Countdown with Nick Moss

Countdown with Nick Moss – Danill

Prime Video unveiled its new action-thriller Countdown on June 25th and it ushered in a high-caliber addition to the procedural genre. This show is getting top marks across the board. Fans have fallen in love with the story, the cinematic feel, the great sound track and performances that just keep knocking it out of the park.

Derek Haas, Countdown creator and showrunner is no stranger to the kind of success the show is experiencing. While he knows how to deliver what fans love to watch, he’s also someone who will stay true to his story and vision. Sometimes that means beloved characters face shorter story arcs than their contemporaries. The latest one to fall victim to Haas’ omnipotent (it is his world after all) writing genius, is none other than Nick Moss who played Danill.

I’m grateful to have had a Q&A interview with Nick and be able to talk a little bit about his time on Countdown. Let’s get into it…

Who is Nick Moss?

Let’s start here. For any fans out there who would like to learn more about Nick, please click on his IMDb bio to get all the info you need, including his video reel accepting his Emmy award for Outstanding Performer in The Cobblestone Corridor.

Q: Let me congratulate you on the continued success in your career. Being on this side of an Emmy win, can you tell Countdown fans about it?

Nick Moss:
Thank you! I won an Emmy for Outstanding Performer for a PBS Dramedy Series called “The Cobblestone Corridor”. It was set in a prep boarding school, and followed a Newspaper club investigating mysteries. It aired on PBS and was available to watch online until just recently. Hoping it finds its way to Amazon or another streamer. The success of this show was completely unexpected in the best way and I’m still friends (and collaborate with) the creators to this day.

Q: I am so interested in the other languages you speak; Russian and Polish. Was it a deliberate act to learn these languages or is there a childhood or family connection that paved your way here?

Nick Moss:
My background is Russian on my father’s side of the family (they came over right after WW2). And growing up I lived abroad in Belarus, Poland, and Turkey when not in the US, so I’ve picked up some languages along the way.

Landing Your Countdown Role

Countdown is such a good show. Thank you so much for your contribution to a run of entertainment that is just bouncing off the screen and gathering an incredible following, at an impressive rate.

Q: Let’s talk about how you came to be on Countdown. Fans love to hear all about the BTS stuff of film making – I know I do. Was the casting call for actors who were fluent in Russian or was this a happy accident?

Nick Moss:
I have to thank our amazing casting directors David Rapaport and Lyndsey Baldasare (and their wonderful assistants Starsi Howell & Rosie Lobb!) – The language ability was very deliberate. They were specifically looking for Actors that spoke Russian / Belarusian, and they auditioned me for multiple roles before it was clear Danill was the right fit.

Evil is as Evil Does

You appear on the scene at the beginning of episode 5 by delivering the news to Volchek that Mikhail’s dance hall had video surveillance, all of which was stored off-site at Delphi Security. It’s not until afterwards that we learn you are the nephew of Astapov’s head of security at the consulate. This suggests your backstory would include you being deliberately placed in Volchek’s camp as a spy for either the Belarusian government or perhaps just Astapov himself.

Let’s look at your character’s beginning;

Q: The off-site video footage was news to Volchek (so he didn’t send you). The murdered data workers at Delphi, as it turns out, were just collateral damage to get you closer to Volchek? Is that true? Maybe Volchek isn’t the only ruthless one. Can you fill in any of the blanks?

Nick Moss:
Great question! Derek Haas is the ultimate resource on this, but I’ll try to fill in what I can. Danill was sent by Volchek to recover anything of value at the dance hall that might have survived the fire (like security footage) and destroy everything else. What Volchek didn’t know was that security camera footage was hosted offsite by Delphi – very worrying because it is potentially something that the Task Force could access. Danill is working to prove he’s loyal and capable of results, and in this world that means getting your hands dirty (sort of similar to Amber’s drug use when she was undercover). To Danill, nothing is more important than recovering that footage, destroying it, and delivering info on Meachum to Volchek. Unfortunately for the Delphi data workers, they were in Danill’s way.

