Natalie Brown – Channel Zero

By starrymag | November 9, 2016

Q) Is there certain things about this show that kind of freak you out? What kind of things scared you growing up or scare you now for that matter?

 

Natalie Brown:      Yes, I was plagued by nightmares as a child. I had a reoccurring nightmare for years and so I’ve never been a fan of the horror genre only because I don’t think that feeling scared is an enjoyable feeling. So I’ve often shunned horror and shied away from scary movies, scary shows. So it’s really interesting that I’ m now part of so many of them. And this one, even though I read the script, I know what happens, after watching the second episode I had a reoccurring nightmare all that week thanks in no small part to the tooth child. And it’s interesting because, you know, they’ll say that dreaming about death doesn’t necessarily indicate death. It’s when you dream of teeth that you’re in trouble. So the tooth child seems to be a manifestation of every dream of death I’ve ever had. Yes, so but and it’s an appropriate week for Jessica to die. At least it’s a week where everyone is feeling festive with their fears and what better way to die than All Soul’s Day.

 

Q) How did you first get involved in this show?

 

Natalie Brown:      I auditioned for it. I put myself on tape in Toronto and I found out a month and a half later once they put the cast together that I had been cast and when speaking to Craig MacNeill, our director, he told me that I actually was cast in his mind from the time that he saw my first audition tape. I didn’t know that but I was thrilled to know that hardware saw me as Jessica and once we put the cast together, it just got more exciting by the day and being able to work with — I worked with Shaun Benson, who plays Gary Yolen, the sheriff. We have played husband and wife in — I think this was our fifth time playing husband and wife. So it was great because we already have that backstory and relationship down but having the pleasure of meeting and working with Fiona Shaw and Paul Schneider was I think the greatest thrill on the project.

 

Q) I was wondering since you play a mother on both shows, even though on The Strain you’re kind of like a vamp mother, was there a difference in how you approached the role even though you’re playing a mother?

 

Natalie Brown:      Very much. I mean, on the strain, Kelly is sort of a Stepford Strigoi wife and mother. And in Channel Zero, Jessica is a much more nurturing person and I’m also allowed to express myself in ways that I can’t as Kelly. Any instincts I had as a woman and as a human I had to keep a lid on in The Strain because she doesn’t have access to as much of an emotional palette. Although, with Jessica Yolen, there certainly weren’t any opportunities for laughter or smiling. It was every day was just a new iteration of every mother’s nightmare. So although I had definitely more to play with, it was still sort of a limited palette of terror on both these shows.

 

Q) How did you decompress after your “death scene”? Because I feel like you — I would be traumatized by going through something like that.

 

Natalie Brown:      I was traumatized reading it. When I first saw it in the script, I had gotten an email before I had read to Episode 4 saying we need to talk about your death scene in the kiddie pool. And I thought, do I drown in a small amount of water after having too much wine? I had no idea. Nothing prepared me for how I was going to come to perish in a kiddie pool. The most horrifying thing I had read. I actually spoke to the first assistant director to see what we could do to have me not be present because I wasn’t sure if I would be — survive the day. And yet, as always in the filmmaking process, you’re working with really talented, wonderful children who for them this was a day of make believe. They relished in the stabbing. They thought it was great fun and…

 

Q) Oh gosh, those scenes were disturbing to me for some reason.

 

Natalie Brown:      Although we did use stunt doubles. I know. They actually said to make me feel better they were thinking of just subbing in a watermelon and giving them plastic forks and letting them have at the watermelon, so they wouldn’t be as dialed into the gruesome thing that they were taking part in. But kids are resilient and have imaginations that are stronger than mine. So when we actually did it, it was less horrifying than I thought it would be. Although I think the decompression has yet to come after surviving the airing of tonight’s episode. Haven’t quite decompressed yet.

 

Q) How long has it been since you filmed that scene or filmed the show?

 

Natalie Brown:      We finished filming in end of July.  So, I think I sort of swept some of those emotions under the carpet and they’re all about to come back and haunt me this evening. So yes, I don’t think I’ll be watching anything scary after Halloween for a long, long time.

 

Q) You can always talk to someone to decompress.

 

Natalie Brown:      I had a friend give me a book on the psychology of fable, so I was better able to understand the importance of a fable and how kids are unable to process certain unconscious feelings. And a lot of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales that we grew up with are a way of exercising unconscious feelings. So clearly I’ve got some dark emotions I have yet to deal with.

 

Q) Well, hopefully, you’ll watch some happy stuff for a while. Thank you.

 

Natalie Brown:      Nothing but comedies for the rest of the year. Thanks very much

 

Q) But not yet — an intense week for you. Well, congratulations on both Channel Zero and The Strain, two awesome performances that have come to an end but I think a lot of people will remember them for your excellent work. And I just wanted to ask…

 

Natalie Brown:      Well, no, I think both my deaths will not be without consequence if that’s any consolation.

