Jenny
02-01-2008, 08:45 PM
Figured people might want to read this. :) I'l post some of it here but it's long so will link you to my page to read the rest. :D Enjoy!
When the opportunity came up to speak with Summer Glau, I jumped at the chance. She played one of my favorite characters ever on one of the greatest shows ever on TV, River Tam on Firefly, which was cancelled after too few episodes. So I was thrilled to get to ask her not only about Firefly but about her new character and show, Cameron on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
If you haven't seen the show, Cameron has a very robotic (which makes sense, as she IS a robot), deadpan delivery and attitude. When asked about the character's persona and if that was hard to play her that way, Summer said,
Well, I always told Josh [Friedman, Executive Producer] it’s just me trying to be as honest as possible as Cameron. I never want to ask the audience to laugh at me because then it just doesn’t feel real, and so I just approach everything and try to be really sincere, as Cameron would be. She’s so – I think that is what is so funny about her is just that she can’t be anything but genuine. She’s very open, like a child. She absorbs the behavior around her and tries to understand it as best she can, and sometimes it ends up being extremely funny.
At the beginning, Summer had to always keep in mind that she was playing a character that wasn't human. As she got more comfortable in the role, that was still hard but wasn't quite as challenging.
I think that as you do a series, you do sort of become your character in a way, and it does get much more comfortable when you read a scene. You kind of have an idea of how you want to do it. Whereas when you first begin a role, you’re really exploring it and you’re making big decisions about how you want to play her. But at this point, I think all of us in the cast have really gotten comfortable with how our characters would react in a certain situation.
But I would say that the hardest part is still looking at my scene partner who might be, you know, spilling their guts to me or crying or yelling, and I can’t give anything back. You know, I mean I’m always giving something. I’m always giving energy back to my scene partner, but I can’t respond in a way that I would if I was playing a human. That never quite feels natural to me.
Summer is a much more feminine Terminator than fans are used to, as in the movies, John's protector is the huge Arnold Schwarzenegger. Before the show even came out, producers wanted fans to realize how different Summer's character was, so they put out a poster featuring the nude upper half of Summer's body with the robotic wires hanging out underneath. Summer talked about how nervous she was when one of the producers brought up the concept to her and the reaction when she finally saw it.
You know, I remember when we were on set and James Middleton, who is one of our producers, was describing this concept to me about this awesome poster. I was going to be naked and I wasn’t going to have any legs, and my guts were going to be hanging out. I was trying to act excited, but I was terrified. I thought, oh my gosh, this sounds so scary, and I’m going to be up on a billboard looking like that.
Then I said, oh, come on. Let’s just use a picture, a normal picture, maybe Lena holding a gun and that sounds good. Then I saw the poster, and I thought, wow. I’m actually – I understand the concept now. I thought it's really different. I think it’s going to make people wonder. It’s interesting. And I think it says a lot about the show.
But I remember they were talking about how they were going to start the campaign in LA in December, but I went home [to San Antonio, Texas] for Christmas and for New Years. And when I got home is when all the posters were up. I can’t even describe how it feels. It doesn’t feel like me. When I look at it, I just think about the team of people that put it together. It doesn’t even really register that it’s me, so it kind of represents all of us to me.
Also thinking about Arnold Schwarzenegger, we almost didn't get Summer playing Cameron. She didn't think she was right for the role.
I almost didn’t go in on the audition because I just – I had such an idea in my mind of what a terminator should be, and I did not fit that mold in any way. You know, I’m short and I just didn’t think that I had that terminator look. But I think that it is interesting because Arnold Schwarzenegger is such an icon. He’s such an action hero that Josh Friedman decided to take the Terminator on a completely different path. We’re not trying to recreate Arnold Schwarzenegger. We’re doing a completely different Terminator, and that makes me feel safe because I don’t have to try to follow in his footsteps. I’m just doing something different.
And it’s been great, you know, as a girl playing a role like this. I always look for roles that make me feel good about being a woman, and that’s not always easy. But I think on our show in particular, we’re so empowered and we have a place of importance in the script. It’s really gratifying as an actress.
When asked about playing a role that is new and not a recast of familiar characters (from the Terminator movies), Summer says that it was easier for her not having to play a recast of an already familiar character, but she admires what a great job Lena and Thomas have done as Sarah and John.
I think that Lena and Thomas have done an amazing job, and they’re both very brave actors and very independent and strong. And so I completely trust their version of their characters. But for me, it was easier, I have to say. People still ask me about Arnold Schwarzenegger and how does that feel to be the new terminator. I can laugh about it because no one can possibly compare me to him. He is an icon, and I’m doing something really different, so it is a relief for me.
But I will say that I’m only one person who is working on this character. It’s an entire team that helps me shape Cameron. Josh Friedman created her and then the writers develop her from episode-to-episode. And even Joel Cramer, our stunt coordinator, helps me decide how Cameron moves and how she fights. So I always take comfort in the fact that I have people around me who are helping me make decisions about who she is, and I’m getting more and more comfortable.
