Being Erica: An Interview with Erin Karpluk

Have you ever wished you could revisit your past and change a certain event to see if the outcome would be different? Or wish that you could straighten out a previous mistake in the hope it would influence your future? That’s the premise behind the Soapnet TV series Being Erica, currently in its second season and airing each Wednesday night at 10PM. The series, created by Jana Sinyor who executive produces with Aaron Martin, stars Erin Karpluk as Erica Strange, who, via the therapist “Dr. Tom” (Michael Riley) is able to revisit key moments in her life to make changes where necessary, but, more importantly, to utilize the past to illuminate the present.

Tonight’s episode — “Yes We Can” — is a perfect jumping on point for viewers as it nicely re-establishes the rules for the show, and then breaks them as Dr. Tom gives Erica a “do over” day in which nothing she does will have lasting consequences.

In the following interview, Erin Karpluk discusses the evolution of the series and the impact that Erica has had on her own life.

SCIFI MEDIA ZONE: Considering you’ve gone back in time to high school and college days, do you ever feel as thought you’re playing different characters?

ERIN KARPLUK: I do. I really find that when I’m with my brother or my family on the show, back in time, I just take on this younger energy. But I, as Erin, even going home at Christmas, I’m a 31-year-old woman, but as soon as I’m home, I’m, like, “Mom, can you do my laundry?” I’m pulled back there, and on the show I think Erica certainly has fun with being back in high school and taking everything in. But I almost have it easier than some of the other actors, certainly the actress that plays young Erica when she’s 12. They [the producers] don’t think I can play 12, so they hired this fantastic actress. But she was a 12-year-old girl who had to play 32, and I thought that she did a fantastic job.

SCIFI MEDIA ZONE: Can you describe the difference in tone between season one and season two? Season one seemed a little light-hearted with heavy moments, but season two seems different.

ERIN: It’s the same show, though we do get into the time travel aspect a little more. But I look at the time travel as the catalyst for her learning and growth and development. One thing I have to give credit for regarding the second season is that I remember when I read the pilot, I said, “How many regrets can this woman have? How many times am I in Dr. Tom’s office; where he is the teacher and I am the student? Is it going to be repetitive or stagnant?” But that hasn’t happened. Season two was so much fun to shoot. Erica is more worldly and responsible and accountable in the ways of the time travel and uses her experience from the first season and applies them into the second season. It’s not only in helping and developing herself, but also to help other people. That’s something that’s very fun to play, to see her kind of step outside of herself. Depending on what the particular regret is, that will shape the episode. It’s still the same show, but if it’s dealing with the death of her brother, it’s obviously going to be a bit more heavy than if it’s her singing Britney Spears to try to stand up to a professor.

SCIFI MEDIA ZONE: Are there ways this has affected you as a real person?

ERIN: I’ve learned so much from Erica. Just that regrets are the kind of thing that can fester inside of you and you can hang on to for years. It just seems so pointless. There’s one episode where Erica wants to go back and relive a regret, but she realizes that, in fact, it wasn’t a regret at all. It was a hard thing that she had to go through, but given the chance again, she would do it the same. I thought that was interesting in my own life, and it helped me kind of let go of certain things that I may still be hanging on to. I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned from playing Erica, and just as an actor on the show and the experience, is just to let go of things. It’s a lot easier.

Look for much more on Being Erica in the weeks to come at SciFi Media Zone.

Exclusive First Look: “Batman – Under the Red Hood”

Dark, brooding adventure is nothing new in the world of Batman, but from all indications, his latest animated journey – this fall’s Batman: Under the Red Hood – could be the darkest of all.

“It’s simply the darkest Batman movie we’ve made yet, and that’s including Mask of the Phantasm and Return of the Joker,” offers producer Bruce Timm, who has been involved in Batman’s 2D world since the 1990s’ Batman: The Animated Series. “This is a really gritty, pretty darkly emotional story, and if it all comes together as I’m expecting it will, it’s going to be something really special.”

Following a line of films that includes Superman: Doomsday, Green Lantern: First Flight, Batman: Gotham Knight, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and, most recently, Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths, Under The Red Hood is adapted by Judd Winick from a story arc presented in the Dark Knight’s comic book adventures, part of which Winick himself had written. For his part, the writer thought the tale was a natural for animation.

“What I loved best about it is that it had a really amazing beginning and a really strong ending, which pretty much most movies ride on,” Winick notes. “The movie starts with Batman’s failure, which resonates throughout.”

