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JourneyQuest: Tell us about your character.
Kevin Pitman: Glorion is a lot like me in that he is awesome. In fact, I would give him an awesome rating that hovers somewhere around a 9 or 9.5. I have to say that my favorite shared trait is our deep and mysterious bahama-sea-blue eyes. At the same time startling and engaging.
Glorion is by far the most interesting of all the JourneyQuest characters. That’s not just my opinion, it’s fact. I like to think of him as the tank of the group. He runs in first, cuts slashes breaks, and generally thrives on the mayhem of the moment. I really enjoy the idea that you never really know what to expect from him. As an actor, it’s freeing to have such permission to really be creative and spontaneous with a character. I generally just said whatever I wanted in a scene and the editor cuts around it.
JQ: Why is Glorion on this quest?
Kevin Pitman: I made a decision early on with the director, Matt Vancil, about what Glorion’s motives are for being on this quest. But I don’t think those motives become clear to Glorion himself until midway through the first season. Glorion is a moment-by-moment guy; he doesn’t plan far, because planning just hinders his natural impulses, which are of course always right. Glorion has a great capacity for calculated blindness. By that I mean that up to a point he chooses to see only the things that matter to him or benefit him directly and immediately. I like to think this apparent shallow persona is actually rooted in a much deeper need Glorion feels to escape a very dark past.
I think as the series moves forward, we will begin to glimpse little moments where the glorious Glorion façade begins to fracture and reveal a more ambitious and intentional man that has something resembling a plan. Right now all he sees is the need to recover the Sword of Fighting. He wants it and he will get it because he was told to get it and that’s his job. The deeper motives will develop only if he fails to meet that goal…
JQ: What’s the deal with Glorion?
KP: I don’t know. What’s the deal with your face? Who is this guy with all the questions… the Riddlemeister?
JQ: How did you get involved with the project?
KP: I actually met the Dead Gentlemen when I was cast as Ichabod for the Demon Hunters RPG training video. They called me up to audition for JourneyQuest after I had made the move to LA. Because of the distance I assumed at the time that I wouldn’t be able to participate in the process. But after hearing a breakdown of the plot and eventually getting to read a draft of the first script, I knew I couldn’t miss the fun. So after participating in the LA portion of the auditions, and subsequently being offered the part of Glorion, I told Matt that I would do whatever it would take to make this happen. And in hindsight, I don’t think I’ll ever even miss that left kidney.
JQ: You wore genuine, combat-ready armor during the filming. What was that like?
KP: Heavy! I have undying respect for the Seattle Knights who loaned us the equipment. These guys not only wear this stuff for festivals and performance, but they joust, ride horseback, fight, and generally run amok in even heavier gear than what you see Glorion wearing in the series. All told, I probably had on about 60 or 70 pounds of gear, including the chain coif, hauberk, arm plating, and sword belt. I had to sit or lie down between most every take just to conserve the energy to make it through a full day of shooting. The whole Knights team and set crew were great about helping me stay careful and comfortable throughout. I would also add that the armor was probably the single most effective trigger to help me access what Glorion’s character was about. Here’s a guy who has a tremendous lust for life and combat in all its incantations. I think his fervor is in many ways a response to the weight, both figuratively and literally, of this armor as a representation of his responsibility to be so glorious all the time. Really, never a moments rest. Plus that ego is pretty heavy too.
“Glorion has a great capacity for calculated blindness.”
JQ: That sword looks pretty real, too.
KP: I probably hit everyone and everything on set at least once accidentally with that sword. Glorion draws his sword with reckless abandon and uses it as a sort of exclamation point to his thoughts. Say something important, draw the sword, repeat. Or so it goes in his line of reasoning. He has not communicated clearly unless steel has flashed in the air to accompany some sort of shouting. I hit branches and rocks and set pieces and actors and whatever else was handy to demolish. Luckily I had the armor on to protect my head when I hit myself. At one point in the early episodes, Gorion attacks a river for reasons known only to him. On the day we shot that sequence, our fight director kept telling me to calm down and be more careful when I swung at the water with my sword. Apparently I was getting a little excited and the whole crew thought I was going to fall headlong into the water in full armor and drown myself. I think they just wanted to avoid rusty armor and the hassle of recasting.
JQ: What was the best part of the shoot?
KP:My favorite moments in the filming process came when Matt would do a few takes of the scene as written in the script, and then he would say that we were going to just improv some stuff for more options. The dungeon scenes in particular have about ten different versions of each shot that featured some really ridiculous and fun stuff that will never even be seen except maybe on a blooper reel. I love Matt for that! He really gave me freedom to wander about and say whatever I thought might be fun or crazy. Every actor at his core likes to be right all the time and Matt let me keep on thinking I was golden and spot on for every take. Even if it wasn’t true, which of course it was, I needed that confidence boost to really make Glorion work.
JQ: What was the worst?
KP:Now that I’ve talked Matt Vancil up to no end, I need to get real for a moment. This guy has a serious BO problem and needs to deal with it immediately. I suggested to him that he go see a doctor or something, it was really that bad. No joke, my eyes would water and my skin would burn when he came in close to give me notes during a scene. Simply awful. And I’m pretty sure he had human bodies in the trunk of his car. Matt Vancil is most likely a murderer, or a hitman at the very least. Did you know he tried to stab me one time when I forgot a line? 14 stitches. Luckily it only grazed my liver, but seriously, I fear for my life. I don’t really sleep much anymore.
JQ: What are you looking forward to in Season Two?
Kevin Pitman: If the high standards that this production has held to thus far are any indication of where the series is going, then I think it’s safe for us to all look forward to an incredible story next season. Or a train wreck. Personally I assume that Season Two will most likely be incredible and a train wreck. Let the fates decide. I’m easy.
Depending on what develops between now and then, I’m hoping to have finished writing a spin-off series in time for production on Season Two. I’ve been workshopping some titles. So far they include: Just Glorion, The Chronicles of Glorion, One Flew Over The Orc’s Nest (Cause Glorion Kicked Him In The Teeth), and my favorite I Am Honor: An Exercise In Gloriosity. I’m just awaiting final approval from budget for my quarter mil advance. Any day now…
JQ: What are you working on now?
KP:At this very moment I am currently working the audition circuit in LA. I just recently signed with a local agent and she regularly pimps me out to the highest bidder. My days are mostly consumed with work and auditions. Recently I finished production on a few short films that will hopefully be hitting the festival circuit soon. If you are looking to see me in something now, just watch any of the CSI crime dramas. I’ve been working a lot of background as a cop. A blurry, distant cop-shaped blob in the very back of the scene… If you look closely, you may see me wearing my armor in a few shots. Haha, no that would be crazy. But seriously, you’re a bad person if you don’t check out my website, www.kevinpitman.com. It’s full of juicy material for tabloid fodder and dorm room posters or whatevs.
I love Glorion! I hope its ok if I name my WoW pally after him! Making a macro that will yell Onward! when I taunt
Having never heard of it, my friends and I watched JourneyQuest (all 7 episodes simultaneously) this July. The first favorite character was Glorion due to his kill-everything, cheerfully-enthusiastic approach to life’s problems.
Reading Mr. Pitman’s interview is just extra-tasty icing on the glorious journeyquest cake.
I am looking forward to his performance in season two.
Thanks for the performance.