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magnavox_23Intro: Ok guys, my special guest is a lady we all know and love as Elizabeth Weir, Torri Higginson, how are you?
Torri: Hello, hello, I’m very well thankyou.
Interviewer: Welcome to the show.
Torri: Thankyou
Interviewer: Now we’re gonna first of all just cover a bit of your beginning and where you got started. So when and how did you first get into acting?
Torri: Um, when and how? Um, I was brought up, my mother was a theatre actor, so I actually, my sister swore we wouldn’t be actors when we were kids ‘cause we saw her struggle, it’s real tough you know being a stage actress, um, so I decided ‘cause I love language, that I wanted to go, and this sounds really nerdy, but I wanted to be a Shakespeare text coach. So I came over to England to study um, with a teacher who that’s what she did, she teachers all the actors at the RSC International, and just sort of um, guides them through Shakespearian text. And I watched her study for and I watched her teach for about a month and a half and I thought what a great thing to do for three years, just study theatre. So I fell into it by accident actually.
Interviewer: So you came out to study I believe in a London guildhall.
Torri: Mmhmm
Interviewer: Now at aged 18 as well, that’s a bit of a big step, did you have any trepidation about doing that?
Torri: I didn’t, my family’s from Wales, so I’ve spent a lot of time coming back and forth and I felt really comfortable in Britain and I was really looking forward to spending that time being that much closer to my family in Wales so I was just excited. Are you kidding? 18, moving to London! Woohoo! *laughs*
Interviewer: And how did your family react to your wanting to be an actor then, because you said your mother was one? Did she kinda think ‘well I thought I put her off with all the travelling and everything or?
Torri: Yeah, no, they were actually very supportive, both my Mum and my Dad are huge lovers of theatre and language and so they were very supportive and continue to be, they’re quite amazing in that way.
Interviewer: And your sister just looks at you like you broke a promise, c’mon!
Torri: I know! She did, what is she doing? She’s working in children’s television so we all got the bug somehow, we all stayed close to the game.
Interviewer: It’s in the family; it’s in the Higginson family tree.
Torri: Yeah
Interviewer: And once you left the guildhall, where did you go from there?
Torri: Um, actually I went right back to Canada which is always something I regret a little bit because I had an agent here and um, and to be honest I had a heartbreak, so my heart was broken, so I ran back with my tail between my legs. I know, and I always sorta regret that, because I always wonder what would have happened if I’d stayed in London a bit longer and done a bit more theatre, something like that, but never too late, it’s still here, the island, I might come back.
Interviewer: You never know.
Torri: You never know
Interviewer: It’s all still waiting for you. And you got a role in The English Patient didn’t you? How did you come about that?
Torri: Oh! Well that was interesting because Anthony Minghella, the director, he, there was no Canadian money in it, but he was just very loyal to Ondaatje, the writer, and just, this was the Canadian story, Canadian writer, so I’m gonna go to Canada and meet some, get some, some authentic Canadian actors in it. And he and I met, and we got on very very well, he basically said me to at the end of the interview, we sat and chatted for about 45 minutes. Audition processes with Brits are very different than Americans. In America and Canada, you have an audition, you go in and you read. You’re given one scene, and you read the sides, you barely have a conversation with the director. In Britain it’s much more civilised because what it is is the director assumes when you walk in the door that you know what you’re doing, looks at your resumé, assumes based on you resumé and you walk in the door that you are who you say you are and therefore you can act, and then it’s just a matter of getting to know you, so it’s just sitting down and having a chat. So we got on really well and it was just really comfortable, but he said he couldn’t hire me, because there was only one nurse part.
Interviewer: It was a success, Oscar nominated, Oscar winning, how did you feel to be part of that and did it change your prose, your way of acting?
Torri: No, no, well I felt, for me I just felt like I was an observer on that film. I had such a small part to do with it, so I didn’t, you know, I felt very lucky that I got to witness it being made and meet those people, but I didn’t think about it in terms of me. I knew for sure, when I knew for sure when I made it insanely was when I saw that episode of Seinfield and it was referenced. So I thought that was funny. It’s very funny when Elaine hates it, just hates the movie. Yeah.
Interviewer: Brilliant episode. That’s ironically called The English Patient anyway, that one I think.
Torri: Oh is it really?
Interviewer: Yeah.
Torri: Oh that’s funny.
Interviewer: *mumbles* Yeah, when she takes her boss to the film and love that. So, when did you first and how did you hear about the role of Elizabeth Weir? You did it first of all on Stargate didn’t you?
Torri: I did, but I shot that first episode, um, the pilot of Atlantis, I started shooting before I shot the last episode of Stargate.
Interviewer: Right.
Torri: So, um, I heard about it, I was living in Los Angeles and I got a call.
