God, guts and gore — and a lot of heart
‘Preacher’ speaks to horror, sci-fi, comedy and even romance
For a show with an opening scene that features a holy man blown to bloody smithereens, the creators of AMC’s Preacher made quick friends with the cable network’s censors.
“We may explode a certain celebrity in the pilot where there were a few conversations. But in the end, they let us do it!” says actor Seth Rogen, an executive producer on the series. “They’re just the most reasonable people.”
The ultra-violent, often funny and slightly blasphemous 1990s comic book that inspired Preacher makes the network’s zombie hit
The Walking Dead look like The Care Bears. And the series, while not a literal adaptation of the holy quest by small-town Texas pastor Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), embraces the tone and spirit of the comics: Arms are chopped off courtesy of a rusty chainsaw, and a man is killed with an ear of corn.
“It comes at a great time. The world’s gone nuts, and every decade that passes, it just gets that bit more insane,” says British actor Joseph Gilgun, who co-stars as Jesse’s pal Cassidy, who also happens to be Irish and a vampire.
But there’s more to Preacher than blood, guts and funny violence.
AMC has given producers freedom to go as insane and weird as they want with the series, a heavenly mash-up of horror, sci-fi, comedy, even romance. Most of the network feedback has asked to deepen the emotional layers of the characters, including the core trio of Jesse, Cassidy and the preacher’s deadly trigger-happy ex, Tulip O’Hare (Ruth Negga).
“Everyone on the show is very wounded and is really looking for other people to connect with,” Rogen says. “They kind of need each other in a weird way, but they also are the worst thing for each other at the same time.”
Jesse has to be there for his parishioners, though his own failings are on display in a conversation with Eugene “Arseface” Root, a teenager severely disfigured by a botched suicide attempt who, like Jesse, wonders why God doesn’t seem to be listening.
“It’s a huge conflict for him, to put on a brave face and say with authority and courage that one must keep one’s faith and the answers will come,” Cooper says. “But he knows full well that’s not true.” While many have tried to adapt
Preacher for TV and film since its 75-issue comic run in the late ’90s, Rogen says previous attempts were too scarce on humor. “We looked at it and just thought, for whatever reason, we have the sensibility to bring this to life.”
His passion lured Cooper: “I found myself in an office with these five bearded men, talking passionately about the most obscure things that I had ever heard of: a man who’s in love with the god of meat. I was obsessed with being involved in it.”
The series “comes at a great time. The world’s gone nuts, and every decade that passes, it just gets that bit more insane.” Joseph Gilgun, who plays Cassidy