Vera Farmiga, Carlton Cuse & Kerry Ehrin – Bates Motel

By starrymag | March 10, 2015

Q) Carlton, is it harder these days in a world where we see so much where, you know, everything is available on the Internet at the touch of a computer key to do suspenseful TV, to do spooky TV, to do TV that gets our attention? Have you found that that has become harder through the years or is it just – is it the same skill set or do you never think about, you know, the audience having kind of seen everything? How do you still get people’s attention in this era? Is it harder?

Carlton: I mean, I think it’s harder to get people’s attention just because of the sheer magnitude of choices out there. I mean there are 150 plus cable – scripted cable shows plus 100 plus networks. I mean I don’t even know what the total is but it’s massive. And so, yes, I think it’s very hard to find – there’s just so many options that people have. But I think as a writer and as a (show writer) you’ll drive yourself crazy if you worry about that too much. I think the way that it flips into the writing process is that Kerry and I talk about this a lot. I think there’s certain conventions people have. People watch a lot of TV so they think that certain things are going to happen. So I think the process is you’re always trying to subvert expectations. And I think those expectations change based on the amount of TV people are consuming. So yes, I think we try to stay relevant and at the same time we’re always looking for ways to not have our stories unfold in a predictable manner.

Q) Is there a manner in which maybe less is more at times? Like those very intensely creepy scenes where Vera’s character and Freddie’s character there’s something slightly a hint of some sort of incestuousness going on. And in a world where we can get, you know, hard core pornography at the touch of a computer key, just the mere suggestion of that really creeps us out. Is there something to the less is more strategy too maybe in modern times?

Carlton: We strive for a lot of nuance. And I think we are incredibly blessed because Vera and Freddie are so amazing. I mean a lot of – a lot of what makes that work is not what’s on the page. It’s what they do as performers. They bring this innate chemistry to the relationship. And we – what we put on the page they elevate in so many ways in terms of how they translate that and deliver that in their performances.

Q) Bates Motel and your new show, The Returned to a set in Northwest locations. And I was wondering how that decision comes about. Is there something about the landscape here in the Northwest that just inherently lends itself to stories that are spooky and kind of creepy?

Carlton: I think the physical environment is a big part of both shows. And while the second season Bates was sort of warm and summery Kerry and I felt very strongly that we should go back to a sort of bleaker, more monochromatic winter, late fall look for Season 3 of Bates and that it was narratively appropriate. For the return, the physical environment, the presence of nature; the kind of overwhelming influence of nature is I think a big part of the storytelling. It just there’s this really weird phenomenon that’s happening. And I think kind of metaphorically using nature to represent that there are forces much larger than our characters was an important part of the storytelling.

Q) Obviously both shows film not in Oregon or Washington but in British Columbia. Is that just because it’s cheaper and easier to film in British Columbia?

Carlton: There’s distinct tax benefits, currency benefits. But frankly, British Columbia is an amazing center for film production. And there’s incredible resources, Greg Cruz really talented people who you can have work on your shows. And that’s the reason that we’re there.

Q) Now Norma became oddly sort of a stronger and more confident woman in Season 2. We still continue to see signs of her sort of odd variation of person growth like the whole political thing and stuff like that?

Kerry: Yes. I think Norma’s whole plan in going to White Pine Bay was to have a normal life. And it – although she had a hell of a lot of trouble since she got there, it has forced her to have to deal with a lot and interact with a lot of people and find parts of herself that were stronger than she probably ever knew. And that actually has had the affect of making her stronger.

Q) And has it been interesting to play that Vera?

Vera: To say the least, yes. Kerry’s taken the lead on writing Normal and she writes Norma for me like I’m some sort of a demigod. But I’m not man. I’m just a mere mortal in (Verdi) and I’m mortally wounded from what she has me go through. It’s pretty nutty to see now what we explore with this character this season like the height of righteousness that she possesses and the depths of manipulation and depravity almost that she is capable of. And there just is so many antics and adventures for me to explore. It’s an outstanding role. I have never been challenged the way I am with this story in this particular character. And even as we speak, I swear it’s like I’m – just so you know, I’m completely – I’m heavily medicated right now with tremors and spasms and a torn shoulder and neck muscles and the like. I am broken in smithereens.

Kerry: It’s a physical role.

