I am a fan of “Grimm” and all the great creatures they have on the show. I especially like the actor who plays Monroe. Does he have any favorite creatures?
—Gregory Agos, Lexington, Ky.
Not surprisingly, Silas Weir Mitchell, 43, who plays Monroe, would have to say the Blutbad, because he morphs into the wolf-like being. But he does have other favorites among the NBC cop drama’s mythical creatures, or “Wesen,” as they are called.
“I just like their names,” he says. “Like the Volksthiville, which is sort of a Rumpelstiltskin character. It’s just a fun name. I did like the bat creature—the Murciélago—that I really thought looked good.”
And while the majority of the work of turning the human actors into their Wesen counterparts is done by computer effects, the Philadelphia-born Mitchell says that there are things he does as an actor to help it appear more realistic.
“If Monroe is scared versus angry, because there are several situations under which a Wesen will reveal himself, and one of them is an aggressive, angry, purposeful morph,” he explains. “Then sometimes if you’re really, really sad, or scared or nervous, your inner self will burst out because your guard is down.
“So in the event that you do it one way versus the other, you’re going to have a different aspect. And the CGI is able to capture that. So it’s not just a big thing that goes on top of you and obfuscates your emotional life. It’s prime enough that it can see what you’re feeling. It can react to your face.”
