SDCC 2014: Up Close and Personal With the Creators of USA’s “Dig”

Geekscape got a chance to sit down with the creators and cast of USA’s upcoming new show, Dig, at Comic Con last week. Dig is being billed as an “action adventure event series,” and stars Jason Isaacs (Awake, Harry Potter) as an FBI agent stationed in Jerusalem who, while investigating a murder, gets embroiled in a 2000 year old conspiracy of world-changing proportions.

We met with series creators Tim Kring and Gideon Raff, as well as pilot director SJ Clarkson, writer Carol Barbee and series stars Alison Sudol (A Fine Frenzy) and David Costabile (Breaking Bad)  to discuss the show’s world, mythology and creation.

Alison Sudol stars as Emma Wilson, an American archaeologist working in Jerusalem. Sudol, well known for her work as front woman for the band A Fine Frenzy, has recently moved into acting with roles on Dig as well as the new series Transparent and the indie film Other People’s Children.

“Acting always terrified me.” Sudol said. “But I knew it was something I wanted to do. And I was really lucky in being able to start my acting career with just wonderful projects.”

On working with Isaacs, Sudal said “He was wonderful to work with. Just a great human.”

On the mysterious events that occur in Dig, Sudol, like her cast mates, was maddeningly mum.

David Costabile said of his character Tad Billingham “It was very fun. A lot of fun, because of the secrets he holds.”

Billingham is a TV personality and religious expert who backs a religious congregation with a global agenda.

“There’s a lot that he knows that nobody else does, so in scenes where he’s in the background, what he’s doing might be a clue to what’s really going on.”

Costabile was recently seen on Suits and Breaking Bad.

“I knew I wanted to do a show about archeology, and history. And Raff had this amazing idea, based on real history–if you search the items and elements you’ll see in the show, you’ll  see they’re real things–and the start of it was always in that, in Raff’s writing.” said Tim Kring, co-creator and executive producer. Kring is well known for his work on Heroes, including the upcoming Heroes Reborn.

“I was looking for my next project, and I’d had this idea for awhile,” said Raff, co-creator and executive producer. “And to see it come to life so well, with this amazing cast, is really exciting.”

Raff is currently the executive producer on Tyrant and the critically acclaimed Homeland, which was based on Prisoners of War, the Israeli series he created.

Pilot director SJ Clarkson (Heroes, House, Ugly Betty) invested a great deal of thought into how to make the disparate worlds of the script read through every shot.

“I used different lenses for each location–Norway, Jerusalem, and the American desert–and we spent a lot of time discussing the color of each world.” said Clarkson. “So that in the end, each location feels different, both in color but also in the shape and feel of the shots.”

Carol Barbee, one of the writers on Dig, added: “We are able to start scripting in January, so it really gave us a lot of time to work out the series as a whole, to know what bit of episode one was going to fit into episode six.”

“Which made shooting the pilot that much more fun…and specific.” said Clarkson. “Because I had to layer in, very subtly, links to what will happen later.”

When asked if they could give any hint to the mystery at the heart of Dig, neither lady could say.

“I will say,” said Clarkson, “that the color red is very important. Viewers will want to watch for the red.”

Dig will air on the USA network this Fall.

Watch the official Comic Con trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments!

http://youtu.be/K0XqWYdErrU