Vera: it’s not even that. It’s like a mental role that is frankly so not health for me with all due respect to everyone. But it’s formidable and it’s like – it’s as it is to Kerry man. She writes this stuff. It’s torturous to us all to hit the notes that are required emotionally and to do it earnestly. And Kerry really keeps us on point like that. But it just requires the tenacity of ten f’ing tornados and I only had about 9-1/2 in me. I didn’t get to finish that last day on set.

Kerry: But what we have is pretty amazing.

Q) Well now that Norma knows about Norman’s blackouts, will she ever let him back out into the regular world again or is she going to try to just trap him in there?

Vera: Well, yes. I mean you’re going to see a more unraveled Norma this year. I mean there’s mammoth stress in dealing with Norman’s mental state. It has a whopping physical and emotional torn toll on Norma the way it would on any parent of a quote unquote special needs child. And I think following the events of last season, Norma is more aware, she’s more circumspect, she’s more attentive to Norman’s fragility. I think you’re going to see her playing I think her cards really close to her chest in the beginning of the season but she’s got to reach out. I mean she’s – I think she’s at a point where yes, to answer your question, she’s protective of him as ever and determined to help him as best as she can. But she doesn’t always know how. And I think she’s going to start reaching out to others. And they’re going to I think that relationship evolves as they allow more people in their lives. And you’re going to see how the mother son bond kind of withstands that – those pressures.

Q) Kerry, I’ve been watching the new boxhead of the Wonder Years. And I’ve seen your name on quite a few episodes. How does it feel to have a career that goes from writing for Kevin Arnold to writing for Norma and Norman Bates? And also does it make you feel good that after all these years the Wonder Years is finally available on video?

Kerry: Yes it does actually. I didn’t even know it was. It makes me feel as timeless as our series. It’s a long time.

Q) I know we’ve got some great guest stars lined up as per usual for this season one of which is played by Joshua Leonard, which Vera I know you directed in Higher Ground. I was wondering what was your experience getting to work with Joshua again? And also from the writing point of view, could we get a little tease of how Joshua’s character will play into the storyline of Season 3?

Vera: I think that, you know, she’s – Norma’s determined to make her business a success. And so she starts enrolling in business classes at the local community college. And so there she meets James Finnegan. And he kind of launches her into a whole new path of discovery. I rooted for Joshua to get this role. You know, it’s very interesting though in Higher Ground we – he played a husband in a relationship that I’m leaving. And this is more of a romantic role. And yet we’re very close friends. It was a very interesting and bazaar dynamic between the two of us. It’s a character that Norma bonds intensely with. And he’s phenomenal. It was a quirky experience to embarking on. We were so close and this is just a weird twist. And it was amazing but odd at the same time to work so closely in a different capacity.

Carlton: The quirkiness of it is great. I mean it’s exactly the right word. And I think Kerry and I strive to create characters who are quirky and odd but yet believable within our sort of larger than life pulpy world of White Pine Bay. Joshua did such an incredibly great job of fitting that mold exactly. He’s odd but he’s really compelling. And over the course of a few episodes, I think the audience will find themselves incredibly engaged in this relationship with these two characters as it starts to deepen and unfold.

Q) I’m just really interested in the dynamic between Vera’s character and Freddie’s character and how you manage to keep it fresh and inventive and innovative because in some ways it’s the easiest thing in the world to kind of have it grow stale and run out of new ways to keep audiences riveted by it.

Vera: Yes. Yes. It’s a really great question because – it’s a great actor – acting challenge for me and for Freddie as well. And I think as they sort of head towards what seemingly is going to be their inevitable Hades these emotional scenes also come at such high frequency and duration that sometimes I honestly am just sort of running out of ideas. And it’s really interesting the closeness and the best friendship and the respect and the trust between Freddie and myself. And Kerry, you can talk about the writing aspects of this. But from an acting perspective, it’s just – it’s really intense work. And Freddie has become really particularly adept at sort of instigating me and knowing my soft spots emotionally and treading like a bulldozer over them. And it’s like in this last season in particular he can be a real prick when it comes to helping like that endurance and the emotional (earnesty). But I’m going to say it’s hard. It’s hard. And sometimes I just like I – Kerry what – it’s just nutty. I literally get angry at you – at Kerry for writing this bat shit craziness and then you just kind of find it and just because of endurance man. Sometimes I like I just don’t know where it’s going to come from. And you find a way to transfer it into the scene. Sometimes it’s just the panic of not knowing where to drill that wellspring of emotion to quench the scene. Sometimes that’s enough to set me off. But it’s like it really is – it comes down to what Freddie and I have together as colleagues and as team players. And there’s so much trust that we can get pretty wily with each other. And certainly that goes for the entire cast and with every year. We just draw nearer and dearer to each other and can push each other’s limits. And we push each other’s for better, for more, for deeper. But Kerry, why don’t you talk about the mechanics of it.