That “failure,” the full details of which he won’t go in to, occurred some years ago, and its impact is felt in the present with the arrival of the Red Hood, a costumed vigilante and criminal whose actions reflect what Batman himself would be should he ever decide to step over the line from hero to villain.

“This is absolutely a Batman story,” he emphasizes. “It’s about Batman facing his greatest fear, and it’s a fear he was unaware of: failure. All Batman is trying to do is win a war. All he’s trying to do is right wrongs, beginning with the death of his parents and followed by another seminal event in his life, the loss of his partner, Jason Todd [who replaced Dick Grayson as his sidekick, Robin]. It was a major mistake in his life, bringing another kid into this war. So for Batman, it seems like one horrible mistake after another.”

Those mistakes, and a few others made in his career, come home to roost in the form of the Red Hood. “Batman is the Dark Knight, he has strange means and he’s tortured, but the bare essence of the man is that he’s trying to do right; to stop the bad in the world,” Winick explains. “In this story, his failure has increased ten-fold. He’s almost at a loss, because something unspoken about Batman is his emotional side. This ‘mistake’ is trying to undo everything that Batman does, trying to beat him at his own game, trying to be better than he is. So Batman has to battle this on two fronts: one, just this criminal, who’s coming in and trying to take over the city by force and being what he is, the villain. The flip side of this is that this is something from Batman’s past that has returned from beyond, which is maddening, confusing and horrible. And what does he do when he stops him, if he can stop him? These are wonderfully complex issues, which is why I just fell in love with the idea that this is Batman at his most unbalanced. What the Red Hood represents is Batman’s Achilles heel, and he tortures himself over it. The situation he is being forced to deal with is his fault, and it’s something he never lets himself forget.”

VOICES UNDER THE RED HOOD
One of the most impressive aspects of the various DC made-for-DVD animated projects is the sheer spectrum of voice talent involved in bringing the characters to life. Particularly distinct about Batman: Under The Red Hood is that the project brings into the fold a couple of vocal newbies.

Bruce Greenwood, most recently seen on the big screen as Captain Christopher Pike in last year’s Star Trek, takes on the role of Batman, whose gravelly voice he spent a lot of time experimenting with. “We just toyed around with different timbers for 20 minutes or so,” he explains. “We read the script the whole way through while we were looking for the tone of the voice. And by the time we’d sort of finished the first read through, we were kind of saying, ‘Okay, it’s got a little bit of smoke in it, but not too much.’ It became smokier as we went along.”

As to working in animation, he says, “I didn’t come in with too many preconceptions. I read the script beforehand, and the emotional through line of the story is what I’m trying to connect to. So when the director asks you to give it a certain tone, then you just go for that. But it was interesting to work this way. [Vocal director] Andrea Romano provided the visual – she’d describe everything. So you just kind of close your eyes and she’d set the scene and you could really imagine it very clearly, and then you do your thing.”

The other newcomer to animation acting is Jensen Ackles, who voices the villain of the piece, the Red Hood. Ackles, of course, is best known for his portrayal of Dean Winchester on the CW series, Supernatural.

“There really wasn’t any heavy acting choices to make,” says Ackles regarding Red Hood. “It pretty much just bounced off the page, and I just tried to do it justice. With working in this medium, once you get clear on all the specific pronunciations and how the tone of the voice needs to rise and fall, it was really about focusing on the more emotional elements of the script, especially in the intense moments and trying to envision the scene with the characters. And envisioning yourself in that scenario. A lot of times if you can do that, if you can put yourself there, I think the voice follows suit.”

Between his work on Supernatural and now the world of Batman, Ackles obviously has had some experience working in what has affectionately been called the “fan boy genre.”

“The positives of working in this genre are that the fans are extremely devoted,” he offers. “People really invest themselves in these stories and characters, and the mythology behind them. To be a part of something that so many people really get behind and want more of is extremely gratifying.”

Batman: Under The Red Hood will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in October.

Percy Jackson: An Exclusive Interview with Author Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief will be reaching theatres next week, so it seems appropriate to go back to the source of it all, author Rick Riordan. In the course of this interview, he discusses the origins of the Percy Jackson novels, how the character has evolved, his feelings about the film and plans for a spin-off book series.

Click To Play

Smallville: Exclusive Interview with Erica Durance

In this exclusive audio interview, actress Erica Durance discusses season nine of Smallville, the evolving relationship between Lois and Clark and her feelings about the show delving even deeper into the mythology of the Man of Steel.

