WARNING: This was much more difficult than I expected. I am NOT good in giving a literal translation from anything said. My memory does not work that way. I wrote down some points after the meeting, and I’ll try to describe them to you. All of this is paraphrasing and from my memory, therefore may not be 100% accurate.
Two days after the initial contact without video, I was contacted again for a new appointment, somewhere the next week. If I could indicate when I was available. I’m available anytime you want, of course! And finally, we agreed on Friday, November 5. I decided to try to Skype at work, (even bought me another webcam) because it did not work at home and on Friday evening nobody is working there so I had the whole place to myself. And of course, at that particular Friday everyone was working late, so that was not helping in letting me feel relaxed and prepared. I totally imagined myself being interrupted all the time because my colleagues kept entering the room….
(BTW: my colleagues did not really understand why I was behaving the way I did. I’m a pretty relaxed girl normally. Really not someone getting all excited over meeting some celebrity they don’t even know. Who are you going to Skype with? Never heard of…)
Half an hour before the expected time, I threw my colleagues out of the room – convincing them that the weekend had started for them. Go home! Then I had to wait for another hour or so before I got an email that it would take another few minutes. And finally… I was called again. I kept my fingers crossed that it would work this time, and yes, video worked.
There she was, on the screen. It must have been nice weather there (she said something like that), because she was wearing much less than I was (a sleeveless shirt or something). On her head, she was wearing a baseball cap with NY on it.
(BTW: I really love the sound of her voice. Other people have said before that she makes you feel at easy very quick. It’s true.)
As far as I understood, she was in Los Angeles, trying to get her new home in order. She said something like that it needed a little more decorating. She also said that they chose to live in Los Angeles (instead of New York) because it was closer to her own family and closer to New Zealand. She also said that she was going back to New Zealand soon because one of their friends was getting married. We talked about how she does not like cars, does not like to drive. She said this is because of living in New York, and that she was used to do everything by public transport, but that’s not possible in Los Angeles.
She wanted to know how I learned about Legend of the Seeker, and I told her that we just downloaded it from the internet by accident, and how I originally thought that it was some Scandinavian show because our downloads had Scandinavian (I know, it’s not a country, but I don’t know the difference between the languages, sorry!) subtitles. I told her I bought the first two books after watching the first two episodes, and that when I read the first book I could not believe that they were actually going to portray everything like in the books (they are pretty dark and violent, in my opinion). She said something like well it was still a Disney show, and that she thought that it actually worked quite well the way they did it, and I said I liked the show better than the books, and that I probably would not have read the books if not for the series. She said that a lot of people bought the books because of the show, and we discussed the fact that the author (Terry Goodkind) first was not a fan of the show, but when he saw what effect it had on the book sales he became a supporter… She has not met Terry Goodkind in person. We also talked a little bit about downloading or buying a show via iTunes (and that I in the Netherlands cannot buy an American show via iTunes, and she knew that because she has an American account and bought Seeker episodes for other people to watch in New Zealand) or watching it via Netflix (we don’t have that here).
She wanted to know what my favorite episode was, and I told her I do not really have a favorite one, I like them all. I told her that I did not like the episode Walter as much as the other ones. I tried to explain why, that I saw that episode at a moment when it was clear that there was not going to be a third season and that I wanted to see other things happening! She said if I meant that it felt a little bit like a filler episode, and I said yes, and that for me personally they should have left Darken Rahl dead! But she said it’s Seeker, no one is ever really dead is he! And I had to agree on that.
I cannot remember what we discussed that led us talking about corsets. But I did ask her what would have happened if Seeker would have run for seven seasons. Would she still be ‘happy’ wearing that? She told me that she is used to them, because in a lot of theatre plays women also have to wear those things (it’s also a vanity thing, she said, it does make you look good) and even more restricting ones. But for Seeker, the problem was mostly with the action stuff where you have to be able to move more. She said that caused her a lot of pain in her back, up to a point where her back muscles really started to protest by giving her a severe case of muscle cramp. As a remedy, she told, during the last episodes, between scenes someone would open up the corset in the back, and she would just stand there, waiting, everything hanging loosely around her, for the next scene. I did not tell her, but to me that paints a powerful picture ;D.
She said that someone told her (Bruce Spence?) that scifi/fantasy fans are very, very loyal, like 1 fan is worth like 10 ‘normal’ fans. We tried to come up with a reason why, but could not decide on that. She regretted not being able to go to one of the conventions, because she had heard from other people that that was a pretty intense experience.
