, so the biggest and hardest thing about that was getting everything laid out. They used real entrails and then they had sausage that Micheal Rooker could actually eat. But it was a very quick process. They didn’t want to do a lot of re-positioning so it was an under-layer under a shirt that was ripped over the prosthetic and covered it with blood. It was set and prepped and really–the shoot was a very intense scene and they did a beautiful job with it. It was amazing.

Moses: Mine was two or two and a half hour process. The hardest part of my makeup was trying t make it seem like my ribs were open. Everything else was airbrush and latex for the jaw portion. The ribs took the longest time because they literally had to make it look like everything was ripped open and exposed. For my arms they used the green paint (so they could edit them in post) and they had to add things to make the flesh look like it was ripped and bulging by the shoulders.

Kevin, if you had the choice as the swamp walker, would you have eaten Dale?

Yep. Wait. No, Jimmy. I would have murdered Jimmy. It ended up being his fault that the RV was engulfed in flames. It was a perfectly good vintage ’77 Winnebago Chieftain. The way he (James McCune) parked it, the tail end was clipped so it screwed everything up and they decided ‘well, let’s just light it on fire’. Way to be the cause of that! *laughs*

Did any of you guys read the comic series before or did you pick it up once you had your roles?

Kevin: Once I had heard about it and got the role I went out and picked up the comics.

Tyler: I picked them up for character study since they have the character Ben in the comics. I was excited because I’d never read them before. When I learned he (Ben) was ten and how he was a twin, it was a much different direction from what I was doing! It was great to finally get an understanding for what it was like. I got to meet Robert Kirkman after I read the comics and I was like, “So I’m assuming we’re not going for a ten year old” and he just said “no… no, no.”

Moses: Once I was cast for it, I went back to read them to understand who I was to her (Michonne). It was really interesting and I was surprised to find out all kinds of things I didn’t know about the role–that they were her boyfriend and father.

Kevin (to Moses): Did you read the Michonne one shot comic?

Moses: No, I haven’t, but I’ve heard about it.

Kevin: I’ll see if I can send you a copy. They did this one shot on Michonne and showed her origin and backstory, and shows her in her lawyer clothes running back home in the opening days of the apocalypse. I don’t remember the specifics but I do believe you see living boyfriend and father or brother–I can’t remember what exactly it was in the comics but it is a good one.

Do any of you have any upcoming events?

Moses: I also model, I’m working with Global Runway. I’m traveling around the world and we are spreading knowledge of health, fitness and HIV awareness. I just finished the film “42” and have a couple other things in the works right now.

Tyler: I will be attending SpookyCon in Orlando and FanBoy Expo in Knoxville… that’s coming up soon. I also do electronic music on the side so I will be doing several performances in the next couple weeks. There’s a film that I’m in called “The Between” that’s coming out this year as well.

Kevin: Where are your shows going to be? I’d like to check them out.

Tyler: One will be in Filmore New York, and the other is going to be in Nashville, North Carolina. It was so funny, I did a remix of the Walking Dead theme as my final goodbye present and gave it to the entire cast. It was awesome.

Kevin: I did some extra work in the Hunger Games sequel. I have a really hot scene where I have a makeout session with Jennifer Lawrence–and none of that happens. I’m just running around in the back, you’ll see my blurry face most likely not in zombie makeup.

As fans of the show, are you excited to see where it goes?

Tyler: Of course! Since Kirkman is still writing it, then can do–literally–whatever they want.

Kevin: Most definitely. I know Gale Anne Hurd and Kirkman were saying in recent interviews that they would like to do the show indefinitely if they let them. I’m not sure if Nicotero will be able to do this forever like they want to–all the power to the man, he’s amazing. He keeps the show his main focus–he’s a zombie guy first and foremost but if you think about it, how sick do you think he has to get of zombies?

Tyler: Yeah, and they’ve had him on as the executive producer, too.

Kevin: The first show he directed was ‘Judge, Jury and Executioner’. I don’t think I would have done half as well as swamp walker if he hadn’t been the director. He made me feel completely comfortable. Working with Greg, it was straight face to face, telling me exactly what to do.

Tyler: I think he sees everything differently too, from both sides. He cares about the zombies, he cares about the show. He directs with passion.

If you guys had the chance, would you work every day on the set dressed as walkers?

Kevin: Of course! Why would you even ask that! *laughs* That’s the one question I always get, ‘was it fun working on The Walking Dead?’

Moses: They have asked me that a million times, yes! It’s a rhetorical question! *laughs*

Kevin: It’s impossible to describe it to you in words. It’s like the weirdest dream you ever had at failing to describe something to someone–times a thousand.

Tyler: There’s so much work that goes into it and you are constantly thinking about the job you are doing and it’s non-stop working but it’s a complete blast.

Do you think the time in the makeup chair might bother some people?

Kevin: It’s an endurance process, I loved it. It’s very zen-like. If I had something irritating me with the contact or something I couldn’t think about it or else it would only make it worse and when you have someone poking at your eye, you just can’t think about that.

Moses: They did that to me a lot. They had two people with me the whole time because I couldn’t see anything. And they’d tell me ‘we’re going to poke your eyeball now’ and I’m like ‘you are poking it now stop!’

A lot of people are allergic to the makeup that they use, was that a problem at all?

Moses: I’m allergic to pecans and I guess they had one color that had pecan oil in it and just before the artist touched my face with it he asked ‘what are you allergic to again?’ and I told him pecans and he practically threw down the brush and said ‘nevermind that, then!’ It would have made my whole face swell up but I didn’t have any reactions to it otherwise.