Let’s have a look at Danill’s handy work…

Life on the Countdown Set

So far, we’ve heard wonderful things about working on the Countdown set.

Q: What was the overall tone and feeling on set? How would you describe your experience?

Nick Moss:
Like a well-oiled machine. Professional, serious when it needed to be, but overall a total blast. Everyone was really prepared, passionate and also having a lot of fun.

Q: Do you have any funny anecdotes you’d like to share?

Nick Moss:
We did a few takes after I get shot where my body was just limp and I get dragged away. For some reason the guys dragging me weren’t hearing “cut” and ended going way too a far (like 200 yards or so), and were totally exhausted after doing that a few times!

The Execution of Danill

Here are some clips from Countdown Episode 06 – A Needle or a Bullet that show the progression of Danill’s demise. The start of which comes when Volchek demands that the team investigate every detail of Astapov’s daily schedule.

Andrej delivers the details of Astapov’s schedule. It’s at this point that Volchek, already suspecting one of his own team of being a traitor, assigns individual tasks. The set up!

Then he sits back and waits for a deviation in Astapov’s schedule. He doesn’t have to wait long.

Finally, the confronts his team. Things don’t work out so well for Danill.

Q: I’m so interested in your execution from a technical perspective. The end result is intense and shocking – very well done! What steps did you have to go through with special effects, makeup, the works, to achieve the end result that impressed audiences?

Nick Moss:
The crew really had my back on this one! We shot the scene a number of times, and then our awesome makeup team crafted an SFX bullet hole on my head for the entry wound. Then they rigged me with a contraption on the back of my head to spray blood on impact. Put that together with great directing from Jonathan Brown, fantastic editing in post and it all came together perfectly.

Extra Curricular

Q: Your IMDb bio includes a note saying you were a former collegiate soccer player. One of my very close friends (her whole family in fact) are soccer lovers. Who is your favorite team? And do you still follow the sport?

Nick Moss:
That is so cool! I still do follow the sport and play whenever I can. I’m a Spurs fan actually. We’re very inconsistent but somehow snuck into the Champions League next year so anything is possible!

What is Next For Nick?

Q: I think your next big project is reTribution? Can you tell all the Countdown fans about what you are working on and where they can find you?

Nick Moss:
reTribution is close to my heart because it’s an action thriller I star in, co-wrote, and co-produced. It co-stars Jackie Dallas (from Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why, and most recently Hunting Wives on Netflix), and won a Jury Award at Omaha Film Festival which we’re incredibly proud of. Indie films can take a while to find a home. Sadly our director (Nathan Hewitt) passed away unexpectedly soon after our premiere, but we’re hoping to have news soon regarding distribution later this year.

I’ve been in a number of films produced abroad that should be coming to the US soon (One of which is called Napoli – New York, that just won two David di Donatello awards i.e. Italian Oscars, and stars Pierfrancesco Favino from Angels and Demons, and Omar Benson Miller from Sinners). I also will be appearing in the upcoming season of another major streamer Series (but that’s all I can say about it for now). And will be at the UK premiere in a few weeks of an incredible film where I play King Richard the Lionheart. You can find me on socials here: @nikolaymoss

Nick also had this to say…

I do have to say that the Countdown fans have been incredible! You are all so supportive and we can’t thank you enough for tuning in each week and investing in the story we’re telling. It means the world to us!

A special thank you to Nikolay Moss (Nick Moss) for participating in this interview, giving fans the chance to know more about him, Countdown, the set and it’s incredible cast and crew. Cheers!

Reminder

Countdown episodes are available each Wednesday on Prime Video. Be sure to tune in this week for Episode 8-The Nail in the Chair.

Please note, all media used in this article are courtesy of Amazon Content Services, Prime Video and/or IMDb, @nikolaymoss, unless otherwise stated on photos or video credit slides.