She asked what else I wanted to know about Legend, but I asked her if she could tell something about the movie The Best and the Brightest, and she explained that she could do that between season one and two and that she had a great time doing that, and that she really enjoyed working with Neil Patrick Harris. She also said that it was a very funny movie, but she said something like (I’m not really sure) that it’s a kind of humor that might not be appreciated by everyone. She has not seen the movie herself yet, just a semi-final version that could be totally different than the final one. I told her I knew about the Philadelphia screening, and if it was to be expected that there were going to be more screenings, and if I was ever going to be able to see it, but she was very realistic about that and said something like that if someone would be interested in distributing the movie it probably would have happened already, but that there’s a chance I can see it on DVD eventually.
I asked her about Camp Wanatachi, and you could really see her face lit up at that. She even said that she was glad that I asked about that (how could I not?). She said that it’s much fun, but also an enormous amount of work. They recently had new castings for the musical and they really are looking for ways to raise more money. You need a lot of money to be able to get it up and running the way they want it, and especially when they are aiming for a longer run. She also said that it is not done for a producer to put your own money in the project (and I personally would say that that is only common sense!). I asked her if she liked producing and why, and she said that when acting, people tell you where to stand, what to wear, how to walk, what to say, how to say it, and that you sometimes want to have more control over it. She said that of course the actor must bring the personality to life, and that she really loved acting, but that the control part was most likely the reason that a lot of actors also want to be involved in other ways. She also said something like (I don’t know anymore how or in which context she said it) sometimes it feels for actors like you do your part and than you can go (like thanks we don’t need you anymore now), like you are not suppost to care about the total end product (I’m not sure if I’m saying this right, but to me it felt like she definitely does, and that this part of the job can feel a bit shallow…)
I asked her about what she would really like to do, if all option were open. She told me that she would really like to learn from other people, other great actors. She said that as an example, she enjoyed working with Michael Nouri (who played her father in Bound). She thought he was a great actor and an inspiring personality. And of course, she would like to work with someone like Meryl Streep, she said, but what actor wouldn’t? I tried to press a little more about what she wanted, if it was really up to her, and if she preferred TV or movie or theatre or producing, but she just laughed like she could not really decide and finally said musical. (Now I really want to hear her sing)
She did not seem to have any other future plans besides Camp Wanatachi, or nothing that could be openly discussed. She said that they were busy making an overview of noticeable moments from Seeker to add to her portfolio to show casting agents. She said that was actually very difficult, because she does not like looking at herself. She says that she keeps seeing things that she would like to do different the next time. I joked about that Seeker fans would gladly make a portfolio for her, she just has to tweet about that and she will probably get complete portfolios/showcases/even movies about what fans think are the best moments to show! She laughed and said she would think about that… (It’s a joke, folks, please don’t actually do it. Unless she asks for it, of course…;))
She wanted to know about me, what I did for a living, where I was, about my family. I asked her if she had ever been to the Netherlands, but she had not. She wanted to know about my hobbies, and I said I’m trying to learn how to play guitar but that I think it’s very difficult. She immediately asked if my fingertips were painful now (yes they are..). She said she used to play, and she mentioned that Craig (Horner) is very good at it and that Michael Nouri plays Spanish guitar very beautifully. She asked if I had any pets, and I said yes, two rabbits. She told about Henry being there with her, and that she really misses her dog (he’s still in New Zealand) but thinks it’s for the best (because it’s not a dog that would be happy in the city).
Then she said that for the script, she picked the one from the episode “Mirror” (1.18). She said she did not keep all scripts from the show, but that this one had very interesting notes from her on it. She said that when I got the script, I would think she was completely insane! She said that twice during the conversation, so now she really has me looking forward to it! She also asked if I would be offended by certain language….I assured her that would not be the case. And she made me promise I won’t scan it in or something like that to put it on the internet. I promised. Sorry folks. I had to be patient though, because there’s still coming stuff over from New Zealand so whatever she will send might be in one of the many boxes in her house. Furthermore, she wanted to know if I wanted her to put something personal on the photo, other than just sign it. I think you can guess my answer to that one.
And then she had to move on. I totally did not notice that we were already chatting for 45 minutes. I hope she enjoyed it as well, and that I was not too shy/quiet/boring. Let me finish by saying that she really is a very sweet and nice person to talk with. And I so much hope to hear and see a lot more of her. And her script will be treasured.
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morgandawn at Seems I Am Not The Only One....