Kerry: Well, I mean it’s similar in writing. Carlton and I like to change up the storytelling a lot. And so you are telling a very intimate story of two people over a very specific and somewhat small period of time. So it does require a lot of thought about how is this going to be different. And I think what personally is so fascinating is that it is a psychological thriller. And you can if you’re in a bad marriage let’s say for like two years, every single day is going to be specific and different and fascinating. And it’s going to feed into what happens the next day. So I think the joy of it is getting under that and playing with it and exploring it so that it’s constantly growing and moving forward in ways that surprise use because as Carlton and I like to be surprised. So yes, it’s fun. Not so much fun for Vera.

Vera: No. And but despite that, look. Like I’m not going to lie. There’s some – like especially this season there’s some big dingy, stingy ordeal in store like we’re going to wade through and drown in some agony. It’s so much joy and burlesque and absurdity and dark forest and like buffoonery and above all love. There’s so much love there. And that’s what makes this show so special that there’s so much darkness and yet so much humor watching these characters navigate in some ludicrously improbable situations, you know. But that’s what makes it for me so exhilarating. Yes, it’s acute, it’s intense, it’s agonizing most of the time but it’s balanced so beautifully. There’s a lot of joy and beauty and friendship and love. Yes. I think ostensibly the show the label of the show would be that it’s about a guy who’s growing up to become a serial killer but we strive really, really hard to provide, to make it feel so human and real and part of that is humor. And I think that that’s something that really the sort of the humor and heart of our show is what distinguishes it from other shows in the genre.

Q) I noticed that the season coming up the creepy factor between Norma and Norman is vamped up. And he is starting to manifest himself as Norma. Are we going to see more of that and is she going to be oblivious to it?

Carlton: Well she’s certainly not oblivious to it. I mean we, you know, we try to make the relationship between Norma and Norman different every season. And we’re watching a progression here. And we are, it’s the story about a mother and who desperately loves her son and is trying to prevent him from becoming this guy that’s he inevitably going to become. And this season he starts to slide much more significantly into that character. He becomes less able to the kind of modulator or be conscious of his decline. And that causes just really serious consequences in his relationship with his mom. And I think we explore that in a lot of different ways and that’s really the journey of the season.

Q) It was interesting the dynamic out of the gate that Norma really doesn’t realize that what she and Norman are doing and have done all summer is so strange until Dylan mentioned to her. Will we see her try to find more of a balance in her relationship with Norman because of what Dylan has to say?

Vera: Yes indeed. I think she’s relying on Dylan in a way that she’d never expected to. And that relationship really deepens. And they both share the same concern. They both want to help Norman. So I think she is relying on him for a male perspective on how to care for Norman. And that’s going to trigger somebody something they’ll in Norman.

Q) Is it hard to find that balance in the scene to find a balance of the scenes between Norma and Norman? Because you do walk such a fine line that if there a loving relationship there but they’re on the edge of something else that’s dangerous and that will of course shape who Norman’s going to become. Can you talk about finding that balance and creating that relationship on screen?

Kerry: Well in the writing we always have approached it that it is a mother son relationship and that on the deepest level it’s a loving relationship. There’s things that are happening inside of Norman that he’s not fully in control of and he doesn’t understand that he never separated from his mother emotionally at the right age. So he’s way too invested in her and, you know, while he’s going through sexual maturing. But Norma is a mom. She’s always innocent. She doesn’t – she sees him as her son as you do. Like my sons are turning into teenagers and I still look at them. I see them as 7-year-olds. It’s really hard to ever see your kids any other way. And I think that the heart of that innocence is at the base of it.

