An: Hi. I had a quick question about Russell Hornsby. I love that actor and I loved him when he was on ABC Family. How did you go about casting him as Hank Griffin?
David Greenwalt: He was the best guy who came in and we had a lot of great guys that came in and read for that role, but Russell was — there’s something really special, really cool but warm at the same time about Russell. And we just fell in love and he — you know, he won it in the casting process.
Jim Kouf: Yes. He brings an authority to the role which is great.
David Greenwalt: Yes. An ease and authority. And we’ve got some really cool stuff coming for him, and he’s — his world is going to get rocked by a woman.
An: Will it be the creature that he does not know is a creature?
David Greenwalt: Say it again? Will he see the creature that he does not know is a creature?
An: No. Will it be the creature that he does not know is a creature? The one that the Captain set him up with?
David Greenwalt [pause]: Might be.
An: I have another question then as well. I like the current formula where you currently have a covert reveal of the monster at the beginning of the episode. But, will you eventually change that or actually have a human as the perpetrator for the crime?
David Greenwalt: Well, we did it initially in the episode last week in this “Of Mouse and Man” in which the man, not the mouse, was the perpetrator of the crime. So — but you know, we’ll do all kinds of different things. And sometimes there’ll be a good — what we call a Wesen. You know, a good creature. And sometimes yes — sometimes the bad people are just normal humans and it’s the Wesen or the Grimm creatures who are in trouble. We’ll mix it up.
An: And my final question is I love the show, like everyone else, and its originality. But do you ever watch Once Upon A Time and hope or cross your fingers that they won’t cover a similar story right before you cover it?
David Greenwalt: You know, we don’t really have time. We’re not watching any other shows. We — you know, we’re kind of living here in the office and doing this show. And you know, we wish them the best and we wish ourselves the best.
And you know, I think there may be some fairy tale characters that are similar, but our — the shows are so incredibly different that I don’t think it matters.
An: All right, great. Thank you very much. I look forward to seeing more.
Clacked by An Nicholson 
on Jan 29, 2012 @ 21:14 EST5EDT
It’s great that you’re getting all these interviews. Maybe Keith could just drop the audio files right into the CliqueClack podcast feed? I find that I have much more time to listen for 5-10 minutes on the go than to sit down and read the transcripts.
Nice to know that the producers use the term Wesen officially; it should make discussions much less awkward.
The trouble with following Once Upon a Time is that by the time one of their episodes airs, the Grimm producers are already several weeks or months into making their own current episode. I can’t fault them for not wanting to watch the competition at all so as not to second-guess themselves.
Hey Ryan –
Thanks for the kind words. When I have the audio, I like to make it available. However, on the conference calls, depending on the organization that runs it, some only release the transcripts.
I would like to know why the writers of Grimm left the viewers in the dark as to whether or not the young man who was abducted by the two brothers of the man who was raising marijuana in the woods and was killed by the bluebot young girl living in the woods, was left tied up in the cellar and no mention was ever made as to whether he was found or rescued from the basement?