davron
02-21-2007, 03:28 PM
Exclusive Interview: THE BEAUTIFUL TAWNY CYPRESS IS HEROES NEWEST CASUALTY
No one is safe and this is just the beginning
With this week’s latest episode of NBC’s hit drama HEROES, Tawny Cypress’ character Simone Deveaux is one of the first casualties amongst the series regulars. Indeed as the tagline for the show now says,” no one is safe.” Cypress chatted with iF MAGAZINE both at the TCAS and afterwards to help us create a combined interview that could run after the episode featuring her character’s death. Find out along with iF what it takes to be a non-powered human on a superhero show, how she and her brother are each other’s heroes, and how it feels to play a “beautiful death scene”.
iF MAGAZINE: Your character had a huge part in introducing characters to each other, so how has been working with all of these completely different story arcs?
TAWNY CYPRESS: I played second fiddle to other people’s characters for a long time, but my storyline finally came back around in the first half of the chunk of episodes when we came back from break.
iF: How was it playing back and forth in the love triangle between your character, Peter Petreli, and Isaac?
CYPRESS: Peter was unconscious a lot which stinks for love. [Laughs] Then Isaac came back to me sober, so it made it difficult for a woman who really wanted to be in love. It is so much fun because they such beautiful men in different ways. It’s great to be able to kiss all the boys. As far as my character goes, obviously Isaac coming back sober changed the whole game because Simone was in love with him and had been for a long time and all she ever wanted for him was to be sober. He finally got his act together and it was hard to pass that up.
iF: How was being one of the normal characters about a show with people with superpowers?
CYPRESS: I finally got to believe! I finally started to be able to have faith in everybody else. I didn’t have to be Agent Scully anymore. I definitely got to have fun with the guys.
iF: How far ahead was the Tim Sale painting of you in the hallway from the pilot created?
CYPRESS: Tim Sale actually gave me the original painting of that and it is very dear to me. He did that before I did the scene and I had to copy it. He created it off of pictures of me, and they told me I had to come in the doorway and make that move.
iF: How was it filming the big dream sequence with everybody together watching Peter go nuclear?
CYPRESS: It opened questions for me. I thought what is going on here? But really, first of all it was so much fun because we finally got to act together which was a rare occasion. We were all there in downtown L.A. clogging up the streets, but beyond that; that’s a crazy dream sequence and we don’t know exactly what it means. All of those things are going to get answered.
iF: When you originally auditioned did you know that Simone wasn’t ever going to have superpowers?
CYPRESS: When they gave me the part originally her name was Stella and she was a bohemian white girl living in Manhattan on the lower East Side. So, when they gave me the role they started changing everything about the character. They really didn’t know anything about the character when it was offered to me, they just said that she was going to be a series regular and she was a great part and that was all that I needed to hear. I kind of did think she was going to have superpowers, but in doing the pilot, they told me that was how it was going to be from then on. I was fine with that because I was the only one who was a regular person who didn’t believe in any of it.
iF: The version of the pilot that I saw, Isaac cuts off his hand…what was involved in changing that for airing?
CYPRESS: Oh my gosh you saw that one, huh? We just went into an ADR session and came up with a couple of new lines. I don’t know what they were thinking cutting off his hand in the first place. What are you going to do with a character after that, being a one-handed character? It was just a matter of looping a couple of lines.
iF: Were there other changes between filming the pilot and the rest of the series?
CYPRESS: They cut out a whole lead character. I don’t know how many people saw the original, original pilot. There was a terrorist, and I forgot what his ability was, but he was a great actor. I never got a chance to meet him, but as soon as they edited the first rough cut, they decided they didn’t want a terrorist aspect to the show and they completely cut out his character, and we never got to meet him. That was a huge change from the pilot script that I read.
Beyond that I worked with my acting coach a lot on Simone. Basically, we came to the assumption that I was playing myself, and as long as I was playing myself on the show, as far as finding out that my boyfriend could paint the future, they would starting writing the character geared more towards who I actually was. That’s sort of what began happening, they went with what I was giving them and started developing my character based on what I was bringing to the park. I really didn’t have much to go on from the beginning with my character; it just slowly came to fruition.
iF: Was there anyone on the show that you wanted to work with, but didn’t get the chance?
