Interview: Frances Fisher Discusses Last Night's Explosive RESURRECTION
By: Matt Tamanini Oct. 20, 2014
As more and more of the mystery unfolds on ABC's hit drama RESURRECTION, the secrets and emotions continue to build up. On last night's episode, Lucille, played by the fantastic Frances Fisher, couldn't hold in her feelings anymore, letting fly some verbal bombs that will surely have a long-lasting impact on the Langston family.
On Friday, I spoke with Fisher about the episode, Lucille's relationship with recently returned-from-the-dead Mother-in-Law Margaret, and what's coming up for her character; and much like her Lucille last night, she had a lot to say!
If you are a fan of the show, but haven't seen last night's episode yet, do yourself a favor and head over to ABC.com's Official RESURRECTION page here and Dylan Siegman's BWW TV World recap here to catch up. It should go without saying, but this conversation contains spoilers from last night's episode... you've been warned!
BWW: This week's episode was obviously a pretty emotional one for Lucille, can you give us a little bit of insight into what went into shooting that episode for you?
Fisher: Well, this is something that she's been carrying with her ever since she found out that Jacob didn't fall into the river and Barbara wasn't rescuing him, it was the other way around. So that's something she's been carrying around for a long time, along with other things that she's keeping from her husband; and there's nothing like a table full of awkwardness and a couple glasses of wine to make somebody open up and speak their truth.
I haven't seen the scene yet, I know when we shot it it was pretty intense. I saw a little clip online, but I hope they edited it correctly.
It turned out great. There was so much on the screen that was unspoken between you and Michelle Fairley, the dynamic between Lucille and Margaret is really interesting. What is it like working with her on scenes like those?
Oh, well first of all, Michelle Fairley is a doll, I just love her. We've become terrific friends in this short period of time. And she's so great at playing all of the different levels of Margaret. Obviously, Lucille and she never had a really good relationship even back in the day, but Lucille is kind of biting her tongue because Henry is so happy to have her back. But, there's a scene that happens before that, she's been manipulating Lucille, and planting seeds, so there's a scene in the kitchen, and she just solidifies that it's not Fred that is to blame for all of this, it's Barbara, and that gets Lucille going. She just wants to lay her cards on the table. It's really hard to keep things down. There's so much tension.
Hopefully it blows up the scene how I envisioned. I probably did it about 50 times. There were five people sitting at the table, and you know you have to turn around and do all of their close-ups and two-shots and things like that. So, by the time they got around to me, I was perfectly exhausted; doing all of the sensory work of drinking the wine, and having the emotional contents that Lucille has been carrying; hopefully it came out good (laughs).
I think when you see it you will be pleased. You mentioned Margaret is manipulating Lucille, obviously she's got a bunch of secret of her own, and Henry is so happy to have her back, so it looks like we might be setting up for a confrontation down the road between Margaret and Lucille, or at least I'm hoping we are.
Well, I hope so; I don't know yet, they haven't written that part of it yet. I don't know what the endgame is, whether it is Henry that finally finds out that she's been manipulating, or if it is Lucille, or even if it is Henry and Lucille. We are finishing episode 208, and we haven't gotten episode 209 yet, so I truly don't know what the endgame, because they don't tell us anything until we get the script. We're just like a week ahead of the audience in terms of what we know (laughs).
I would imagine that in a show like this that has so much mystery, keeping a tight lid on things is important to the creative team.
Yea, and you know, they're so good at being so specific about what's going on; sometimes they'll write something and then we'll get a change a couple of days later where they're going to go a different direction. So, they're creating as we go too. It's a very alive process.
One of the things that I really enjoyed about the first season, and what we've seen so far from the second season, is that the show is as much about the emotions of the characters as it is about the supernatural conspiracy setup. Is that balance something that the cast and creative team is cognizant of when you all are putting these episodes together?
