Whedonesque : Comments on 17515 : (SPOILER) Acker opens the Dollhouse door.

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September 05 2008

(SPOILER) Acker opens the Dollhouse door. Interview with the Joss-verse regular bringing Dr. Claire Saunders to life.

Hjermsted | Dollhouse | 07:05 CET | 45 comments total | tags: dollhouse, amy acker

SciFi Wire's coverage has got a lot more substantial of late. Kudos to whoever is behind that one. Nice interview as well.

Simon | September 05, 07:24 CET

I imagine, maybe, that their coverage has been beefing up because Sci Fi Wire is going to be spinning off into its own website, not just a subpage of the Sci Fi Channel site.

The One True b!X | September 05, 07:48 CET

I have a strong feeling that Saunders and Topher are going to be my favourite characters in this show.

I'm exctied to see also (according to wikipedia) that Jed and Maurissa will be writing for the show. Also that Anya Colloff will be working with Joss again doing the casting. That's one specific thing I really appreciate about Whedon's shows. They always manage to get a perfect actor to play the character.

EX | September 05, 09:03 CET

I'm thoroughly curious about Amy's comments that most of the writers come from not only Buffy or Angel but also Alias, or all three shows. Drew Goddard is the only one to have written for all three shows. Is he working on Dollhouse? Inquiring minds, etc.

dollrific | September 05, 09:15 CET

Acker's my jam.

Dan Corson | September 05, 10:08 CET

I really don't think there's going to be a dud character on the show but Saunders is especially interesting to me because she has as much inherent mystery as any of the dolls but is, ostensibly, just a regular person (or is she ?? ;).

And it's always cool to see Amy Acker transform herself, considering how good looking she is she's actually a bit of a chameleon (especially verbally) - usually you tend to see that more with character actors (e.g. Alfred Molina).

Saje | September 05, 10:27 CET

I don't think Eliza shares the co-creator credits on Dollhouse as the article states, and dollrific - Drew has been seen a'lurkin' on the Dollhouse set, but I don't know if he's working on it or not.

gossi | September 05, 10:46 CET

I would love to see him on Dollhouse - he's so smart.

dollrific | September 05, 10:52 CET

That was a nice interview. I do love Amy. Have there been any pictures released yet of her character? I do wonder how prominent her character's scars will be, when reading this interview. I originally imagined them not being very visible, just there as a hint to her past, but reading this article, I'm now thinking more along Darth Vader/Two-Face lines ;).

GVH | September 05, 12:50 CET

My impression was they'd be disfiguring rather than just "adding character" (though I guess that's different for women anyway, facial scars probably not ever being the kinda-sorta good thing they're sometimes seen to be in men).

Saje | September 05, 13:36 CET

Brilliant. So looking forward to seeing Amy A. onscreen again.

Maeve | September 05, 14:48 CET

How spoilery is the interview, please? I've kept up with the basic premise and cast of characters of Dollhouse, but I haven't read the pilot script or anything and I don't want major plot details... do you guys think I should read the interview?
Thanks :)

miri47 | September 05, 14:58 CET

There aren't any plot details in there miri47, she mentions her character was originally older, is scarred (which if you've read this thread you're already spoiled on ;) and that there's a mix of types of episode (drama, farce etc.) as you'd expect, not much else about the content.

I'm pretty spoiler averse myself and I didn't have a problem with anything in there.

Saje | September 05, 15:08 CET

<3 Amy

I wasn't sure until now that she was going to actually be on the show. Yay for us.

death is my gift | September 05, 15:23 CET

Heh. I have such a hard time reading "<3" as anything other then "smaller than three" ;).

Anyway: disfigured seems to be more along the lines of what this interview is implying, yeah, Saje. And agree that for women facial scars are never seen as a kinds-sorta good thing, like they are for men. Which is a scary cultural place, to be honest. Not sure at all what that means or how I feel about it.

GVH | September 05, 15:44 CET

Well, she is shorter than 3 meters, yeah ;)?

zeitgeist | September 05, 15:52 CET

It seems to me that Sci Fi Wire is borrowing many of its new format ideas from the AV Club. Lots of interviews and esoteric lists.

