Adam Savage Talks with The Expanse's Wes Chatham!

Adam Savage here from Tested. I am on the set of the Expanse and I'm sitting next to Amos aka Wes Chatham. Wes, how are you, brother? How you doing, brother? It's good to see you. You know, before we start, I want to say something. I so much appreciate the love and support that you give the show and getting to meet you and hang out with you and I got to go do one of your panels at Comic-Con and there's just such an energy around you and a fanship that everybody responds to. So I just I'm really glad that you you look out for us. I appreciate it. I feel so at home and so welcomed here into this big family. You're part of the family! It is super much a family. Yeah. OK, so given that when we first met you guys were just in the second season of the show, right now you're shooting the fifth season so you had like four and a half years to get inside Amos, who was already your favorite character in the books. Yes. It's like one of my favorite things. How has it been to spend so much time working inside Amos? Enormously creatively satisfying being able to spend five years and really working on doing the work and putting together in the churn is a novella that's based off famous his childhood that has always been the foundation that I worked off of and kind of created the the character and now that we're in the season five and we're actually physically going back to visit that sit return situation as childhood to deal with demons from his past it's I've done this month all this work and everything so it's it's almost a part of me now it's like inside of me Amos his journey in season three strikes me as this set of pennies dropping in his head as he kind of realizes well actually there's a great David Mamet film called Spartan yes a plays a special forces guy and at one point his a penny drops in him he realizes he shouldn't just do his job he needs to understand his job and somebody else says to him you're not a plant you're not a planner you're a shooter and I think that season three Amos realizes he might not just be a shooter mm-hmm so I'm curious about what season four might bring for for a mrs. arc what's it what's been interesting with the Ross and Dante journey is that it fir that was a mrs. relationship was really focused on Naomi and in that stems from his first really important relationship that was Lydia from his childhood and so what kind of transfer to Naomi and then as the they've been through what they've been through he's kind of his sphere of influences broaden and so now it's the rest of the ruts are not the raw sanitary we are now all connected and he they were under in that same place and so as that goes his as that's kind of developed he's changed and emotionally in a way that some of the circuits are coming on board yeah and he realizes that through trauma and through the things that he's been as a childhood that a lot of things has been shut down and ripped off as you get in the season four you see the circuit starting to short and and it's in it it's almost more than he can take that must be really exciting as an actor to be able to sort of play those in the scale yes in television it does character more than anything I've ever done is endlessly fascinating to me in each season you know I we're in season five right now and I still have butterflies in my stomach getting to play this character and I still I still work is hard today as I did on day one of like really trying to get in and understand and I actually took the churn and I remember sitting down with and gave it to psychologists and like sit down and really went through and said if if this happens somebody how does this manifest a physical behavior and mannerisms and what is the thing what are the how does he interact with people like socially what does that look like and so it you know five years into it now it's I don't it's almost in its just inherent in me over this time you've had also a huge and dedicated fandom and you've been doing a lot more cons in the last couple years I'm curious about what perspective you've gotten on the show from the fans from their reaction that it's been getting that's a that's a really good question because that this show I've learned a lot in this show and it's kind of and I was I was mentioning this to you earlier there's something about the expanse in the expanse community every person that has came up to me and where I am it's always been a great conversation so if somebody comes up and said hey man I like the show and I like the expanse and then we start and then I immediately get like oh well that's because you know I've had such great experiences and talking and go being able to go to comic-con and with this show realizing that this is this huge celebration of just stories and things that we all love and we're coming together to really discuss and to dress and to just really celebrate these these stories in being a part of that then you we now have a connection with the fans in a relationship with this show unlike anything I've ever done before and so I feel every time we show up I just have a such a sense of gratitude for our fan relationship and connection to the show and I feel supported and I know that they have our back obviously we know what everything that happened and so you know it's just it's a really wonderful experience and I haven't you know experienced anything like that something about the experience is really it's just really incredible with every great ensemble cast you end up with characters that are also sort of archetypes but not necessarily that slot right into a classic archetype mold I'm curious what you notice about Amos from the type of fans that gravitate towards him as a character well you know it's really fascinating to me is that because I did the detailed work and tried to be as honest about life if this really if this really happened is somebody what is how is that going to manifest how that's going to look I also had an acting teacher I had an act also as well as I had an acting teacher that told me her name was Sondra Seacat she says some that was really interesting to me and she said that everything that every character that comes to you it's kind of from a spiritual perspective but everything that comes to you there are things that that character is working on and dealing with that is parallel with your own things that you're working and dealing with and you even if you're unaware of it and so you know I don't know what I have in common with that you know what I haven't come with Amos but ultimately I know is honest is honest and truthfully as I can tell the story and do it there are people eat you no matter how subtle the mannerisms or characteristics people come up to me and say listen I understand what Amos is going and I had similar situations and I see that through what you're doing and I never I didn't I didn't do it thinking that anybody would even picked up or down cyanosis they'd pick up every time and they'd say is this what he's going through I don't want to talk about it yeah and they say is it and I'll say yeah and they say you know this is happening my brother or this is you know whatever and so there's a we just there's a certain kind of connection of being honest about this mental health issue and this you know it's it's really fascinating that must be very gratifying I mean you know we find we find sick or in diving into these narratives that and then move us know the experience is also a super physical show there's a lot of fighting there's a lot of zero gravity do you see season forward really because way do you see season five I just watched the trailer in which you are getting ready to fight with a gentleman who I believe might be a villainous type someday I think you and I could have we ended up naughty I'm free right now and I'm just wondering um it's gotta be really difficult to both act in a moat and serve the character at the same time as you are literally effectively ballroom dancing with your fists right right right talk to you about how hard what it's like to do stunts detailed stunt work on wires and act well you know the the thing doing stunts through a mice's perspective it's it's always a little bit more so the way that we kind of design it is he's not a mice's he is a talented amateur so we want it to be as brutal and as violent and sloppy as it could be so it's not as choreograph there's a lot of room for you know particularly there was something that we just did where it is the most primal visceral clawing eyes hair stabbing that you know anything I've ever done and at the end of the day you feel it because you know you you know you I didn't you don't want it to like it like a it's not a kung-fu scene he's not a karate master he's just a guy that has this you know ability to tolerate a lot of pain in ease you know can be more violent than the next person each new season brings new characters and having spent a lot of time on these sets I know what a family you guys are how is it welcoming new people into the family every every season that's one of my favorite things my one of my favorite things is reading the beginning of a season reading the pilot or reading you know there's many scripts as they have available and seeing all these new great characters and thinking all who are they gonna cast for that and then getting to meet all these people when it's like oh that was a good choice in then and then bringing them into the family and you know making them feel welcome and making them feel at home and we've been so lucky particularly in season four in this season five of getting such talented people to come be a part of the show and work with us and it's just I just feel lucky that we get to work with all these people when I watch scenes between you and other actors specifically where there's activation the hint of violence I start to think to myself that for you and the scene partner you're with there must be a moment when you both don't know that this one this take is clicking on all cylinders is that feel as good as I hope it does it really does it really does I think I had a scene in season four where I was with another character and in that character we have a disagreement and there is a punch in that same and we were so into it and so caught up in to it that that character ended up punching me and the thing is is because that happens in the scene in the thing is I didn't win we finished the scene and it felt great and I didn't realize until they told me after like are you okay and I say why you really got punched in the face and and I it just felt so natural in the scene and doing that he's like I'm so sorry I'm so sorry my weight you talking about those are one the best you know it really really worked because I was so connecting and so into it and that happened yeah so it'd be interesting to see if you can tell what scene it is I can't wait how important is it also over this period of time I assume your crew has remained mostly the same yeah that's got to make it a very comfortable atmosphere to sort of step outside your comfort zone yeah and it's rare so I you know we've had the probably 95% of the original crew five years ago we started that we're going in our fifth year I had a son my son was born the second the third week of shooting the first season he turns five next week a basis five years right you know I'm like how did what but so to go to what you say you know we've all been together for five years all of us you know the crew of people we work with and everything and we've you know have kids people got married you know all these things so you become so connected and you have such relationship and Steven and I were discussing this yesterday but also working on a show that is demanding is this and all these moving parts if you work together with somebody five years you're gonna get good at what you're doing you're gonna have a connection and a relationship that you just know a shorthand a shorthand and everything so when I show up on set here I feel supported I feel prepared and I'm focused and ready to go sometimes you show up on a new set and it's like you have to meet it right the energy of like hey how you doing oh nice to meet you are you trying to figure out what you're doing this man like we just we've done it for so long that we just really locked into it well I mean it becomes part of your life and life has its ups and downs to I would imagine that there are days you show up feeling a little less than ready for every right and everyone else holds you up and helps you move forward yeah and you know I'm I get my energy I'm an extrovert like I get my like you know talking to people and everything so no matter how I feel when I come and I see all my friends and people that haven't worked with for a long time that I feed off that and it gets me it gets me up you know and it gets me going and so there are days I'm coming to work it's like oh man I'm you know it's tired on the scene whatever and I show up and run into the pit you know as soon as you know hey man how you doing I didn't you just ready to start working were there any any props and season for that you got to interactive that were really fun that were my favorite prop is the automatic shotgun I you you got to push yeah I really really oh oh there was we also we have some new vehicles and season four that are really fun to drive oh nice yeah vehicle wheeled vehicles and they have you know and it's kind of controlled by a joystick yeah you know what it has these big like monster truck tires on them that goes over the rocks or whatever that's real city practicals yeah we know it's practical realize it's literally so you're like in a go-kart and you and you're you're laid back like this you're driving it like you would you know like the old Atari you know it's about sorry you're driving it but it has these big wheels and it's muddy and it's water so and you're driving that was fun I was a lot of fun driving that I you know I'd love to show when you guys started I loved it so much more now I can't wait for season four brother thank you so much thanks brother

