Mia Maestro as Nora Martinez in ‘The Strain’ (Photo by Frank Ockenfels/Copyright 2014, FX Networks. All rights reserved.)
Mia Maestro was among the stars of FX’s riveting new supernatural thriller The Strain to make the trip to San Diego for the 2014 Comic Con. And, according to Maestro, she’s enjoying her time promoting this particular series. “That’s the one thing that we love about the show – it’s just so wonderful to do press. There’s so much to talk about. We love the story so much and our characters and our coworkers. Our crew from Canada is the best. The cast is the best. Guillermo [del Toro’s] the best, so it’s really a pleasure doing press.”
In the series based on the books by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, Maestro plays Dr. Nora Martinez, second in command of the Centers for Disease Control’s Canary Project. Nora and her CDC team leader Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) quickly discover that it’s not any recognizable virus that killed a planeload of people.
Mia Maestro The Strain Interview:
What can you tell us about your character’s arc this season?
Mia Maestro: “Nora will go through a lot. At the beginning, they just don’t know what they’re encountering, what’s going on. And she’s seeing everything with a very scientific point of view because she’s a doctor and she’s part of the CDC. Little by little that is going to be shifting and the magic is just going to start creeping in. Then we’ll see how Nora reacts but she has to deal with a lot of personal stuff as well. When she realizes the threat that they’re against, of course she would want to have her loved ones close by so Nora’s mom is going to come into the picture.”
What discussions did you have with Guillermo about Nora?
Mia Maestro: “Guillermo’s super specific in his directing and it’s really a treat to work with him. He has incredible attention to detail so the notes that he gives you from take to take are very detailed as well. Sometimes they’re very practical notes. ‘Okay, right now, there’s a hook and I want you to touch it but you need to caress it and imagine if the hook suddenly becomes alive and in a very subtle way you’re extremely scared.’ ‘Okay, come on. Do it.’ You’re like, ‘Okay. I thought I was talking to Corey.’ He’s like, ‘No, no, just go straight to the hook.’ ‘Okay.’ And then when you see it all together, oh my God, it makes total sense. He’s such a master of the genre, and also he knows the characters so well. He wrote three novels with Chuck Hogan so whatever Guillermo says, he’s God.”
Your character has real problems with killing innocents.
Mia Maestro: “Yeah, well, she’s a doctor.”
Is she going to get over that?
Mia Maestro: “I don’t want to give any spoilers, but of course, Nora at the beginning of the season is totally reluctant about killing her patients. She’s a CDC doctor, she’s a biochemist, she works for people to be alive and healthy. It’s her job. She also has a public job. She’s hired by the government to take care of humanity basically for the CDC. But little by little, she realizes that whatever they’re dealing with is something she has no idea about. A lot of things are going to happen to her that are going to change and shift her perspective for sure.”
Were you familiar with the books?
Mia Maestro: “I was not, no. I was called into meet Guillermo and just read for him. I really connected with the characters and the scenes right away. They just felt very natural to me and it felt like I was the character. Then I had a chemistry read with Corey and then another one with Kevin [Durand], because I don’t know if you guys read the books, but in the books Nora and Fet [Durand] have a really interesting relationship as well. Then the guys were not in town, Corey and Kevin, so our reads were spread over a whole month. I got to read the books in between the meetings and it was a great process even though it just felt like I was preparing to play Nora for like 25 days or so. It was really nice.”
Alan Dale as General Riesen and Anthony Stewart Head as Senator David Whele (Photo by: Gavin Bond/Syfy)
No matter what series Anthony Stewart Head stars in, I’ll always think of him as Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While we said goodbye to Buffy and the Scooby Gang years ago, Head has continued to tackle roles in interesting projects, including shows of the sci-fi genre. His latest is Syfy’s Dominion, a supernatural drama based on the 2010 film Legion and set in a post–apocalyptic future.
Dominion finds angels choosing sides in a war in which the future of mankind is at stake. Head plays David Whele, a senator in one of the last human refuges on Earth (Vega – formerly Las Vegas) who is power-hungry and willing to do whatever it takes to make sure his family runs the city.
At the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, Head talked about his character’s motivations and what’s in store for fans of the Syfy series.
Dominion airs on Syfy on Thursday nights at 9pm ET/PT.
Anthony Stewart Head Dominion Interview
How is it to interact with fans on Twitter?
Anthony Stewart Head: “It’s cool. Ultimately, it’s actually not a new innovation. I mean, all TV companies are trying to get their actors to participate, and now you’d be insane not to because it’s an instant hook in with people watching the show and people enjoying the show. You get a visceral vibe of actually being part of the viewing audience. It’s great. And they’re lovely about the show. They really get into it. It’s a great show for twists and turns and stuff that you’re really not expecting. It’s lovely when you get like a, ‘Oh my God!’ when something just happens. The social media aspect I think is huge and it is relatively new. I mean, now you’d be crazy not to get involved.”