 

Q)  And they’re definitely major factors in the story too, so I’m excited to see where the story goes because in both shows, you were such a major player that it’s going to have a ripple effect. And with Channel Zero, one of the cool things was that Craig MacNeill is the director for the entire first season. So I was just curious what was it like for you as an actress to be able to work with the same director on a TV show like this for every episode. Is that kind of a unique experience for you?

 

Natalie Brown:      I had done it in the past. I filmed a series called Sophie in Quebec, where the one director saw us through the first through the 13th episode and it’s great to have that kind of creative continuity for the duration of a story. And because we shot Candle Cove, we block shot all six episodes like a six-hour feature and I think it’s a real gift to be able to approach a story from beginning to end with one consistent creator. And there’s nobody better than Craig MacNeill who had such a vision and it felt like we were making an independent feature the whole time, the way it was shot, the way he approached themes. He also brings a certain amount of levity to a very dark story. He can seem like the happiest person asking you to do the darkest deeds and you want nothing more than to please him and his vision. And also, once I saw The Boy, the feature that he had written and directed, I knew I was in very capable hands. So there was complete trust on set.

 

Q) Were you surprised by Jessica’s death in tonight’s episode?

 

Natalie Brown:      Shocked. When I auditioned for the project, I had only been given the first script and I found it to be very intriguing. I knew it was only a six episode miniseries anthology so I was looking forward to six episodes. And it’s fine to be a part of four of them but Jessica’s demise came as a huge shock, but wasn’t nearly as bad to film. And again, it was such a collaboration of just really shooting the scene in an iconic way. So much of the horror is implied as opposed to shown so filming the scene was handled I think expertly and delicately and I thankfully got to check out before the stabbing began from that point on. And I went home and nursed myself with a goblet of wine and just prayed for no nightmares to come.

 

Q) Why do you think your character, Jessica, was a target?

 

Natalie Brown:      We still have to understand more of the backstory in flashbacks and we see that all of this is the doing of Eddie (Luca Villacis) and things are coming full circle. Eddie had a lot of unfinished business and we do find out that there was jealousy on Eddie’s part over the relationship that Mike and Jessica shared. And I think if Eddie had has his way, he would have carried this out back when they were 12. And I know that this isn’t something that Jessica picked up on at the time but I think it’s something that Mike innately knew when he was a boy and I think it’s one of the reasons that he did what he had to do to Eddie to protect Jessica and the others.

 

Q)  How will Jessica’s death affect Mike and Gary in the final two episodes?

 

Natalie Brown:      I’m hoping profoundly. I haven’t seen the episodes that follow so I’ll be anxious to see — I haven’t seen tonight’s episode either so I’m as anxious as the rest of you but I have been told that my death will not be without consequence and as the last interviewer said, the death of my character will definitely have a ripple effect for the duration of the series.

 

Q)  I have a couple questions about the relationship between Mike and Jessica. They — she seems to be the one that believes him the most. Was there a reason for that? I mean she out of all of the other friends that he reconnected with when he came back to Iron Hill, it was Jessica that really trusted him when everyone else didn’t. Was there a reason for that?

 

Natalie Brown:      I think that Jessica needs to believe Mike. She trusts him and knows him better than anyone else and I’m sure she would like not to believe the horrors that are happening but she needs to put faith in the one person that stands the best chance of putting an end to the horrors that she’s experienced as a mother and also the horrors that happened to them in childhood. I think she knows and trusts that Mike is the key to understanding and hopefully solving the situation.  She knows that there was more at play. There’s something more sinister at play and she also trusts him professionally . She knows that he has insights into child psychology and understands children, and the shared history they have, the trauma they’ve experienced together. She has no choice but to trust Mike. He can protect her in ways that her sheriff husband can’t.

 

Q) If your character hadn’t died, what do you think your relationship would have gone on to be between Jessica and Mike? Because there was sort of a definite undercurrent that maybe she cared more for him than either one of them were letting on as adults.

 

Natalie Brown:      For sure, and we get to see that a little bit in tonight’s episode. It was something that the both of them wondered what if or what could have been. But they’ve both gone on to live their lives in different ways and it’s a classic tale of unrequited love. And who knows if things hadn’t gone the way they go in this evening’s episode, who knows what could have happened. I think there’s just an unbreakable bond between them that is better left undefined.

 

Q) I really loved that series. I felt like it was super underrated. I’m glad it’s on Netflix but I wish it had gotten more attention, but it was interesting to see you in that and then see you in Channel Zero as well. And I am kind of working on this piece about sort of anthologies and I wondered what is it — have you had a good experience working on anthologies? I feel like things are moving towards a sort of more compact storytelling. I love that Channel Zero only has six episodes. Stranger Things obviously did that too with a much shortened season. Things are getting shorter and shorter, almost seem to be moving toward that kind of British model of you can have three episodes in a season if you want.  But what’s it like for you when the storytelling is accelerated and so compact?

