Ruta Gedmintas and Richard Sammel break down a very intense torture scene that took place on The Strain in the most recent episode…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Two weeks ago on The Strain when it was revealed The Master’s No. 2 lackey Thomas Eichorst had kidnapped Dutch Velders and chained her up in his own personal torture chamber, things were going to get much worse before it got better.
Fast forward to the most recent episode titled ‘Dead End’ and Eichorst held Dutch captive while mentally and physically torturing her for hours on end while making her endure any number of twisted requests at the vampire’s every whim.
The scenes between Eichorst and Dutch chewed up a big part of the episode and ended up as some of the most brutally emotional footage that’s ever aired on The Strain.
To sum it up best at one point at the beginning of the tormented exchange, Dutch turns to Eichorst and asks in a panicked voice “what are you going to do to me?!?”
With wide-eyes and salacious look creeping across his eyes and mouth, Eichorst utters back possibly the scariest word Dutch has heard in her entire life….
“Everything”
From forcing Dutch to put on lipstick and eat pineapple in a demented trick to make her ‘taste’ better to the disturbing moment Eichorst commanded her to disrobe and remove her pants before bending over in front of him, Richard Sammel (who portrays Eichorst) and Ruta Gedmintas (who plays Dutch) had to depend on each other to help get through possibly some of the most difficult scenes their respective careers.
Sammel and Gedmintas recently answered some questions about that episode and those scenes in particular, which remain some of the most talked about moments in the two season history of The Strain.
What were your thoughts when you first received the script for this episode?
Ruta: “I called up Regina (Corrado, the writer of the episode), cause she sent me an email saying ‘just give me a call when you’ve read the episode’. I laughed when I read the episode and I called her like ‘you’ve got to be kidding me!’. But I was excited because they’re great scenes to play. They pushed us both in a variety of ways.
“I was apprehensive because you see these huge scenes and you could do them a number of ways. There’s a first layer where it’s just torture and then there’s the second layer where there’s an emotional gravity to it where there’s history and past and future and how these two characters are manipulating each other. I saw it with terror to begin with and then delight that we were going to delve into these scenes.”
Richard: “When I first read the script my first reaction was to double check who wrote it. In order to allow myself the question, what writer tries to exorcise some traumatizing childhood stuff in writing this kind of thing? Just kidding! These kinds of episodes, these kinds of scenes is what each actor is longing for. Difficult scenes on the edge of what you think can do, a little beyond your own limits and a big question mark of how am I going to do that in a believable way?
“It’s a wall that goes up 800 yards and you have no cords and no skills to climb, it’s like that. But you want that as an actor. You like challenges.”
Ruta: “When you read it and think ‘how am I going to do that?’, they are always the best scenes because it pushes you.”
The scenes played out with such psychological and physical torment so how was it filming together and how emotion did things get in those very dark and personal moments?
Ruta: “It was torturous but it was really fun. It was really nice to work with Richard, he’s a brilliant actor and it was a really crazy experience for us both to have to film these quite intense, dark scenes but be good friends, too. I think it brought us closer together.”
Richard: “These kinds of scenes where professionally, you’re longing for difficult stuff but once it’s written and in front of you in the pages, you’re apprehending how am I going to do this? It was a torture scene, an action scene, very emotional scenes, but this was very creepy stuff. I was kind really apprehending how are we going to work this out? Then you stick to your professionalism and you talk yourself into it.
“The good thing for me actually was something really special happened between me and Ruta. I’m not talking about the creepy side, I’m talking about the friendship. I’m very convinced now doing those scenes you’re able to bond. You have a bond and a friendship to go to those dark places together.”
Because those scenes involve so much trust between actors, how emotional did things get in those really tense moments and what did you do to come back down after it was over?
Ruta: “It was really dark and there are a couple of moments where we would be filming these very intense scenes and I would be in tears and Richard would be very creepy and dark and we just burst out laughing, which was really a good safe environment for us. It meant we could push our emotions further because we knew we were safe in each other’s hands and afterwards we’d be able to have a hug and go for a dance.”
Richard: “It was mixed with a lot of fun to get rid of the dark side. I remember we had after work, we had sessions drinking beer or cocktails or ice cream to get rid of it. Sometimes I need an hour of a hot shower to bring me back to a more human place.”
How about physically performing those scenes? Things got pretty rough for Dutch.
Ruta: “Being 16 hours chained up to a wall was quite difficult, but we did it. And they gave me lots of care and cuddles after so it was fine.”
What do you think that torture scene represented for Eichorst? What was his end game in all of that?
Richard: “I would just say it’s a very strong metaphor for what he has lost. He has lost Helga and he has lost his genitals. He’s consuming, he’s drinking, he’s nourishing himself in a very perverted and special way. I tend to think he would have turned her like I’m very tempted to say he wouldn’t just kill Setrakian, he would turn him (too).”
What is the aftermath of these scenes for Dutch now that she’s been rescued but not before she was held prisoner for at least a day while being force to endure some pretty awful things done to her?
Ruta: “It’s definitely a huge trauma for her, it would be for anyone. I think slowly in this season and into the next potentially, she will have to deal with that experience. It touched her on many levels.
“On a very dark emotional scrutiny to what Eichorst did to her. Her whole being was completely under scrutiny and it’s made her question herself and who she is in this life. Before she even gets to answer those questions and to take anything from it, she has to get over the initial terror.”
To see the aftermath of this scene that took place between Eichorst and Dutch make sure to check out the new episode of The Strain this Sunday night at 10pm on FX and follow up with our recap after it’s over!