Where will your character be going?
Anthony Stewart Head: “Straight to hell, actually. No, to be honest, I don’t like black and white good/bad characters. I like to feel that everybody, even if they end up with an agenda, started reasonably in the same place. Whatever happens to them, whatever makes them through they are through life changes them, but it doesn’t mean that they’re bad or good. There are some pretty horrendous people out in the world and I guess they didn’t start off that way. I don’t know, but David Whele has his moments. The thing I love about the writing is that they’ve given him moments where we can see into who the man is. The end of this season is pretty seismic for David. A lot happens between now and the end.”
Will it go into more of David’s backstory?
Anthony Stewart Head: “Not in this season just because what is playing out is out of his control. There’s nothing he can do with what’s going on. It’s changing for him.”
Do you know where your storyline is heading?
Anthony Stewart Head: “I guess…it is scripted. His storyline is scripted. I must admit, I’ve said to a couple of people when I did the pilot, I thought it was going to be fairly predictable. It was going to be Romeo and Juliet, it was going to be Dallas in the future and I was J.R. and kind of worked out where [it would go]. And none of that happened. Ultimately, everything started shifting in episode 2. When we were doing the pilot, we talked about who David was.
It turns out that he was a TV evangelist which is great fun to play and great fun to research. And as I say, I try and make, when I’m working on something, I try and make them human and not just, ‘Oh, that’s what he’s going to do.’ So they work with me on that and there were things that I’d add and talk about, ‘What about if…?’ which got included. It’s all there. The writer’s room is great writers.”
Which is stronger for him: the House of Whele or Vega?
Anthony Stewart Head: “I don’t know about that. I guess probably House of Whele but that’s, as I say, stuff that he holds dear and close to him gets compromised the last few episodes. And it started on [the July 24th episode].”
Did you have any secrets you know about your character that the audience doesn’t?
Anthony Stewart Head: “No, David is very much, he is what he seems to be. The introduction of him being a TV evangelist came later, just because when we talked about it in the pilot, he was a politician. I think they wanted it to go deeper than that. Somebody who’s become a politician but ultimately was very good at reading people and kind of manipulating people, taking their faith and using that to his benefit.”
Is there a preacher you’re modeling David after?
Anthony Stewart Head: “No, I looked at a few and there are some very interesting people out there, but I also looked at, when I was preparing for the pilot, I looked at a few politicians. There’s some fascinating stuff, absolutely fascinating. What is bizarre is watching it, I remind myself of somebody. I don’t know who quite. I’ll finally get it. I don’t think it’s Donald Rumsfeld, but…”
How did you figure out your accent?
Anthony Stewart Head: “I’ve done a few American accents. I kind of wanted something which wasn’t too discernible. There was originally, I’m trying to think where I was supposed to be from because in the pilot, there’s a scene that will probably end up in the DVD that ended up being trimmed because there’s a scene with Riesen at the beginning where I say where I was from. Yeah, he’s a mixture of American breeds. I worked hard on it. And much as it upsets people that I’m doing an American accent, on Twitter in the first couple of episodes, people saying, ‘Why would you ask Anthony Head to do an American accent?’ Because it’s a character. I’m an actor.”
Fans take it personally.
Anthony Stewart Head: “They do. ‘Why would you ask him, he’s got such a lovely accent?’ But it gives me as an actor, it gives me a huge number of new choices that I can make. The fact that I don’t feel that I know myself when I watch myself, it’s fantastic. It also gives you nuances from your own accent, for instance, nobody complained when I played German in Warehouse 13. Go figure.”
Eric Dane at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con (Photo by Richard Chavez)
If you haven’t yet caught on to TNT’s The Last Ship, you’re missing out on one of this summer’s best written new television dramas. Leading the cast is Eric Dane, a veteran of television drama, having starred in Grey’s Anatomy prior to signing on to The Last Ship.
Dane joined his fellow The Last Ship cast members at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con to discuss the dramatic series about a Navy ship that could be the last hope in a battle against a virus that’s wiped out much of the Earth’s population.
The Last Ship airs on TNT on Sunday nights at 9pm ET/PT.
Eric Dane The Last Ship Interview
What can you tease about what’s coming up for Captain Tom Chandler?
Eric Dane: “Well, we’ve got to test the vaccine on the monkeys we just collected. The Russians come back. We’ve got dissension amongst the ranks. Then we have the series finale which is off the charts.”
So it’s ending with a cliffhanger?
