Ryan Sands On ‘Marvel’s Runaways’ & Working With Special Effects [VIDEO EXCLUSIVE]

Ryan Sands, who stars in the Hulu original series Marvels’ Runaways, is loving his comic book life these days.

On the show, six teenagers, known as the Runaways, unite against their parents, who make up an organization called ‘The Pride.’ “By day he’s a very successful real estate developer but by night he’s a member of a mysterious organization called ‘The Pride,'” Sands told uInterview in an exclusive video. “The Pride is a group of very influential people in various lines of work who come together to do annual sacrifices for a very mysterious individual. Jeffrey’s one of the more conflicted members of the group, who doesn’t really enjoy what he’s doing. But I think you see that as the season progresses and the story unfolds just why Jeffrey has a problem doing what he’s doing, and how much he loves his family and how much he wants to shield his family from all of that darkness.”

Because Sands’ Jeffrey isn’t as invested in the group as other members, Sands explains that his character may butt heads with the other members later on. “What’s a really cool aspect is that all of the members of The Pride are in The Pride for different reasons, they all feel differently about what they do,” the actor said. “Their involvement in The Pride affects their family unit in a different and unique way, so I think odds are that you’ll see Jeffrey at odds with certain members of The Pride moving forward. We’ll see what happens.”

The cast for the show is quite large, considering all the characters in The Pride and who are Runaways. “There are nine members of The Pride on the show, so whenever we’re all together, it’s already a large task, but then when you bring in the Runaways and Julian McMahon, who’s our mysterious benefactor, and dinosaurs and all that kind of stuff, it’s a huge undertaking,” Sands noted of their time on set. “Those days are pretty fun because they tend to bring in the special effects, so that’s kind of new for me. I haven’t really had a lot of experience dealing with visual effects in my career up to this point, so that’s still kind of fun for me, and we all get a kick out of it. Nobody takes themselves too seriously.”

Being a Marvel show, Runaways features a lot of special effects. In fact, most of the environment that appears is made from CGI and green screens. “That was a big challenge, again because I haven’t really had that experience before, so you as an actor have to sell that there is a dinosaur chasing you, or there is a huge structure off in the distance that’s doing something incredible that you’ve never seen before,” Sands said. “Those are things, especially now, that are very prevalent in movies that we see. I mean, the entire environment is green-screened, but it was an interesting challenge but still a lot of fun. I’m a big kid at heart.”

The first season of Runaways premiered Nov. 16, and will continue to run through Jan. 9 in Hulu.

Full interview transcript below:

Ryan Sands

Q: What is the storyline of your character?

A: Geoffrey Wilder by day he’s a real estate developer, very successful real estate developer, but by night, he’s a member of a mysterious organization called The Pride. The Pride is a group of very influential people who are in various lines of work, but they come together to do annual sacrifices for a very mysterious individual. Geoffrey’s kind of one of the more conflicted members of the group who doesn’t really enjoy what he’s doing. But I think you see that as the season progresses, as the story unfolds, you understand why Geoffrey has a problem doing what he’s doing and how much he loves his family, wants to share with his family from all of that darkness.

Q: What was it like filming with the cast?

A: We got a huge cast. The Pride, there are nine members of The Pride on the show, and so whenever we’re all together, so it’s already a large cast, but then when you bring in the Runaways and Julian McMahon, who’s our mysterious benefactor, dinosaurs, and all that kind of stuff, it’s a huge undertaking. Those days are pretty fun because those days tend to bring in the special effects, the visual effects. That’s kind of new for me, I haven’t had a lot of experience deal with visual effects in my career up to this point, so it’s still kind of fun for me. We all get a kick out of it. Nobody takes themselves too seriously on that set.

Q: What was the challenge of filming with effects?

A: That was a big challenge, again because I haven’t really had that experience before. So, you as an actor, you have to sell that there is dinosaur in front of you, chasing you, or there’s a huge structure of in the distance that’s doing something incredible that you haven’t seen before, there’s an explosion, there’s a beam of lights shooting by you. Those are things that, especially now, those things are very prevalent in the movies that we see, a lot of movies, the entire of Iron Man is green screen. There was an interesting challenge, but still a lot of fun because I’m a big kid at heart.

Q: What’s next for you character? 

A: As I’ve mentioned before, Geoffrey’s not really crazy about a lot of the stuff that The Pride do. What’s a really cool aspect is that all of the members of The Pride were in The Pride for different reasons. They all feel differently about what they do, their involved in The Pride affects their family unit in a different and unique way. So, I think, odds are, that you’ll see Geoffrey at odds with certain members of The Pride moving forward. We’ll see what happens.