Hypable participated in a conference call with Orphan Black actor Ari Millen yesterday and he gave us some incredible insight into not only Project Castor but also season 3 in general.
Because the Castor clones were raised self-aware how does that change their brotherhood compared to the ladies in Project Leda?
I mean the fact that they’re self aware means they grew up together and have, I guess, close knit wolf packs/military upbringing. Just like any set of brothers I guess there’s a real closeness: They take the piss out of each other, they can be vicious but also loving. Compared to Project Leda who are just sort of learning who they are, as the season progresses Project Castor is definitely going to hit the ground running as far as making it very difficult for Project Leda because they have something they want. And because we know who we are we have a better understanding, and almost we’re more cohesive whereas Project Leda are still learning who they can trust and who they can’t. They’re very strong right off the bat.
Who’s Paul for the Castor Clones? Do they trust him?
Oh man, without giving away spoilers…I think at the end of the [second] season we now know Paul knows more than what he was letting on, and we think he might’ve been playing both sides. As this season progresses we’ll find out more of what Paul knows and more about who he is in terms of Project Castor. I don’t know if I can say more than that at this point.
With Project Leda there’s a spectrum of sexuality. What would you say is the sexuality spectrum for the Castor clones?
They’re, uh, ultra hetero, haha. Well for the most part…oh man, this is a big question. I think part of how they want to position the cast this year is they want this sort of…testosterone [thing] and I think that aspect plays itself out through their ultra sexuality sort of frat boy mentality. But, you know, that is just one part of them and on the complete opposite side of that you have Mark who is almost virginal and almost innocent, so I think there’s some interesting [stuff] there with them but the sexuality will play a big part of this season that’s for sure.
What was the biggest challenge for you this season?
I think it was, well, because you know Project Castor had been raised self-aware and grew together the biggest challenge, for me, was finding the differences within the similarities. Finding the little nuance thing that makes Rudy, Rudy, that makes Mark, Mark and that makes Seth, Seth. On a multiple clone day where I was playing more than one it was just making that switch. Because they’re so similar trying to drop one and pick up the other depending on how much sleep I got might’ve been more challenging…but yeah. It was a really fun process of just trying to find these guys within their brotherhood.
Which of the Project Castor clones would you say is the most dangerous?
I mean I think the obvious answer is probably Rudy, but I think to a certain extend he wears his heart on his sleeve. I think Mark is more dangerous, because he…he’s very good at hiding what he’s feeling for a long time. You don’t want to cross him. You don’t want to threaten what he’s going for because he will make you pay.
What’s going on with Mark and Gracie? Will we see them?
Yeah. Mark and Gracie have just eloped at the end of last season and they’re trying to hide from the Proletheans and now with the new revelation of Project Castor we find out that they’re also looking for Mark as well.
What kind of advice did you get from Tatiana about playing multiple characters
The first thing that happened was she was probably, she knew for a day or two before I did. So the first thing that happened was after I found out, it was still a secret from the rest of the cast and crew, she gave me a pat on the back and winked at me and said congratulations. To me, acting is such a private process and personal process that it’s never something you pose on anyone else so, I mean for the most part she was present and there when you’re in a scene but if I ever had a question she helped.
I thought the best lesson I could learn from her was watching her do what she does. When she was on set I would just sort of watch her do her stuff and see little things that she was doing and went “that’s brilliant, what a great idea!” I would try that trick out and if it worked for me I would keep it and if it didn’t I wouldn’t.
What’s been the most difficult or perhaps most fun element of filming things this season compared to season 2?
I guess the challenge was learning how to plan out the scene for both characters at once because you know the way obviously it’s set up is you shoot the first half of the scene as one character and then you switch over and you do the scene again as the other character.
So the trouble could be, if not handled properly, is that I would — if I only paid attention to the first character I was playing and just sort of forgot about the other guy then those decisions I made, I would have been stuck with when we flip the camera around. So the bigger challenge this year was especially working with my double (Nick Abraham) and the director. We would just sort of talk it out, talking it out, plan it and make sure that if it was a scene with Rudy and Seth that — and I’m playing Rudy, to make sure Rudy does this at this point because this is the moment that I want to create for Seth. So it was a really — there was a technical side of pre-planning that wasn’t organic to me. So it was a very interesting learning curve to deal with this season.
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.