Yesterday NBC Universal held their Summer Press Day 2012, in Pasadena, California. Our lovely Erica Durance, along with Daniel Gillies were there to represent their upcoming summer show, “Saving Hope”. With her busy schedule meeting press all day, Erica was able to sit down with me for a few minutes and answer a few fan questions. Due to the limited time she had, I was able to get most of them but not all.
Maria: Ok, not so much a question, but… Muna from Spain asked what is your secret for being always incredible and perfect really?
Erica: Oh I don’t think of myself as perfect at all. I think we’re all just kind of struggling to be our best selves and…I guess anything that anybody would complement me about or say anything about [me] I probably learned from my mother and father and I had a really good upbringing and it helps keep me grounded and reminds me of what’s important in life.
M: She says this crazy Spanish fan wishes her all the luck and the best on your new adventures.
ED: Thank you very much.
M: Also everyone was asking, is that dress from Crossfire?
ED: No…yes, yes it is.
M: Okay that answers that question for everyone. Cause they were all asking “Is that dress from Crossfire? Cause it looks just like it.”
ED: Yes, it such a comfortable dress and it’s always nice to find something that fits well and you feel good in it. I always say when you do things like this when you have to go and do press and you feel comfortable and I believe in recycling my clothing.
M: Ok, so now that you’re working with a new set of people and learning, getting new experiences, how does that differ or remain the same from Smallville?
ED: Well, I suppose it’s different in the sense that I do have a new group of people and it’s exciting, it’s nerve wracking to try to see yourself as portraying another character but I think it’s cause you have all the new people involved in it and they have a different vision and just even watching how they light it and the way they make it look, it’s so, so different. Just like being in a new playground, a new sandbox and it’s a good group of people.
M: You remain in contact with anybody from Smallville?
ED: Um, there is a person I contact the most. I’ve been in contact with Kristin. We get together a lot and actually that’s ironic because we didn’t work together very much. We hang out together a lot.
M: Yeah, I actually had wished there had been more Lois and Lana interaction.
ED: [laughs] We get together when we can, we’re both quite busy, but when we get a chance to…
M: Yeah I heard she was filming a pilot, Beauty and the Beast.
ED: Yeah, for the CW.
M: Ok, this is a question that a lot of people kept asking.
ED: Okay.
M: Any chance Tom will guest star?
ED: No comment. [laughs] I think he’s enjoying his life and he’s taking a break with his family and I think that’s great for him.
M: Yeah, they were asking if he would come on [Saving Hope] or maybe direct an episode.
ED: Really?
M: Yeah, just basically having you guys work together again.
ED: Oh, who knows. [laughs]
M: Yeah, maybe sometime in the future. One of your fans Eric says hi and that he misses you on tv and loves you very much.
ED: Well I say hi to him back and thank you very much for his support.
M: And Luke, which, I know you’ve meet him a couple of times.
ED: Yes, I’ve met Luke. Yup!
M: He’ll be excited that you remember him. Wants to know the chances we’ll be getting bloopers or special behind the scenes on the dvd and blurays when they come out for Saving Hope?
ED: You know it all depends on what ends up happening, it’s hard to tell before you’re shooting it. I think there’s really some fun stuff that’s definitely happened off camera, and sometimes it’s only funny to the people that are there, but yeah, because we haven’t done that yet and I’m sure they’ll be deleted scenes.
M: Everybody would love that because I don’t think anybody liked that they stopped doing that for Smallville after season 3…Especially when we heard behind the scenes stories, you know everyone was like, “ I wish I could see it happening.”
ED: Yeah.
M: Next question. Lois versus Alex, the differences and similarities.
ED: Both are two very, very strong women. But Lois is like the rainbow of Fushia colors and everything she did comes from such an emotional place and with Alex it’s so much more logical and she’s very cerebral, so that makes them very different. They see the world different, and their environment, what they do for a living, what they’re battling with, the problems that they’re having, so I guess they’re really strong women but very different.
M: Any interesting stories behind the scenes on Smallville? Or maybe on Saving Hope?
ED: Other than the general thing when you flub up lines…it’s just a really fun environment where everyone seems to be excited to be working on a new project and decide to do new things, but it’s really hard. In especifics I can’t really think of anything only the weird bizzard scenes where you have a ghost talking to you…like when they’re talking to you…you have to pretend you don’t hear, but you have to pretend that you don’t hear them but they’re certainly there. So, there are certainly some outtakes of laughing at the bizzard.
M: So Michael Shanks just got a twitter and he’s always tweeting. Just wondering is he ever on a hospital bed or have IVs hooked on him while he’s tweeting?
ED: I’ve never seen that. I don’t know, he’s usually either in the bed or wearing his tux running around. I’m not sure when he’s tweeting.
M: Ok, cause he’s been on there tweeting a lot recently.
ED: Oh, okay.
M: Okay, next question. The scene in persuasion with the eskimo kiss, was that actually improvised?
ED: …I’m gonna leave you guys to wonder. [laughs]
M: Oh you’re gonna kill us. [laughs] Okay, the butt tap in “Homecoming”? When, Clark goes into the elevator.
ED: Oh that was scripted.
M: Yeah they were wondering about that one.
ED: [laughs]
M: What about the leg pop in “Idol”?
ED: What part?
M: After they kiss.
ED: Oh that was just me. That wasn’t planned it’s just a weird thing I do.
M: That’s cool. It’s been compared to a picture that has Lois and Clark kissing and she has her leg up like that too.
ED: Oh really? I ended up doing that totally unaware of it.
M: Yeah, I can’t remember the artist but it has been used by everyone for comparison…Is there a scene that is your favorite or stands out?
ED: There are so many scenes. I would categorize them by types of scenes. And because I like to do all different things, what I loved about Smallville is that I had the opportunity to do the action stuff, which is so fun getting there and acting on the physical level. I loved the romantic part, those were a lot of fun scenes. The whole experience in itself needed all those different aspects.
M: What about comedic scenes? Like one of my favorites, would be in season 8 in Commited, when Ollie walks into the jewelry story and his face is like what’s going on?
ED: Yeah, that was really fun scene. [laughs] Okay, I have time for two more questions?
M: Do you know about the season 11 comic book?
ED: No I don’t.
M: That debuted last Friday, basically it’s coming out by chapters online every Friday like Smallville and bryan Q. Miller is writing it.
ED: Oh Bryan, he’s lovely.
M: Yeah, it’s an online chapter every week and will eventually be in print with all the chapters together starting next month.
ED: Good, I didn’t know about that.
M: From the looks of it she was sleeping and her line was, “I’ll show you some tacos.” Would that be something Lois would say?
ED: Well apperantely in the comic book Bryan wrote she’s saying that. I don’t know what going on there.
M: I think she was trying to beat up someone.
ED: That sounds like Lois. Alright, one more, I know it’s hard to pick.
M: I have two, these are kind of short. One, will your husband David ever guest star one day?
ED: Maybe. You know he’s in a kind of in a different place right now. And he’s really enjoying building and real estate and I’m not sure if he would be interested, but I would love to.
M: And also, any possible upcoming projects once Saving Hope is on hiatus that you’ll be working on?
ED: Not that I know of yet, but there’s always something on the backburner.
Here’s a little shout out from her to the fans! Enjoy!