Channel: Adam Savage’s Tested

Views: 618,737

Keywords: adam savage, the expanse, the expanse tv, adam savage the expanse, dominique tipper the expanse, adam savage set visit, the expanse season 4, expanse behind the scenes, the expanse season 4 behind the scenes, adam savage behind the scenes, adam savage tested, adam savage expanse set, amazon video, wes chatham, amos burton, wes chatham interview, wes chatham the expanse, wes chatham amos, adam savage wes chatham, the expanse amos, amos burton the expanse

Id: ZfNJvwNZZ2k

Length: 14min 4sec (844 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 20 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/_PickleMan_]

Sounds like he’s confirming that season 5 will delve into the Churn a bit!

Wes is an example to me that an actor might not look exactly like you pictured them in the books, but give them a chance to make the character their own. He’s done a fantastic job with Amos.

[u/CJMann21]

Fucking love this guy! Awesome work as Amos.

[u/Lizard_brooks]

This was a great interview. I love how Deep Wes has gone into the character. Its cool he went to pyschologist to get some insight on possiblities for Amos. Really interesting take. Edit: The only thing, Please don't start Method acting Amos...That might not go well.....

[u/build319]

Love how he views the rest of the cast as all as friends. I know he’s an actor but he seems really genuine.

[u/sappermorton]

Oh man, I love that he described Amos as a "talented amateur". It's just awesome to see that he's really, really read the books and knows the character that well.