Star of Atlanta-shot ‘Constantine’ previews tonight’s series premiere

• NBC
• SIDEKICK: Charles Halford as Chas in “Constantine.”

NBC’s “Constantine,” premiering tonight, is probably the most hellish series shooting in Atlanta — with good reason: it stars John Constantine (Matt Ryan), a demonologist, street wizard, and straight-up con man who’s out to save the world. You may recognize the property from the 2005 film Keanu Reeves, but this isn’t that. The new show is adapted straight from the “Hellblazer” comics. Creative Loafing recently spoke with actor Charles Halford, who plays Constanine’s only somewhat indestructible best friend, about the pilot, the tone, and the city’s microbreweries.

When did you move down to start work on the show?
We’ve been down here since like mid-summer, so we’ll be here through the fall and potentially longer if they decide to give us more episodes.

Were you super familiar with Atlanta when you came down here? Had you been down here before?
No, I had never been to Atlanta outside of the airport before we shot the pilot. We shot the pilot back in March, but that was my first experience with Atlanta. And I’m still kind of getting settled in because I do a lot of back and forth between here and L.A.

How did you come to the part of Chas?
It came to me just like any other job might. I just got a breakdown and the breakdown of the character Chas, which I play, it was me almost to a T. Which was very exciting, because I’m like 6-and-a-half-feet tall and there’s just not a lot of series regulars that they’re looking for that specifically. And so I got immediately jazzed and then I saw the title was “Constantine” and I started putting it together and then when I realized it was actually an adaptation of the “Hellblazer” comics, I got very excited. I don’t know that I worked any harder on it than I would have anything else, but I definitely really really dug in. But it happened very fast. I had a couple days, I think, with the script, and then I went in for the initial audition on Thursday. On Saturday we did a chemistry test. On Tuesday we did a network test and I found out that afternoon that I’d gotten it. And I think I was on a plane Thursday or Friday and then I was in Atlanta shooting the pilot, so it happened very quickly.

And the pilot went well: we had a great director, Neil Marshall, a lot of people would know him from The Descent and Dog Soldiers. He was nominated for an Emmy for his “Game of Thrones” episodes. He’s a really excellent director.

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What was your first read on the pilot and these episodes that you’ve done so far — in what way does it differ from the movie? What’s the general tone? It’s comic book-y, but I get the sense that it’s very wry.
I think you’d be impressed. It’s dark. The comic book is dark, so it’s a very dark supernatural show and the writers are doing due diligence. They’ve got advisers that are heavily involved in possessions and exorcisms, they’re doing their homework. In terms of reading the scripts, they’re awesome. I’ve become a much bigger “Hellblazer” fan since the show started — if I’m not reading a script, I’m reading “Hellblazer.” I’m thoroughly entertained with both. The scripts are coming together really, really nicely.

I’ll sit down with a cup of coffee, be like, “Yeah, I’m just going to peruse this.” And then the next thing I know, I’ve read the whole thing like in no time, and to me that’s a good indicator that we’ve got something strong on our hands. It’s not like some crime procedural. It’s full of scares and John’s a demonologist, he’s a paranormal psychologist, he’s a street wizard or whatever, but he’s probably first and foremost a fast-talking con man. So we’re not just relying on the blood and guts aspect of it. There’s a lot of quick wit and subtle humor. I like to think that it’s a full show, that it’s got something for everybody.

Chas is not quite as human as he seems, just by the end of the pilot ...
Yeah, he’s got survival skills laughs. But they’re not taken for granted. Once you get into the first season quite a ways, that all starts getting explained creatively and it’s not — I mean, this isn’t “South Park.” “South Park,” you can kill a character off every week, he comes back, no one asks any questions. But there has to be some dramatic conflict or something there and one big thing in “Constantine” is there’s always a price for magic and for skirting the laws of nature. And so I think that through time, we’ll certainly explain why Chas has this ability.

I wanted to get your take on Chas’ relationship with Constantine.
I think they have a backstory where when they were much younger, Chas became very obligated to John. John, in essence, before Chas ever started a family of his own, was Chas’ essentially only family and that kind of goes both ways. But whereas Chas is sticking around, I think John kind of keeps him around because everybody wants a friend. It’s almost a humanizing aspect of John, where a lot of John’s friends have bene laid to waste, but he’s either haphazardly or woefully, intentionally laid a lot of his associates and even lovers to waste for this greater good. And in the comics, John kind of keeps Chas out of that because I think at the end of the day, he likes having a friend who’s alive and understands him. Who doesn’t want that?

Tell me a bit more about the places you’ve been shooting around the city.
We’re doing a lot of locations and that’s one thing that’s been really cool is that I’m getting this back door tour of these really cool spots in Atlanta. We probably do one or two days on the stage, but the rest of the time — it’s a bit of a road show — it’s a serialized drama, but we’re sort of chasing the trouble and Atlanta doubles for a lot of different cities because it’s got such diverse architecture and landscapes. Recently, we were up at Berry College, it’s just full of awesome buildings. We shot down at the quarry that’s just in town. I haven’t actually been to the bar, which I hear is awesome, but I think we did a day at the Wrecking Bar. I’m getting an interesting tour of the city.

Have you been exploring when you’re not working?
I’ve found a routine of sorts, I don’t think it’s anything that cool. There’s a series of bars that I’ll check out. I’m vegan/vegetarian, so obviously most of the vegan restaurants I’ve explored — I’m still looking for more. There’s a lot of excellent food down here that I’m sure I’m missing out on. I was a little bit worried coming down that I wouldn’t be able to find anything but it’s actually been really accommodating. I’m kind of into craft brewing and local businesses, so I’ve gotten to find the micro-brew pubs. I was downtown one day and stopped into Max Lager’s and was really impressed — like some of the people from the brewer’s guild, and they’ve been super kind as far as giving me places to check out. I’ve been getting around. We end up at The Bookhouse quite a bit. We’re just kind of all over, but one thing that’s true of Atlanta is the people have been really awesome, when you get into craftsmanship and artistry, that seems to be very alive down here.

‘’The “Constantine” series premiere will air at 10 p.m. EST on Friday, on NBC.
This interview has been edited and condensed.’’