Eric Dane: “Oh yeah. Major cliffhanger.”
Can you talk about being on the ship?
Eric Dane: “I mean, being on the ship, you’re right there. You’re on the actual ship. Not a lot of acting to do when you’re on the ship. You’re just immersed in it. The toughest challenge for me is because the corners are so tight, the geography of the ship is so tight that sometimes the acting can get a little stilted. So we try to stay loose and stay away from that, but it’s pretty tight on those ships. Those P-ways are pretty narrow and I’ve hit my head a couple times on the ceiling.”
Have you gotten any pointers from anyone in the Navy about being a Captain?
Eric Dane: “No, they actually think I fit the role pretty well. They did give me some sh*t about my salute. My salute wasn’t perfect there for a second, but they straightened me out.”
Did you do a lot of prep?
Eric Dane: “I just put the uniform on. The rest took care of itself.”
What elements of the story attracted you to this show?
Eric Dane: “Well, first of all, it was a Michael Bay show and the action genre has always been intriguing to me. I read the script and aside from it being whatever it is, virus, action, drama, no drama, it’s some of the best writing I’ve ever read. So, they’ve created a healthy sort of arena for action, storytelling, and a nice balance and forum for character development. And that’s always good with a TV show like this. You don’t always find character development synonymous with action, but in this particular show I think we do a pretty good job of letting you know who these people are.”
Going into season two, is the relationship with Dr. Rachel Scott going to lead to something?
Eric Dane: “I don’t think so. I don’t know. I don’t think so. I mean, I still have a family out there so Chandler’s not…I think this primary mission is the mission and to take care of his crew. I don’t know if there’s going to be any romantic endeavors in there for him.”
Were you actively looking for a new television project?
Eric Dane: “I was. Looking for something and having something become available to you are two different things. It was just kind of the perfect storm of opportunities in that this project came up at the right time. It was three weeks after I’d wrapped Grey’s when this all happened, and it just was something I couldn’t pass up. So I’d like to say I was sifting through a bunch of scripts looking for the right one. It just didn’t happen that way. It just kind of unfolded perfectly and was just kind of the perfect storm of circumstances that led me here.”
What’s been the best part of playing Tom Chandler?
Eric Dane: “Oh, it’s all good. It’s all good. I love this character. This is the best character I’ve ever been able to play. I love him.”
What qualities of his do you admire the most?
Eric Dane: “I think he’s honorable, he’s sincere, he’s just, he’s fair, he’s principled. He’s a bit of a maverick at times. He’s got a dry sense of humor. He’s all the things that are fun for an actor to play.”
Have the Grey’s Anatomy fans followed you to The Last Ship?
Eric Dane: “I think so, yeah, I think so. I don’t know if this show is the same audience as the Grey’s Anatomy audience, but I’m pretty sure some of my fans from that show have crossed over to the dark side.”
Did you know Rhona Mitra was going to be on the show before you signed on?
Eric Dane: “I’d worked with Rhona years ago on a TV show for ABC called Gideon’s Crossing. I was the first one cast [on Last Ship]. I didn’t know she was going to be on the show. […]I didn’t find out that she was working on this until literally a couple days before we were heading off to shoot. Because I was cast, then they had their process of filling out the other roles and rounding out the rest of the cast. I don’t know when she came aboard but I found out from the director that it was going to be her.”
How much interaction do you have with producer Michael Bay?
Eric Dane: “He was around for the pilot a little bit. He shot some of the action sequences. He may direct an episode next season.”
If you’ve read the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon, you’ll realize how difficult the job of taking on the roles of Frank Randall and Black Jack Randall is for Tobias Menzies, the actor charged with handling the task. Both characters – Frank and Black Jack – play important roles in how the epic love story between Frank’s time-traveling wife Claire Randall (played by Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie Fraser (played by Sam Heughan). And while some readers of Gabaldon’s novels are sympathetic toward Claire’s husband, Frank, no one feels the slightest sympathy for the fiendish Black Jack who abuses his power and position in disgusting ways.
In support of the series’ August 9, 2014 premiere on Starz, Tobias Menzies joined his fellow Outlander cast members at the San Diego Comic-Con to talk to fans and promote the show. Menzies also sat down to chat with journalists about playing Frank and Black Jack, the books, and fans.
Tobias Menzies Outlander Interview
Did you have to play both characters in your audition? How do you keep them separate?
Tobias Menzies: “Wow, was someone complimenting me?”
Yes.