 

Natalie Brown:      I think it’s not just truncated storytelling but it’s also more intense. I think it’s more interesting to be able to tackle a story knowing that it has a beginning, middle, end as opposed to wondering where your character is going to be going. You’re able to shoot an anthology like you would a feature film. Also, it helps lend itself to creative continuity, being able to work with one director. As great as it is to be able to work with myriad talented people, there’s something really special, I think, about knowing that there is that creative continuity of care in the storytelling you can put full faith and trust into the people that are at the helm. And I mean I can’t imagine anyone better to tell the story than the killer combination of Nick Antosca and Craig MacNeill. Really, really cool, creative, capable hands.

 

Q) You mentioned growing up you had a reoccurring nightmare. You’re not really into the horror genre. Do you feel like you’re a little bit stronger now that you’ve worked on projects in that genre, like mentally? As far as facing fears and stuff.

 

Natalie Brown:      Yes, that which you resist persists and I resisted horror for so long and it’s definitely been persistent in the latter part of my career. And I learned so much from not shying away from that which fears us. There’s something about it that resonates with audiences. People like to be scared. It also opens up so many more creative doors as an actor. The roles are that much more challenging as are the storylines. So I feel very fortunate at the age and stage I am at in my career that I’ve been able to play such unique characters that pose such incredible challenges that the horror genre has provided me. So I should be grateful, not fearful for these opportunities. I  also am involved in the first all-female horror anthology called XX that is coming out soon and it’s all female cast, all female creators, directors, writers, and lead actors and that’s soon to come out. And I learned so much from working with women in that genre too. So yes, very grateful.

 

Q) As far as the timing of the shooting of both The Strain and Candle Cove, was it around the same time since you’re not on as many episodes on The Strain? Or was it kind of like a before and after back to back kind of a situation as far as filming?

 

Natalie Brown:      Well, because vampires have an aversion to sunlight, we always shoot The Strain in the winter months where we have the longest hours of night. And so we always wrap The Strain in the spring. So I was done May 1 and because Channel Zero was a six-episode miniseries anthology, we were able to shoot all six episodes between May and July. And it’s funny, as I was filming my last ever scene on The Strain, the last take of the last scene of my last season of The Strain, before that one door closed, my phone went off and I got the email that I had been cast in Channel Zero.  So I feel very fortunate that as one door closed, another one opened.

 

Q) So I know when we were talking with Nick Antosca previously, he had mentioned they’re working on the No End House season of Channel Zero right now and they have potentially six or seven seasons planned out, and each one focusing on a different creepypasta. So I was just curious if that is something that you would like to explore down the line to potentially maybe appear as a different character in this universe?

 

Natalie Brown:      I would love that. If Nick will have me, I’m more than willing. A little redemption for Jessica. Back from the dead, which is just great because that’s how it differs from other anthology series is that this one is unique in that each season is not beholden to the one prior. They’re completely distinct stories and it would be great to have the opportunity to play different characters.

 

Q)  And just from your character’s perspective, now that she’s not around, now that Jessica is gone, do you think that with her kids still being out there and her husband locked up, what do you think her potential kind of thoughts are on where her kids might be? I mean was that something you think that she was thinking about right up to the end was she was such a fighter for her family. Do you think that was something that was probably on her mind and of the utmost importance to her?

 

Natalie Brown:      Absolutely. There’s nothing more important to here than family but now that the safety of her family and the sanctity of her family and their psychological health has been threatened, I think what she’s hoping for most — I mean is a full recovery of her family sound and mind and what I was happy for when I read the episodes that come after Jessica’s death is the family was at real risk of not surviving entirely. So though Jessica doesn’t survive, I think it’s really important that the wellbeing of her children was saved. I think whether it was through her death and what’s coming from Mike ultimately he was able to save Jessica’s family.

 

Q) And like she told her husband…

 

Natalie Brown:      It wasn’t for nothing.

 

Q) Like she told her husband, it was a really bad time for him to get locked up and that might spill on her shoulders as far as making sure everyone stayed safe. But yes, that was just a really good work again and yes, thanks for taking us on that journey.

 

Natalie Brown:      Yes. No, I loved shooting that scene. It was one of the first scenes that I shot on my first day and it was a really emotional scene with Gary’s character. And we are fortunate, as I said, we have played husband and wife many times before. It rarely goes well for the two of us actually and the irony of having the one man who was supposed to keep her and her family safe is behind bars only reiterates just how important Mike is to her and the safety of her family. So their deaths will not go — will not be for naught.

 

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*