Yea, that's why we're all doing it, because of the emotional reality of an extraordinary experience. We aren't really getting into the "Why are they back?" even though that is part of it, it's mostly the impact that these Returned have on the family members that they come in contact with, because secrets come up; truths are revealed, and I think that's a metaphor for life. It's not good for all of us to walk around with unresolved conflicts and wounds that have not been healed, and my sense of it is that these Returned are here to bring up unresolved issues and clear them, and get to the truth; and set everybody free.
Hmmm, that's really interesting, I hadn't thought of it like that. One thing that I really liked about the first season, and maybe it was the shorter episode count, but it really felt different than what we normally get from network dramas. You have this very incredible ensemble cast, and each of the characters have really specific and honest backstories that were really compelling for me. What is it like working with this ensemble?
Well, first of all, we all just love to go to work, because we really love each other. And any time I see one of my castmates, we always hug, and "How you doing?" because a lot of times we don't see each other if we are working in scenes with other people. We always get together at the tableread, and the whole cast is there once an episode.
But, yea, the cast, I think is really extraordinary in the specificity of who they are and where they are coming from in relation to The Returned. You have Fred on the one end who doesn't believe in any of it, and at the other end of the spectrum is Lucille who believes with all her heart, and everybody else is in between.
And then of course, the shocker that Marty is a Returned, which really surprised all of us. We didn't see that coming at all.
We have such fun, and I'm always blown away by Landon Jimenez (Jacob) and his ability to hold his own with all of these rather veteran actors. I mean, this is his first job, and he's amazing to me. He's just solid as can be, and fun. We have a lot of fun on the set.
And Kurtwood Smith (Henry) of course, I just adore him. We love working together, and I always look forward to our little scenes, because he just makes it so easy. All I have to do is look in his eyes and listen to him; it's not hard at all.
Well, talking about Lucille and Henry's relationship, obviously for most of the first season they were on opposite sides of how to handle Jacob being back, they seem to be on the same page now, but can you give us any hints as to whether or not that will last?
I have heard that there's gonna be a place where we are really at odds with each other, but I'm not really sure what that is. The unresolved issues between Henry and Lucille are going to come to light. I don't know what it is, or what triggers that, all I know is that something's coming (laughs).
If you think about it, these characters have been married for 40 years, and somehow they stayed together. (Before) the first season, both Kurtwood and I read books about parents who lose children, and the effects of that. Sometimes people, obviously, go off the deep end, they sometimes get divorced, they do all sorts of things to run away from that pain, and it hasn't been explored what happened in those 32 years after Jacob's death, and I have a feeling some of that is going to come up. But, like I said, I don't know, and I probably shouldn't even be saying that.
I won't tell anyone! To finish up, I know you haven't seen the final cut of this episode, but looking at Lucille's arc in this episode, she goes from grieving the death of her son, even though he is just down the hall, to dropping a bomb on the family. Could you just wrap up your thoughts on the emotional roller coaster she went through in this episode?
Well, first of all, I am really glad that they gave me something grittier to deal with, because Lucille has been a great mother, but she's been dealing with, I think it was episode 203, she feels like she's been smothering her son; being a bit overprotective. But, she's got good reason, right, because Grandma is stealing him away from her. She lost him once, and she doesn't want to lose him again.
And Barbara's back, and why did Henry invite Barbara; she was the catalyst for (Jacob's) death. So, I love the arcs that they're giving me to play, with Lucille, and where it goes from there, you're just going to have to stay tuned!
But she is getting tougher, because she has a formidable opponent in Margaret, and she's still trying to figure out how to deal with her, because Margaret is such a good manipulator. She's got everyone thinking that she's ok...
And she's not, as we find out at the end of this episode.
Well, yea. She's digging up bones (laughs) in the factory, and there's all kinds of stuff that is going to be revealed in the next few episodes that is kind of mind-blowing.
What did you think of last night's RESURRECTION? Do you hope that it is Lucille that calls Margaret out on her manipulations? Share your thoughts in the comments below, or on Twitter @BWWMatt. Also, don't forget to follow @BWWTVWorld on Twitter and Like us on Facebook for all of the latest TV news, reviews, and recaps.
Photo Credit: Guy D'Alema | ABC
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