Tobias Menzies: “That narrows it down. I haven’t been that deliberate. It’s been quite organic and quite intuitive I think. I definitely didn’t want to ‘This is Jack’s walk and this is Frank’s walk.’ I had to be a little subtler than that. I think the clothes have helped a lot. I know Ron has a story, which I’ve heard him tell a few times, and I do remember this day when we were kind of putting on the clothes for Frank and trying some costumes for Jack. I found those very helpful in terms of posture and how you carry yourself. And then I guess it’s partly just the majesty of engagement so that you have to really think about who they are, where they’ve come from. And then also trust the story and the context that you’re given and this amazing production that’s being produced…but that’s good to hear.
There’s an element of crossing your fingers and hoping that the work you do does pay off so that hopefully there’s maybe a little bit of a different look in the two different sets of eyes, but I wanted it to be that rather than, ‘Oh yeah, you can tell by the different voice or you can tell by the different walk.’ I was almost as interested in what was similar about them as to what was different about them. I remember the first conversation with Ron [D. Moore], he was very struck by the fact that both Frank and Jack are both men formed by war, two different wars, separated by 200 years but both sort of deeply shaped by conflict, Jacobi rebellion and the 2nd World War with very different results. One maybe saved by the love of a good woman and Jack very much doesn’t survive it, goes to a very dark place, and loses his moral compass.”
Were you able to find something you like and redeemable about Jack?
Tobias Menzies: “I mean, I think I would put it more like I think it’s important to try and give it a psychological rooting, to understand where someone is coming from. You don’t have to agree with what they do. I think that, coupled with just a performative relish, an enjoyment of what they do, because often the villains do all the things that one is not allowed to do in one’s own life. That’s enjoyable to do and to watch, like a vicarious thing. But I was keen with Jack not for him just to be a two-dimensional villain, to give it some complexity, again coming out of what his experience of war has been, his experience of Scotland, the Jacobi rebellion. He’s a man who’s seen too many things and that has poisoned his sense of humanity, his sense of God, his sense of morality. All of that is very, very crunchy and interesting to play.”
Is the whip the thing you’d like the most to do?
Tobias Menzies: [Laughs] “No, I don’t think I would want to whip someone. No, I think the thing I appreciate most about Jack is his brutal honesty. He says it exactly as it is and that’s incredibly liberating to see and to do. Sometimes you wish you could be that honest.”
He’s less dichotomous than Frank is?
Tobias Menzies: “Yes, I would say Frank is more of a politician. He’s a spy. You get a sense with Frank that there are lots of things that he’s not telling you. Even his relationship with Claire, you don’t always know whether Claire’s getting all of him. That’s a nice texture as they try and recover who they are and what they are. That’s been the impact for Frank.”
Have you read all the books?
Tobias Menzies: “I’ve read the first book and about 200 pages of the second book, so I’m sort of working my way through. But the first season was just the first book so we’ve had plenty of work to do as the scripts come out, and I tend to be quite mouthy about scripts.”
And you haven’t finished filming?
Tobias Menzies: “No, we’ve still got the last part to come. We’ve got the big confrontation between Jamie and Jack to come. We’re doing that, running through ‘til about mid-September so yeah, we’ve still got some interesting stuff to do.”
How close were you filming when you left to come here?
Tobias Menzies: “I’ve actually just had a block off because there were a couple of episodes that neither Frank nor Jack were in, so I’ve been away for about four or five weeks of the whole thing. I had to sit down and go, ‘What is this show I’ve been doing?’ So this has been back in the deep end.”
Do you feel like reading ahead will influence how you play the characters?
Tobias Menzies:: “Yes, I think it’s helpful to know where you’re headed. So yeah, absolutely. And Diana’s book is a very rich source material we’re lucky to have. She’s written a very interesting, complicated, for the characters in the world, so that’s been really rich to engage with and try to bring to life. Certainly meeting all the fans over the last day or so, if we weren’t aware beforehand of the responsibility we have, we certainly are now.”
How daunting is that responsibility?
Tobias Menzies: “You’re aware that they have such a clear idea of who these people are, how it looks, what they sound like. Certainly to my mind, I was very aware of needing to just [forget] all that, otherwise you probably wouldn’t get out of bed. ‘I can’t do it.’ So just do the best you can. I think in Ron, we’re in very good hands. He’s a very accomplished storyteller. I really hope that people get into it, are fascinated by the world of it, and also that we don’t disappoint too many of the true lovers of the stories.”
Are your family and friends aware of the huge fandom?
Tobias Menzies: “No. I sort of describe it to them and they sort of go, ‘Oh yeah, sounds good. All right.’ I can’t imagine what my mom would make of this. She’d be like, ‘Oh, yeah.’ But I guess maybe they’ll get more of an idea once the show’s out. It’ll be interesting. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes down.”
Some fans may not understand that you’re trying to play a character. They have their own judgments.
