nerd4hire
Certified Uncloneable
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2002
- Messages
- 9,102
This one's been around for about a week, and I think it's been mentioned here already, but there's such great insight into stuff I see people curious about, I thought I'd post the more relevant part of it to reference with ease.
The rest is here (contains a spoiler)
by Scott Tobias February 27, 2009
[Snip]...
AVC: So was the concept his or yours? Where did the idea for Dollhouse come from?
ED: Ours? I'm not a creator, so I can't take that kind of extreme credit. But the show is sort of, Joss has said, biographical in the sense that it has so many parallels and identifications with my own life. And as we sat there talking about my career, my life as an actress, life in this business, life in this society today, and people having the Internet, and having so much control and wants and needs and sexuality and desires, the show sort of came up from him looking at my life and going, "You know, you really do wear so many different masks on a day-to-day basis." And that's fascinating to me, as a woman and as an actress, that we could put together a concept to showcase all of that. There's a lot going on!
AVC: The show has gone through its share of delays and retooling. What was going on with it before, and what was done to work it out?
ED: We shot the first pilot, Joss did, in sort of a noir style, and I think first and foremost,Fox didn't like that feel. So there were a few things they wanted different, and they wanted the story to unfold in different ways. It was a big deal for Fox, and they have a lot invested in the show, so absolutely their opinion matters. So we retooled it, and instead of doing a cut-and-paste job with the pilot and doing reshoots, Joss just sort of went, "I have an idea that I think that you're looking for, so let me just reshoot a new pilot."
AVC: It isn't like Joss is some new kid on the block, though. He has a lot of shows under his belt, and he's got this large cult following. Is it frustrating when you get that kind of feedback?
ED: Honestly, yes. I understand it from a business perspective, and from Fox's view, but at the same time, we've now done 13 episodes, and people have said that the show took off once they finally realized that Joss is best off left alone to do his thing. That happens around episode six"”six through 13 are just extraordinary. I love one, two, three, four, and five, but Joss' first script that he did after the pilot is number six, which is called "Man On The Street," and it is just unbelievable. From that point on, the world unfolds in Joss' way, with Joss' speed, and it's really remarkable.
AVC: Are you biting your nails in the interim? There are still a few more weeks before that episode airs.
ED: I think it's going to be important for Fox and for us to really push that message. Every show needs time to grow, and it's really difficult to set up a show, especially one with such a complicated, complex premise, that's so multi-dimensional. We wanted"”and Fox also wanted"”the first six episodes to be episodes people could pick up and understand what was going on even if they were late getting to the party, which I agree with. So the first six episodes are more self-contained. But once we sort of hit that place where the show takes off, I think it's going to be important to send some screener copies back out there to some of the reviewers that maybe didn't jump on board the first time around, or some of the diehard Joss fans that felt they were missing his voice in some of the first shows. Because his voice is back, and it's loud, and it's as exciting as ever once we get rolling.
AVC: How are you feeling about the network? Have you been given any assurances from them about allowing the show time to develop and cultivate its audience?
ED: I have a great relationship with the network. They've been straightforward and honest and communicative through this whole process. Every time something has happened with the show that was surprising or confusing, I've gotten phone calls where I heard it straight from them, and they gave me a why and a reason. And from everything they've told me, they believe in the show, they want the show to grow, they believe the show is a crossover that will grow past Joss's firm fan base. But it's a tricky time right now. It's a tricky time in all the entertainment business, and they absolutely just keep reiterating their investment and their confidence in Joss and myself and the show as a whole.
AVC: What do you take away from the first week's performance, and being on Friday nights in general?
ED: I think that people have to get used to Friday-night television, because it hasn't been around for some time. Which I find sort of strange myself. I truly am not just saying this because my show's on Friday nights, but I can just remember being in on Friday nights, because let's be honest, you can't go out and rage necessarily both nights every weekend. [Laughs.] I like to have one night on the weekend where I can just cuddle up at my house. But I think it's going to be interesting to see how that happens. And with our economy right now, and where we are in our country, and with Obama saying we need to scale back and cut down with this inordinate amount of consuming we do, we need to take responsibility, and I think this is a nice reason to give people to stay home on Friday nights. [Laughs.]
AVC: In a promotional interview you did for the show, you talked about how it would show a side of you that Joss has seen, but that maybe other people haven't. What did you mean by that?
ED: Well, when I moved to L.A. at 17, I had just come out of high school. I grew up and went to public school in Boston. I was a tomboy and had three big brothers. I had created an entire survival mechanism, just "Kill or be killed." Basically, protect yourself at all costs. I was definitely that tough tomboy. And as I got to know Joss, and every year that I sort of recovered from middle school, I have developed a lot of other colors. I have a lot of vulnerability, I think I have a pretty fair sense of humor at all times"”which you can see a little bit in Bring It On, a little bit in Jay And Silent Bob"”but really, I think Joss just wanted to give me an opportunity to showcase some of the other parts of my personality. There's a softie, there's a love in me. [Laughs.]
AVC: Echo seems like the opposite of Faith, at least when she's in the Dollhouse. She does have a certain curiosity, but she's also blank and subservient, for the time being, anyway. Was that a conscious decision for you and Joss? To have her so far removed from the character that you had established so strongly in the previous series?
ED: It's important for the formula of the show. It's important that in order to be imprinted to be anyone, she has to start as no one. She has to start as a blank slate.
AVC: Is it a challenge to convey that?
ED: It is, but it's also strangely peaceful, in a way, because you're just completely void of fear or inhibition or self-consciousness, and that's actually, especially in this day and age, kind of liberating, and a lovely place to escape to.
AVC: It's very childlike.
ED: I always channel the 6-year-old me when I'm doing my Echo. Well, at least for the first part of the season.
AVC: As Echo becomes more self-aware and perhaps less childlike, the dynamics of the show stand to change pretty dramatically. How do you pull that off without losing a grip on the basic idea of the show?
ED: I think that's what makes the show fascinating. I think the main question has been "How are people going to come back every week with a heroine that they don't recognize?" And I think that the point is that as Echo becomes self-aware and starts to evolve past this giant system that's objectified her, people will be rooting for her strength and her evolution as a woman and human being.
The rest is here (contains a spoiler)
