Earlier this summer we got to speak with the cast and crew of Orphan Black, and here are the interesting tidbits we’ve learned!
At Comic-Con this past year, we got to sit down with Orphan Black show creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson, as well as actors Dylan Bruce and Jordan Gavaris, who play Paul and Felix respectively. Here’s a collection of all the interesting tidbits we’ve learned!
Spoilers if you haven’t finished season 1.
Tatiana Maslany is constantly in character
Graeme Manson explains, “If she’s doing a scenes with two girls in the same scene, say she had to be Sarah – she’ll start everything as Sarah and be in character with the accent and everything all the time even when the cameras aren’t rolling. And when she changes character she goes into that all the time.
“She’s got playlists and even dances, each character has her own dance. You should see the Cosima dance.”
We also found out that Allison is the most hysterical clone to work with off camera. “[She’s] hilarious, we’re all a bit more uptight when Allison is on set. And you know I like as a director working with certain clones than others. Because essentially you’re directing that character, she never speaks to you as Tat she speaks to you as the characters.”
Tatiana auditioned as Cosima, Sarah, Beth, and Sarah being Beth
It’s been interesting to see Tatiana Maslany playing all of these characters, so we wondered: Which of the clones did she audition with?
Graeme Manson spoke up with a few details. “We knew the girls we wanted to have at the beginning so we had Tat play all the clones that you’ve seen so far, we had her audition as Cosima, Allison, as Sarah being Beth.”
But not all of the clones were conceived before filming. “With Rachel we went to Tatiana several episodes prior to shooting her and this is what we want to do with the characters and ask Tat ‘Where are you strengths, what do you want to do?’ Because we don’t want to dictate to that. She’s an actor who knows the character inside and out and she’s very versatile. She loves the challenge of finding things right then. It’s really cool to watch her, she has no limitations. It’s very organic, which is why it feels so real.”
There’ll be implications of Sarah shooting Helena
We were wondering: Will Helena’s death have any further implications for Sarah or the show? The show runners told us, “For Sarah, we’re cautious about what she does. It’s a huge deal that she shot her twin sister!”
Less clone deaths, more character development.
“We don’t treat our clones like red shirts… maybe at the beginning to kick it off we had a couple of red shirts but we’re definitely interested in serious character development. ”
And despite all the action and gun shots we’ve seen this past season, the show runners don’t want to make it an unrealistic cop drama with guns ablaze. Manson said, “We take the concept of pointing a gun at someone and shooting them very seriously. There has to be followup to that character doing that. We try to make these characters real as possible, and we won’t gloss over that Sarah shot her twin sister.”
Kira and Mrs. S aren’t going anywhere.
The end of season 1 had us a bit worried for Kira and Mrs. S, but thankfully Fawcett and Manson helped us lower our fears.
“Kira is Sarah’s heart and essentially Sarah is back where we met her at season 1 – she’s got limited resources and is on the run. As for Mrs. S: We just love Maria Doyle Kennedy, she’s a terrific actor, and Mrs. S has always been a sleeper character so we know that there’s more coming.” Fawcett continues, “Mrs. S has always been important. She has some surprises and secrets that are important to the mythology of the show.”
And you can definitely expect Kira to stick around for a while. “We know Kira is special and she figures into the series, period. She’s not just a season character, she’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”
Jordan Gavaris has his own ‘Felix Playlist’
When it was mentioned that Tatiana has her own playlists to get into character, we were curious: Did Jordan listen to a Britney playlist to get into the character of Felix?! We asked, of course, and turns out he does have a playlist, but it’s not so Britney centric.
“I do have a playlist but it wasn’t Madonna or Britney, it was Goldfrapp. Strict Machine was the song, when I was dancing in episode seven, I was practicing with Goldfrapp.”
Turns out Felix isn’t as much of a pop fan as you might’ve thought. To get into character, Gavaris listens to a lot of classic rock. “Felix is kind of like heroine chic and very london punk-posh, like a London punk who tries to sound more posh than he is.”
Felix was almost American.
“We actually did three different types of Felix when I auditioned. We did American, with no accent, and that did not work at all because the humor fell apart.”
Even Dylan Bruce had no idea about Gavaris’ previous auditions. “Really?” he asked. Gavaris responded, “Yeah even in the screen tests I told them it just doesn’t work. It’s a very British, very dry sense of humor that this character has.”
The second type that Gavaris auditioned with was as a true London punk, and Jordan actually did the accents for us and explains how he works with them. Take a listen!
Gavaris was inspired by McJagger and David Bowie, specifically by a video called “Dancing in the Street.” “It was this very ’80s and heroin rock body language, very sexually ambiguous like very bisexual not male or female, it was loose-hipped and thought there he is, that’s Felix. That’s him.”
Paul could do either side next season.
When asked about how they want their characters to develop in the next season, Bruce mentioned that despite the direction the show may or may not go in, he wants to be good.
“I was hoping I’d be more of a good guy. I was hoping that I could help [Sarah] in the quest of getting [her] daughter back.” Aw! Well, it looks like that option isn’t out of the cards yet. The show runners don’t always tell the actors the major plans for their characters until they’re solidified. “I don’t know, that could still be a possibility but at the same time I think Paul can go a really dark place in season 2.”
Uh-oh! Let’s hope Paul definitely gets nicer and not darker!
We might see more of Felix’s background in season 2.
Not confirmed by any means, but we know that when an actor has concerns and ideas for a character, sometimes the show runners listen. Let’s hope Manson and Fawcett check out Gavaris’ plans for Felix, because they sound awesome!
“I’d like to explore Felix’s personal life a bit more and find out if he has friends, I wanna see his relationships. We saw the morgue attendant very briefly but is Felix capable of having a lasting relationship? Is that even in the cards? Who does Felix call when he can’t sleep?
“I wanna know these things, and I’d like to get to know him more intimately.” Bruce cuts in, “The writers won’t tell us anything!”
Let’s hope that Gavaris sees his questions answered, because as viewers we’re equally as interested.