As for the spoiler tag... that was in regard to her character's physical appearance. I had not read that anywhere yet myself.

[ edited by Hjermsted on 2008-09-05 16:12 ]

Hjermsted | September 05, 16:06 CET

Yeah, but her cuteness is much larger than just three.

No? I guess I was just reaching there anyway ;)

GVH | September 05, 16:17 CET

Her cuteness is only slightly larger than 3 IMO because i'd put it at Pi (infinite ;).

Saje | September 05, 16:24 CET

Not gonna label this as spoilers or black letter it because by my post you know about the scars. All the same, detailed description of the scars follows:

Dr. Saunder's Scars are indeed pretty intense. Not along the lines of Two-Face or Darth Vader, but not at all subtle. There are three on the right side of her forehead that all run from top right towards her nose. There is one on the left of her forehead that is much shorter and runs from left to right across her eyebrow. There's one that runs left to right across her nose and down into her cheek, and may in fact be a continuation of the one on her eyebrow. The last one runs vertically from her left nostril down across her lips to her chin.

The picture I'm looking at was actually a costume fitting and I don't know how old it is, it's possible the scars changed. I edited Shawna Trpcic's show reel for Comic-con and she provided some photos. As this showed at Comic-Con (briefly), I assume I'm safe describing it, but as the photo is Fox property and none have been released of the character, I don't feel comfortable putting it online.

In summary, the scars are large, not localized, and don't appear to have a distinct pattern (like if she was clawed across the face by a clawed hand/foot/paw).

Hope that helps!

bobw1o | September 05, 17:32 CET

Yes, that's great info, bobw10. Thanks!

pillboxed | September 05, 17:45 CET

This could be a first, couldn't it? I mean, I don't recall many permanently scarred female co-leads on TV or in the movies.

nyrk | September 05, 18:06 CET

She's gonna rock those scars.

Sunfire | September 05, 18:12 CET

Sounds great, bobw1o - cheers!

gossi | September 05, 19:14 CET

Was only watching Angel yesterday thinking how much I missed her and wished she would reprise her guest star role on How I Met Your Mother. Completely forgot she was doing Dollhouse too. Yay :D

Ashley | September 05, 19:32 CET

I loved Amy in HIMYM. She's always so good.

dollrific | September 05, 20:03 CET

I'm super-excited about Amy's character and think the scars add a fascinating physical and psychological dimension. Most of us are scarred somehow, only we carry ours on the inside; she can't hide hers. I suspect they'll give her a kind of vulnerability (revealed over time, probably) that may make her more approachable to some of the dolls who could be put off by the more conventionally 'perfect' authority figures.

I know Joss likes his symbolism, so that adds another possible level. In symbolic/mythological terms, wounded people -- especially those who bear up with a show of bravery and strength despite their debility -- can be seen as survivors of spiritual testing, often perceived to be specially gifted or empowered with supernatural abilities won at the cost of great personal sacrifice (think of half-blind Odin and the Roman god Vulcan, for example). I have no idea what's in store for her character, but watching her navigate and explore Dr. Saunder's development trajectory is going to be a genuine pleasure to watch.

Wiseblood | September 05, 21:10 CET

Oh I love the Acker! Can't wait to see her in dollhouse.

witch_kat | September 05, 22:30 CET

I'm excited to see her look. It's a pretty hard job to make Amy look anything other than cute (except maybe when she was all blue and kicking ass), so I wanna see if the scars will do it.

I'm actually more excited about her in the show than Eliza (don't get me wrong, I love Eliza, but Amy is... Amy!).

maxsummers | September 05, 23:18 CET

I know just what you mean, maxsummers. Can't wait to see what she does with the part.

UnpluggedCrazy | September 06, 00:15 CET

anyone else thinking that she(her character) may be a former "active"?

JadeHand | September 06, 00:47 CET

anyone else thinking that she(her character) may be a former "active"?

