Wicked Horror recently had the opportunity to sit down with the talented and highly affable Grant Bowler to discuss his new film 400 Days. We got the lowdown on Walter (his character in the film) and why he often finds himself playing the villain, we also got to talk a little bit about his character (Cooter) on True Blood. Head inside for the full conversation!

400 Days sees four would-be astronauts taking part in a 400-day long simulation project to observe and test the psychological ramifications of embarking on an actual deep space mission of great length. The line between reality and everything else quickly begins to blur when a communication interruption causes the team to lose all contact with the outside world.

The film is written and directed by Matt Osterman. In addition to Bowler, it also stars Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Ben Feldman, Dane Cook, and Tom Cavanagh. 400 Days is now available in limited theatrical release as well as on VOD.

Wicked Horror: I have read that you choose a lot of your roles based on the kind of character you want to explore at the time. What was it about Walter that made you decide you wanted to play him?

Grant Bowler: What was interesting about him–I guess to me–was you don’t know who he is. I love kind of blank slate characters and I particularly like it when you walk into a meeting with the director–like I did with Matt [Osterman]–and he says, ‘I don’t want to know who this guy is, I don’t necessarily want the audience to know whether this is a good guy or a bad guy.’ Because that leaves the door open for a lot of subtlety or you know the opportunity to try and play with minutia. And then, leave it on the floor for the director to kind of make his mind up later. You know, give him Walter the good guy, give him Walter the bad guy, give him Walter the enigma and he can go and cut whatever he wants to cut out of that. That’s been a bit of an exercise for me, probably over the last couple of years, just in terms of what I’ve been interested in because, weirdly enough, I’ve been on this kind of journey of trying to let go of the characters I play and maybe let somebody else make the decisions about them, just as an exercise as an actor. The basic premise of the script was also what attracted me. You probably know but the movie is based off an actual experiment in Russia.