CYPRESS: The girls. I wanted to work with the girls. I want all of us ladies to get together and become CHARLIES ANGELS. [Laughs] I would have loved to work with Ali [Larter] and Hayden [Panettiere]. They are all such different stories, I don’t even know if Hayden and Ali will ever get together.
iF: You brother is actually a comic book artist, so being on this series has been a big deal for you two right?
CYPRESS: I’ve always said that he was my biggest hero in my life, even before I got this part. He thinks its really cool, and he’s gotten to meet Tim Sale. He’s a big fan of Tim’s work, and its done great things for him that his sister is on a superhero show. He’s definately expressed his appreciation for the work that I’m doing all of a sudden. [Laughs] All of a sudden its something he’s very interested in.
iF: What is the most interesting fan experience you’ve had so far?
CYPRESS: There’s one guy who wrote to me from prison, and all of us get a lot of fan mail from prison, so that’s not unusual. But, I had one guy write to me and tell me he had sixty years left on his sentence, and he didn’t tell me what he had done to get sixty years in prison, but he did tell me about his father killing his dog when he was a little boy and how he then slept with the dead dog for a week. It was so creepy, I kept the letter and I’m going to frame it. It freaked me out. I did not send him a headshot, unfortunately. [Laughs] Other than that there’s the girl at the local coffee shops that wants the inside scoop every time I go in, but that’s about it.
iF: What was Simone’s final storyline like for you?
CYPRESS: Peter had disappeared. Nobody could find him, because he was with the invisible man. His family didn’t know where he was, I didn’t know where he was, and that became my journey. I needed to find him. I needed to figure out my love life and I couldn’t do it without him there. Knowing that Isaac has the abilities he has, obviously I wanted to utilize that and that was a sticky situation for my character. It was working with Isaac to find Peter, which was a very complicated situation for us.
iF: Tim Kring said that he had plans for you down the road- post death. What does that mean?
CYPRESS: That’s a good question, because I read that too. I’m waiting to hear about that. I actually come back in the March 5th episode and I know of one other episode where I come back. There are definitely places where I do pop up, but past that we’ll see what happens with Tim. They have my heart, and if Tim says, “jump” I say, “how high?”
iF: If there is a future use for Simone as Tim Kring has intimated in other interviews, what would you want her to be?
CYPRESS: I would just love her to somehow go the dark side, and work with Linderman or HRG or something. I would love to be on the bad side. She’s been the character of love on the show, and I would love to change that completely.
iF: How far along did they tell you that Simone was going to get shot to death?
CYPRESS: Tim called me in the middle of December, and it was the first thing in the morning. It was 9am in the morning and as soon as I heard his voice I knew it. I asked him what was going on and he told me. That was the beginning of my depression. I went through a depression, sure, but I definitely have come out the other side very well.
iF: The way the episode played, they sort of set it up that Simone had to go after the confrontation with Nathan. She was becoming a danger to secrecy.
CYPRESS: I’m such a huge fan of the show, that I want it to be as tight as possible and I want the storylines to be as good as they can be, and they’re weeding out the weak storylines and they’re making it a stronger, tighter show and I am all for that.
iF: I don’t know if I would go far, but it certainly starts the ball rolling for their new “no one is safe” slogan.
CYPRESS: Yeah! That’s for sure. You know what’s funny is I was sure that people would guess that it was going to happen and nobody did. I am so secretive about this show, but I called my mother and she’s the biggest blabbermouth and I said, “I’m dying!” I told everyone that I knew, so it wasn’t due to me that it didn’t get out. Thank God nobody talked. [Laughs]
iF: You said you’re coming back in further episodes so I assume its flashbacks or time travel or something?
CYPRESS: Don’t assume anything. With this show, it can be anything. In episode eighteen I pop up again in a pretty cool way. I don’t have too much to do, but what I do is pretty neat. It’s not a flashback or a dream sequence.
