‘Slasher: Ripper’ Actress Paula Brancati Kept Her ‘Fan Girl in Check’ Working With Eric McCormack

Slasher: Ripper is the fifth season of the fan-favorite horror series, and this time around it adds an iconic star: Emmy-winning actor Eric McCormack. PopCulture.com had a chance to speak with some of the cast, including actress Paula Brancati, who joked that she had to keep her “fan girl in check” while working with the Will and Grace star. “Oh, it was so cool. I had to really keep my fan girl in check,” Brancati said during a roundtable interview with other entertainment news outlets. 

She then joked, “In fact, I didn’t realize how steeped in some Will and Grace references are. Just into my day-to-day… I was about to do a Will and Grace bit about Cher, forgetting that he was there. It was super mortifying. I don’t think he knows. Maybe he’ll read this one day and understand just how much Will & Grace meant to me and my mom growing up. But he is so kind and such a delight, such a Toronto boy through and through.” Brancati then revealed, “He actually went to the same high school as my mom and Mike Myers. He’s one of us. So he’s incredibly humble and also loved the genre and loved diving into the writing. It was just so much fun. I’m sure Gabe has stories too, but it was very, very cool and he’s so good in this. I’ve never seen him do something like this. So it’s also just a pleasure to watch and be in scenes with him.”

Slasher: Ripper is set in the 19th century and features a Jack the Ripper copycat killer, known as The Widow, exacting revenge on those who are abusive with their affluence and power. In addition to Brancati and McCormack, the new brings back Slasher: Solstice, who plays Detective Kenneth Rijkers. During the roundtable conversation, Darku spoke about his character and revealed that Batman heavily influenced the role.

“I love the detective and mystery genre. I’ve seen a lot of the Sherlock that are out, and so I think I already had a good idea of where I wanted to go in that aspect,” he shared during a roundtable interview with other entertainment news outlets. “Then I also had a lot of conversations with Adam [Martin, Slasher creator] just about the kind of character that we wanted Kenneth to be and the term ‘Batman’ was thrown out a lot, just because Batman at his core is a detective.” Darku continued, “I think it was fun for me to try to use that as heavy inspiration and really find this place of a character that walks into a room and is immediately taking in all of his surroundings. He’s way more observant than you might initially see him to be. He notices every little detail and he’s not afraid.”

Elaborating more on how The Dark Knight helped to inspire his role, Darku said, “He doesn’t scare easy and he’s not afraid to really get into the mud to find out what he needs to know. So I think bringing a lot of what I’ve seen from past detective work, detective properties, and also this really other fun aspect of this superhero detective almost. It was really cool. It’s really fun to get my feet into those boots.” The first two episodes of Slasher: Ripper debut on April 6 on Shudder and AMC+, with new episodes rolling out weekly on Thursdays.