343 has announced that many of the talented people behind Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn have been put into consideration for an Emmy! Check out the categories below and to celebrate, enjoy the chat with Tom Green (Thomas Lasky) and Anna Popplewell (Chyler Silva).

Anna Popplewell’s Interview

Halo Waypoint (HW): How did you prepare for your role? What kind of training did you need?
Anna: I tried to immerse myself in the Halo universe as much as I could. I read and watched everything I could get my hands on. The Halo novels The Fall of Reach and Contact Harvest were especially useful for contextualizing the period of Halo mythology when our story is set. I also played the game, of course. I’m useless at the game, sadly! When the cast arrived in Vancouver, we went through a military boot camp, learning such tactics as how to handle rifles, march, do drills, assault courses and pushups. It was tough but really taught us to act like a squad and gave a sense of what military training is like. Documentaries on West Point Academy and the war documentaries Restrepo and Armadillo were also particularly useful.

HW: What was it like getting to see and meet Halo fans at events?
Anna: It’s both terrifying and wonderful to work in a franchise like Halo. It’s amazing that it has such a huge number of enthusiastic fans behind it, who are so involved in the world and hungry for its live-action realization. However, along with that comes pressure not to disappoint the fans! So, meeting the fans is both brilliant and a little bit terrifying.

HW: What about the story of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn drew you to the project?
Anna: The scope of the world is epic and enormous, but the humans within it are so relatable, interesting and vulnerable. I like that juxtaposition. This story takes place at a particularly interesting point in Halo history—a time when soldiers are having to entirely reconsider who they’re fighting and why.

HW: How was working on Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn different from other projects that you’ve worked on?
Anna: It was much more physical than anything that I’ve worked on before.

HW: How are you similar to your character? Different?
Anna: I suppose I can be as determined as Chyler, but I’m not as disciplined or as brave.

HW: Describe your character in one word.
Anna: Resolute.

HW: How does it feel to be submitted for an Emmy nomination for “#55 Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series” for your role as Chyler Silva?
Anna: It feels unreal! I’m extremely flattered to be submitted.

Tom Green’s Interview

HW: How did you prepare for your role? What kind of training did you need to do?
Tom: In my preparation for the role of cadet Thomas Lasky, I found myself focusing on the physical aspect of the character more than anything else. To bring Lasky to life, I felt it was important to immerse myself in the series’ world of a uniformed, military environment. Once the rest of the cast and myself arrived in Canada, we were quickly thrust into a military boot camp that ran for a week and covered everything, including weapons/combat training, marching, saluting, leadership skills, improving our fitness levels and being punished by our superiors in the appropriate fashion, sometimes for even the smallest mistakes. During the boot camp, I had my head shaved and was watching military documentaries on the side to get a taste of the trials and tribulations real people faced in these kind of hostile environments.

HW: What was it like getting to see and meet Halo fans at events?
Tom: Meeting the Halo fans at Comic-Con for the first time really changed my whole perspective on the project because I discovered that I had underestimated how big the franchise was. I found it a bit overwhelming at first, but when people started to accept me and the whole cast as a part of the Halo world, it was very comforting.
It was great to meet the people responsible for the franchise’s success and see how everybody was incredibly excited for Forward Unto Dawn and everything it had to offer.

HW: What about the story of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn drew you to the project?
Tom: After reading the script, I found myself drawn to the human element of the project. When we think of Halo, we immediately think of the Master Chief, aliens, weapons and outer space worlds. I found the idea of focusing on REAL people and their relationships with one another at the Academy quite audacious, but I definitely felt that it could work. It was pretty scary too because we weren’t sure if the die-hard Halo fans would take to the idea of humanizing Halo and introducing raw, human emotion into the fast-paced, violent world. I felt that the audience, Halo fans or not, could really identify with the characters in Forward Unto Dawn.

HW: How was working on Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn different from other projects that you’ve worked on?
Tom: Forward Unto Dawn was different from anything else I’ve previously worked on for a few reasons: It was the first job I had done that was of the Science Fiction genre, it required me to use an accent and it was the first set that I’d been on that used a great deal of CGI and visual effects.

HW: How are you similar to your character? Different?
Tom: Looking back on it, I think Thomas Lasky and I aren’t too different. I identified with his ambivalence at the academy because I shared those feelings in high school, and I think we’re both very analytical people. However, I would consider myself more outspoken than him and more of an extrovert.

HW: Describe your character in one word.
Tom: Leader.

HW: How does it feel to be submitted for an Emmy nomination for “#52 Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series” for your role as Thomas Lasky?
Tom: I’m thrilled! Seeing my name and the word “Emmy” used in the same sentence is definitely a first! Very exciting.

Nomination Categories
SPECIAL CLASS – SHORT-FORMAT LIVE ACTION ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
Lydia Antonini – EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/ Josh Feldman ¬ EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
TOM GREEN as “Thomas Lasky” – Episode 5

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
ANNA POPPLEWELL as “Chyler Silva” – Episode 3

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Masam Holden as “Michael Sullivan” – Episode 4

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Enisha Brewster as “April Orenski” – Episode 1

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
Todd Helbing & Aaron Helbing – Episodes 1 & 3

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
John Sullivan

OUTSTANDING MUSIC COMPOSITION FOR A SERIES
Nathan Lanier

HFFL: Congrats to all who were nominated! I’m still scratching my head though why Stewart Hendler the director wasn’t nominated???

-Sal