Alison Sudol – Dig

By starrymag | February 24, 2015

Q) From what I’ve seen Emma seems to have a lot of information and knowledge that Peter Connelly doesn’t.  So learning that there’s an official 12-part prequel to DIG available online I’m wondering if you were given more detailed backstory, or an overview, as compared to some of your fellow actors on the show, or the extent of your knowledge of your character?  Did it come from just the first script that you shot or were you given more besides?

A) Oh that’s a very good question.  And the answer is that there is a lot of mystery to this character and there were a lot of things that I have learned in the process of playing the character that – I had a certain amount of information, but the mystery is kind of key.

Q) Emma spends a lot of time, specifically with Jason’s character Peter.  How did you find the experience of working with Jason?

A) It was a gift really.  It’s been an incredible experience working with Jason.  He’s a very gracious person.  He’s, just as a human being, he’s lovely to be around.  He has wonderful energy, he’s incredibly positive, he really thinks about every aspect of the character and of the story line.  I have been learning a lot from him and he has always done everything in his power to make me feel welcome and comfortable.  He’s been incredible.

Q) What was it about the show’s premise in general and about your character in particular that turned you on and made you want to be part of this?

A) That’s a wonderful question.  Thank you.  The adventure of it on so many levels, the adventure of the story, the storyline; the adventure of actually going to Israel and filming this show was incredibly exciting to me. Emma is such a layered character and I found her really intriguing and also her love for history, and for Jerusalem, and for archeology, and for life was really powerful and I wanted to play somebody like that.  I wanted to explore that.

Q) And when you go halfway across the world to film a show is it almost like a cool working vacation or is it a pain in the ass commute to work?

A) I mean I think you have jetlag and things like that obviously.  We’re all human.  But I think to go somewhere like Israel, or now Croatia, and be able to work with the kind of caliber of people that are involved in the series and on your days off, be able to experience life in a place where generally you’ve gotten to spend like a decent amount of time, so you’ve gotten to sort of get really embedded in it, I mean what an amazing thing to do in life.  I think it’s incredible.  I’m constantly just sort of pinching myself.  Even when I’m tired and it’s cold, or it’s hot, or whatever it is, it’s amazing.

Q) Your character in the episode says that every rock, every piece of territory, means something there and of course here there’s no history to a lot of things and you have probably have found yourself saying that in real life, not just as a character?

A) I did, I did.  And it’s beautiful to meet people that live in these places with such a rich deep layered history that are so aware of their history and so proud and invested in keeping their history alive. It’s been such a great learning experience for me and really inspiring and it’s not hard to be fascinated by that. It’s not hard to say those things truthfully.  I did say that exact same – actually walking through the markets in Jerusalem.  I mean everything means something.

Q) I was just wondering, have you always sort of known that you wanted to balance acting and your music or how has your career sort of segued from the music into more of an – to do more of the acting, although I know you are still involved in your music as well?

A) Yes, I am definitely.  I think it was more of a development.  I’ve always loved the storytelling element of films and of great television where you are essentially doing what I love most about music, which is you are tapping into human emotion and telling a tale and making people feel something. And I found that there was a point where I was really interested in telling other people’s stories and not just telling my own story and that I needed that creatively and needed to grow more as a human being and experience other lives, essentially, which is what you get to do as an actor is you get to live somebody else’s life for a little while. And I find that that really enriches me creatively and helps musically and just helps in life just it’s great and it is about finding that balance.  But I think I’ve gotten to a pretty good footing with that as well.

Q) Well as has been said a few times before, your character of Emma seems to have a lot of secrets and mysteries in her background.  When you were first reading the script did she sort of change significantly in your mind as you went on or did you sort of have a clear idea of how you wanted to play her from the very beginning?

A) I think I had an idea of the core that I wanted to play, which is just there’s this incredible life force within her and that just seemed like something that really mattered in how I portrayed her.  But I think it was when I went to Israel and I walked through it.  And we were in just some absolutely spectacular locations and it really sunk in the story and the greater significance of where we are within it and the history that I think that she developed as a character quite a bit when I saw where her life’s work…

Q) I was reading that eventually you guys had to shift away from Jerusalem because of some military unrest. Did you guys feel that sort of while you were making the film or anything like that?  Did that add sort of a sense of danger to the whole filmmaking part, aspect, of it?

A) To be honest I really didn’t feel it.  It was only towards the end when things started to shift a bit.  But I never felt unsafe and frankly would go back there in a second.  I loved being there so much and felt like I had a lot more to explore than I got to, but I did not feel unsafe, no.  I felt very protected.

Q) I wanted to ask a little bit more about Emma’s relationship with Professor Margrove and how it was to work with Richard E. Grant?

A) I just saw Richard in fact.  The relationship that plays out through the series is something that you sort of see.  And so I don’t know, but I could say as a person I’m a massive fan of his, massive, to the point where, like with, I mean, goodness, like I still can’t believe it.  And I have sort of made an idiot out of myself the first few times that I saw him because I was trying to be cool and I just kept blurting out how much I loved him. But, yes, the relationship is complex for sure, but there’s a lot of admiration there coming from Emma.  I mean he’s a very renowned archeologist, sort of pioneer.

Q) Can you talk, or even tease a little bit, about what we’re going to see in that first episode?

