No, I really can’t. May is a pretty exciting month of television. If I weren’t on television, I’d be like, “I’m staying at home tonight!”
This week, Erica and the gang are trying to track down a scientist whose weapon could come in handy in the fight against the Vs. If we are able to get our hands on it we’d have an actual way of combating these guys, so he is very important. My little nerd brain was quite happy when this episode came along.

And the season finale brings us the long-awaited dinner between Erica, Anna and their respective kids. What’s it like between the two moms – icy as hell?

It could be icy as hell. You’ve got Anna, who is this fantastic politician/religious leader, and then you have Erica, who’s in the process of becoming exactly that. So you have two people who are pretty good at the games they’re playing coming face to face. They’re looking for any little chink in the armor, any sign of vulnerability on the other’s part. I thought it was fun to play. I enjoyed working with Morena [Baccarin] tremendously.

Does everything that’s said between the woman have some double meaning?

You nailed it, that’s exactly it. Almost every word that is said has a double meaning.

Did you and Morena spend a lot of time prepping for this critical showdown?

We rehearsed it for quite some time, so we had a very clear of idea of what we wanted to accomplish. It was very interesting to do, and fun in a lot of ways.
Is there one singular jaw-dropper that the May 18 finale will leave us with?
There were two things that made my jaw drop, maybe there will be more for other people. But yeah, we will have two jaw-droppers. [Pauses] Actually, no, wait – three. There was one other thing I could not believe they did….

And you forgot about it?! You were in denial.

Yeah, I was in denial about it. But it does happen.

We hear a lot about how ‘FlashForward’s success overseas could help it earn a Season 2 from ABC. What is playing in ‘V’s favor?

Oh, I think Morena’s pretty great. Her Anna is pretty spectacular. So I’ll wager Morena in this bet!

If there is a second season, I’d have to imagine it’d be a bit more landlocked, more of an “aliens living among us” theme.

I’m pretty bored with people sitting in a room talking about what they’re going to do, yeah. I’d like to be Han Solo. I’d like a little banter. And I’m up for a little sordid romance. I’d love to see Erica make some sort of horrible misinformed move on Father Jack and have him be like, “Uh, I’m a priest.”

Source: Fancast

Lost’s Elizabeth Mitchell says V remake taps into American paranoia

By David Bentley (Source)

THE REMAKE of 80s TV series V has now landed on Syfy (formerly the Sci-Fi Channel) in the UK.

From 1950s B-movies such as The Blob, through to Will Smith’s Independence Day and Tom Cruise doing battle in War Of The Worlds, interest in alien invasion remains as palpable as ever.

In V, we see the arrival of the Visitors or Vs, a seemingly benevolent race led by Anna (Morena Baccarin). It transpires they are evil lizards disguising themselves beneath life-like flesh and who are intent on taking over the world.

At the forefront of the American resistance is FBI counter terrorist investigator Erica Evans, played by Lost star Elizabeth Mitchell.

Elizabeth has her own theories on why alien invasion stories such as V resonate with viewers.

She said: “In America, we’re absolutely paranoid and I don’t think people necessarily want to be, so I guess having an outlet is good.

“We’re a relatively young country struggling to find its feet and then you have this show which helps to tap into, ‘Well there’s actually a bad guy out there, let’s get him!’ It’s always nice to have a concrete target,” she says.

An avid science fiction fan herself, Elizabeth watched the original series back in the Eighties and rewatched most of the episodes before she began filming. But she didn’t let herself feel the pressure of recreating such a cult series.

“I’m not one for pressure. I don’t do too much to myself to feel pressure, I don’t read too much about myself, I don’t think about it much. I think it’s best for me not to because I’m susceptible to that. ‘Why do they hate me? Why do they love me?’ If it’s a tickle or a stab, it’s just as bad. I watched the original series and I didn’t feel pressure but I definitely felt a need to be respectful. Always,” she said.

original V.jpgAn iconic image of the original series is that of the high commander stretching open her mouth like a snake and swallowing a guinea pig.

In an attempt, perhaps, to move on from the original series, the Vs of this series find other means of nutrition – but Elizabeth hints there will be a nod to this moment.

“Guinea pigs are safe for the time being but I think there is some rodent involvement. I can’t say what, but I liked it when I read it,” she teased.

While commentators were keen to point out the allegory between the Nazi movement and The Visitors in the original series, this new series has been interpreted by some right-wing factions as an allegory of Barack Obama’s presidency.

Elizabeth laughs at the comparison between Obama and Anna: “Oh lucky him. They’re both gorgeous but that’s about the only comparison I can make between the two – I wouldn’t mind having dinner with either one of them. I think people will draw conclusions however they like.

“For those as far to the left as I am, the right’s interest in the show is completely fascinating. It’s fascinating to me what people do with the Bible, it’s fascinating to me what people do with any work of literature, people can make anything out of anything and I enjoy that.”

Her character Erica immediately wises up to the threat posed by the Vs and uses her FBI training to keep cool and gather intelligence to help fight them. Elizabeth, 40, says she too prides herself on her ability to keep a cool head in a crisis.