Tobias Menzies: “Absolutely. I think you have to be, as I said, I think you do have to take ownership of the story and you do have to then adapt it. And you can’t be too enslaved because, of course, everyone has their sense of these people. That’s all great but then you have to then trust yourself as storytellers and make the best show you can, make the choices and the calls you think are best for it.”
Was the book the blueprint for you, or having Diana on hand?
Tobias Menzies: “She’s been nice to have. I was in email contact with her, occasionally having a few questions for her. I think Ron and the writing team certainly have always started with the book first of all. They’ve obviously divvied up the first book into 16 episodes but then within each episode, this is what the book does, and only then chosen if they’re going to depart from that. But always with what the book is doing in mind. So I think as these things go, I think it’s pretty faithful. But I think hopefully there’ll also be a few moments when the readership will be surprised. I would say I think there’s definitely a bit more of Frank, and I think Frank may be the surprise package. Arguably, there’s more of him in the TV show than there is in the book and we try to build him up and the relationship between Claire and Frank so that that’s a genuine dilemma for her. I hope they like that. And if they don’t, it’s too late now.”
Have you walked the floor at Comic Con?
Tobias Menzies: “I haven’t, no. They keep on saying that they’re going to send huge bodyguards with me if I do. And I feel like the one thing that will attract people to you is two huge bodyguards. ‘Who’s that guy?’ So no, I haven’t ventured into it. Honestly, it’s been pretty wall to wall.”
If you wore a costume, what would you wear?
Tobias Menzies: “When I was young, this is probably too out of date now, but I was a big Tintin fan. Do they have Tintin here? Yeah? I don’t know, maybe the two detectives, Thompson and Thompson. Maybe go as one of the Thompsons, or Snowy. I used to love Tintin. Asterix as well. Do they have Asterix here? But yes, I’m showing my age slightly there.”
Production has just begun on the dramatic movie Sea of Trees starring Matthew McConaughey, Ken Watanabe, and Naomi Watts. Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting) directs the project set up at BLOOM, Waypoint Entertainment and Netter Productions and shooting in Japan and Massachusetts.
Chris Sparling’s script made the Black List (an annual list of the best unproduced scripts) and Gil Netter, Ken Kao, Kevin Halloran, F. Gary Gray, Brian Dobbins, and Allen Fischer are producing.
“We presented our buyers in Cannes with a timeline for Sea of Trees and are right on target to start production on this original and deeply moving story,” said BLOOM / Waypoint’s Ken Kao.
“We’ve made tremendous strides in a very short period of time – first launching the company and then seeing vigorous sales on our first film as a new company in Cannes,” added BLOOM’s Alex Walton.
The Plot:
Arthur Brennan (McConaughey) treks into Aokigahara, known as the Sea of Trees, a mysterious dense forest at the base of Japan’s Mount Fuji where people go to contemplate life and death. Having found the perfect place to die, Arthur encounters Takumi Nakamura (Watanabe), a Japanese man who has also lost his way. The two men begin a journey of reflection and survival, which affirms Arthur’s will to live and reconnects him to his love with his wife (Watts).
The Killing stars Joel Kinnaman, Mireille Enos, and Joan Allen discuss the upcoming fourth – and final – season of the drama coming to Netflix on August 1, 2014. Currently, all three prior seasons of The Killing are streaming on Netflix for those who need to catch up with the show.
The Plot:
The final season of The Killing picks up right after the season three finale. As Detective Linden (Mireille Enos) and Detective Holder (Joel Kinnaman) struggle to manage the fallout from their rash actions at the end of last season, they are assigned a new case — a picture perfect family is murdered, survived only by the son, Kyle Stansbury (Tyler Ross), who was shot in the head during the massacre. Joan Allen guest stars this season as Colonel Margaret Rayne, the headmaster of the all-boys military academy where Kyle attends. The new season also stars Gregg Henry, Sterling Beaumon and Levi Meaden.
Allison Williams as Peter Pan (Photo by: Nino Munoz/NBC)
Allison Williams has landed the lead role in the NBC production Peter Pan Live! coming this December 4th. The Girls star, who is classically trained as a singer, will play Peter Pan opposite Christopher Walken as Captain Hook.
“We couldn’t be happier that Allison Williams is our Peter Pan,” stated Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment. “She’s a lovely rising star on the award-winning show Girls — where she occasionally shows off her incredible vocal talent — and we think she will bring the perfect blend of ‘boyish’ vulnerability and bravado to save the day against Christopher Walken’s powerful Captain Hook.”
“Allison Williams is a major find,” added executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. “She will reinvent the iconic role of Peter Pan with her wit, her warmth, her dynamic flying, and her wonderful musical abilities. The score will be sung beautifully and introduced to a whole new generation of families.”
