The Insider.com

David Anders has always been a part of genre-redefining TV shows -- from Alias to Heroes to The Vampire Diaries and Once Upon A Time. Now the actor is taking his love of working outside the box to the cinema with the new movie, The Revenant.

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In the impossible to categorize film (horror-comedy-drama-romance), Anders plays Bart Gregory, a soldier killed in the line of duty, who mysteriously comes back to life as a creature of the night. But grappling with his new-found immortality is not as easy as many other movies would have you believe. I caught up with David to talk about bringing this unique vampire tale to life and what you can expect from the second season of Once Upon A Time!

TheInsider.com: What attracted you to The Revenant?
David Anders: I was attracted to its originality. It had a different smack on the classic vampire tale. The body count doesn't change, but it's a friend movie ... where we do some killing and some blood drinking. I loved that my character didn't want to kill people and becomes something of a vigilante. If he's got to feed on blood, he'll feed on the dregs of society. That appealed to me a lot. I thought that was a cool take. I remember thinking one day on set, "F*ck, I'm about to eat this guy's head." That's when I knew it was something special.

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Insider.com: The film strikes a really amazing balance between comedy and drama and comedy and romance. How did you navigate that?
David: To be honest, it kind of organically happened. Chris Wylde [who plays Joey] is one of my best friends, so when we were together, which is the bulk of the film, we just riffed. We ad libbed a bunch and it became what it became.

Insider.com: You turn into a vampire pretty much at the start of the film, how arduous was the makeup process?
David: When my shirt was off for the coroner scenes, it was about 3 hours. The face took a little over an hour every day. The contacts were hell for me. That was the only thing I hated about the process – the fish eyes. They were the worst. I remember when Chris put them in for the first time, he was in such a pissy mood and told me, "Dude, I get it now!" I'd have to grab one of the second AD's by the shoulders to be guided onto our dark set because I couldn't really see through them. "Seeing Eye Jew, coming through!" [laughs]

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Insider.com: You're also starring on Once Upon A Time -- what can you tease about season 2?
David: Oh man, you don't even know. We just finished episode 5, which is gonna knock your socks off. I'm back in a big way! You'll learn who Dr. Whale is – I'm the only fairytale character who hasn't been revealed yet, but I promise you, I'm not just a womanizing lech who occasionally heals people. I'm still a pussy-hound, but the magic is released so everyone is realizing who they are. We're dealing with the magic in Stroybrooke first and the love stories will come later. But you learn what world I come from, who I am and it's really cool. I think there was a poll of 10,000 people and six guessed who I am correctly. All is revealed in the Halloween episode.

The Revenant hits DVD on September 18, click here to pre-order!