Click To Play

Smallville: Michael Shanks on “Absolute Justice, Part 4″

In the final installment of SciFi Media Zone’s exclusive audio interview with actor Michael Shanks, he shares his feelings of becoming a part of the Superman mythology as well as the physical rigors involved in his portraying Hawkman.

Click To Play

Smallville: Michael Shanks on “Absolute Justice, Part 3″

In the third of our exclusive four-part interview with actor Michael Shanks, he continues his discussion of this Friday’s two-hour Smallville event, Absolute Justice. This time out he talks in more detail about the character of Hawkman as well as Hawkman’s impact on Clark Kent as well as Clark’s on him.

Look for the final part of this interview on Thursday.

Click To Play

Smallville: Exclusive Interview – Michael Shanks on “Absolute Justice, Part II”

In the second of our four-part conversation with Michael Shanks, he discusses Smallville’s moving away from teen angst and more into the Superman mythology, as well as what it was like to work with Tom Welling, who directed the second hour of the episode; among other things.

NOTE: Look for part three of this interview on Wednesday

Click To Play

The Making of the Star Trek Pilots, Part 3: “Assignment Earth”

The second season of STAR TREK concluded with a pilot for a proposed spin-off series that would have starred Robert Lansing as Gary Seven, a human captured by alien beings and trained to save mankind from destroying itself. Helping Seven is secretary Roberta Lincoln (Terri Garr), though the two of them first have to convince the time traveling Kirk and Spock that they are there to save the future, not destroy it.

“Assignment Earth” was written by Gene Roddenberry and the late Art Wallace (who is also the creator of the storyline for the soap opera DARK SHADOWS). “It’s interesting in a sense,” said Wallace, “because I had gone to Paramount and pitched a series idea to them. They had said that Gene Roddenberry had come up with a very similar idea. So I saw Gene and we decided to pool the idea, which was about a man from tomorrow who takes care of the present on Earth. That was intended to be the pilot, although it was never made into a series. It was a very good pilot and it’s a shame, because I think if they had done it as a series with just Gary Seven, it would have been a very successful show. I believe Gene and I split the credit on that one.”

Guest star Robert Lansing told STARLOG magazine, “What Gene had done was go to futurists and scientists and ask them what advanced societies out in space might do towards more primitive societies like ours. One of the futurists said that they would probably kidnap children from various planets, take them to their superior civilization, raise them, teach and enlighten them and then put them back as adults to lead their worlds in more peaceful ways. That was the idea behind Gary Seven.”

“It was interesting trying to balance the episode between the regular crew and Robert Lansing,” said the late director, Marc Daniels. “It was also difficult because we came back to the present and it’s always a dangerous idea to take the STAR TREK characters into the present. Suddenly you’re in a very tangible situation. The show’s reality becomes that much harder to sustain.

“We were simulating Mission Control, which, on our budget, was not easy. You had to make do with very abbreviated sets. In terms of the story’s physical demands, this is a problem of any kind of science fiction. For example, the original STAR TREK set, the Enterprise, was practically nothing; corridors we kept using over and over again, a few basic cabins which were constantly reused and, of course, the engine room. With the exception of those and the bridge, it was extremely limited.”

Gary Seven and his mission is another element of the original series that has found significant after-life. Writer Howard Weinstein included the character during his run on DC Comics’ STAR TREK title.

“With Gary Seven,” he muses, “there’s the intrigue of a character about whom so little was revealed in the TV episode. Since we really knew nothing about who he was, who he worked for, and how he knew what he did, it just begged for expansion. Fortunately, Paramount pretty much let me do whatever I wanted in establishing details of Gary Seven’s organization (which I called The Aegis), and how and why they wielded knowledge and technology far beyond what the Federation had. The goal was to take readers and the Enterprise crew inside Gary Seven’s universe – to discover that the greater the power, the bigger and more dangerous the conflicts. And even though I’m a dog person, I loved writing more of his interplay with his cat-associate, Isis. One year, when my pal and TNG comic writer Michael Jan Friedman and I bounced around ideas for a big story which would span both the TOS and TNG annuals, we wanted to do something involving both Enterprise crews. And Gary Seven’s Aegis organization came back into play. But we took the bold, shocking step of killing Gary Seven early. That probably surprised some readers, but killing off a familiar guest character raised the stakes and made the bad guys even badder.”