Or, she is still an active, of sorts, with the knowledge of medicine downloaded into her brain...

That would be twisted.

Effulgent | September 06, 01:04 CET

(except maybe when she was all blue and kicking ass)

No, no.. she was still cute then. :)

For the record, I've also thought her character may be a former active, however, that seems too simple for Joss.

LaneMeyer | September 06, 02:20 CET

Or maybe not so simple, LaneMeyer, if it's tied into the overall story in some personal way (which we can't say anything about yet, because we don't know anything about the show).

For all we know, she could be a (former) active and Echo's long-lost mom she thought she lost in a car accident, but whom they saved and used as a test-subject for new upload science and when it worked, they uploaded the new science to make her a scientist [1] [2].

Saje, I agree her beauty might be pi. However, that's not because pi is infinte (wat strange ideas you have ;)), but rather because it's fitting that her beauty can only be described by a transcendental number, because of it's inherent transcendent nature [3].

bobw1o, thanks for that! I think that may indeed just be a first. I do wonder if it'll be instantly off-putting or just intriguing, in the way it looks. A lot depends on how they apply the make-up exactly, I'd say.

[1] If that, by some strange twist of fate, turns out to be true, I claim full credit, by the way ;).
[2] Wow, am I ever crap at describing story ideas, that was one of the most horrible sentences in the history of the english language, I'd say ;).
[3] We've officially crossed the line into both yucky fannish talk and nerdy math talk now, right? ;)

GVH | September 06, 03:35 CET

Well, it wouldn't be the first time a parent and child on television were played by actors way too close in age to be related in that fashion. Indiana Jones comes to mind first and foremost, but I Know there've been some recently.

It occurred to me... What if the image I described is flopped for some reason (got me)? It'd be funny when we see the first production photo of her and all the scars are on the opposite sides!

And to be fair, Amy's not really a co-lead. She has a recurring guest role as I understand it. She's not part of the cast. I could be mistaken.

[ edited by bobw1o on 2008-09-06 04:13 ]

bobw1o | September 06, 04:09 CET

Slight clarification: I used this fancy "zoom" feature I found in Preview. Ahhh, newfangled technology. The eyebrow scar and the nose/cheek scar do not look to be directly related as a continuation of one another. They were definitely caused by separate motions.

bobw1o | September 06, 04:48 CET

Clearly, she's a Reaver.

The One True b!X | September 06, 05:02 CET

The 'dolls' will be fun to watch, but Amy Acker is the reason I'm geeked about this show.

Gilded Lily | September 06, 05:12 CET

Is there any site where we can see this pic?

maxsummers | September 06, 06:13 CET

Randomly, because I'm watching the extras on the final Joan of Arcadia DVD: I hope they're filming some table reads for Dollhouse. I think more DVDs should put table reads in the extras. (But full ones, not snippets.)

The One True b!X | September 06, 08:25 CET

The last table read I watched was one for a recent episode of Doctor Who where the guy who does the voice of the Daleks had to speak German. THAT was funny.

zz9 | September 06, 13:40 CET

I hope they're filming some table reads for Dollhouse. I think more DVDs should put table reads in the extras. (But full ones, not snippets.)
theonetruebix | September 06, 08:25 CET

Yes! More table reads in DVD extras. Loved the one on Torchwood, especially since it was the first time the cast was actually together and that sense of excitement for embarking upon the new adventure, was such a palpable high. Considerably longer than what I'd call a snippet, but not nearly as long as I would have liked.

Calling Ron Moore,.... too late for a "first" (unless there's something tucked away in some archive) but any table read from BSG would be so welcome, on the final season DVD set.

Shey | September 06, 15:04 CET

Maxsummers - To my (and apparently everyone else here) knowledge, there is no publicly available picture of Dr. Saunders.

bobw1o | September 06, 17:57 CET

bobw1o is correct (I never doubt you, bobw1o! ;) ), there isn't.

gossi | September 06, 19:51 CET

hummmm, ok!
Thanks! =]

maxsummers | September 06, 20:12 CET

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