V Morena.jpg”I am fairly low key and I don’t even smoke pot. Honestly, when terrible things happen I just go, ‘Ok, how do we deal with it?’ and then afterwards I’m like ‘Oh God!” she says, pretending to hyperventilate.

If there is an emergency, Elizabeth is now even more helpful to have around after partaking in fight training and stunts for her role as Erica.

“I’ve lost weight which makes me feel terrible because I’ve always said that women should look the way they look. But you know, when you’re stick fighting and throwing knives all day, you tend to drop a few pounds. And I run a lot, I’m always on my feet and I’m always beating people up,” she says.

Though she was applauded for her role as villainous doctor Juliet Burke in tropical island drama Lost, Elizabeth says she’s now happy to be playing a force for good, and an ass-kicking one at that.

“I’m a 40-year-old female action hero,” she says with an air of disbelief.
“I just need to be like Arnie and come from a naked position for fighting and I’ll know I’ve arrived, right?”

Another aspect of the character which Elizabeth relates to is the fact that she is a mother. While there’s no fear Elizabeth’s four-year-old son CJ will be seduced by alien invaders, Erica’s teenage son Tyler puts himself in danger by falling for Anna’s daughter Lisa – and it brings out Erica’s fighting spirit.

Elizabeth says: “I feel very strongly that being a mother makes you very ferocious. Send a bunch of mothers to do something, I really do believe that, they’re smart, they’re organised, they’re incredibly motivated.”

The actress is having fun practising kung-fu with her son who, along with her husband, has moved to Vancouver while she films (“four-year-olds can hit, man, I’m covered in bruises”) and while her career is riding high at the moment, Elizabeth’s little one is not going to let fame go his mum’s head.

“CJ said to me recently,’Mummy, I’m going to be an actor,’ and I said, ‘That’s great’ and he said, ‘But I’m going to be a real actor, not like you, I’m going to do theatre’.”

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN
The actress talks about battling aliens, her time on LOST and her love for FIREFLY and STAR TREK
Elizabeth Mitchell has in a few short years become one of ABC’s flagship complex heroines. As Juliet Burke on LOST, she went from untrustworthy Other to self-sacrificing love of first Matthew Fox’s Jack, then Josh Holloway’s Sawyer, finally detonating a bomb at close range to save her friends. Now the L.A. born, Texas-raised actress is trying to save the world from an alien invasion as FBI Special Agent Erica Evans on ABC’s remake of V.

Like many viewers, Mitchell was familiar with the original Eighties edition of V. “I watched it as a kid. It stuck with me – I had such a wonderful time watching it as a teenager with my parents,” She says. “And I loved the escape of it. I mean, who doesn’t love to escape now and then?”

The original resistance heroes of V were portrayed by Marc Singer and Faye Grant. Does Mitchell feel like Evans is closer to one than the other?

“I think it’s a combination of the two,” she replies. “You have a highly emotional woman in a position of defense, in kind of a hero position, who’s also incredibly in love [maternally speaking] with her son, who’s going down this bad path. Plus, she’s a single mom, so she’s captivated by her son [Tyler, played by Logan Huffman], he’s her life.”

Is there anything different about playing a character who’s a mother as opposed to a character who’s childless? “Oh, yeah,” Mitchell replies. “I’ve said this quote before – it’s my favorite. They say that when you have a child, your heart walks around outside of your body. And I think you don’t really experience that until you have it. I feel that way with my [real-life] son. He walks around and I want him to be strong and vibrant and happy, but in my mind, I’m worst-case scenario mom. I’m like, I’d just love to gather him up and keep him close, and at sixteen [Tyler’s age on V], you just can’t.”

Given Evans’ anti-Visitor sentiments, may we guess that she won’t be too happy with Logan’s budding romance with Visitor Lisa, played by Laura Vandervoort, erstwhile Kara on SMALLVILLE? “I think that’s safe to say,” Mitchell laughs. “She’s beautiful, though.”

Playing an FBI agent appeals to Mitchell on a number of levels. “What I liked was the out and out fact that she was a hero to me. The people who do what she does are heroes to me, and I love how emotional she is. She doesn’t guard her emotions too much, and I like the idea of trying that on and seeing how it feels. I think it might be really interesting. Plus she’s tough and I love, love, love tough women.”

This is not to say that Mitchell purposely traded LOST for V.

“Oh, God, no!” she laughs. “No, I’d never been happier than when I was on LOST. No, I was asked to leave LOST. I would never have asked to leave, not in a million years. [Moving back to the mainland from Hawaii, where LOST is filmed] was pretty sudden, so it was hard to leave. I had to pack everything up. But I’m an actor, this is what I do, so I was fine – sad but fine.”

LOST message boards have run fiery and icy about Juliet ever since the character appeared. Mitchell says she’s read some posts. “I’ve read some gorgeous stuff,” she adds. “Of course, I’ll read eight gorgeous things and then one ‘I just hate her, I don’t care what other people think.’ And then I want to go, ‘Why do you hate her? [laughs] I like her.’ But [there isn’t as much board perusal] as you might think. I try not to let that in my life.”

