Gregg Daniel Brings Father-Like Dynamic To Role In ‘Truth Or Dare’

An innocent game of Truth or Dare takes a sinister turn in the horror film by the same name starring Lucy Hale and Tyler Posey. Renowned actor Gregg Daniel‘s role as Detective Kranis is the film takes a unique spin on the typical detective figure adding a layer of patriarchal sentiment that he told Glambergirlblog.com all about in an exclusive interview.

Photo: Peter Iovino/Universal

“I play Detective Kranis who is aware that these kids are dying and that somehow they seem to be involved in this game of Truth or Dare, but can’t believe what is it that’s so sinister about Truth or Dare. I really cares about them and really wants to see what’s happening to these kids, but I can’t get the information from them. They just don’t trust me enough to give me the information,” Daniel said about his role. He continued to talk about the film with GGB and how he approached his character.

“It’s a very young cast and it’s nice to have an adult figure who is sympathetic and that’s what I saw him as. I played him as a law enforcement officer who didn’t think they were crazy or didn’t think they were dong anything bad, but who really wanted to help them in a sincere way but couldn’t figure out how do people die in your little group of friends. Why are people dying after playing Truth or Dare? So I really tried to play the detective as sympathetic, almost like a father figure and that he probably has kids in college too and it hurts him to see these kids dying in these ways, so he tries to intervene.”

Photo: Peter Iovino/Universal

Most of Gregg’s scenes were shot with Lucy Hale and at night; which added to the eerie and sinister layers to the film. Despite the couple of jump scares Daniel had, working with Hale was nothing to be scared about. “She was terrific to work with. A really talented young actress. When we were going back and forth looking into her eyes and seeing the fear that she had in her eyes certainly helped my performance because I could see that this was a girl who was scared, but also scared to tell me what the real deal was. Good actors have a way of helping that situation because she brought it. She sat there looking pretty freaked out at what was happening and I had no choice but to react to her fear.”

So how would Gregg react to the fear of actually being placed in the deadly Truth or Dare game? He joked that he would run away and would be just as freaked out as the characters in the film. “It starts out pretty straight up Truth or Dare. You take the truth or you take the dare, but then things get complicated and at some point you have to take the dare sometimes to help someone else because it doesn’t stay as simplistic as truth or dare,” he said, adding, “When the game gets a little more complicated sometimes you have to take what you may not want because it will help out the next person.” SPOILER ALERT Greg hinted a sequel could happen since “the game doesn’t end at the end of the film,” so the plot is open for a continuous story line.

Before our chat ended I had to ask a True Blood question. Gregg played Reverend Daniels in the HBO series with his character first appearing in season 3. In fact our last chat was when the show was coming to an end in 2014, but with so many TV reboots coming to the air these days I asked Gregg did he think a True Blood remake could happen now. “Yeah I think that people are still interested in the supernatural and the thing with True Blood, these people happen to be normal looking people they just happen to be vampires and werewolves. But the human people are still fascinated by other creatures and it lasted for centuries.”

Photo: Tony Rivetti Jr.,SMPSP/HBO

“The obsession we have with powers that they have. Vampires suck blood and werewolves can transform physically. I think we will always be fascinated with creatures that seem like us; they look like us, they sound like us, they use the same language, but they have these other powers we don’t have and they can do things, whether positive or negative, that we don’t possess. I think that’s always going to be a fascination with human beings and there’s always a genre to explore those powers.”

But would true fans of the show appreciate the story continuing? “I think there are many fans out there who would want to expand on it. I think it would be nice for fans to have a reboot of True Blood. It would be nice to see what else is going on with them after spending so many years with them.”

In the meantime as we dream of a True Blood revisit, Gregg Daniel can be seen in a number of projects. He’s in husband and wife team Brandon Lewis and Seckeita Lewis’ project “Jerico” about the Jim Crow south. He was in an episode of HBO’s Insecure, shot for Netflix’s Alexa & Katie, and recently Daniel was in Vancouver shooting a pilot that he describes as a blend of Mork & Mindy meets “Men in Black.” The man is busy and GGB is always watching him do great things.

You too can keep up with all the awesome projects coming Gregg Daniel’s way by following him on social media @RealGreggDaniel on Twitter and @OfficialGreggDaniel on Instagram.

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Photo: Cory Gutierrez