Lucy Griffiths – Preacher

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) I finished an independent movie at the beginning of the year. It’s got the working title of Dara Ju, which means Becca in Yoruba, which is a Nigerian language. It’s a working title. I’ve also been working on producing a film called Rock N Roll Hearts.

Q) How was Emily on “Preacher” originally described to you?

A) I think she was described as a single, no nonsense mother of three. If that wasn’t it, it was pretty much it.

Q) Did she change at all from then to what we see on screen?

A) Not really. She still has three children and still pretty no nonsense even up towards the end. It is ten episodes. I think that what they’ve done, quite cleverly, with this season is set the scene for what is to come by way of interesting and informative storylines about the characters and the situations they get themselves into. It’s quite a slow burn. They want it to be able to include viewers who read the comic and also viewers who didn’t necessarily. You can come to it with no idea who the characters are and be informed, but because there are new characters and they haven’t stuck religiously to the comic book so you can also come to it as a comic book fan and not be bored by the time it takes to get to a lot of the action in the comic book. I guess they are taking a bit of a risk doing that because you never know if something is going to get picked up for a second season, but I have no doubt that it will. They’ve done a good thing, really. They have faith in the show, in the longevity of it, that they aren’t rushing to get the dramatic and engaging storylines out in the first season. They aren’t racing ahead.

Q) Was there something that what made you want to be a part of the series?

A) I think there is maybe a misconception that actors only take things. The fact that it is a job is always first and foremost (I think) the attractive thing about all acting jobs. So, it’s always exciting to get an audition for anything. There are things that I have not done in the past, but often it is because of scheduling conflicts. Most things I’m interested in. We don’t all get offers all the time. That’s good because otherwise you wouldn’t’ know if you were right for the role. Just the fact that it was a job made me interested and when I heard Joseph Gilgun was in it as Cassidy I was more interested. I had heard about him professionally and I just liked the sound of his work. I liked the idea of working with Joseph. I had been impressed about what I heard about him professionally. I really liked the character and I wanted to play somebody who wasn’t quite ordinary.

Q) Was there anything you added to Emily that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

A) I don’t know if I added this because maybe it would have been done anyway, but I was very good about not having her makeup or hair done in more of a pretty way than would be realistic and convincing. I know quite a few single working moms and perhaps it is their personality, but they don’t always have their hair or makeup done. I think it is because they don’t have the time or if they do have time they are spending it on something else like making dinner. Being a single mom is a busy life. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t unbelievably polished. If that had been her, it would have been absolutely fine, but it didn’t seem to me that it was so. There isn’t often a no makeup look in things and it is does look very natural, but I wanted to have a bit more dark under my eyes showing (for example) because I thought she might have that.

Q) Did you spend much time with the children to create a familiar bond?

A) Not really. When they were on set, I would sometimes hang out with them. There was one scene in the pilot that was a huge group scene that we shot over one or two days where we were outside having a barbeque. Because the cameras were so far away and there wasn’t always scripted dialogue, we just had to act naturally. There was lots of opportunity to interact with the kids and chat with them. Although there wasn’t scripted dialogue, I had to look like their mom. That was really a good opportunity to get to know them a little more and get used to one another. I’m really pleased with that because they weren’t even in half of the episode and then when they were on set they would have to be in school sometimes. Then, maybe I’d have to be in makeup. So, we didn’t always cross paths and even if we tried to we might not have even been able to hang out much.

Q) How hands on with the series were Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg?

A) They were very hands on. They did the first two episodes. They were available if we wanted to speak with them. They did say if we had any questions to let them know. We were working with a producer called Matt Taubert and also Sam Catlin who wrote the pilot and was the showrunner. We would typically go to those people if we had any questions because they were the ones who had written the script or were direct lines to those who wrote it. So, Evan and Seth didn’t write any of them. We would talk to the people that wrote them because they would know exactly what to say.

Q) What were some of your most memorable moments from filming “Preacher?”

A) Well, it’s funny because it is very fresh in my mind that I can remember loads of it. There was one moment where I walked from where the church is down to where we were filming. We had been working for a while so people were acquainted with each other and they were also a bit tired and it was late at night. There was a big beautiful full moon and there was a lighting rig that had lit up the church in quite an unexpected spectacular way. I didn’t know it could look like that. It was quite magical. When we went down to where we were filming there were trucks and people here and there. It felt quite like a music festival. After about twenty minutes, I realized I had gotten that wrong and it actually felt like a battle. It was all of the different elements of the set and people were passed out on the floor in contrasting ways. It was a nice little village there almost.

Q) What do you think it is about the series that has made it a fast fan favorite?

A) I don’t mean to sound cold, but I think commercially it reaches many groups of people. It reaches people who like comics and specifically that comic. It is a comic that I think appeals to older people and younger people and to this 21-22-23-24 year old market that maybe read it when they were young and are now the right age to have their own places. I think it’s been able to reach a lot of different demographics. Plus, it’s got Seth and Evan on board and attached. They have a fanbase already and people that enjoy their work and trust in the result probably are willing to try out something they created or helped to create even if they are not comic book fans. Then, the cast is made up of people who I think probably in the US have been involved with comic fests before, but in England and other places have been involved in quite a lot of variety of genres like big budget movies like Dominic [Cooper] who was in Mama Mia. So, I think that people who are maybe fans of actors on the show are watching it even though they aren’t necessarily comic book fans.

Q) As a part of social media, do you enjoy the fan feedback you receive from episodes?

A) I am on Twitter and have written about the show, but haven’t read what people have posted. I have just posted myself.

Q) Is there anything you to be sure to let fans know about Emily?

A) I think Emily is ordinary and I think she represents what we have tried to understand about that kind of life.