A) Yes, of course, yes.  I mean there is one of the most interesting things, to me at least, about reading the script and seeing the pilot is you have these different, seemingly disconnected, storylines that take place in completely different countries.  It starts in, I think, Norway, and there’s a whole storyline in New Mexico, and there’s Jerusalem. And you have all of these very different, very strong, interesting characters, and these different situations and they’re all weaving their way through and yet there seems to be something that draws them all together and you don’t know what that is. And you see very different climates, very different people, and yet there’s this like shared sense of sort of like a heightened – there’s a sort of heightened sense of, what’s the word?  I don’t know.  It’s anticipation, or there’s something happening, something’s afoot, with everybody.  And that’s there very different, within the show, there’s very different like color palettes for the different places and the different storylines. And, yes, it’s really intriguing, like you just don’t get all of the answers, which I love.  I love mystery, I love questions, I love trying to figure things out and I think that’s what the show has.  It’s very intelligent and it’s very deep, but it’s also fun to watch.

Q) Now without giving away any of the big spoilers what was the most fun scene that you got to play as Emma and what was the hardest scene for you as an actress to play?

A) So we filmed in these tunnels, these 3,000 year old tunnels, under Jerusalem and I’ve always considered myself sort of slightly just not always so great on my feet.  I sort of trip a lot and not always the most surefooted person.  And we had to run down these tunnels at full speed and we couldn’t do anything to make them any sort of less slippery or anything because these are like – I mean the fact that we got to film in there alone was amazing. And we were just running and there came a point where I just sort of clocked it in my head that even though I wasn’t surefooted that Emma was surefooted and I was running like Emma and I wasn’t afraid and I didn’t fall once.  And it was really quite liberating to experience that.  I don’t know it was just like a tiny moment, but personally really that we were in these caves and they were so beautiful and just walking through them was so jaw dropping. I mean there were so many moments that were so fun. And I mean she’s a very layered character and it’s not easy.  And I’ve also – this is my first major acting role. I was in Transparent, which was also a huge learning experience and amazing, but this is all new to me, so sort of every day is terrifying.  Even if I’m just barely doing anything every day is terrifying. So there’s something about getting through the day that is really wonderful.  And I feel like from when I started in Jerusalem to now that it’s really helped me become much more courageous in my personal life, and feel stronger and, yes, more brave, I guess.

Q) Jason is such a great actor.  What was he like to work with and did it make it sort of easier to sort of just connect with him, just to know that he’s a guy who’s been doing this for a while and just sort of follow along and play along with him as an actress, since this is your first real big role?

A) Oh of course.  I mean he’s been so generous with me, so supportive, and patient, and he’s really given me a lot of confidence and allowed me to have my learning curve, and never gets annoyed with me, and is always cheerful, and fun, and funny, and charming.  He’s just really like a great human being and I don’t know what I would have done, frankly. if you – when you have somebody around you that is that big as a human being then it allows you space to grow and really flourish and he’s just given me such a gift in that respect.  I just am very grateful to him.

Q) Now I know that DIG is planned as a limited series.  Is there a chance if it does really well that there – it might be brought back sort of as a sequel, or maybe even as a totally different story, like an American Horror Story, or Fargo, type of thing where they just do a completely different character?

A) I mean I can only speak for myself, as a viewer I don’t know, but I mean the brain power that you have behind this series with Gideon and Tim, like I hope so.  I hope so because they’re so smart, and clever, and interesting.  And so regardless like my involvement I would love to see this go for many seasons because I just love the way that they think.

Q) Well you also just mentioned Transparent.  What was that experience like and how exciting is it to see how well that’s doing and how much acclaim that’s getting?

A) It’s really marvelous.  It’s been really sort of surreal and wonderful and to know how much heart was put into that show.  And Jeffrey’s performance is just incredible, just breathtaking, like as a baby actress watching this feat. I can’t believe that I’m getting to do these things.  I feel incredibly lucky and I’m just trying to work as hard as I can so I can do everybody proud because I’m working with world class people.

Q) Jason has mentioned that being in DIG sparked a real life interest in him to research the actual conspiracy theories that groups that believe in the apocalyptical prophecies the show is about. Did DIG have a similar effect on you?

A) Yes, I mean of course.  It’s made me much more aware of a lot of – of lots of things that I was not really – that just weren’t on my radar.  And we talk about things on set and it’s really interesting. I think on the flipside too I think it’s really interesting to show Jerusalem on camera in a way that people haven’t really seen it before.  I think that that’s also really interesting.  And to, myself, see Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, in a new light actually being there I think the whole show has changed my perception in quite a few ways.  It really opened my eyes.

Q) Do you think the adventure that you experienced in being there will specifically influence or inspire your songwriting in the future?

A) Yes, absolutely.  I mean you can’t have an experience like this as a human being and not being affected by it I don’t think and it’s affected me tremendously.  Like people have been commenting on it lately because it’s been – we started filming quite a bit ago and it’s had sort of a transformative effect on me.  I’ve just found a lot of strength, and an increased awareness, and awareness of the world around me, and also a willingness to look at things that I might have been afraid to look at before.  And I think that as a songwriter that I can see it in the songs that I am writing now, just a very different viewpoint, a much stronger, more grounded viewpoint.  I love it.  It’s so cool to have one art form influence the next.

Q) You mentioned how glad you were that you didn’t fall, but Jason Isaacs mentioned that he sustained a few minor injuries while making DIG due to the action scenes he was in.  Did you come out of the production totally unscathed or were you banged up or injured at all while shooting?

A) Oh for sure I’ve gotten banged up.  But I mean, yes, I’ve hit my head a few times, I’ve sprained my ankle, bumps, and scrapes, and this and that, most of the time not during filming, but like just being onset and looking around and looking at some amazing site and then walking into a wall, not usually when I’m playing Emma.  She’s way better on her feet than I am somehow. Even though we’re like coming from the same person somehow she is not klutzy and I am.

 

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*