Earlier this evening, Kathryn Alexandre spoke with hosts from the Orphan Black podcast Orphan Black Chat and shed more light on what she does with the show.
For those of you who don’t know who Kathryn Alexandre is, she plays an integral part of the Orphan Black filming process: Tatiana Maslany’s performance double!
Whenever you see Maslany on screen acting against herself, what you might not know is that behind the scenes Alexandre is there playing the other clone. Alexandre helps Maslany by stepping into the shoes of each character when Maslany has to make sure her timing is precise.
For a little glimpse of what she does, check out this clip from BBC America where Maslany explains the process.
Confusing, huh? Well that’s why we brought Kathryn Alexandre on Orphan Black Chat, an Orphan Black podcast run by Tariq Kyle. She explains her side of the process and tells us more about what it’s like to work with Tatiana Maslany.
You can listen to the episode below through SoundCloud, but if you’re unable to listen to the episode or just want to read the transcript, we’ve made it available past the sound clip.
Can you help explain what you do to anyone who is unfamiliar with your work?
Basically what happens is when there’s a scene when Tat[iana Maslany] is two or more people, they bring me in. Say it’s a scene between Sarah and Alison, we start with Tat playing Sarah and I play Alison. I’m in the same wardrobe with Alison’s hair, and we do the scene with me playing opposite her. If we’re doing a big Technodolly [which is a huge moving camera crane] shot, which ends with Tatiana in the final shot, we do those with me and then they take me out in the end and replace me with her. And they also do coverage, where they shoot over my shoulder so you’ll see my back as Alison and Tatiana’s face as Sarah.
And then once we’re done doing the shot that way, we flip. So we go back into hair and wardrobe and I become Sarah and she becomes Alison, and then they do the Technodolly shots and coverage [over the shoulder] again.
Once they cast Tatiana, they knew, basically, what kind of actor they needed to cast as her double to fit her size and look. So they put out a casting call, for at that point what was called a stand-in, but it was a stand-in that was also an actor. They wanted to find someone who can act, not just a stand-in, so they auditioned a bunch of girls – me being one of them – as if we were auditioning to play Sarah and the clones, basically.
So we read all the same scenes that the other actresses (like Tatiana) were reading in their auditions. So I auditioned in front of the casting director like that, I played Sarah and Katja and Alison in my first audition – my kind of interpretation of them.
And then I had a call back with the casting director and John Fawcett, who’s the director and creator of the show, and we kind of worked a bit more, he and I. And then they brought Tat into the audition and we played off each other, so she would play Alison and I would play Sarah and we’d flip and I’d have to remember what she did as Alison and mimic her. They saw how well I could transition into mimicking her, and they compared our body sizes and our hair and this and that.
And then I had a final audition, it was a hair consult, really, just to see if they’d be able to make my hair look like hers. And it was [kind of] a meet the network heads and get the final go ahead that I can do the job.
How much preparation do you do together and/or on your own before you film?
It kind of depends on the scene and how complicated it is. In the first season there was a bit more of rehearsals before we filmed so that we can get used to each other and I would see the way she was playing the characters. Like in season 1, the big car scene between Sarah and Katja, that we had kind of a full day of technical rehearsal for so the crew can get used to doing the clone stuff and we could get used to [it], so it was a bit more complicated in season 1.
In season 2, we each kind of do our own prep; Tatiana definitely does her own prep and I look at the script and break it down as an actor, if I would be playing those characters. And I kind of try to anticipate how she will play it.
And then we just get on set and we do a first team rehearsal, and she walks through both parts, we kind of flip flop in rehearsal sometimes and play it out to see what works best. So I’ll watch her do both parts as we’re rehearsing through it and we just kind of go with the flow and see what happens. It’s a little more on the fly now, but it was more complicated near the beginning.
Is the car scene the first time you guys worked together really heavily?
I think that was the first big clone scene we did, it was the first time we really worked off each other and had to use the earwigs (which are the little microphones in our ears that record my voice and play it back to Tatiana when she’s acting on her own). And Alison and Sarah, their scene in the soccer shed was a really early one as well since we filmed episodes 1 and 2 of season 1 in tandem.
It was really funny, and a crazy experience. We realized when we did the part when Tatiana plays the scene on her own that the car doors still had to open and close when the other character would be closing them, so I was actually laying across the whole front of the car across the driver’s seat and passenger seat and opening and closing the doors from the inside on cue, for like when Sarah was supposed to be opening and closing them. It was very, very strange, and there are all kinds of little weird things like that on the show.
Check out the second page for more of the Kathryn Alexandre interview!
Was there any character that was particularly hard for you mimic, any that just came you you?
It’s always a little weird because I’m doing someone else’s impulses, kind of. It’s always an adjustment because the way that Tat moves isn’t the way that I move naturally, or the way that she speaks.
Helena was definitely a tougher one because of the accent. She was a lot of fun because of how free she was, that was really cool, but the accent was a little harder to wrap my head around. Whereas someone like Alison came a little easier, maybe, because I feel like I’m a little closer to Alison. She’s kind of fun to play with because it fits a bit easier in my body. But even Sarah’s dialect is a little harder to get into, especially after a season break.