Interviewer: Now when you first got the roll and you heard about Atlantis now, were you kind of a bit reticent because you know, spin off’s in traditional, in tradition in sci fi don’t really do very well. I mean Stargate is the exception, and Atlantis is the exception of that, but were you kind of reticent of that, a little bit?
Torri: Um yeah well a spin off is always a bit scary, and a spin off of a spin off is like ok, now we’re playing, what’s the word? Broken telephone, er, no, what’s the word? What’s the game where it deteriorates more and more…so, so I was a little bit concerned, but I also, and also to be honest doing a series concerns me because as an actor it’s a tough one to do because you’re not given a lot of, just this, the pace of it is so fast, you’re not given a lot of creative time, so you just have to go and say your lines, hit the mark and get on with it, and this would have been the third series I’ve done, so I wasn’t, yeah so I was reticent on a lot levels. And I also had to move to Vancouver so I was like, well wait a minute; this is a job that, yeah it’s television, and it’s moving to Vancouver, and it’s a sci fi thing that I don’t really, I’m not really connected with, so I had all kinds of hesitations, but I said yes, and I’m glad I did. I had crazy good fun.
Interviewer: And in terms of sci fi, you mentioned that you’re not really connected to sci fi before you did it, so what, did you have a pre-conceived notion of what sci fi was, or just an open book?
Torri: Um, well I’d done, I had done a little bit it’s funny, because I used to say that Stargate was my introduction to sci fi, but then people said well you did Tek War and you did, and they start listing other jobs and I’m like ooh yeah, I guess you’re right, that is sci fi. I mean, I guess for me I was, it was hammered into my brain that as an actor, you don’t act, you react to what the person’s giving you. So with sci fi, the world is so out there, and most of the time you’re doing it with a green screen, you’re not even dealing with a person, so it took away in my mind all the joy of acting. I thought oh, this isn’t going to be fun, this is just going to be hit the mark, say your line and look scared and there’s going to be nothing creative about it. And it was wonderful and I had a huge learning curve and went actually, what it’s demanding of me is to go back to my imagination and to play. And to create that reality myself, and so, I’ve got great respect and newfound love of the science fiction world. *laughs*
Interviewer: And you are now considered one of the, well people say you have to be a strong sci fi character in terms of what you represent as a woman, not just as a sci fi, when you’re acting as Elizabeth Weir. How does it feel to you to be represented like that?
Torri: Oh god, I get crazy proud and ah, and you know I used to laugh with gosh, it was Lexa I think from Stargate, she to say ‘oh most of my fan mail comes from men in jails’ *laughs* And I went, oh that’s funny, most of mine comes from young women from all over the world, like all over the world I get these fantastic letters from these young women just saying thankyou for being a strong female character, and I never ever would have expected that, because I was always fighting, you know, that was my job on the show is to have to fight for her strength saying what is she doing and why is she not doing anything and she’s got to justify her existence, you know, her merit here and so I was always frustrated with seeming lack of strength, and to have that response of, from so many young women, I feel, yeah, terribly greatful and very proud of that.
Interviewer: And so what did you, what parts of you are there in the character? And what part of the writers are there? Do you bring the feistiness into the character that she has?
Torri: Feistiness, maybe a little bit yeah! That’s me! Um, yeah, I’m not sure, I mean, I think all the spaces in between is everything I brought and I think that I did and that’s something I get really moved by when I get letters where people say, make that comment too so you don’t have much to do in the scene, but the pauses in between, you know, because I was always trying to fill her, because I was frustrated with how she was written a lot of the time, and I just went, well she’s not ah, being active, she’s being quite passive and I thought, how can you be a leader and be passive, there has to be, so, I had to find what I would do in that situation, in order to find her strength, and so I think well you know I brought a bit of myself that way, but um, she’s much more patient than I am, she’s much more measured than I am, and she’s definitely much more brighter than I am! *laughs*
Interviewer: I think you sell yourself short there.
Torri: Oh, bless your heart. *laughs*
Interviewer: And so, season three, er…
Torri: Point and fact right? *laughs* I’m sorry; I just spilt my coffee all over my lap for those of you who were wondering, proving my intelligence.
Interviewer: Atlantis as it’s gone on now has become, has stepped out of Stargate’s shadow and become really, it’s own entity as it exists now, what do you think was the key to that?
Torri: Um, I’m not sure, I mean I think it was two…hmm, I mean it was two very different shows, they brought in different writers, and they had um, even though I mean in one way it was a joke, we were laughing, saying really the cast is the same, we’ve got the big tough you know black guy, we’ve got the McKay is Cater, like we were sort of always trying to line who is who in the show and the characters are really similar and, but, saying that, they were played by very different actors, so it created a very different dynamic, um, yeah and I think also the fact that we weren’t, we couldn’t touch Earth for the first season or two, there was that distance and that forced a different environment and a different dynamic amongst the characters ‘cause all we had was each other. So I think those were the two main things, that that shifted that.
