Robyn Candyce
It’s not shocking that fans of the hit TV show “The Strain” are starting to feel the melancholy left by the show’s season finale this past summer. It’s all right though; the unique vampire series just released season one on Blu-ray and DVD, so while all the television you’re currently watching is taking a break, you can be re-watching your favorite summer series, and preparing yourself for its 2015 return.
In anticipation of the December Blu-ray/DVD release, Moviehole’s Robyn Candyce had the chance to talk with series star Natalie Brown – who plays Kelly Goodweather – back in October. During the interview, Natalie talks to Robyn about her work on other projects, what draws her to Sci-fi, how she prepared for the physical demands of her role, and getting in and out of vampire makeup.
So you have had a pretty extensive career, recently you were on the USA/Canadian version of “Being Human,” you were on “Bitten”-
I really enjoy working on “Bitten”. It’s a lot of fun.
So you are returning next season?
Yes. I’m excited about it.
Since we are on the subject, what is your favorite part about working on “Bitten”?
I like the scenes where I get to just hang out, I’m always hanging out with Elena (Laura Vandervoort), which makes sense, if you’re a fan, you know I’m her best friend on the show. I wish Daegan would write more scenes where I get to interact with the pack. We’re all like a family, and they’re a great group to work with, so yeah, I really enjoy those scenes.
What draws you to the Sci-Fi world?
The possibilities as an actor in the world of Sci-Fi are infinite. When I worked on these other shows I was always the human. I was the human on “Being Human,” I was the human best friend on “Bitten,” and I realized just how much more fun there was to be had on the super natural side of things. So I’m thrilled that in “The Strain” Kelly starts out as the human, but I’m very excited to finally get my monster on.
You are in a unique situation, in that the creators and writers of the television version of “The Strain” are the same creators and writers of the book series upon which the show is based. Is that rewarding for you?
Yes. It’s a situation that offers a unique sense of continuity between the two mediums, because they can add characters – or take them away – they can change huge blocks of the story, and still you have this sense of comfort because you know the changes to the original [the book series on which the television show is based] are coming from its creators. You know, they – the writers – are these crazy talented, unique individuals, and I’m really lucky to get the opportunity to work with them.
Kelly seemed to be an extremely physically demanding role to play. How did you prepare for that, and was there anything unique about the process?
I took a very wide variety of movement and dance classes in anticipation of what was to come. I had heard that there was this wonderful choreographer who was working with the actors. I knew that Vamp Camp was imminent, but I didn’t know what Vamp Camp entailed. I took modern dance classes…I took flamenco – for my own interests – and was actually surprised to find that the hand gesticulations articulations in Flamenco were actually useful in helping me find the forms of the fingers, the twitches and movements that the hands make when worms get underneath them and start circulating around in the skin.
So all of that preparation actually helped inform all of my movements, but in that process I actually pulled my groin. So I finally got to Vamp Camp and they said to me, when you’re a stage four vamp a lot of them go down on all fours, and that’s the one thing I can’t do. So all of that preparation prevented me from doing the one final thing that wasn’t necessarily a must for the vamps – they all move differently – but luckily the episode that focused on Kelly’s transformation was a slow degradation of her humanity. Her organs start to transform, and her body starts to succumb to the virus. It didn’t require getting down on the ground.
So the makeup seemed pretty extensive. What was that process like?
I absolutely loved the process of application. It takes three and a half hours in makeup to become a vamp – a stage four vamp. The process of removal on the other hand is not so fun, so it takes three and a half hours to apply, but an hour to take it all off. The removal is a little more excruciating because you can’t rush it. You have to very slowly pull the skin back, and it’s usually at the end of the day, when everyone wants to go home.
Is it body latex?
It’s a mixture of latex and silicone. It takes an hour just to glue my hair down. I actually have pretty curly hair, so to tame the curls the artists spend a half an hour literally shellacking them to my head, then the bald cap, then the thinning hair, then the layers of silicone to extenuate the forehead and how the bones protrude. After that the initial painting begins, then the airbrushing. It’s fascinating artistry.
The scene where you get attacked and that blood sucking tentacle lunges at you, was very well acted. I was curious, was the tentacle CGI; was it a puppet?
Thank you, the stinger is CGI, but Drew Nelson, who played Matt, was a fully turned vamp, and her alone was alone was terrifying enough, and him lunging at me; the only trick was to keep enough distance between us to CGI in the six foot long stinger. There was a stunt coordinator, but just the intensity from the scene, and the attack – I’ll say that the creative use of kitchen utensils came in really handy. I think they should use cutting boards as shields more. Among silver bullets and UV lights, they should incorporate more cutting boards as shields, because they come in really handy when a six foot stinger is coming at your face or your eyeball.
Kelly’s transformation is different than the transformation of the other vampires. It’s a lot slower and she is a lot more [stable]. In the season finale she had the opportunity to eat her son and she didn’t. Does that signify a rebellious vampire, something we have to look forward to season two? Is she going to be the vampire saves them all, or are you a part of The Master’s master plan?
We’ll have to wait and see how things play out in season two, but it could be that it was just a warning. It could’ve been Kelly gone rouge and simply put off by the fact that she was outnumbered and her ex-husband had a gun loaded with silver bullets.
That’s right, because you guys don’t get the scripts until the episode is about to film.
I would say that scene is definitely to be continued.
