A few weeks ago,
Jonja had the good fortune to speak with
Amanda Tapping, star and executive producer of the TV show
Sanctuary.
Sanctuary started as a pay-for-download eight episode web-series back in 2007 and has since moved on to the cable channel Syfy. Ms. Tapping plays
Helen Magnus, a scientist and researcher who has devoted her life to seeking and protecting what most people would call "monsters". She heads up "the Sanctuary" as a place where these creatures can find a safe haven as she attempts to help them.
The series has just returned from a summer break with a two part episode to begin season two. In our interview, we talk with Ms. Tapping about this season's running start as well as her roles on both sides of the camera.
Jonja.net: Well first off, congratulations on the first successful season of
Sanctuary.
Tapping: Thank you. Yeah, we're really proud of it.
Jonja.net: It has done just fantastically well -- including gathering a few awards. It's certainly gathered plenty of awards up in Canada..... Including best lead female performer. Congratulations.
Tapping: Thank you very much. We have another awards ceremony coming up in November.
Jonja.net: Yeah, the Gemini Awards.
Tapping: And of course our VFX team have been nominated for an Emmy so we're really pretty stoked about that.
Jonja.net: Considering that
Sanctuary is so much [about the] visual effects, I'm not sure how there could be really any competition.
Tapping: They do an amazing job making a silk purse out of a sow's ear.... I don't know how they do it. [I am] always blown away at the end when we get the final cut of the episodes. Yesterday for example, we were sitting in the final sound mix and we just kept going, "Oh my God, oh my God, it's so good! Oh my God!" because we were seeing the final VFX for our first episode. So yeah, so I'm constantly blown away, very cool.
Jonja.net: It's something I'd like to ask, because not all actors or actresses like to see themselves or see the shows that they do and I was curious if you do go back and watch it just so you know what it is that you're doing?
Tapping: Well I don't - it's interesting because I'm in this awkward position of, as a producer, having to watch edits of the show... and to be part of the post production pipeline in terms of color correcting and sound mixing and stuff like that. I still have a horrendous time watching myself. So if I just pretend it's not me up there. I mean, you'll see me often cringe through final cuts of shows.... But I think it's probably best that actors don't watch themselves too much because then you become to self aware.
Jonja.net: About your being the producer, you were pretty much at the very beginning of the Sanctuary series as far as getting it on the air, weren't you?
Tapping: Yeah, Martin Wood and Damian Kindler [are] ultimately responsible for the Sanctuary series....The three of us [formed a company]... We started out on the web and that had its own success to a certain degree but also was a monetary failure. The three of us stuck it out and then we ended up being the only people left standing on the ship. And we were guided into the safe harbors of television so -wow, that was an analogy that just came up....
Jonja.net: I was gonna let it slide but -
Tapping: Yeah. ...terrible analogy. Anyway, so yeah, the three of us were very much from the ground up - getting the show up and running.
Jonja.net: After being on
Stargate for so long and then taking on
Stargate Atlantis, what attracted you to this -- to actually go ahead and stick to another sci-fi/fantasy series?
Tapping: I just, I love the character, Christopher, I just loved her.... For an actress to come off a character as great as Sam Carter, you go, "I will never be handed that kind of gift again" and then to have Helen Magnus fall in your lap and go, "Oh, my gosh! She, she's perfect for, you know, where I am in my life right now, where I am in my career". You'd sort of be an idiot to turn something like that down. And it also gives me the opportunity to be involved creatively on a different level... to sort of push the envelope in terms of my career -- so so much fell into place with this. It was a no-brainer.
Jonja.net: So, as well as producing, is it true you're going to take on, or you did take on directing some of season two?
Tapping: I directed an episode in Season 2. We just wrapped Season 2 a month ago. I directed, I think, it's our seventh episode and it's called "
Veritas". I'm loathe to say this usually about myself, but I'm really proud of this episode. It was written by Alan McCullough and it's a very cool, succinct story. It's sort of a bottle-show story.... Magnus has been accused of murder and she goes a bit kooky and will have to prove her innocence and it's near impossible... to do it. So it's a very cool sort of whodunit episode, unraveling all these mysteries.... It was a lot of fun. It was a huge challenge as a director -- as an actor also directing... and producing... I'm really glad I did it.
Jonja.net: This wasn't your first.... Didn't you direct an episode or two in
Stargate?
Tapping: Yeah I did, I directed an episode of Stargate, so it wasn't the first time I'd done it. So certainly on some level technically I certainly understand. I spent seven years being behind the monitors on
Stargate, listening to the directors and the DPs talk about lenses and angles and shadowing certain directors such as Martin Wood before I got the opportunity to direct on
Stargate. So I felt like I really had an understanding of the process by the time I got to
Stargate and now with
Sanctuary because its my baby, you know.... I knew that nobody would let me fail.... I just felt a little more confidence this time. I came up with my shot list prior to shooting and sort of went to run it by Martin and he said, "No, no this is your show. Go for it."
Jonja.net: So you - like you said, you just wrapped up Season 2, it's airing here in October and I mean obviously you can't give too much away. I assume... Magnus is going to have to work hard in getting her daughter back after the season finale.
Tapping: Yeah, our season starts, I would say the first three episodes are just a constant intense vibration --if that makes sense. We come off this "what the..." [moment] and within the first three episodes, everyone in the show goes through a journey in these episodes. [Everyone is thinking...] How do we get her back? How do we deal with the fact she's missing. Druitt has a particular way of dealing with it. Magnus has a particular way. Tesla has a way. Will. Henry. Everyone is dealing with it in their own way. And it's so intense. We all felt exhausted....[So when] we got to Episode 4, it's quite a comedic episode and I think [it'll give] our cast and crew and maybe even our audience a little breather.
Jonja.net: I love it when a series really hits the ground running and draws you in and that's great for drawing in new viewers too, pulling [people] in if you've got a good, exciting story going. It's a great way to pull in new viewers and hang on to them because [they're thinking], "what happens next? What happens?"
Tapping: Definitely. What I like too, Christopher, [is that] Season 1 felt like [a] season 1 -- for all the right reasons. It was introducing this incredible new world and this incredible structure. It was introducing these crazy characters and the relationships and bringing Will into the fold and introducing the creatures. Now Season 2 feels like the sophomore season of the series. You know who everyone is and now we have this incredibly fertile playground
Jonja.net: You felt like you had little bit more free rein to explorer a little bit and not have to constantly explain why this person feels the way they do.
Tapping: You're exactly right. It gives you so much more freedom and I think also from a confidence level from all of us.... You know, everyone is a bit more confident in their roles, not only the characters, but the crew and the producers and the directors -- everyone. We know how we want the show to look so Season 2 kicks *ss.
Sanctuary airs Fridays on Syfy. The two part season premier concludes tonight while Amanda Tapping's episode "
Veritas" is set to air November 20th.
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