UND professor of German studies and fairy tale expert Amanda Boyd will have the opportunity to interview four of the cast members and crew of the popular drama series “Grimm” in April.

Boyd plans to publish two or three articles about the material she gathers from the interviews and — depending on what comes out of the interviews — hopes to have enough material to put together a book.

“Grimm” is inspired by the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tales such as Cinderella, The Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin and Snow White. The stories were written by German brothers Wilhem and Jacob Grimm in the early 1800’s. Each episode merges these classic fairy tales into a modern context. It is in its third season, which airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on NBC.

The cast includes actors David Giuntoli, Russell Hornsby, Reggie Lee, Silas Weir Mitchell, Sasha Roiz and Bitsie Tulloch.

Boyd also will be working with the show’s producers, co-creators, dialect coach and German language consultants.

“I started getting interested in Germany when I was 9 when I went there with my parents, and I fell in love with it,” Boyd said. “Four months later, I got a tutor in German, and I’ve been intrigued in language and culture ever since.”

Boyd started exploring Brothers Grimm fairy tales in a study of the psychoanalytical analysis and interpretation of them.

“I was applying those methods to the show, and I gave some formal conference presentations on it last year,” Boyd said. “I happened to be at a conference last fall, and I met someone who knew someone. So, with a little bit of networking, and a heck of a lot of luck, next thing you know I’m in contact with the dialect coach for Grimm.”

Boyd said she has always been intrigued by Grimm’s use of foreign languages such as German, French, Spanish and Grimm’s own made up vocabulary called “Grimmish,” and wanted to get to the heart of their uses on the show. Boyd said the grounding of language in culture intrigues her.

“What fascinates me most about Grimm is that it’s obviously a show meant for entertainment, but it is showcasing the humanities and is dealing with language and culture, and dealing with confrontations and explorations between those different cultures,” Boyd said.

Boyds primary area of research is fairy tales studies, which deals with 19th and 20th century literature.

“I’m usually dealing with dead people,” Boyd said. “Academic publications don’t have a very strong following, usually they’re bought by libraries, so the idea that I could actually publish something that might be accessible to the public, might actually be on a Barnes and Noble shelf, is quite intriguing.”