Miracle Laurie (Mellie / November) Interview
David Milligan
Interview: Dollhouse's Miracle Laurie
By Jason Tanamor: 2009-11-22
Fans of the hit show, Dollhouse, which airs on Fox on Friday nights, were
in for a treat when one of the breakout stars in Season One returned to the
show for its Second Season. We recently caught up with Miracle Laurie, who
plays any one of three characters on the show, for an interview about, not
only Dollhouse, but her life as a young actress.
Q. First of all, is Miracle your real name?
A. Yes.
Q. Is there significance behind it?
A. My parents are hippies, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. ?
And the story goes: my mom was married and divorced very young and had a
daughter, my older sister. My father was married and divorced twice with no
kids - and thought maybe it wasn't meant to be. My parents met, fell in love
and got married. Then a year and a half after that, they had me - so I was
my daddy's little miracle baby. A year and a half after that they had
another girl, and named her Angel. So my dad actually wound up getting 3
daughters when he didn't think he would have any.
Q. You're mostly known as November/Mellie/Madeleine on Dollhouse. Dollhouse
was created by Joss Whedon, who did Buffy and Firefly. I heard you
auditioned for each of these shows. How did you get involved with Dollhouse?
A. While I was putting myself through college, I started commuting out to
LA. I would go to casting workshops, auditions, audit classes, etc. in order
to meet people, build relationships and get my name out there while
practicing the craft and slowly trying to get acclimated to Los Angeles.
During that time, about 9 years ago, I met one of the women who casts for
Joss and she brought me in for a small co-star role on Buffy. I auditioned
for and sometimes got callbacks for quite a few roles on that show
throughout the years, but didn't book anything. Then they brought me in to
audition for the role of Kaylee and I got pretty close, but they went with
Jewel (which was brilliant!). THEN - came "Dollhouse" and November. To me,
the minute I heard about the show, saw the character breakdown and read the
sides I was supposed to learn for the audition, I thought: "If I don't get
this part, it's all my fault. This is meant for me." It's a rare feeling for
an actor to see a role and believe that 100%. So I focused up, tried to stay
calm, and did the audition. Then they called me back to read for Joss and a
couple of the writers/producers and apparently it worked.
Q. The premise of Dollhouse is an interesting one. For those who don't know
what it's about, it's about Caroline, played by Eliza Dushku. Her code name
is Echo and, according to Fox's website, is "an 'Active,' a member of a
highly illegal and underground group of individuals who have had their
personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new
personas.' So, it's possible you could play any character at any time then?
A. That's it in a nutshell, yes. Pretty much ANYTHING is possible and that's
what makes it such a brilliant show.
Q. It's still early on in Season Two. At the end of Season One, Mellie was
supposed to live a normal life. But you came back in Season Two as
Madeleine. Is there anything special about this season you wanted to
mention?
A. There's tons I'd LOVE to mention but would get in SERIOUS trouble if I
did. Ha ha All I can say is things are rarely what they seem; you're in for
a lot of surprises and I really think the writers are putting everything out
there this season. No judging and no fear in the Dollhouse.
Q. Your role on Dollhouse is your first major role. How has this affected
your career?
A. It's done a lot, let me tell you. ? I've got a great team around me now
and hopefully things will continue to keep moving forward. I am a very
blessed and happy young woman.
Q. As a young actress, what have you learned from being on a hit network
show?
A. Working on a one hour television drama is a lot different than anything I've
ever experienced. The whole experience has been, and continues to be kind of
a crash course in the business for me. A course, for which, I am EXTREMELY
grateful. You can learn a lot and quickly if you pay close attention. I'm
ecstatic every day I get to go to work and thrilled that I'm surrounded by
such wonderful people - cast, crew, writers, everyone!
Q. When Dollhouse becomes a thing of the past, what projects would you want
to pursue?
A. Well, hopefully that won't happen for a while, but to answer your
question: I know it's a boring answer, but I'm excited about EVERYTHING that
can and will happen in the future. I like the idea of being open and seeing
what's out there for me while still being motivated to do the grunt work
myself and see what kind of projects I can get involved with.
