411mania Interviews: Alice star Caterina Scarsone
Posted by Al Norton on 12.05.2009
411's Al Norton sits down for an exclusive chat with Caterina Scarsone, star of the new Syfy mini-series Alice
Caterina Scorsone stars in Syfy's two part, four hour mini-series Alice, a re-imagining of the Lewis Carroll novels Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, which airs Sunday and Monday at 9 pm.
Al Norton: How did you land the part of Alice?
Caterina Scorsone: The process was of the regular sort. My manager sent me the script and it was fantastic. We had heard they had done this super exhaustive search and hadn't found anyone so I went to her office and put myself on tape, which was sent to Vancouver. Then they had me fly out to Vancouver to meet the director, and we hit off, and the rest is history (laughing).
Al Norton: Had you read the books as a kid?
Caterina Scorsone: My mother had read me the books as a child and I had a very strong negative reaction to them, actually (laughing). At such a young age you're still trying to figure out how the world works and then encounter Lewis Carroll, this kind of wacky magician who's turning logic on its head and playing with language in a way that breaks all of the rules. As a child it was very disturbing but I went back once I was involved with the project and reread them and it was a very different experience. I was able to take all the pleasure that you are supposed to take from his books.
Al Norton: Is there more pressure doing a project that comes from such well read and loved source material?
Caterina Scorsone: I don't know if it's pressure…It's very exciting to do it. Obviously we want to honor the books and introduce them to audiences that haven't encountered them yet but what Nick Willing has done with the books is reinvent the story so dramatically that it really is it's own independent tale. It tips its hat to all of the characters that Lewis Carroll had in his books but really this is kind of an independent story. It's very exciting to have that material to be inspired by.
Al Norton: This is a very physical role for you; was there any sort of training program you went through?
Caterina Scorsone: There was some training. It was a pretty fast process from casting to arriving in Vancouver to shot the film; I guess I got there about two weeks before we started shooting. There were horseback riding lessons and Judo at the dojo, a lot of that stuff starting out. I'm a pretty outdoorsy person so it didn't scare me to be in the woods or in the water, having adventures of that sort. It was a nice change, too, to get a whole body work out from a movie as opposed to the cowboy shot and the head and shoulders acting that you're doing on a procedural drama.
Al Norton: Is there anything you did in the training that you want to keep up?
Caterina Scorsone: I would love to keep horseback riding. It was terrifying (laughing). There was one day in particular where we were running out of light at the end of the day and there was a thunderstorm coming. There were also rattlesnakes where we were shooting and the horse that I was on was in heat. They had turned us around facing the barn, where the horse wants to go when it's scared, and then they yelled action. The horse took off and we were racing each other in a way that was far, far beyond the skill level I was it.
It was pretty exciting and I'd love to do it again, I'd love to do more of it and become more proficient at it.
Al Norton: Was this your first acting experience with this level of special effects?
Caterina Scorsone: Yes. I'd done some CGI and green screen in the past but not to this degree. This was the most imagination that I'd had to employ.
Al Norton: Is there a learning curve for being able to react to nothing?
Caterina Scorsone: Yes, it's different. You definitely need to talk to the director before you start so you know how it's going to look at the end and you're focusing on the right points. But when you're acting in a scene you've got your co-star but there are only three walls in the room and there's a crew of 75 people looking at you; even when you're doing a regular movie you have to use your imagination to fill in the blanks. I think with green screen it's that times 100.
Also I was working with Andrew Lee Potts, who does this series called Primevil, where he's constantly battling dinosaurs and such, so he had lots of experience and he was great holding my hand as I learned.
Al Norton: Was part of the appeal of the project the great cast that was in place (Kathy Bates, Tim Curry, Harry Dean Stanton, Colm Meaney)?
Caterina Scorsone: Absolutely. That was it. Hearing all of those names you're kind of a little girl again. They really were people I'd grown up watching. Also, it was being in a genre that I grew up wanting to be a part of. I grew up watching Jennifer Connelly in Labrynth and Robin Wright in The Princess Bride, so doing this kind of fantasy adventure epic and then having Kathy Bates and Tim Curry and Matt Frewer to populate the fantasy world, it was kind of a dream scenario. I am definitely grateful and understand the privilege I have been granted.
Al Norton: Tell me about Edge of Darkness.
Caterina Scorsone: Edge of Darkness is a movie that comes out at the end of January, directed by Martin Campbell, who directed Casino Royale. He does a lot of fantastic action thrillers and this movie is an action thriller. Mel Gibson plays a Boston detective whose daughter is murdered at the beginning of the film and he spends the rest of the movie trying to piece together what happened.
Al Norton: Did you have a lot of scenes with Mel Gibson and what was he liked to work with?
Caterina Scorsone: All of my scenes were with Mel and it was a fantastic experience. He's such a veteran, such a pro. Anytime you get to work with someone who has that much of a track record, that has impacted film in such a huge way, it's a major opportunity to learn. It's been a big year for that for me. He was very generous and very humble on the set.
It was a bigger action thriller than I had ever been a part of and we shot in Boston and I got to employ a Southie accent.
Al Norton: I am born, raised, and still living in Boston so I will be a harsh critic of the accent.
Caterina Scorsone: (Laughing) Be kind, be kind. To prepare I hung out mostly with the teamsters and some of those accents were fantastic.
Al Norton: You're first acting job was when you were 8 years old; was it something you had to beg your parents to let you do?
Caterina Scorsone: Neither of them are part of the film industry, which I think has been a saving grace; my mother is a social anthropologist and my father runs a social work agency. They very much weren't a part of this world and kept me aware that this was an extra curricular activity.
Basically my sister wanted to act and she had a friend who was doing it and so she asked my parents and they said ok and I tagged along. We both started acting as kids, got an agent and started going out on auditions. It was always very clear that this was like soccer practice or ballet class; you go to school, you have your friends, you have your family, and with your extra time you might go on an audition that could be a fun little adventure that leaves you with some pocket money while you're saving up for college.
Al Norton: As a mini-series on Syfy adapted from a couple of popular books, Alice has a built-in audience but give me some reasons why someone who might not be otherwise interested should tune in?
Caterina Scorsone: I know it's a cliché but there really is something for everyone in this movie. It's a sweeping epic, it's got action adventure, there are fight sequences, cool special effects…There's also a love story, a mystery, and some scary iconic characters played by scary iconic actors. It defies any pigeonholing as a sci-fi mini-series. It's a really enjoyable adventure to go on.
Don't miss Alice, Sunday and Monday at 9 pm on Syfy.
