Pablo Schreiber

The special effects are unto themselves in terms of the breadth and the extent of the effects. Can you talk about how your experience was working with them?

Initially you go into it, your first point of contact is story. And it’s going to be your first and last point of contact. So, your preparation obviously is learning the story, becoming involved with the story. And it’s one of the real beauties of this project, the depth of story and mythology that we have to draw from with the “HALO” universe is amazing.

And so as far as the visual effects and the green screen and whatnot go, you end up spending some time acting with virtual partners, tennis balls sometimes. That can obviously be off-putting and interesting. But you always, always come back to story, and you always come back to trying to find your through line.

Obviously Master Chief is a character that players of the “HALO” videogame don’t usually see in their point of view. So does that give you more freedom or pressure to embody him?

I think it gives both. One of the biggest things that we have to deal with here is the difference in making a videogame versus making a TV show. And we’re very squarely in the “HALO” universe. It’s a show for people who love the “HALO” universe, and it’s a show for people who are just discovering the “HALO” universe.

And then ... the opportunity of playing a character like this, you know, Master Chief is obviously one of the most iconic characters of all time, one of the most heroic characters of all time. So, the opportunity to get to explore those themes and ideas, the relationship between the warrior and the hero, what are the similarities and where do they diverge, is what’s really interesting for me.

The most wonderful thing I’ve encountered about the visual effects on this is just seeing it come to life ... we shot what we shot while we were in Budapest over the last couple of years, and now we’re getting to see it fleshed out in a way on the screen that is just truly mindblowing.