Vera: And then (I go just) from the acting perspective my approach – I think this is what makes it so delicious for an audience to construe or misconstrue as the case may be. I think it is so hopeless and so grim. It’s so dark to witness you child succumbing to darkness. And I think the only way that Norma knows how to keep her child from teetering over this like miserable dark edge is to love him physically, emotionally and that’s like – that is the bottom line purpose and aim is to keep her Norman safe and sound and to help him navigate the world and to protect him promote normal psychological growth. She is trying to do that in the best way she knows how. And I always come from that – through that earnestness. And that’s really just always through that lens. But, yes.

Kerry: She’s always doing the best she can.

Q) I was just wondering what was the biggest challenge for all of you this season? Was there a moment when you were like we don’t know if we can do this or just something that was really difficult to get through that ultimately worked out in the end?

Carlton: Wow. That’s a good question. Gees. I think that we work hard on the kind of the crime story aspect of the show is something that kind of trying to have – the show for us is just a cocktail of super nuance, the character writing combined with this intentionally pulpy crime drama. And so getting that right is something that is really hard to do. And we have this character of Chick Hogan who played by Ryan Hurst is a very – was like a very dangerous character for us to create because he’s right on the edge of being ridiculous or being terrifying. And that was something that I think we were very nervous about being able to pull off. And, I think we got on the right side of the line.

Q) Can you talk a little bit about some other newcomers that you have like Kevin Rahm and what their roles will be?

Kerry: Kevin Rahm plays a White Pine Bay local, a prominent person, wealth, affluent and somewhat of a antagonist. The really cool thing about his role is that he is someone who grew up with Alex Romero. And through the storyline this season we get to peel back some layers of Romero, which is so much fun as certainly as writers. But it just, as a viewer, I think it’s going to be so interesting to get inside this incredibly stoic guarded person and see a little more of what makes them tick and what they need and what they’re hiding from themselves. So that’s just been a really fun storyline.

Q) You touched on this a bit earlier about how Norman’s going to be getting jealous of Dylan and Norma and helping her in that. Can you kind of talk about that and how it’s going to change the dynamics between the three characters this season?

Kerry: Well, the relationship with Norma and Norman is so peculiarly close. And because they – because it is so co-dependent and because they have this sense that they sort of emotionally need each other to survive, the presence of someone else in that universe is threatening. And Norma is a little – she’s in a stronger place and she’s in a more desperate place at the same time. So she is a little more open to Dylan. And she’s kind of reaching out more to him. But Norman who has basically stayed in the world for his mom at this point feels incredibly threatened by it.

Q) You talked a little bit about some of the guest stars. But can you talk about Tracy being on the show this year?

Carlton: Yes. I mean Tracy plays this sort of mysterious beautiful enigmatic woman who checks into the Bates Motel and she really becomes the catalyst for our entire crime story this season. It may sort of seem at first blush that it’s kind of an obvious storyline out of the movie Psycho but that’s not – it doesn’t turn out to be that way at all. And but we really – we – we’re sort of – we’re sort of teasing Norman’s confused sort of sexual perspective. And her whole back story is sort of the big mystery that sort of drives our plot and our narrative over the course of the season. And she did a wonderful job in a very short time kind of making us very intrigued about the character. And she’s not only beautiful but really a really great actress and was really kind of fun to have her on the show.

Q) Vera, Freddie has talked about how in real life he’s, you know, become a really big part of your own family and how he stayed there. You know, spend a lot of time with you and your family. If for some reason that had not happened, do you think you would have still gotten that kind of – the performance would still be as – if he was just another cast member let’s say? Would you still have that kind of dynamic going on or is that kind of essential to how this has all worked out for you all?

Vera: I can’t really answer that what if. It just did. We are who we are to each other. I can’t imagine being any other way. And certainly we’re, he wasn’t spending the night this year. He got a girlfriend. I sort of kept him at bay. But that’s not to say he still doesn’t have – it’s like the other day. We just – the other day I just looked at his, you know, spare toothbrush lying in my children’s drawer and I though ah, should I throw this away or – no. I kind of left it there for next year. He’s got his contacts and everything. Yes. We’re just very close. And he’s very close with my husband who is a kind of surrogate father for him. And he is a good buddy for my children. He’s an incredible influence on them. And just we are who we are to each other. And we rely heavily on each other to execute these roles. And I can’t imagine it any other way.