Does Mitchell know whether she’ll be back on LOST in its final season – more to the point, is she allowed to say what she knows? “They have all of their storylines done,” Mitchell says of the LOST writers. “They know exactly what they want to do. They’ve told me, I just can’t say.”

If V generates the same sort of passionate fan base that LOST has, Mitchell is ready for it. “I love science-fiction fans,” she notes. “I’m kind of a geeky person, so I love the minutiae.” She adds that she’s also good at following the intricate plots on both series. “I’ve got one of those weird minds that holds onto all the pertinent details, especially where I’m concerned. Maybe I’m a narcissist, but anything that has to do with my character, I really keep close track of.”

Alan Tudyk, of FIREFLY/SERENITY fame, plays FBI Agent Dale Maddox, who Mitchell’s character discovers in the pilot is really a reptilian Visitor. “I love him!” Mitchell exclaims of Tudyk. “I really love him. I told him that when I met him. He came in the dressing room and I go, ‘Hey, I love you!’ He’s like [nonplused], ‘Okay …’ [laughs].He’s so quick, he’s so clever. We improvved [improvised] a lot of our stuff in our scenes. Like the whole thing about the car – ‘Can I drive?’ ‘No.’ We played into the improv – it’s so nice that we work so well together. I think he’s so funny and articulate and good that to me, sharing screen time with him is such a pleasure, I just watched him. It was effortless for me.”

On camera, Mitchell’s Evans is a little less fond of Tudyk’s Maddox, puncturing and peeling off his skin to reveal the scales underneath. How was this accomplished? “Alan did do most of that,” Mitchell explains, “but then there was a fantastic prosthetic that they put in his place, and that was [what was used for] the swipe. I mean, all that was just the two of us, just going at each other. They did a life cast of his face and then they had an entire thing completely underneath that, so it was pretty awesome.”

As a fan of both Tudyk and sci-fi in general, it’s not surprising that Mitchell is also enthusiastic about FIREFLY, so is naturally excited about working with Morena Baccarin, another FIREFLY veteran, who stars on V as alien leader Anna. “I was a huge FIREFLY fan,” Mitchell reports, “which I told Morena when we met. I said, ‘Hi, I love you on FIREFLY!’ She was very gracious.” When asked, Mitchell relates that Baccarin was likewise appreciative of her colleague’s LOST work. “She’s been very complimentary. She’s a lovely lady.”

Mitchell is also a “huge STAR TREK fan,” she notes. “Go put that out there. When we were talking about my coming back to LOST, I was like, ‘Well, you know, I do like STAR TREK a lot,’” she laughs, referring to the fact that LOST executive producer J.J. Abrams is currently making the new STAR TREK films.

On V,Mitchell hasn’t had scenes with anybody in a full alien body suit yet, but she’s looking forward to it. “Not ‘full lizard,’” she qualifies. “They seem to be pretty hot, though. I want to see Morena as a lizard. What does she look like under all that gorgeous skin? I think she’d have to be a pretty lizard – I mean, look at her. Good Lord.”

V has its fair share of green-screen effects, though so far, Mitchell says most of her scenes have primarily involved other actors. “I get real people. When I don’t get real people, I get really freaky effects that still make me jump, so … We do have [hovering spaceship effects], but for some reason, I like that, because I have a great imagination, so it’s fine for me.”

As far as whether there is really other intelligent life in the universe, Mitchell says she’s a believer. “Remember when they took the Hubble Telescope and [aimed] it toward the darkest part of space and they found more stars and galaxies and worlds than they ever dreamed possible? How can there not be something out there?”

The political allegory of the new V caught Mitchell’s attention gradually. “I didn’t really feel like there was so much, because I felt like we were dealing with a situation where anything’s possible, because it’s sci-fi,” says Mitchell. “But I do love the idea of it echoing our culture, echoing where we are. And I found that to be kind of amazing. I think that they wrote it before Obama came in and we all became so hopeful [in real life], so to me, it kind of speaks toward where we were before, and I think what you’re dealing with now is a different scenario. You’re dealing with when someone comes in and it’s not hopeful and it’s the worst possible thing that could happen and I think that’s fascinating.”

V was originally scheduled to debut in 2010. Mitchell is pleased that it has premiered this year. “I was really happy,” she says. “I think it was exciting to me in a lot of ways. When I read the second episode, I got even more excited, because I thought it went to the next level.”

Has Mitchell ever contemplated doing comedy? “Yes. I think I love to laugh so much, I think my laugh’s really annoying to people, so maybe not,” she adds. “I’ve thought about it a lot. It seems to be this is where people want me right now, so this is where I am, but yeah, I think about it all the time.”

As far as both V and LOST, Mitchell relates, “I think that the main thing that I always try to say is, I’m insanely grateful. I’m grateful and I’m loyal and I will continue to be, so it’s all good.”

(Source)