INTERVIEW: Executive Producer Natalie Chaidez On Creating The World of HUNTERS

WARNING:This post contains minor spoilers!

“What if the aliens weren’t so powerful?
If they are here on earth, what’s taking them so long? This sort of allegory that they are a smaller group a powerless group, a hungry group led me to this idea they are terrorists.”

Natalie Chaidez is best known for “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” and “Heroes.” Natalie was also executive producer on Syfy’s popular show “12 Monkeys.” She is sharing the role as executive producer and showrunner on “Hunters,” with Gale Anne Hurd, executive producer from The Walking Dead.

We recently had the opportunity to speak with Natalie on her work in creating a never-before-seen alien race in Hunters. “It was a delight, because I hadn’t done an alien before. An opportunity to take on the genre was really fun. It wasn’t hard. Every step of it was a pleasure.” She was excited to dive into the challenges of adapting Whitley Strieber’s best selling novel, Alien Hunter into a television series. “I think it’s really an opportunity to spread out through the narrative of television. The original sources are turning into more of a jumping off point for a whole new playground for show runners and television writers.”

“Its tragic. These terrorists are the monsters of our time.”

Natalie is well aware that the themes in Hunters is a mirror of the worries and concerns in the modern society. “Hunters has been in development for three years and sadly, has just become more relevant in the last couple of weeks. Our hearts go our to the victims in this most recent event. Its tragic. These terrorists are the monsters of our time. Science fiction has always been a way to explore relevant social issues in a way that is palatable. And to deal with our fears. We are living in a time where we are scared of going out in public. We are scared of who might be beside us. We are scared of what might be coming at us. The show is really about that fear and manifesting  it as a monster and wresting with some of the larger issues that the fear creates in our culture.”

“The show is really about that fear and manifesting  it as a monster and wresting with some of the larger issues that the fear creates
in our culture.”

 

To develop the creatures, Natalie enlisted the help of Brown University neurologist, Seth Horowitz. The alien’s sound communication was an important concept for Natalie. “I wanted to do an alien world that was different than any alien world we’ve seen,” says Natalie. “I thought about conspiracy movies of the 70’s and how  important sound was. That led to creatures that were very sound-based and lived in an auditory world.” The click language of the aliens is embedded inside music and they are using social media, much like the bad guys of our time. All-in-all, it was a two-year process to create these creatures.

Natalie describes her experience working with Gale Anne Hurd  as her favorite part of Hunters. “I was a huge fan girl. I was so thrilled when I first met Gale.  She is responsible for some of my favorite movies of all time, Terminator 2 and Aliens. She created some of the most iconic female science fiction characters in movie history. The opportunity to learn and work along side a pioneer, not just for women, but for science fiction, was an incredible experience. I will treasure that for the rest of my life.”

“Gale has a lot of experience in using practical effects. It gives the show a tactile and visceral feel that is sometimes lost in VFX.”

Hunters was intentionally created using as little VFX (Visual Effects) as possible. She and Gale worked very hard to give the viewers a real experience.”Gale has a lot of experience in using practical effects. It gives the show a tactile and visceral feel that is sometimes lost in VFX. We had a terrific prosthetics producer, Justin Dix. He built all the effects from the ground up.” The series was deliberately intended to evoke strong feelings in the viewer and the gruesome autopsy scenes in the first two episodes are only the beginning. “It doesn’t get any better,” she proudly declared.

“McCarthy’s hair was the subject of great debate over the course
of the season.

Natalie gave us some wonderful insights into how her team and Julian McMahon came together in creating the alien Lionel McCarthy. “McCarthy’s hair was the subject of great debate over the course of the season. His dreadlocks were quite controversial but eventually made it into the pilot.” She describes Lionel’s personality beautifully. “McCarthy to his credit, is a master of disguise and a student of pop culture and Julian came on and fully embraced those changes. As far as working out, Julian came on set that day for the shower scene and all of the crew swooned. I don’t know what he did. I guess Hunters just have great bodies. That was really fun.”

On the subject of live tweeting, Hunters Natalie was very energetic. “I am so looking forward to it because genre fans are the best. I can’t wait and I know that the rest of the cast can’t wait to jump in and start playing like that.”  You can follow Natalie Chaidez on twitter @amredkandy.

Hunters airs Monday’s at 10pm, only on Syfy. Be sure to check out our Quick Start Guide to Hunters and stay tuned to NiceGirlsTV.com for all your Hunters news, including interviews with stars Julian McMahon and Britne Oldford!