“I have wanted to play Peter Pan since I was about three years old, so this is a dream come true,” confessed Williams. “It’s such an honor to be a part of this adventure, and I’m very excited to get to work with this extraordinarily talented team. And besides, what could go wrong in a live televised production with simultaneous flying, sword fighting, and singing?”
Rachel Boston, Mädchen Amick and Jenna Dewan Tatum star in ‘Witches of East End’ (Photo by Sergei Bachlakov/Copyright 2014)
The lovely Madchen Amick joined her fellow Witches of East End cast members for a wild 2014 San Diego Comic-Con weekend that included a panel with fans, autograph signings, and a witchy party that took over the Tipsy Crow in San Diego’s Gaslamp District. But before putting promotional duties aside to relax and enjoy the party, Amick sat down with a small group of journalists to talk about season two of the Lifetime series and playing Aunt Wendy.
Madchen Amick Witches of East End Interview
What do you like about connecting with fans over Twitter?
Madchen Amick: “Well, it’s definitely something that I had to wrap my head around. David Lynch – Twin Peaks was the first thing I did – and his philosophy is to not reveal the magic. Don’t talk about what happens behind the scenes. I really totally believe that so I was sort of indoctrinated into this business with that in mind, so I’ve been really, really resistant to social media. But, you know, as everything’s changing, everybody on the Witches show started promoting it and I felt responsible to help promote it. So I do have to say it’s been really nice to get instant feedback. It’s kinda weirdly like theater days when you got feedback immediately, right?”
Has any of the feedback really shocked you?
Madchen Amick: “No, what I do really enjoy is that the fans seem to get little things that I put into the character. Like I’m always wearing feather earrings and I have little dangling pieces of jewelry and there was like, ‘That’s an Aunt Wendy hunt. That’s a trophy from her hunt.’ I love that they get that. That’s fun.”
Does Wendy still surprise you when you get the scripts?
Madchen Amick: “In the pilot, they never planned on Wendy being alive any longer than the pilot so I wasn’t supposed to be a part of the series. So I kind of went into it in the pilot with a very lighthearted attitude, like, ‘I’m just gonna make it the best I can for while I’m here.’ I think that they picked up on that and wrote her in that way. I just love every script that I get. What funny lines are they going to have for Wendy now? And then what can I do to embellish it? What can I bring to the table as well as a collaborative thing?”
At what point did they tell you you were still on the show?
Madchen Amick: “We filmed it in the fall, and then I went back to try and figure out what the next job was going to be. My agent and manager got a phone call over Christmas that said, ‘Just before she commits to anything else, please let us know first.’ And they were like, ‘Okay,’ and then by the time the first of the year came around, they had decided to pick up the show and then they had asked me to be a part of it. So it’s sort of like I snuck in the backdoor to the series, just the way Aunt Wendy would.”
What do you enjoy about the four strong female characters and strong actresses bouncing off each other each week?
Madchen Amick: “It’s a blessing and this doesn’t happen very often, really honestly. I think there are some other shows that actors lie and say, ‘No, I love my cast members.’ Number one, the characters are written really well. They’re not stereotypical women and they cast four very strong talented women. We’re all comfortable in our own skin so we can respect each other, enjoy being together, and it’s so much fun to go to work. And the boys…we’ve incorporated the boys into the coven.”
Is the tension with Frederick going to come to a head?
Madchen Amick: “Well, it’s hard because Wendy’s instincts about Frederick I think are right of course, but the family’s kind of against that thinking so she can’t push too far. So she walks this fine line between keeping an eye on him but still letting everybody know that she doesn’t think that he’s telling the truth. It does. There’s some stuff that comes up definitely between them that things come to a head.”
How was filming the Asgard scenes with those outfits?
Madchen Amick: “It just helps give you the depth to your character, where you came from, how long you’ve been around. All of the flashback stuff is so fun because then you’re not just doing this dialogue that talks about what you did in the 1800s or the 1970s or whatever. You get to actually see the characters go through it, and it just gives you that richness and that depth.”
Do you have an affinity for the witch genre?
Madchen Amick: “I love magic. It wasn’t necessarily specific to witches because to be honest, all witches that I had seen before was really stereotypical bitchy woman. But I do just love magic in general. Even I love how Game of Thrones is incorporating magic into it, White Queen, I don’t know if you saw that, or remember Merlin, the miniseries back in the late ‘90s? So I do love the genre.”
There’s another Night at the Museum movie on the way and 20th Century Fox has unveiled the latest entry in the franchise’s first trailer. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb arrives in theaters on December 19, 2014 with director Shawn Levy back at the helm and Ben Stiller back in the lead. The cast also includes Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Dan Stevens, Rebel Wilson, and Ben Kingsley.