We know Tatiana listens to playlists to get into character, so does she share them with you to help you get into that vibe, or do you have your own? How do you get into character?
My prep is more just watching her and mimicking the way she moves as each character and the intonation of her voice as each character. I requested to watch all the dailies, so they send me everything that they film every day so I can sit at home on days when I’m not on set and watch all of Tat’s work as she goes along, so when I get to set I’m not asking “How does Cosima stand?” I can just pick up little bits as I go along, so that’s mostly what my prep entails.
The way Tatiana warms up on set, like when she’s Sarah she’ll kind of shake all of her limbs out and get really loose and kind of spread her legs and get into a really grounded posture, I’ll mimic things like that and Alison’s uptightness. So it’s more physicality that I take from, but I’m always curious and always ask Tat what her playlist is and she’ll often have it on in hair and make up, like when she’s playing Rachel, she’ll have Rachel’s music on. Or I’ll ask what kind of animal characteristic she draws on for different characters, she does that sometimes. So I just try to pick every bit that I can get my hands on and try to physicalize it.
Do you stay in character off camera as well?
To a degree, yeah. Usually once I’m in costume, it almost immediately puts you into that character. So usually when I’m walking onto set I have of a sense of them in my body. If we have a long period of time in between setups, then I’ll drop it, usually, but if we’re filming and there’s five minutes, I usually stay mostly in character. I usually don’t stay in the accents because I’m not the greatest at them I think, so that usually gets dropped, but physically, there’s usually a hint of it that sticks around.
We know that you’re (finally) on screen in season 2 with at least one episode, in episode 9. Congrats! Can you tell us anything about the character, listed as Alexis, or is that all spoilery territory?
Oh, I don’t know what I’m allowed to say, it might be a little too spoilery.
Oh, we definitely don’t blame you! Congratulations for getting that role, because a lot of the Clone Club were hoping you’d be able to get on screen. The Clone Club really just appreciates you so much. I don’t know if you see Tumblr or Twitter, but as much love as we have for Tatiana, we have for you.
The Clone Club is truly amazing. I’m surprised anyone knows what I do on the show. It’s cool that the die hard Clone Club have discovered who I am. It’s really touching, and Tatiana has been so gracious mentioning me in interviews where she doesn’t really need to, so it’s been nice to have the die hard fans know who I am.
Yeah, we’re definitely going to go ahead with it. The IndiGoGo funding was just…it would’ve bee nice to get anything people were willing to give for the project, but we’ll be making it no matter what. Everyone on the project has been really generous and working for free, so that cut costs a lot. It’s mostly the cost of food and transportation we were trying to raise for.
We film on April 11, 12 and 13, and Apron was actually the untitled title, but we think it’s going to be called Bound. Apron was just a weird place holder with a strange reason why it was called that. We hope to submit it to TIF and some film festivals and see what happens.
What is Bound about?
It’s a short film, it’ll probably be around 10 minutes or so, and it’s about two younger women who are street workers. Basically, the story is about their relationship to each other, kind of swept up in the circumstances that they’re in. And one woman, named Libby, has a chance to get out of the life she’s been living. But in order for her to do that she’ll have to leave her friend, Kit, behind. So it’s really about her decision of whether to stay in a relationship and circumstance that she knows isn’t good for her and to get away, or stay with Kit because Kit needs her.
It’s an interesting commentary on obligations that we feel to each other and to our family and friends, even though we know they might not be what’s best for us. It’s kind of a character piece about these two women. It’s not really about the prostitution, it’s about their relationship to each other and the circumstance they’re in. I really think it’ll be a great character piece for two great female actresses.
ohhaidontmindme on Tumblr asks, “What’s your favorite part of the unusual job you have, and what’s the most unexpected part?”
So my favorite part of this job, I guess it’s just doing the job. Being on set and working on the material with Tatiana and the other actors and with the crew, and just being there. That’s my favorite time of the day. My favorite part is really just getting to do the work I’m doing.
The most unexpected part, I guess would be the reception the show has had. We didn’t really know what it was going to become when it started, so it was great and unexpected when we had such a great fan base developing and continuing to develop. I think it’s the amount of attention, and loving attention, it’s gotten from critics and the fan base.
waaaluigi, also from Tumblr, asks, “I was wondering if you can tell us your favorite shows and/or books.”
So my favorite shows, I guess I’ll start with the most recent ones I’ve been watching: Boardwalk Empire; I love period stuff. So Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey…
I watch so many varied things, though, like Bates Motel, I just started watching yesterday, so that’s pretty cool. Newsroom, Homeland, those kind of grittier shows.
And I definitely watch a lot of Canadian television as well, since that’s the demographic I’m in, and Reign is a new CW show that I’ve been watching.
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Orphan Black Chat is a podcast created and managed by Hypable writer Tariq Kyle with regular co-host Benjamin Holmquist. If you’d like to be a part of the podcast and come on as a guest host or leave some feedback, you can message them on Tumblr, Twitter, or email them at orphanblackchat@gmail.com.