CM Punk on How WWE Helped Him Be a Scene-Stealing Villain in Revival

Revival guest star CM Punk spoke to ComingSoon about his scene-stealing turn on the SYFY show as the villainous Anthony Check, whose storyline goes full throttle in the sixth episode. The WWE legend also discussed how his past in mixed martial arts and pro wrestling helps his acting work, and gave his thoughts on the new Fantastic Four movie. Revival Season 1 Episode 6 airs tonight on SYFY at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

“On one miraculous day in rural Wisconsin, the recently deceased suddenly rise from their graves. But this is no zombie story as the ‘revived’ appear and act just like they once were. When local Officer and single mother Dana Cypress is unexpectedly thrown into the center of a brutal murder mystery of her own, she’s left to make sense of the chaos amidst a town gripped by fear and confusion where everyone, alive or undead, is a suspect,” says the synopsis.

Tyler Treese: Revival really built up to your appearance in what is a really fun episode. You had a voice cameo in Episode 3. We see you briefly in Episode 4. How was it just seeing the show really build up to this big episode slowly? Because it really feels like a big deal when you’re actually in the town, and then shit really hits the fan.

CM Punk: Oh, they made me feel special. Yeah, they really built me up. Great introduction to the character of Anthony Check. I’m a fan of the source material; therefore, I’m a fan of the TV show, and I watch it with my wife, so it’s always fun watching it. I’m going, “Man, this show’s so good,” and then you get hit over the head with, “Hey, babe, I’m in this show.” So it’s a trip. I think they handled the Anthony Check character really brilliantly. The anticipation builds up to him, you get him, and he is not there for a long time; he is just there for a good time.

You mentioned being a fan of the source material. I know you’re a big comic guy and you’ve even written some comics, but you were familiar with Tim Seeley’s comics beforehand?

Oh yeah, absolutely. I actually spoke to Tim and Aaron Koontz on the set of a movie I did called Girl on the Third Floor. They came by and they told me they were looking to develop Revival as a television show. That’s how long this thing’s been trying to eek its way into the public’s purview. I’m glad it’s finally here. I’m glad I’m even a small part of it. It’s exciting to me.

I wanted to ask you about this character because you put a really fun spin on Anthony Check. Obviously, he’s a bit of a psychopath. He’s also a bit of a mama’s boy. You have a really dry sense of humor throughout this show. What I liked about your performance was that every sequence just had one little extra touch that made each scene memorable. Was that an effort? Were you really trying to underline each scene? Because it seemed like you learned so much about this character, even though he doesn’t have a ton of screen time.

Yeah, I think what pro wrestling has taught me to do with acting is to maximize my minutes. So, this is a character, like you said, one episode you’re introduced to him, but it’s just a voice. The second episode, you see him on screen, the scene was maybe a minute long, but you get in and out of it like, “Okay, this is not a good person.” Like, you set the table.

So when Anthony Check has his moment where he has arrived in Wausau and it’s a pretty Anthony Check forward episode, you’re excited to see what he does. I got to play with the character a little bit. I got the dry sense of humor, and I’m just playing it a little bit differently. ‘Cause in the comic books, I feel like the Check brothers are a little bit more redneck-y rural Wisconsin, and here I’m wearing leather jackets and I’m trying to be like a slick gangster. It was just a really fun role to play.

It’s a total blast of an episode, and it ends with a pretty intense fight scene. You get to live out your knife fight dreams that we all have. I know you’re a pro wrestler, you trained Jiu-jitsu, and you had MMA fights. For these choreographed movie tussles, are any of those skills transferable, or is it like a completely different skill set? How do you approach this?

CM Punk: No, they’re transferable. Listen, especially when you work with somebody, Ms. Romy Weltman, she’s a small person. So the dynamics of being able to do more with that, I think, especially from a safety standpoint. Like I had to tell her, I implored her. I was like, “You are not going to hurt me, no matter what you do. Like, try not to 100% punch me or choke me for real, but we can.”

I think my background, like you said, in pro wrestling, jiu-jitsu, and MMA — I’m more of a physical guy anyway, so I think that kind of helped, especially in this scene, to make it more violent. There’s tricks you could do in movies and TV with cameras and special effects if certain people don’t wanna be touched or grabbed or struck. I’m all about being physical if it can make something heightened, if it can make it better. In this case, I think it did make it better. I haven’t seen it yet, but as you said, many other people have said to me, they really enjoyed the scene.

I just love this storyline that they’re selling reviver parts. It’s just like an unlimited supply of body parts that you can sell on the black market, but you’re just torturing these people endlessly. What did you find most interesting about that storyline? Because it’s really dark, but it’s also kind of an ingenious plan. There’s a good profit-making mind there.

I think Anthony Check is very pragmatic. I think he looks at it that way. He doesn’t necessarily look at it like it’s torturing people. He looks at it like, “Well, this is brand new, and if I can sell somebody something at a marked-up price, and I can continue to sell that to them.” To him, the ends justify the means. He’s trying to make a better life for his mom. ‘Cause you said he is a mama’s boy. I think he looks at it like this is the perfect business plan and business scenario, and it’s pretty cut and dry to him, and that’s what makes him a sociopath.

You mentioned watching the show with your wife, April Mendez, who’s also a very multifaceted artist. I just saw her in the movie Sacramento with Michael Cera. It was really nice seeing her pop up in there. Since you both are doing acting now occasionally, do you bounce ideas off her, or do you keep creatively separate? How do you two work that stuff out?

CM Punk: We definitely talk creatively and stuff like that because it’s just that that’s our household, you know. But she has her projects she works on, and I have mine, and I’m not saying never do they intertwine. They will when the time is right. I’m not trying to impede her creative process by looking over her shoulder being like, “Hey, you gotta write a role for me, babe. You gotta write me into this project you’re doing.” It doesn’t work like that.

If she has an idea for me, she’ll capitalize it, and vice versa; if I have an idea for her, it’ll come to fruition. But she’s somebody that… I mean, she, she’s one of the smartest, most creative people I know, so it’s easy for me to just kind of roll over and be like, “Hey babe, what do you think of this idea?” And bounce it off her, and she’ll tell me if I’m on the right track or if I’m absolutely out of my mind.

She’s such a great writer, too, like you mentioned. You’ve written Marvel Comics before, and obviously, you’re a big Fantastic Four fan with the “It’s clobbering time.” That MCU movie is out soon. Are you excited to see Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s version of The Thing?

CM Punk: I’m a little bit envious, but yeah, I am 100% on board with it. This Thing looks like The Thing. So, I can’t wait. We’ve had some pretty stinky Fantastic Four movies in the past, so I’m looking for this one to be a palate cleanser.

Would you ever be interested in doing a superhero movie? We’ve had some pro wrestlers and MMA fighters pop up.

Of course. But I look at every project that comes across my desk as “Is this something that I have the time for? Can I sacrifice for this?” I take ’em as they come. My main thing about TV and movies and the acting side of things is I just wanna work with really cool people, really creative people, and I wanna learn while I’m doing it.

Thanks to CM Punk for taking the time to talk about the SYFY series Revival.