Q) I know as actors that when you take on a character, you almost have to like the character because you can’t judge them because you have to play them. While we know that you’re not like Norma because we’ve seen you in so many other things, what is it about Norma though that you do relate to that you can say that is kind of like me and I can relate to her in that way?

Vera: It’s just I’m a mother. And I know that my unique challenges as both a daughter and as a mother have given me a fricking wealth and myriad of experience to draw on. I do have a bonanza of material angst. I just do. I have like, I’ve got this bat and there’s this f’ing piñata over my head – maternal piñata that I can just bat with all my own personal experience. And it just comes showering down upon me and it’s relatability as a mom. There’s like there’s nothing I won’t do to see my children become the absolutely best possible versions of themselves. And I’ll fight to the death for that. And that’s what I admire so much about Norma.

Q) Carlton, you and Guillermo have talked about this like five seasons of The Strain. Is there a stop date for Bates Motel?

Carlton: five seasons. I mean, Kerry and I have a pretty clear roadmap. So we’re just finishing the third season right now and we feel pretty strongly that there’s two more seasons in the show and we have a pretty clear plan of where we want to go and we want to bring this story to its inevitable conclusion. I think Bates is not its best version if it’s an open ended series and I think the audience is sort of waiting for the conclusion and we’re heading there. We have that mapped out.

Q) I was just wondering how are you all able to maintain a freshness and excitement for a show in your (respective leads)? So for instance Ms. Farmiga, how do you sustain the allure and new aspects to Norma? And how do you Mr. Cuse sustain the thrill and originality to the writing of the show without straying too far from the show’s foundation, which is the film Psycho?

Vera: I’m really going to throw this over to Kerry and Carlton. I just think the pianist is only as good as the composition. And they just keep writing these (arpages) that roll off the fricking Richter scale. And I think with Norma there’s like there’s nothing that I can – it’s just incredibly surprising to me and amazing where they can take this character.

Carlton:  It’s an incredible choice to do a show with these – with two amazing actors. And so to me the key is pretty simple. I mean Kerry and I work closely on the stories and then Kerry really does magical things as a writer really bringing these characters to life. And then those words pass into the hands of Freddie and Vera and the rest of our cast. And they kind of infuse the show with a whole other level of energy. And it’s really remarkable. I think as a (show writer) sometimes you imagine something in your head when you conceive a story. And in a way it’s kind of the idealized version and Bates is one of those rare and absolutely beautiful experiences when watching cuts – it feels like what’s coming back is better than what I imagined in my head. And I think it’s those – I’m blessed to be working with an incredibly special writer and Vera and some other incredible performers. And that’s what makes the show so magical.

Vera: We haven’t even talked about Kenny Johnson as Caleb or Nestor Carbonell as Romero. When I tell you all these actors just kill it, kill it this year and they’re just all the kind of actor that can find – they play such dissonant discordant roles but they find the harmony in it. I can’t tell you. It’s like they’re just incredibly nuanced actors. And it’s true. They’re so much a part of that.

Q) So can you tease anything of how Kenny’s character’s return and kind of what it means for their characters?

Kerry: I mean that’s an incredibly loaded situation because Dylan and the Fulcrum.

Carlton: He’s a series regular this season. So you’re going to be seeing a lot of him. And, you know, it’s not a simplistic relationship. I mean it’s not simply that he’s not just a bad guy. We just didn’t paint him with one color. And I think a lot of the season is about untangling all the layers of the relationship that he has with Norma, and also with his – with Dylan, his son. And there’s some really beautiful stuff that happens between Vera and Kenny and Max as they play this unfolding drama.

Q) And do you think anything could be said about like the return of Bradley. Are we going to find more conflict between Norman and Dylan as – more complex than normal when she’s reintroduced?

Kerry: I’m trying to think of how to answer that. No actually. No. It’s not what you would expect it to be. We get to see what Bradley has been through since we last saw her, which was pretty daunting. And she’s kind of on a journey of her own in returning back to White Pine Bay. But it does not directly intersect with Dylan.

Q) Vera, how has the show changed your life in terms of how you are interacting with the public and how they great you and that kind of thing?