Ignoring those events was comic book writer John Byrne, who wrote and drew a six-issue ASSIGNMENT EARTH series for IDW, with plans to do a follow-up. When the first series was announced, he sat down for an interview with Newsarama.com, noting, “As a kid, I just thought [‘Assignment Earth’] was really neat. First, I was a Robert Lansing fan from his other work. Also, I am a sucker for time-travel stories (which the ongoing Assignment Earth would not have been, but the TOS episode was). And Terri Garr was so darn cute.

“There is no set timeline,” he continued. “I will cover a number of years – toward the end I want to touch on Nixon’s visit to China, which was in 1972 – but I am not going to be setting clear dates. Anyone who is not familiar with those years might well think all the stories take place in the same year, same week, even. The main indicator of time passing will be Roberta having a different hairstyle in each issue. Possibly a different hair color, too, playing off the Beta V’s comment that her hair was ‘presently tined honey blonde.’”

Author Greg Cox had fun with Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln in his novel ASSIGNMENT: ETERNITY and the two-book THE EUGENICS WARS. Of these efforts the website www.assignmentearth.ca offers, “ASSIGNMENT: ETERNITY is fun and involved, and we get to see a possible outcome for the team of Seven and Lincoln. THE EUGENICS WARS pair open in 1974. Gary Seven watches with growing concern as the children of a top secret human genetic engineering project called Chrysalis grow to adulthood. In particular, he focuses on a brilliant youth named Khan Noonien Singh. Can Khan’s dark destiny be averted, or is Earth doomed to fight a global battle for supremacy?”

“Part of the appeal is the ‘60s spy-fi vibe of the whole thing,” says Cox. “I was always into James Bond, THE AVENGERS, MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and all that. Basically Gary Seven is Our Man Flint of the STAR TREK universe. Also there’s the fact that they teased us at the end there would be many interesting adventures to come, and I wanted to know what those adventures were. I also had this theory that as STAR TREK is to FORBIDDEN PLANET, ‘Assignment Earth’ is to THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. It’s basically THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL: THE TV SERIES. Gary Seven is basically Klattu. It made an impression on me as a kid and I was obsessed with bringing it back.”

Smallville – Michael Shanks Audio Interview on “Absolute Justice, Part 1″

In its ninth season, Smallville has done an impressive job of rebounding creatively, with the show more fully embracing the Superman legacy. This Friday night, February 5th, the CW will present the two-hour “movie” event, Absolute Justice, in whick Clark encounters members of the Justice Society of America. Among those heroes is Carter Hall/Hawkman, portrayed by Stargate’s Michael Shanks. In the first part of a four-part conversation, the actor discusses his appearance on the show.

Look for part two on Tuesday.

NOTE: The player may need to load for a minute.

Click To Play

Check out the Superman-inspired hero, Fleischer:

Interview: Voice Director Andrea Romano on “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths”

You need a voice echoing the All-American trust of Superman? Andrea Romano
gets Mark Harmon for his maiden voyage in animation. You’re seeking a
subtly evil performance as the intelligent-bordering-on-insane Owlman?
James Woods is willing to do it from a little booth in Rhode Island.

Whatever the role, no matter the production, actors push aside their
Oscars, Emmys and Tonys to step behind the microphone and “play” with
Romano.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is the seventh entry in the
ongoing series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies, and each
has featured all-star casts with Romano at the reigns. From Neil
Patrick Harris, Brooke Shields and Alfred Molina to Virginia Madsen,
Nathan Fillion and Kyra Sedgwick (to name but a few), Romano’s casts
are packed with the faces normally reserved for lead roles in feature
films and primetime television series.

In addition to Harmon (NCIS) as Superman and Woods (Mississippi
Burning) as Owlman, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths features the
voices of Chris Noth (Law & Order, Sex and the City) as Lex Luthor,
William Baldwin (Dirty Sexy Money) as Batman, Gina Torres
(Firefly/Serenity) as Superwoman and Bruce Davison (X-Men) as President Wilson.

Romano has been one of the driving forces in animation voiceovers for
more than a quarter century, amassing a list of credits that range
from dramatic (Batman: The Animated Series) to silly (Animaniacs) to hip (The Boondocks) and timeless (Smurfs). The six-time Emmy Award winner (and 20-time nominee) has not only set the standard by which industry veterans measure the art, but she has become a household name to animation fans across the globe, regularly drawing standing ovations and endless applause during her annual Con appearances.

