5 Questions For 'The Originals' Star
Charles Michael Davis got a jumpstart on the rest of fall's fresh meat with his incredibly winning performance as Marcel in The Originals backdoor pilot that aired as an April episode of The Vampire Diaries. Seeing how the character continued to unfold on the proper series was easily one of the top 5 things I was most looking forward to this season.
Thankfully Thursday's official premiere not only continues to position Marcel as one of the year's best new characters and Charles Michael Davis as one of the year's brightest new stars, but it only begins to hint at the potential of both. I sat down with the actor during a recent trip to The Originals set to find out how it feels to be starring on his own show for the first time, what he's excited for the fans to see and when he'll be singing next!
ETonline: What's the fan interaction been like for you since the backdoor pilot aired?
Charles Michael Davis: They're pretty excited. I'm surprised, honestly, given the amount of time between the pilot and the October 3 premiere. I keep my finger on the pulse of the fans with Twitter, and Googling myself late at night and it's comforting to see fans at three in the morning on the streets when we're filming. It's cool. One time we walked by a store and they were already selling memorabilia for our show. That's just too cool.
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ETonline: What have you enjoyed about the man Marcel has turned out to be?
Davis: The writing has really brought out so many sides in him. I'm so happy about that. The relationships between Marcel and the other main characters feel really natural while not being one-sided, too jovial, too angry or anything that's too one way or the other. It's perfectly played so far.
ETonline: This is the first time you've been a series regular -- what has that experience been like for you?
Davis: I wondered how I would handle coming in every day; where I would mentally be at because I'm so used to just working for two days on an episode and then leaving that character behind, but it hasn't shaken me at all. There's a nice letting go. And thankfully so much of Marcel is on the page, so I’m just really excited to come to work all the time.
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ETonline: You made quite a splash singing in Marcel's introductory episode. Can we look forward to more singing?
Davis: There hasn't been much singing, but there has been some dancing! The only singing is the lessons I'm taking in real life. I do it for fun.
ETonline: You're four episodes in to season one, what are you excited for fans to see?
Davis: The energy level keeps moving at such an exciting and fast pace -- I hope the fans feel that energy coursing through the show. The discoveries in all the relationships have also been a treat. [Thursday's] episode is told through Elijah's eyes, so we get to grow with each character while the story is also rapidly developing. For me, I feel like the stories are really progressing. There were things I thought it would take a whole season to develop that are well-established by the fourth episode. I'm amazed and excited we're getting to this stuff so quickly because it makes my imagination run wild about where we're going to go in the next 18 episodes!
The Originals premieres Thursday at 9 p.m. on The CW.