Vera: I don’t think it has. I mean I’ve always conducted sort of – myself a certain way when it comes to press and availability to – I have joined Twitter on behalf of the show. I had a kind of a staunch resistance to it at first because I do believe it sort of takes away mysticism. But at the same time it is a very hands on way of me controlling the press about the show and about myself. So maybe in that respect I see like – certainly this show instigated me and I think (mastered) I managed to convince Olivia and Freddie I think yesterday night to actually come onboard and use it as a vehicle. Honestly I think this role has attracted a certain kind of fan. And I don’t know. It’s a delicate thing for me how involved I am in social media and advising these people and being a part of their lives in a way that they want me to be as – because I do think I do see this sort of this job of mine as a vocation and I am a role model for young women.And I suppose maybe perhaps in that way I think I take my responsibility to heart and have opened myself up to new vehicles sort of to – yes, to kind of considering that.

Q) Do you feel that people come up to you more on the street or whatever?

Vera: No, not at all. They don’t recognize me. They don’t recognize me. I think I’m a blond on the show and it really freaks people out. I mean I can virtually them when I take the week off, you know, and I’m on the street that they’ll ask me like, you know, who do you play; what, you know, what show? And I say, “Bates Motel.” And they say, “Who do you play?” You know, it’s that incognito.

Q) Carlton, can you speak at all about the Monday’s premiere along with your other show and how that all came about?

Carlton: Andy had acquired the remake of – rights of The Returned. They offered that to me. It was after I had already been working on Bates. And I started developing that show. And I think it’s exciting that I – my hope is, is that the audience for Bates will really enjoy The Returned also. And I think it makes a lot of sense for Andy to put the two scripted shows on back to back on the same night. Obviously I’m a little nervous and excited about it. You know, I’m very proud of both of them. And I hope people will check them out. I mean with that, unfortunately I have to – I have to jump but I will leave you guys in Vera and Kerry’s able hands.

Q) How do you think viewership’s changed since the show became available on Netflix?

Kerry: I actually don’t know. I mean because I don’t really – I don’t really know how the viewership has changed.

Vera: It’s a really -I think it’s incredibly hard to calculate to be honest with you. Well I think that for me I’ll play it frankly – as a personal frustration, I would like them to be available on Netflix immediately because I think technology and culture has shifted the way we watch our stories. People want to binge watch. People want to catch up on their own time and in their own convenience and not have to kind of wade through the commercials to do it. So I just wish actually it was available. But it is available now. So that’s in time for Season 3 premiere on March 9. So that’s a positive.

Kerry: you get so many different versions of viewership, it’s the overnights, it’s overnights plus four, it’s the whatever. It’s like there’s five different versions of them.I know we’re doing really well. But beyond that, I really – it’s very hard and it’s kind of a thing that’s happening just in the industry right now is how do you calculate viewership and how do you really know how many people are watching something because the way people watch things now is so different.

Q) What shows do you ladies binge on?

Kerry: We are both working women with children.

Vera: It’s so lame but I don’t have an answer. I have not – only because we’re coming out of the eye of the storm of production. So everything’s been on hold. And I haven’t watched anything since – what was the last thing I tuned into? I was on American Airlines and I watched (Leanne)’s show.

Q) On the recent Nerdist writer’s podcast, Kerry you and Freddie both stated that this would be kind of a different and darker upcoming season. If the two of you were to describe the upcoming season in kind of like a distilled version, maybe eight words or less, how would you describe it?

Kerry: Going down a dark rabbit hole.

Vera: Oh yes, that’s good. Going down a dark rabbit hole. You’re like two words short of that.

Q) You as writers and producers, how is it to create this kind of environment? And Vera, how is it to perform this character because I mean being a writer (sounds) great because you can do whatever you want with these characters. But you playing the character is it harder?

Kerry: I mean we really experience what we write. It isn’t like we just kind of sit around and say hey, let’s make them do this. We really feel it. We reallythe writing staff, myself and Carlton, we live inside of it. It’s a very real psychological universe to us. So it’s sometimes exhausting to be inside it all the time. But I think the thing that is always rejuvenating when you’re inside it is the intense love that we have for the characters and that we want them to get out alive. We want – and that is always propelling us when we write. We’re in the foxhole with them.