No one is safe and this is just the beginning
With this week’s latest episode of NBC’s hit drama HEROES, Tawny Cypress’ character Simone Deveaux is one of the first casualties amongst the series regulars. Indeed as the tagline for the show now says,” no one is safe.” Cypress chatted with iF MAGAZINE both at the TCAS and afterwards to help us create a combined interview that could run after the episode featuring her character’s death. Find out along with iF what it takes to be a non-powered human on a superhero show, how she and her brother are each other’s heroes, and how it feels to play a “beautiful death scene”.
iF MAGAZINE: Your character had a huge part in introducing characters to each other, so how has been working with all of these completely different story arcs?
TAWNY CYPRESS: I played second fiddle to other people’s characters for a long time, but my storyline finally came back around in the first half of the chunk of episodes when we came back from break.
iF: How was it playing back and forth in the love triangle between your character, Peter Petreli, and Isaac?
CYPRESS: Peter was unconscious a lot which stinks for love. [Laughs] Then Isaac came back to me sober, so it made it difficult for a woman who really wanted to be in love. It is so much fun because they such beautiful men in different ways. It’s great to be able to kiss all the boys. As far as my character goes, obviously Isaac coming back sober changed the whole game because Simone was in love with him and had been for a long time and all she ever wanted for him was to be sober. He finally got his act together and it was hard to pass that up.
iF: How was being one of the normal characters about a show with people with superpowers?
CYPRESS: I finally got to believe! I finally started to be able to have faith in everybody else. I didn’t have to be Agent Scully anymore. I definitely got to have fun with the guys.
iF: How far ahead was the Tim Sale painting of you in the hallway from the pilot created?
CYPRESS: Tim Sale actually gave me the original painting of that and it is very dear to me. He did that before I did the scene and I had to copy it. He created it off of pictures of me, and they told me I had to come in the doorway and make that move.
iF: How was it filming the big dream sequence with everybody together watching Peter go nuclear?
CYPRESS: It opened questions for me. I thought what is going on here? But really, first of all it was so much fun because we finally got to act together which was a rare occasion. We were all there in downtown L.A. clogging up the streets, but beyond that; that’s a crazy dream sequence and we don’t know exactly what it means. All of those things are going to get answered.
iF: When you originally auditioned did you know that Simone wasn’t ever going to have superpowers?
CYPRESS: When they gave me the part originally her name was Stella and she was a bohemian white girl living in Manhattan on the lower East Side. So, when they gave me the role they started changing everything about the character. They really didn’t know anything about the character when it was offered to me, they just said that she was going to be a series regular and she was a great part and that was all that I needed to hear. I kind of did think she was going to have superpowers, but in doing the pilot, they told me that was how it was going to be from then on. I was fine with that because I was the only one who was a regular person who didn’t believe in any of it.
iF: The version of the pilot that I saw, Isaac cuts off his hand…what was involved in changing that for airing?
CYPRESS: Oh my gosh you saw that one, huh? We just went into an ADR session and came up with a couple of new lines. I don’t know what they were thinking cutting off his hand in the first place. What are you going to do with a character after that, being a one-handed character? It was just a matter of looping a couple of lines.
iF: Were there other changes between filming the pilot and the rest of the series?
CYPRESS: They cut out a whole lead character. I don’t know how many people saw the original, original pilot. There was a terrorist, and I forgot what his ability was, but he was a great actor. I never got a chance to meet him, but as soon as they edited the first rough cut, they decided they didn’t want a terrorist aspect to the show and they completely cut out his character, and we never got to meet him. That was a huge change from the pilot script that I read.
Beyond that I worked with my acting coach a lot on Simone. Basically, we came to the assumption that I was playing myself, and as long as I was playing myself on the show, as far as finding out that my boyfriend could paint the future, they would starting writing the character geared more towards who I actually was. That’s sort of what began happening, they went with what I was giving them and started developing my character based on what I was bringing to the park. I really didn’t have much to go on from the beginning with my character; it just slowly came to fruition.
iF: Was there anyone on the show that you wanted to work with, but didn’t get the chance?