Interviewer; And if we look now to season three, now sadly they decided that your character was no longer going to be a part of the show. When did you find out and how did you react?
Torri: Honestly? *laughs*
Interviewer: Honestly!
Torri: You want an honest answer?
Interviewer: Yep.
Torri: Um, I actually, I felt a bit shitty to be honest, Ooh! But I found out, because I went up to them, I kept going to them and I’m being very honest with this right now, I kept going up to them saying I have a feeling my character, you’re not doing anything with me and you guys have me for six years and I don’t wanna, you know, be here if I’m not doing anything and let me know what’s going on and they kept saying to me no, no no no no, it’s great, we love you, we love you, and everything’s going to be great, and I kept saying, well if that’s the case can we do something with her, and they kept reassuring me that nothing, and the very last day of filming for season three, as I finished filming the last scene on the last day I was called up to the office and told that my characters going to because reoccurring if I chose to be. So I thought that was not a very um, dignified way to deal with it, I was a bit surprised, so I was, so my reaction was one of, yeah I was a little bit surprised, I was a little bit upset by how it was dealt with. But I wasn’t upset with the decision because I understood it, it was just that I had kept going to them saying, I get, I get that this is what’s gonna happen, and so, just give me some notice so I can pack my apartment and move back to L.A. Really, you know, so I didn’t, I wasn’t upset with the decision, I was upset with how it was handled.
Interviewer: And looking at the series as it is now, are you a bit annoyed? Because Amanda Tapping now seems to be doing exactly the same as you are, or were doing in the show, just filling the episode and when you should have been having more of it.
Torri: Um, well, no, I mean I know, I understand it’s a club and you know, and some people, you know, I think they didn’t like me constantly rapping on the door saying ‘Excuse me why aren’t there any women writers? Why aren’t there any women producers on this show?’ I think it bothered them. And, um, and so and Amanda, bless her just had a kid, so bless her man, she needs that gig more than me you know, so I have no issues with any of them, and I understand how it works. It is a bit of a political game, and…I’m not very good at politics! *laughs*
Interviewer: You just wanna act.
Torri: Unlike Weir; I just want to act, yeah.
Interviewer; Yeah, see that’s alright, that’s an honourable thing to do, and you’re fighting for your character certainly which stands a lot of actors out and the fan’s support for you when they announced that you were gonna be leaving was, how did that make you feel? Because it was phenomenal.
Torri: Oh, my god, I’m continually amazed by that, I really am. I find it amazing that I get so much support and people say the kindest things and right and this is really interesting letters too, they break down the character in ways that I would and talk about what they miss about her, which what they felt was lacking, and what they understood, and I am just amazed, I really am, and I feel very lucky.
Interviewer: Ok, we’ll just end on one quick question, you came back at the end of Be All My Sin’s Remember’d, for a brief period, what now can we expect, it was a very kind of tense moment when no one knows now what’s going to happen to the character, what can we expect from Elizabeth Weir now, for the remaining part?
Torri: I would say that you have a better idea than I do. *laughs* You will probably know before I do, so drop me an email when you get a hint ‘cause *laughs* I really have no idea, ‘cause I went to them, I said ooh, this is, you know, is she going to be evil, is she going to be this, that and the other …no idea, I don’t think they know even if they’re going to ask me back or not. Nothing has been decided. So…
Interviewer: You can’t tease us.
Torri: I know, big tease right? That’s a big tease. I kept saying, you’re not going to make this fantastic leather jacket just for a one, two second scene, that’d be crazy! ‘Cause if that’s the case, can I have the jacket? *laughs*
Interviewer: yeah, have the jacket signed and put it on eBay.
Torri: There you go!
Interviewer; And, just quickly, a little fun question for you. If Elizabeth Weir was able to go and solve the writer’s strike, how do you think she’d do it?
Torri: Could end the writer’s strike?
Interviewer: Yeah. And how do you think she’d do it?
Torri: What a good question! Um…see I need a writer to answer that question for me *laughs* Because I’m not Elizabeth Weir, and how would she do it? You know, I think, I think she’s good at allowing people to see, to find compassion for the other side. But um, it’s not about compassion this writer’s strike, it’s about points *laughs* it’s business men in suits so yeah, I don’t know, she’d get them all drunk? *laughs* Maybe…
Interviewer: Or just zap them off to another planet.
Torri: There you go! Throw them through the gate! *laughs*
Interviewer: Well, thankyou very much Torri, it’s been an absolute pleasure. Thankyou for taking the time to speak to us.
Torri: My pleasure thankyou for having me.
Interviewer: We wish you all the best of luck for whatever, and we hope to se you again in season four!
Torri: Ooh, thankyou kindly Sir.
A full audio download of the interview should be available from www.dtrn.co.uk in the next few days.