Vera: Yes. And from an acting perspective, it’s like – I’m sailing with Norma Bates’ ship and then most of the time I’m just sort of dreading the rigging failure. And I feel like – Kerry has me with Norma’s emotions just kind of turning on a dime. And it feels like you’re sailing 40-knot winds and 30-foot waves. And it’s like I’m in down take because there’s so much joy and friendship on the set between the cast and the crew. I have found the way that I cope with it this year is very different than I have had in past seasons. And I think like it’s so – it’s such acute and intense work that I have to find – like for me just in between on the set this year it’s like I have to do things that really lighten it up for me. And so this year I’ve been learning the guitar in between the scenes with an emphasis on heavy metal. And so like, you know, in between it’s like I’m just finding ways to do some – anything but, you know. And I don’t know. And that’s really – that’s like become really important to me. I find it through beautiful coping strategy like to just – and you know what we do also. We make up songs for each other, which is – Kerry, I have to release those on Twitter eventually. Eventually they’ll be released on Twitter. But it’s like it’s all fun and shenanigans on set. And then when we get to work we get to work. But playing it has for me very much because so much of the time Norma Bates is so unafraid it is kind of finding as much as joy as I can in the role and finding as much joy and light heartedness off screen. So I play slipknot and practice triplet notes on my guitar.

Q) When we watch the trailer of Season 3 we could think the conclusion is very close. I mean the death of Norma. Do you think Season 3 could be the last?

Kerry: Oh no. No. We have a roadmap for a total of five seasons. And while we all know what happens in Psycho and yes, that’s a destination we have to arrive at. It will be in a different place and in a different way than what you are expecting or might be expecting.

Q) Vera, between Norman and Norma, who is the most dangerous for you?

Kerry: Norman. My answer.

Vera: Of course.

Kerry: Because he blacks out and kills people.

Vera: Yes. I mean if Norma kills people she’s doing it with – she’s fully – she’s full awareness. I think there is more dangerous than not having that. I think that this dissociative disorder is – I don’t know – a – yes, Norman. It’s Norman.

Q) Do you think Norma is a victim or the origin of Norman’s psychosis?

Vera: No. I think no. I don’t think she’s a victim of Norman. I think what she does is – I think here greatest challenge and I think her success is not to give up. She’s been a victim her whole life and she’s fallen prey to such tragedy and I think – no. I don’t – Kerry, why don’t you talk about this?

Kerry: So has to some extent aggravated the situation by not having the tools to be strong enough to face certain things about him. And that’s from her own childhood and it’s – she – the thing we love about her she’s always trying to best that she can. She always has the good intention. She has a lot of crazy ways of getting there. But she’s also – she is always doing the best she can. She doesn’t know they’re crazy. And I think that’s why she’s so incredibly endearing and especially played by the most endearing person in the word.

Q) I just have to say that when I asked our group, you know, what one question because we get one question to ask you what do they want me to ask, the first comment out of one of my team’s mouth was, “You know, this is like a Hitchcockian Breaking Bad thing. The show’s getting crazy and compelling to tell.” I want to know is there going to be more – what’s there going to be more of this season, murders, drugs or sex?

Vera: Murder.

Kerry: I would say equal measure. I think that the story I mean just if you look at Psycho it’s like we’re telling the prequel of that and the story of someone sinking into insanity is – if you put it on a graph, it has to get more and more intense and crazy and weird as they sink further into it. So yes. We’re definitely getting into a very meaty part of the storytelling. And it’s very exciting part of the storytelling.

Vera: Yes, no. I agree. I think they’re yes, equal measures. There’s in all sort of sex, drugs and rock and roll there’s wicked bombshells thrown this year. There’s some pretty rude awakening to be had. There’s some flabbergasting shakeups. But I can’t tell you what they are. But yes, there’s going to be some extermination, some butchery, some crazy absurdity, yes. Yes.

Q) Will Norma have another relationship or does she think all men are evil?

Kerry: I don’t think she thinks men are evil.

Vera: I don’t think she thinks – I don’t think she does. I think she – oh Lord. I think she wants desperately to have, you know, someone sweep her off her feet and take care of her in the way that she’s never had in her life. She’s never had anyone like that in her life. And I think yes, she yearns for that. There’s a hankering. There’s a deep, deep hankering to find a man she can trust. Certainly she hasn’t had that experience yet. But I think she’s a hopeless romantic and yearns for it, yes. And there’s a couple of good potentials this season. We may or may not be talking capital R romantic. May or may not. But I can’t say.

 

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*