INTERVIEW: Keith Allan fights off zombies in ‘Z Nation’

Keith Allan is the key to humanity’s survival. Well, sort of.

The actor, who stars in Syfy’s Z Nation, plays Murphy, an ex-prisoner who was experimented on by the government. After receiving several bites from zombies, his fate seemed to be sealed. However, Murphy did something strange. He survived, and now he may be humanity’s best chance at a cure.

Z Nation continues its second season 10 p.m. Fridays on Syfy.

Allan didn’t go through the typical audition process when he joined the zombie show. “I have a unique story of kind of being in the right place at the right time,” Allan said recently during a phone interview. “I was living in L.A. and working as an actor, or not working as an actor as the case may be, you know. I was doing some smaller spots here and there, but I needed a day job to support myself. So I started working for The Asylum, who is one of the producers of the job, and I was hired as a stage manager. And that basically entailed running the facilities and, you know, managing the buildings and things like that.”

The Asylum folks knew that Allan was an actor and let him audition for one of their cult B movies. He turned that gig into a steady writing role for The Asylum, helping breathe life into such films as Rise of the Zombies and Zombie Night.

“Then when they decided to do a TV show, they’re like, hey, you want to audition?” he said. “I was like, hell yeah, I want to audition. … I probably auditioned seven, eight times for the role because that’s the way it goes. I’m sure they wanted someone who was more of a name, but they kept coming back to me, coming back to me. And you know, lo and behold, I got the job.”

He received the role of Murphy, an ornery, unpleasant man who would probably have been ditched by the assembled team of survivors if not for his hope for a cure. The character can be crude and funny, yet human and afraid.

“When I got the job it was very last minute,” he said. “I mean I got the job on a Friday at 4 o’clock, and I had to be in Spokane[, Wash.,] filming by Tuesday. It was like OK, you got a job. Now get your ass in the car and go because we need you. … They knew I could act. They knew me as a person, and so I’m sort of part of The Asylum family. I’m like the local kid makes good with them. They’re all very, very happy for me and very supportive of me, you know, in this new capacity, not being the guy who’s just hosing off the vomit off the front of the building.”

Allan loves how Murphy is thrust unwillingly into greatness, despite several character flaws. “He is one of those people who has always been sort of kicked around and beat up his whole life,” he said. “He becomes more and more in a power position and much to everyone else’s chagrin. … Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The more power he gets kind of the more awful he gets.”

However, Murphy is always on a balancing beam between revolting and tender. “He’s a good guy but I hate him,” Allan said of audience reactions. “That’s always fun to play.”

Because The Asylum often couples horror with comedy, Allan has come to expect some guts and gut-busting humor. “Asylum has a history for the most part of doing schlock B movies,” he said. “That’s sort of their niche, and so I wasn’t really sure what this show would look like or feel like. And, you know, as I got the scripts and as I started to see Carl Schaefer’s work — he’s our showrunner — I became very surprised and really looked forward to each week to see like what fun stuff do I get to say now. … And I get a lot of the great one-liners, and what’s great is they also will allow me to throw in a few lines on my own.”

He added: “I think the brilliant thing they’ve done from reading this show is really made that beautiful balance of horror, and comedy and drama. I think they’ve struck a nice balance with all those things. It’s got action, it’s the guts, it’s got the kills, and then you will surprisingly hit them with this tender, touching moment, and then some funny little gag that they throw in and stuff. So I think it’s sort of a nice smorgasbord for the audience of all different kinds. It’s not one thing, and I think that’s really the way to go for me. I love my horror with comedy. That was a favorite thing for me going to the drive-in. I mean you love to laugh at horror movies. That was part of the fun.”

One aspect of the job that Allan can’t predict is how long individual characters will be around. Zombie shows, including Z Nation in its first season, like to kill off the survivors.

“You don’t want to piss too many people off because you never know,” he said. “They could kill you at any time. … I mean we really don’t know what’s going to happen next week. They will give us a brief sort of outline of where this season is going to go, but, yeah, from week to week it’s always OK, what kind of situation are we in now this week kids.”

The actual production in Spokane can be draining. Allan spends hours each day in makeup, bringing to life the scarred body of his central character.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said. “I was filming last night until 5 a.m., got home, probably got to sleep around 6:30 or something like that. And, you know, so that was a good 16-hour day. Our days are very long, and I’m in makeup at least two hours every day. And then it’s another half-hour, 40 minutes to get out of makeup. … And then on top of that we’re running, we’re jumping, we’re fighting, we’re crawling … It’s a very physical show. So yeah it’s exhausting. Filming a zombie series or apocalyptic series is much like being in the apocalypse. By the end of the day you’re just like, I’m not going to make it. Go on without me. I can’t make it. I can’t do it. Just go on without me. Sometimes you just don’t know how you’re going to get through the next three more hours of this. It’s tough. It’s really tough. It is not for wimps.”

For audience members, both devoted fans and newcomers, Allan had these parting words. “We’ve upped our game from the first season,” he said. “I think the fans are really, really going to enjoy it.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Z Nation airs new episodes 10 p.m. Fridays on Syfy. Click here for more information.