The first Night at the Museum film hit theaters in 2006, with Ben Stiller playing a museum security guard who finds out the exhibits come to life once the doors close for the evening. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian followed in 2009 and grossed $413 million worldwide before exiting theaters. The first film fared better, bringing in $574 million during its theatrical run.
The Plot:
Get ready for the wildest and most adventure-filled Night At the Museum ever as Larry (Ben Stiller) spans the globe, uniting favorite and new characters while embarking on an epic quest to save the magic before it is gone forever.
Judging by the reception Comic Con attendees gave to the cast, executive producer, and author Diana Gabaldon, Starz has a hit on their hands with Outlander. Based on the popular book series, Outlander debuts on Starz on August 9, 2014, bringing to life the story of a time-traveling nurse who falls in love with a Scottish Highlander from 200 years in the past. It’s an epic tale of love taking place in dangerous times, and the story of Jamie Fraser (played by Sam Heughan) and Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe) has captivated millions of readers over the course of eight books.
Together to talk about Outlander season one, Heughan and Balfe chatted about their experiences with fans, their characters, and the books.
Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe Outlander Interview
How has your first Comic Con experience been?
Caitriona Balfe: “Good. It’s been very fun. Still trying to get our heads around it I think.”
Sam Heughan: “Great day [on Friday]. It was so exciting just seeing all the fans and having the panel, and the climax of the evening was the premiere.”
Were you surprised by the fan reaction since the show isn’t even on yet?
Caitriona Balfe: “Well, we’re kind of used to them at this point. They’re very enthusiastic and very vocal, and that’s how we like it. It’s really great. We finally get to meet a lot of them, some we know from Twitter and stuff like that, so it’s been really nice that we can finally meet them in person and say thank you.”
Sam Heughan: “Their support has been brilliant. The separate fans in groups they’ve set up, the Heughligans and the Caitriots and the Menziatics, the Broinies and whatever they are. There’s just so many and they’re all so involved and they raise a lot of money for charity, my charity and Cat’s as well. They have these fan events. They do the Outlander gathering in Edinburgh. They flew over there.”
Caitriona Balfe: “And something in Seattle and Boston.”
Sam Heughan: “The Outlandish Bakers that somehow track us down on location and bring us lots of sugary goodness, so that’s incredible. It’s really overwhelming.”
Hopefully there aren’t any scary encounters. Fans can be quite passionate.
Sam Heughan: “Honestly, the fans we’ve met have all been so polite and understanding and supportive. I just had a great moment traveling here, traveling on. You know the Outlander guys who’ve got the Castle Leoch driving past. I put my head out the window and shouted, ‘Outlander!’ and it was like my clan had arrived. They came over to the car and they all started chanting, ‘Outlander.’ And then loads of fans and people started joining in. There was just this whole street was people going, ‘Outlander! Outlander!’
Caitriona Balfe: “Wow.”
Sam Heughan: “It was quite intense. It was great.”
Caitriona Balfe: “Sorry I missed that.”
Sam Heughan: [Laughing] “So my clan’s here.”
What is the experience on set in Scotland? Are the fans different?
Caitriona Balfe: “No, predominantly, we don’t get that many come to set. Either we’re at the studio which is kind of removed from public or we’re in really remote locations. Occasionally we will have like the Outlandish Bakers who find us, I don’t know how, but they do. But it’s quite subdued and that’s been really nice. We’ve been able to work in this nice bubble and just concentrate on the work without too many distractions, which has been good.”
Has the fan response shaped the way you play your characters?
Caitriona Balfe: “No, my timeframe between getting cast and starting work was so short that just three days later I was there and I was working, so you don’t really have time to think about other things. But what has been really nice is it’s long days. The schedule is really grueling and to get these little messages of support and encouragement, that’s been really helpful because there’s times when you get a bit like, ‘Oh my God, this is overwhelming.’ Then all these women send you nice well wishes and it gives you that little boost when you need it.”
Has the cast been a solid unit?
Sam Heughan: “Yeah, it’s a wonderful cast. We did sort of create a little family at the start, the Highlanders and yourself and Tobias. It’s really nice the way the story progresses that we’ve kind of got a second family now when we go back to Lallybroch. We’ve got these day players that come in for a couple episodes and they’re all brilliant. We’ve got such a great cast. The casting department’s done amazing and the episodes we’re just finishing now are so high stakes and so interesting. But then we were shooting the other day some pickups and the old crew came back in and it feels like a big family. It really does.”
Do you think fans of the book will be surprised by your interpretation?