Q. Are you working on anything now?
A. We're still shooting the second season of Dollhouse and I think they're
on episode eight right now. So we have a ways to go before the season is
wrapped. Aside from that, I did a guest star role in the pilot of the
webseries "Cabonauts" starring Nichelle Nichols from the original Star
Trek,which I believe you can find online. Also, my fianc� Christopher May
and I are working on getting our music up on Nimbit and other sites so
people can start buying our stuff if they want. We have a ukulele cover band
called, Uke Box Heroes. I think we're pretty groovy. Also, we'll be going to
the Echo-1 convention in the UK next May and hope to have CDs available by
the time we get there. For now, people can listen to our stuff at our
MySpace page: www.myspace.com/ukeboxheroes
Q. Thank you much!
A. You're welcome! And if anyone's interested, I have an actor Facebook page
(Miracle Laurie) and a Twitter account (@miraclelaurie). I love being able
to communicate with the fans that way. Also, I check in with your website
fairly regularly, so it's been really fun for me to do this interview with
you. So thank you.
Dollhouse returns to Fox with back to back episodes on Friday, December 4th.
A bit of snippage. The entire interview is at the link
(including a very nice picture).
http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Interview-Dollhouse-s-Miracle-Laurie-21253.html
--
David E. Milligan
http://daviderl31.blogspot.com/
Nick Knight
> http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Interview-Dollhouse-s-Miracle-L...
>
> Interview: Dollhouse's Miracle Laurie
> By Jason Tanamor: 2009-11-22
>
> Fans of the hit show, Dollhouse, which airs on Fox on Friday nights, were
> in for a treat when one of the breakout stars in Season One returned to the
> show for its Second Season. We recently caught up with Miracle Laurie, who
> plays any one of three characters on the show, for an interview about, not
> only Dollhouse, but her life as a young actress
BTW, Dollhouse has been cancelled.
Faux kills another show by failing to advertise it or give it a chance
to find an audience.
David Milligan
"Nick Knight" <nickkni...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:92f520fa-4570-409e...@a21g2000yqc.googlegroups.com...
Not that it makes it any better, but at least it lasted longer than
Firefly.
Ian Galbraith
[snip]
> BTW, Dollhouse has been cancelled.
>
> Faux kills another show by failing to advertise it or give it a chance
> to find an audience.
Sorry thats crap, with 2 seasons and reasonably consistent airing times
Dollhouse had every chance to find an audience and didn't. Firefly was
treated poorly, Dollhouse wasn't.
--
"I'm just gonna go home, lie down and listen to country music. The music
of pain." - Xander, Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Michael Ikeda
news:yazp99j33t0q.10...@40tude.net:
> On Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:14:08 -0800 (PST), Nick Knight wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>> BTW, Dollhouse has been cancelled.
>>
>> Faux kills another show by failing to advertise it or give it a
>> chance to find an audience.
>
> Sorry thats crap, with 2 seasons and reasonably consistent
> airing times Dollhouse had every chance to find an audience and
> didn't. Firefly was treated poorly, Dollhouse wasn't.
>
There IS a reasonable argument that Fox mishandled the first season
of Dollhouse and that the show might have had a better chance of
taking off in that season given different Fox decisions. However,
given the actual events, the second season really has to be
considered as an unexpected gift.
--
Michael Ikeda mmi...@erols.com
"Telling a statistician not to use sampling is like telling an
astronomer they can't say there is a moon and stars"
Lynne Billard, past president American Statistical Association
Jim Gysin
David Milligan sent the following on 11/24/2009 4:24 PM:
> http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Interview-Dollhouse-s-Miracle-Laurie-21253.html
>
> Interview: Dollhouse's Miracle Laurie
> By Jason Tanamor: 2009-11-22
>
> Fans of the hit show, Dollhouse,
Um... I wish, but unless someone has redefined the meaning of "hit"...
--
Jim Gysin
Waukesha, WI
David Milligan
"Jim Gysin" <jimg...@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:hevhmr$976$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
It was on FOX. They HIT every Joss show.
Jim Gysin
David Milligan sent the following on 11/30/2009 1:32 PM:
> "Jim Gysin" <jimg...@geemail.com> wrote in message
> news:hevhmr$976$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>> David Milligan sent the following on 11/24/2009 4:24 PM:
>>> http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Interview-Dollhouse-s-Miracle-Laurie-21253.html
>>>
>>> Interview: Dollhouse's Miracle Laurie
>>> By Jason Tanamor: 2009-11-22
>>>
>>> Fans of the hit show, Dollhouse,
>> Um... I wish, but unless someone has redefined the meaning of "hit"...
>
Can't blame Fox for this one, really. The show just hasn't been all
that good.