For more, go here (there is also interviews with Mira Sorvino & Olivia Wilde about House there :) ): TV Is My Pacifier (http://www.tvismypacifier.com/?cat=12)
When the opportunity came up to speak with Summer Glau, I jumped at the chance. She played one of my favorite characters ever on one of the greatest shows ever on TV, River Tam on Firefly, which was cancelled after too few episodes. So I was thrilled to get to ask her not only about Firefly but about her new character and show, Cameron on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
If you haven't seen the show, Cameron has a very robotic (which makes sense, as she IS a robot), deadpan delivery and attitude. When asked about the character's persona and if that was hard to play her that way, Summer said,
Well, I always told Josh [Friedman, Executive Producer] it’s just me trying to be as honest as possible as Cameron. I never want to ask the audience to laugh at me because then it just doesn’t feel real, and so I just approach everything and try to be really sincere, as Cameron would be. She’s so – I think that is what is so funny about her is just that she can’t be anything but genuine. She’s very open, like a child. She absorbs the behavior around her and tries to understand it as best she can, and sometimes it ends up being extremely funny.
At the beginning, Summer had to always keep in mind that she was playing a character that wasn't human. As she got more comfortable in the role, that was still hard but wasn't quite as challenging.
I think that as you do a series, you do sort of become your character in a way, and it does get much more comfortable when you read a scene. You kind of have an idea of how you want to do it. Whereas when you first begin a role, you’re really exploring it and you’re making big decisions about how you want to play her. But at this point, I think all of us in the cast have really gotten comfortable with how our characters would react in a certain situation.
But I would say that the hardest part is still looking at my scene partner who might be, you know, spilling their guts to me or crying or yelling, and I can’t give anything back. You know, I mean I’m always giving something. I’m always giving energy back to my scene partner, but I can’t respond in a way that I would if I was playing a human. That never quite feels natural to me.
Summer is a much more feminine Terminator than fans are used to, as in the movies, John's protector is the huge Arnold Schwarzenegger. Before the show even came out, producers wanted fans to realize how different Summer's character was, so they put out a poster featuring the nude upper half of Summer's body with the robotic wires hanging out underneath. Summer talked about how nervous she was when one of the producers brought up the concept to her and the reaction when she finally saw it.
You know, I remember when we were on set and James Middleton, who is one of our producers, was describing this concept to me about this awesome poster. I was going to be naked and I wasn’t going to have any legs, and my guts were going to be hanging out. I was trying to act excited, but I was terrified. I thought, oh my gosh, this sounds so scary, and I’m going to be up on a billboard looking like that.
Then I said, oh, come on. Let’s just use a picture, a normal picture, maybe Lena holding a gun and that sounds good. Then I saw the poster, and I thought, wow. I’m actually – I understand the concept now. I thought it's really different. I think it’s going to make people wonder. It’s interesting. And I think it says a lot about the show.
But I remember they were talking about how they were going to start the campaign in LA in December, but I went home [to San Antonio, Texas] for Christmas and for New Years. And when I got home is when all the posters were up. I can’t even describe how it feels. It doesn’t feel like me. When I look at it, I just think about the team of people that put it together. It doesn’t even really register that it’s me, so it kind of represents all of us to me.
Also thinking about Arnold Schwarzenegger, we almost didn't get Summer playing Cameron. She didn't think she was right for the role.
I almost didn’t go in on the audition because I just – I had such an idea in my mind of what a terminator should be, and I did not fit that mold in any way. You know, I’m short and I just didn’t think that I had that terminator look. But I think that it is interesting because Arnold Schwarzenegger is such an icon. He’s such an action hero that Josh Friedman decided to take the Terminator on a completely different path. We’re not trying to recreate Arnold Schwarzenegger. We’re doing a completely different Terminator, and that makes me feel safe because I don’t have to try to follow in his footsteps. I’m just doing something different.
And it’s been great, you know, as a girl playing a role like this. I always look for roles that make me feel good about being a woman, and that’s not always easy. But I think on our show in particular, we’re so empowered and we have a place of importance in the script. It’s really gratifying as an actress.
When asked about playing a role that is new and not a recast of familiar characters (from the Terminator movies), Summer says that it was easier for her not having to play a recast of an already familiar character, but she admires what a great job Lena and Thomas have done as Sarah and John.
I think that Lena and Thomas have done an amazing job, and they’re both very brave actors and very independent and strong. And so I completely trust their version of their characters. But for me, it was easier, I have to say. People still ask me about Arnold Schwarzenegger and how does that feel to be the new terminator. I can laugh about it because no one can possibly compare me to him. He is an icon, and I’m doing something really different, so it is a relief for me.
But I will say that I’m only one person who is working on this character. It’s an entire team that helps me shape Cameron. Josh Friedman created her and then the writers develop her from episode-to-episode. And even Joel Cramer, our stunt coordinator, helps me decide how Cameron moves and how she fights. So I always take comfort in the fact that I have people around me who are helping me make decisions about who she is, and I’m getting more and more comfortable.
For more, go here (there is also interviews with Mira Sorvino & Olivia Wilde about House there :) ): TV Is My Pacifier (http://www.tvismypacifier.com/?cat=12)