Warner Home Video will distribute the full-length animated Justice
League: Crisis on Two Earths on February 23 as a Special Edition
2-disc version on DVD and Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def, as well as single disc DVD,
and On Demand and Download.

Romano found time in her busier-than-you’d-ever-believe schedule to
discuss the cast of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. The
questions are simple, but the answers are pure Andrea Romano. Take a
read …

QUESTION: James Woods has quite the resume, including plenty of animation
experience. How is it that you had not worked with him until now?

ANDREA ROMANO: I’ve been a huge fan of James Woods and wanted to work with him for
years. We actually had a Justice League production about five years
ago that we had him booked for, and then the plug got pulled on the
project. I’ve been waiting for something else for him ever since – and
then Owlman came along, a perfect role for him.

We had to record him long distance, and his performance was very, very
subtle – so much so that I was worried that it wasn’t going to play
when it came back with animation. But it was perfect. It was subtle
and nuanced and scary without being broad in any way, and it was
wonderful to see such a subtle performance work in a big action piece.
I can’t wait to meet him in person.

QUESTION: On the flipside, the star of one of primetime’s top rated series –Mark Harmon of NCIS – had never previously done animation. How did he
do?

ANDREA ROMANO: I fell in love with Mark Harmon. I have admired his work for many
years, but he had not done this kind of work before, and so you always
run the risk of several different situations occurring when you bring
in someone who is new to animation. But Mark Harmon completely put
himself in my hands, and totally let me show him how this work is
done. I certainly didn’t have to teach him acting, but he was
completely agreeable to trying options, had ideas of his own, and had
complete trust in my process. So it was a terrific experience for both
of us. I think he’s a wonderful Superman. Although he’s older in years
than how we typically portray Superman, his voice with the model was
right on.

QUESTION: Gina Torres is another Joss Whedon alum making an appearance in the
Timmverse. What made her right for Superwoman?

ANDREA ROMANO: I’ve had the great pleasure of working with Gina over the years, and she is as beautiful to work with as she is visually. What makes this particular performance so great is that she plays a truly evil
character and, if you didn’t know her personally, you’d think that was
what she was like in real-life. She wore this role like a glove.

We recorded Gina separately from James Woods, and their characters are
love interests. Without the benefit of being in the same room, let
alone the same coast, Gina brought an energy that matched his
perfectly. She’s such an instinctual actress. And especially for
Superwoman, Gina really put herself into the role. She is sexy. She
doesn’t have to play sexy – she IS sexy.

One of the interesting things about Gina’s performance is that when
she first recorded, she had a cold and it manifested itself as kind of
deeper and textured. But when she came in for ADR, she was perfectly
healthy, and much more pure and clear – so we had to make a little bit
of an adjustment to make sure she didn’t sound too sweet.

QUESTION: Did William Baldwin have any trouble mastering Batman?

ANDREA ROMANO: I thought he did great – I love the texture of his voice. The performance is spot-on. The only issue was that William hasn’t done a lot of voiceover work in this genre. We do a lot of impact sounds that come with this kind of an action piece, and being the method actor he is, he insisted on actually striking his own body physically when he
had to do “umphs” and “ohs” and impacts. By the time he was done, he
must’ve been bruised. We were a little worried for him. When we
brought him back in for ADR, we asked him to please not hit himself,
and we showed him how to do those grunts and ughs In this film,
Batman wasn’t a big role, but it’s an important role, and I think
William really filled it well. Someday I’m going to get all the
Baldwins in the same room.

QUESTION: Chris Noth is another animation novice. Did he enjoy his time as a “good” Lex Luthor?

ANDREA ROMANO: Chris Noth thought he was going to be playing the evil Lex, and I think he was disappointed he didn’t get to play a villain. Still, he came through and gave a really good performance. What was funny was
that at the end of the entire recording process, Chris was our absolute last session of ADR – on a late Friday afternoon. To celebrate, they brought in a tray of Cosmos, and our own Susan Chieco had a very “Sex in the City” moment of walking a Cosmo in to Chris Noth. He cheered up considerably at that point.

QUESTION: How did you end up promoting Bruce Davison to President?

ANDREA ROMANO: I met Bruce at a wedding about 20 years ago and have admired his acting for so long anyway. It was another one of those perfect matches of voice and character. We had this nice role of the President that needed some gravitas to it and, at the same time, this particular President was a bit of a coward. Bruce was able to give us both of those aspects in just the right doses.

Next Page »