Haven’s Emily Rose – CliqueClack interview

Audrey has undergone a lot of development. Can you talk to how you’ve handled portraying Audrey’s shift from a hyper character to this understated, yet more intense version?
I think it was a direct result of her world shifting a whole other level. And, what I mean by that is the rug really got pulled out from under her when she discovered that she might not be who she really is. I mean, in my world if somebody told me that you’re not really Emily Rose and everything that you remember might not even be true and you might not even know who you are … I think I might hole up in my house for a bit. My thoughts are how do you keep Audrey active and how do you keep her going? And she does that by helping people and helping through what they’re dealing with.

I think the first season she was all about answers and if she was from this place and her mom was from this place and those kind of questions that kept her heavy on the heels of investigating. This season was more about who am I. That causes a type of quiet centering. She still needs to to figure out the trouble of the week but, that causes her to look into every possible aspect.  And I think it’s also kind of shocking at the same time because if she isn’t Audrey then who is she?

Haven started off as X-Files meets Needful Things about an eerie town with paranormal occurrences and a pseudo-happy ending. But, this season everything seems tighter, more focused and slightly darker. The happy ending resolutions are fewer. Can you talk more to that shift between seasons? 
I think it’s a mixture of business decision and television in general what you need to do with audiences mixed with what the characters are going through. The first season is all about trying to gain an audience and trying to get people to just like you and enjoy the characters and enjoy the story and want to stay awhile. It’s sort of like a relationship. When you just get to know somebody you don’t go to the deep dark stuff right away. You’re kind of like “ohmigosh! Isn’t it so fun to hang out together? And, look at all the fun things we can do!” [laughs] You know?

I think it’s kind of like what the first season was “ohmigosh! Look at all these cool quirky characters and let’s get to know them! Ohmygoodness, I like them!” Then, once you like somebody, and you really enjoy them and you trust them, and you feel safe around them. You feel able to go to the deeper darker things of life because you have their trust and you know that they’ll stick around. And I think that’s what we can do with our audience. It’s like “okay, now that you like these characters and you like and understand the world that they live. We’re going to take you to some deeper places with them and we’re going to stay a bit longer and talk about some more serious things.”

I think that everybody craves that in a relationship. And, I think that as an audience, that’s what we crave to get to know these people more. And, to really see the journey emotionally of what they’re dealing with. And, I think that’s what we do. And, obviously, from a business model it’s just wanting to step it up, wanting to hit home a little bit harder, and wanting to be a bit riskier and a bit artsier and things like that as initially you’re just trying to garnish a fan base. It’s been really neat because I really feel like as the show has gone deeper a lot of fans have really stuck around and we’ve really anchored our fan base. We’re so thankful for them, because they’re the reason we’re back on the air every year and why we’re coming back next year. So, it’s really exciting to think of what the third year of our dating relationship will look like.

Hopefully, not divorce. You guys could’ve dined off the eerie, creepy mystery for just a couple more seasons. And, yet in the second season the writers just amped it up.
Yea. I think that’s a reflection of Lucas and me and Eric, as well as Sam and Jim. I know that the three of us fight for grittier material. We like darker things. We’re fine with making a Lifetime movie every once in awhile but we really like to do television that we would watch and sit down with our friends and be wowed by. I also think that’s a testament to the type of television we’d like to watch and we’re thankful to Syfy for allowing us to be a little bit riskier in that way.

Definitely. I hope that continues. There’s a great natural intimacy that has developed amongst the cast this year which comes across on screen. In the final scene of episode 12, “Business as Usual,” there’s a great moment where Audrey and Duke sit together reading Duke’s father’s journal. I love how the body shift showed both discomfort yet comfort. How do you feel that comes across on screen?
Well, naturally it falls into place. Our television show goes through a natural progression of relationships. First season is us figuring each other out, trusting each other and getting to know each other and learning how to work. And, of course, coming back is a bit of a homecoming. You feel naturally comfortable and the scenes benefit from that.

I have to credit that scene to the director, Shawn Pillar, who’s our executive producer on the show because I was a little hesitant about being that close to Eric. I just learned that stuff about his father and I had just met with Lucy and I had been through this kind of rigmarole with my own story and I was like “why am I all buddy-buddy with him all of a sudden about this information?” And, I didn’t really want to be close to him. He explained to me that it’s kind of a testament of our relationship that we kind of go through hell and back a lot. So, it’s kind of like here we are together and the juxtaposition of what would happen when we find out that information will really read really well. And, I’m glad it did. Because, it is a very interesting sort of … you know, it’s kind of funny Nathan and Audrey have a sort of awkward moment like that when working on a case together a kind of side by side in this closeness after the kiss has happened and it’s kind of a weird feeling for them that mirrors that on a different level.

It’s true. It’s us against the world, together, and what happens when we’re presented with this information that may be a game-changer in our relationship. And, how do these two people that are close physically, because that’s what it’s representing – two people that are close, how does this division affect them? I think it gets shown really beautifully in the way that scene was shot.

Definitely. I know everyone has asked you about this, but the final two episodes featured a lot of great unspoken tension between Audrey and Nathan. And, I loved the nonverbal communication. You both indicate where you want to go without explicitly stating it. How did you both decide to play that?
I think one of my favorite characteristics of Audrey is I feel like she’s kind of like a walking, awkward moment. I don’t really feel like she ever was really … It’s a little sad. Maybe somebody did take her aside, but because of her history growing up in the foster homes and her history of kind of being a lone ranger. She’s not necessarily the most socially aware person. In terms of relationships and building relationships with people, she doesn’t really know how to do that.

Oddly enough, she’s really great at helping people through pain. She knows what they need to hear. She’s able to talk people off ledges. I don’t know if she’s been doing that a long time so she feels really at home in that way. Or if it’s just something innately within her being that she was created to do. But, I think that this awkwardness in terms of how to handle a relationship  and how to connect with other people is something specially in a romantic sense, she obviously couldn’t do it with Chris, can she do it with Nathan, I don’t know.

But, also Nathan has that same sort of problem with not being able to feel. Now he’s faced with the first person that he can. How does he do that when it’s his partner and can he risk that. And, with that huge other deal of the chief telling him he shouldn’t be in love with her. You know, it’s just a big mess.

So, the awkwardness I know Lucas and I enjoy playing because it creates kind of a reality that I think a lot of people resonate with. Yea, we watch those movies where we kind of see people so smoothly move into a relationship together, but in real life it’s not always that easy. The pace our relationship moves and the pace at which they handle each other we’re trying to really say this is the way that people who aren’t really good at relationships might really act. And, if they connect it’s gone be a really huge victory. It’s gonna be a tough road getting there.

Considering Audrey has possibly dated half the town in most of her incarnations, is it possible that she could return next season with a wiped memory and start a relationship with duke? Also, will we see more about her relationship with Vince? You know, I have no clue. We just found out that we got picked up a couple days ago. We thought we might get picked up but we weren’t sure. We’ve been kind of itching from the writers what they kind have up their imaginary sleeves for the next season. But, I really don’t know, you know.

Clacked by An Nicholson
on Oct 27, 2011 @ 16:00 EST5EDT