CYPRESS: The girls. I wanted to work with the girls. I want all of us ladies to get together and become CHARLIES ANGELS. [Laughs] I would have loved to work with Ali [Larter] and Hayden [Panettiere]. They are all such different stories, I don’t even know if Hayden and Ali will ever get together.
iF: You brother is actually a comic book artist, so being on this series has been a big deal for you two right?
CYPRESS: I’ve always said that he was my biggest hero in my life, even before I got this part. He thinks its really cool, and he’s gotten to meet Tim Sale. He’s a big fan of Tim’s work, and its done great things for him that his sister is on a superhero show. He’s definately expressed his appreciation for the work that I’m doing all of a sudden. [Laughs] All of a sudden its something he’s very interested in.
iF: What is the most interesting fan experience you’ve had so far?
CYPRESS: There’s one guy who wrote to me from prison, and all of us get a lot of fan mail from prison, so that’s not unusual. But, I had one guy write to me and tell me he had sixty years left on his sentence, and he didn’t tell me what he had done to get sixty years in prison, but he did tell me about his father killing his dog when he was a little boy and how he then slept with the dead dog for a week. It was so creepy, I kept the letter and I’m going to frame it. It freaked me out. I did not send him a headshot, unfortunately. [Laughs] Other than that there’s the girl at the local coffee shops that wants the inside scoop every time I go in, but that’s about it.
iF: What was Simone’s final storyline like for you?
CYPRESS: Peter had disappeared. Nobody could find him, because he was with the invisible man. His family didn’t know where he was, I didn’t know where he was, and that became my journey. I needed to find him. I needed to figure out my love life and I couldn’t do it without him there. Knowing that Isaac has the abilities he has, obviously I wanted to utilize that and that was a sticky situation for my character. It was working with Isaac to find Peter, which was a very complicated situation for us.
iF: Tim Kring said that he had plans for you down the road- post death. What does that mean?
CYPRESS: That’s a good question, because I read that too. I’m waiting to hear about that. I actually come back in the March 5th episode and I know of one other episode where I come back. There are definitely places where I do pop up, but past that we’ll see what happens with Tim. They have my heart, and if Tim says, “jump” I say, “how high?”
iF: If there is a future use for Simone as Tim Kring has intimated in other interviews, what would you want her to be?
CYPRESS: I would just love her to somehow go the dark side, and work with Linderman or HRG or something. I would love to be on the bad side. She’s been the character of love on the show, and I would love to change that completely.
iF: How far along did they tell you that Simone was going to get shot to death?
CYPRESS: Tim called me in the middle of December, and it was the first thing in the morning. It was 9am in the morning and as soon as I heard his voice I knew it. I asked him what was going on and he told me. That was the beginning of my depression. I went through a depression, sure, but I definitely have come out the other side very well.
iF: The way the episode played, they sort of set it up that Simone had to go after the confrontation with Nathan. She was becoming a danger to secrecy.
CYPRESS: I’m such a huge fan of the show, that I want it to be as tight as possible and I want the storylines to be as good as they can be, and they’re weeding out the weak storylines and they’re making it a stronger, tighter show and I am all for that.
iF: I don’t know if I would go far, but it certainly starts the ball rolling for their new “no one is safe” slogan.
CYPRESS: Yeah! That’s for sure. You know what’s funny is I was sure that people would guess that it was going to happen and nobody did. I am so secretive about this show, but I called my mother and she’s the biggest blabbermouth and I said, “I’m dying!” I told everyone that I knew, so it wasn’t due to me that it didn’t get out. Thank God nobody talked. [Laughs]
iF: You said you’re coming back in further episodes so I assume its flashbacks or time travel or something?
CYPRESS: Don’t assume anything. With this show, it can be anything. In episode eighteen I pop up again in a pretty cool way. I don’t have too much to do, but what I do is pretty neat. It’s not a flashback or a dream sequence.