Gwenlyn Cumyn – All For One

By starrymag | June 8, 2016

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

Q) How did you originally get involved with “All For One” and how was Dorothy originally described to you?

A) I was told about it through sort of a friend of a friend, someone I worked with on a different project. He knew the guy who was originally going to direct “All For One.” He referred me. The original director then emailed me and D’Artagnan was the first jumping off point for Dorothy. She was a modern no-holds barred kind of gal.

Q) We say that she kind of reacts first – fists first!

A) That’s perfect! Where D’Artagnan was sword first… [laughs]

Q) Did the character evolve from that original breakdown you received for her?

A) Getting the script and seeing how she was written changed things, obviously. A lot of the key elements to D’Artagnan are still there, but modernized. Dorothy just has this fierce loyalty, which is really fun to play. She is so much more outgoing than I ever am in real life. I strive to be as outgoing as Dorothy. So, that’s really fun to get to do a character so far outside of my own realm of existence.

Q) Are there any layers of Dorothy or Gwenlyn that blend into each other?

A) I like to say our hair is remarkably similar. [laughs] I wear my hair in a top-knot 90% of the time. And most of her clothes are mine. We are more different than we are similar, but obviously you have to bring yourself to the character or it doesn’t seem real.

Q) One of the things I enjoyed about the series is the relationship that develops between Dorothy and an off-screen Anne. We were joking that we’d like to see it be similar to “How I Met Your Mother” where you don’t see her until like eight seasons later.

A) That’s such a great comparison! Just like with “How I Met Your Mother,” I feel like showing Anne on screen she couldn’t possibly live up to everything that Dorothy wants her to be or thinks that she is.

Q) I loved hearing about how everyone came together for their different roles throughout our interviews with the cast. What can you share from your casting process?

A) I worked with Angie [Lopez] before and we had just been on a run of running into each other at every audition. I do remember it was nice to always have a waiting buddy. When you do chemistry reads and there are a few options for different characters it can be a long time to cycle through all the different pairing options. So, it was nice to hang out with Angie during those long waiting times. Much later I read with Linnea [Currie-Roberts] when she was auditioning for Connie and that was just an amazing time. I guess I was impartial since I wasn’t nervous. [laughs] But the chemistry was awesome.

Q) Fans were rooting for Dorothy and Connie all season long. What was your favorite Dornie moment?

A) I’m all about Dornie! I think in episode two, Dorothy tries to kiss her and there is a super awkward moment where Connie says that it is time to go to bed and that doesn’t mean go to bed together. We’ll go to sleep in different beds. It was a really sweet moment. That was my favorite!

Q) We get a lot of will they/won’t they moments.

A) Dorothy is always clear on her feelings, but Connie is another story. I don’t know if Dorothy ever thought this, but I remember thinking of the script, “Does Monty even exist? Is she making her up?” And now we know.

Q) We had a great villain in Miller this season (or as I refer to him as Valdemiller). Did he bring the group together or tear them apart?

A) Valdemiller? As in Valdemort? [laughs] I don’t think he meant for them to be self-destructive, but I think anytime a villain comes up with a plan for world or sorority domination they put everything on the line. He had to have known that if he was going to pull it off that there would be some kind of revenge.

Q) Beyond the live episode, were there times when you got to add anything to your character or the series?

A) With this kind of volume of text that you are given, you have about five days and there were so many lines to learn that I couldn’t possibly…My brain isn’t that good. [laughs] I couldn’t be word perfect so I paraphrased a lot. It’s not the same thing as improvising, but a lot of the phrases Dorothy used were probably just things I was comfortable saying that stuck in my head better than what was written on the page. The writers and directors and Shannon [Litt] were really open to that because that means things come out more naturally if you say them the way you would say them. There was one episode where I kick Miller out and I think it was the end of a day and there were people waiting outside to get into the space we were filming in. There was some miscommunication so we were under time pressure to get this super emotional scene done. I remember pushing him outside and said, “Get the fuck out!” But there is no swearing in the show. I think that was the only clean take we got so I was worried/hopeful that I would get the one swear word in the show. [laughs] They fixed it though with the magic of post-production.

Q) With the live episode, it was really groundbreaking and wall-breaking because fans felt like they were such a big part of the series; and then we were! What was it like for you filming it?

A) The episode that was live was the best take. We tried a few rehearsals beforehand, but none of them compared to the actual live event. I didn’t think it would happen necessarily because with live theater you get a buzz from the audience being there, but we didn’t have a live studio audience and yet we still got that buzz feeling knowing that there were people out there watching and writing comments. We couldn’t see the comments as they were coming in, but there was a team of people looking through comments being sent in and then sending them through to us at opportune moments so we could improvise and respond to them. When that was first explained to us, it seemed really daunting, but it turned out so well. It was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be.

Q) Did you get to do a group watch afterwards?

A) I don’t even know if I did go home and watch it myself. We didn’t have a group viewing. Maybe I should watch it now.

Q) And we got a new location for the live episode as well!

A) We were lucky to get that beautiful space. I don’t know if you could see in the episode, there are huge windows and it overlooks Lake Ontario.

Q) The live episode did reunite the cast, as you had filmed previous episodes ahead of time. What was it like for you coming back together?

A) It was so much fun! It doesn’t happen all the time that you get that summer camp feeling with a cast and crew. We totally had that. Everyone is so genuinely supportive and lovely. I think we could spend fourteen hours in each other’s company without any problems…because we did. [laughs]

Q) There are such great themes to “All For One.” What do you hope fans take away from watching “All For One?”

A) I think friendship and inclusion are the big ones for me. Then, the Mu Sigma Theta sisters even when they weren’t necessarily getting along, they still had each other’s backs in a way that was really admirable. It’s what all friendship groups aim for. There are going to be highs and lows, but if you have the right group of people around you then you are good.

Q) Where we leave off with Treville running for President and Portia as well. Will this be another divide for them or will this be something that brings them together?

A) Maybe Treville (Denise Yuen) is a future Inseparable. I don’t know! I think she likes the camera more than she lets on.

Q) What have you taken from your experiences on the series?

A) I was so pleasantly surprised that this seems to be this outside internet fangroup who takes it upon themselves to become Inseparables. That’s been so great to see. The internet is a scary place and to see so many people being positive and loving makes it not such a scary place. Fingers crossed that there is a second season and we can do it all again because I would really love to work with this fabulous group of people again.