Q: Can you talk about what’s new in effects makeup this season?
A: We knew there is going to be a prison, and a lot of dead bodies laying around, so the first thing we did was we sculpted male and female corpses that were rotted and decomposed looking, and once those were sculpted and molded, I had an idea to do puppet versions of them, so if we ever wanted to see animatronics versions that are really desiccated and rotting away, we could do that. Even in terms of how we do zombie bites and how we do kills; we’ve refined that even more.

Q: Tell us about the burning zombies.
A: There would have been this fire in the kitchen of this place and people are trapped in there and burned up and got black and crispy and then came out again, so the idea was we had full body spandex suits that we created; so the performers could just slip it on and zip up the back, and pull the gloves up and you have a burnt wardrobe. Even the heads, the idea that having the skin burned away from the lips, all the hair burned off and everything; it is just something we hadn’t done on the show before.

Q: Do you ever creep yourself out with an idea that is so repulsive?
A: The first episode (of season 3) grossed me out! I was originally pre-med, going to be a doctor, and my dad is a retired physician, so, I think that’s part of the reason a lot of what we do looks authentic. So I am constantly saying, if you are going to bite into somebody’s arm, you have the skin layer, the muscle layer and if it is on the side or something you’ll have a little bit of fat and some sinew and all those things. So when you see the zombies coming and they bite, it’s pretty gross, but people see and realise that we are going that extra level to make it look real.

Q: How would kills be made this season?
A: The interesting thing is last season the living had lots of guns. This year, they have learned that if you shoot a gun you are going to attract more walkers. There’s a lot more hand-to-hand combat; you have to be closer so there’s machetes and hammers and axes and knives and by getting closer it’s more dangerous. On Hershel’s farm last season we were lulled into the false sense of safety as the farm was walled off. That was veiled safety. It wasn’t real.

Q: Have there been any changes in “zombie school” where you tell the extras how to move?
A: In season 1, we spent a lot of time fine-tuning stuff, but then everybody who has seen the show has come back and it’s fun to have people who love the show and get enthusiastic, but I think one of the harder things is that sometimes their enthusiasm overwhelms them. You say ‘action’ and it’s like they are running 90-miles an hour at you in the field toward the prison. I am like, “slow down.”

Q: Why do you love zombies and why do you think viewers love zombies?
A: It’s great storytelling. What’s fantastic about what Gale Anne Hurd and Frank (Darabont, creator) did initially in establishing the show was that it feels like a movie every week. It’s very cinematic, it was never treated like a TV show; the cast and the crew that were brought onto the show had such great background in film that it looks like a mini-movie every week, and to do a zombie movie in eight days (per episode), it’s pretty ridiculous what we are able to do, and the crew’s so dedicated to making it great.