Caitriona Balfe: “I hope that as much as possible we’re staying very truthful to the book. But it is an adaptation so in terms of the medium that the story’s being told in, certain things have to change just to fill a proper arc of the one hour episode, so some things have been moved around a little bit or expanded upon. Maybe we haven’t been able to touch on certain parts of it, but I hope that that leaves it sort of exciting because it’s going to be something that you recognize but also there’ll be all these new elements. I hope for people who haven’t read the books, this is just going to be great storytelling about fantastic characters. So, hopefully, that’ll drag them in too.”
Did you read any of the books before you auditioned?
Sam Heughan: “No, I think we’re both in the scenario that we hadn’t read them. When everyone was even asked to audition, going and Google that straight away and then you’re like, ‘Oh my God, there’s all this stuff!’ So we both went out, I got a copy of the book and you sort of sped read the relevant scenes and you go into your meeting going, ‘Yeah, I’ve read it!’ Obviously when you get called back and you start screen tests and stuff, I read the book – and read it a few times. I’ve read pretty much all of book two but I stopped because I just thought we’re dealing with book one here and it was getting confusing where we are. And also, we have to deal with the material in hand and that’s very much to play moment by moment and the scene that’s in front of us and not play the story in our head. I’m very aware that there’s this great body of work that Diana’s written. The companion books are great. I’ve really enjoyed Exile and The Outlander Companion. I thought they were all handy to dip in and out.”
Was there ever a moment of apprehension?
Caitriona Balfe: “I mean, I think I had complete naivety. I just had no idea. I got the book right before I tested. My first audition, when I taped, I’d basically just been given a paragraph about who this person is. I didn’t really know anything about the project. So I sent in a tape just purely based on the two scenes that I’ve been given. Then when I heard they wanted to test me, I was like straightaway, ran up to my bookstore in L.A. and got the book. The guy was like, ‘You know they’re making a TV show out of this.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, really?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, I did my thesis on Ron D. Moore.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, really?’
But yeah, I think I had somewhere around 200, 300 Twitter followers and I was very proud of that at the time. Three days later I was in Scotland and Twitter was blowing up and my friends were like, ‘Have you read this? Have you seen this? Have you seen this?’ It was great. They would send me things and it was just like, ‘Wow, god, what is this?” Again, it has only been positive. So I think we just feel very lucky.”
What’s been your family and friends’ reactions? Have they started reading the books?
Caitriona Balfe: “My sister…so I got cast in September and by November she had read all seven books. She is a maniac reader. Then she’d ordered book eight. My other sister has read Outlander, the first one, and she was texting me. She’s like, ‘You’re so Claire.’ I was like, ‘???’ But they’re just very excited.”
Sam Heughan: “Yeah, my mum read the first book recently and there’s always that conversation. ‘So, at the end of the book, you know that bit with Black Jack and…’ ‘Oh god, yeah, yeah.’ So we sort of glossed over that, but she came on set and I showed her around. She brought my nephew who’s like 10 and showed him the armory and he was really excited about that. It’s great to be able to have your family, and because I’m from Scotland as well, it’s nice to come back to Scotland and finally be able to show my folks something I’m working on.”
How do you feel about criticism from women who think Claire is cheating on her husband?
Caitriona Balfe: “Those women have never fallen through time. What do they know?”
And she’s constantly being assaulted.
Caitriona Balfe: “Well, you know, I think that there’s a danger. Something that I really wanted to make sure that Claire’s strength isn’t just blindly being able to get up after being attacked and go on and it not affect her. I think that there’s strength in vulnerability as well. That was important for me to be able to show that part of Claire. And the whole thing about being in love with two people, I think that it’s entirely possible. It’s not like, at least the way we’ve handled it in the show, when she first marries Jamie, it’s not because she’s madly in love with him at that point. It’s compulsory. It’s to save her life. And this is the thing that I love about Claire, is that she finds a way to get through whatever situation is put in front of her and she’s a true survivor. And within that, you have to be able to survive. You have to be able to hope and live and love again. That’s what she constantly does. It’s like yes, she feels bad and she feels hurt and she feels the loss, but she has space in her heart to want to live and love again.”
How much is Claire relying on her knowledge of the future, versus trying to acclimate?
Caitriona Balfe: “I think the first season, it’s been very interesting because I think primarily her main drive is just to survive and, in a sense, she’s not looking at the macro as much. She has information about the future and about what’s going to happen, especially to the Highlanders, but it’s not something that I think she’s able to fully grasp until she knows that she herself and her life is not at risk. But I think as the story progresses, then she’s able to look at the bigger picture.”
Sam Heughan: “She then starts to find her place and try to fit into this world with that knowledge as well.”
