Here is part two of the interview with Haven’s Emily Rose and Adam Copeland.
Haven returns to Syfy October 8th, 10-11 p.m. ET.
At the beginning of the season, Dwight makes a pretty big decision that affects the whole town. What was itlike to have Dwight assume a leadership role in such a very big way?
Adam Copeland: That was huge from a personal standpoint just to be reading the scripts and going, “Whoa, are you sure you want me to do that?” There were moments where I was like, “You guys know that you wrote that for me, right?” I just want to make sure that’s clear and so that was huge. What for me it was I guess a validation or a confirmation like OK I’m working towards a goal here and it must be working. So that was great from a personal standpoint. From a creative standpoint those are the things you want. You just you want to dig your teeth into that and it’s like, OK three page monologue. We did a scene that was all action for about eight hours of the day because it was Shawn Piller. So by the time we got to that monologue, I had done two takes at it. So and I had a – I was the kind of thread throughout the action scene too with all these different players, so I really couldn’t concentrate on it as much as I would have wanted to. So it was a huge challenge and it was great because it was so much fun. It was fun you know and it was pivotal and those are the challenges that I realized that I want. Whereas in season two when old Dwight first showed up, that would have petrified me. So it was great to grow into that and be in such a pivotal spot to help kind of push the story along. And it was also written in the script that Dwight drops the mic. So it was actually written in that way too.
Do you have any favorite moments or arcs that you can share with us or is it something that we haven’t seen yet over the course of the series?
Emily Rose: Favorite arcs and moments… I really enjoyed playing Lucy this season. And one of my favorite, I would, say creative actor moments was being able to work with Lucas as a director on his episode that he directed, which was episode 517. It was such a –it was just like a […] moment to watch something that your friend has wanted to do for so long and then to watch him succeed epically at it. Was really, really, really fun. So that whole experience, Audrey was – how do I put this without spoiling anything? It’s kind of a very heightened surreal episode that isn’t necessarily based so much on reality. So it was really, really cool to watch everything that Lucas had to prep and to be involved in that for him to act in it. And then to be able to take directions from somebody that you have such a great vocabulary with and then be able to work so well with and watch the whole crew come behind him and support him. And then also have some of the most killer shots we had the whole season, done on his episode because.
It was just a really, really cool experience all around. So that was really neat. And I think even like one of – again I think even one of his good friends, Tim was working on that episode as well. So it was just really – it was a really cool, it was just really a neat experience. And then I think also the end of the series, you just want to do such a good job and you want to do your characters justice and you want to do the story justice, and you want to feel fulfilled and that people will feel fulfilled. You’re just so freaking nostalgic with everybody that you – but that was a really sweet memory as well. So yes.
Adam Copeland: Well the – this final season was really such a, as I kind of briefly touched on, a jump in responsibility and character wise and there are so many instances where Dwight has to basically address everyone. And those are huge moments for that character, so I really remember those ones … Kind of the pressure cooker that that was when you have essentially an entire town staring at you and it’s like, OK here we go. That and also you know the episode that Lucas did written by Shernold Edwards, it was – what was interesting about it was, like Emily said, everyone just wanted to absolutely hit that over the green monster. We wanted a grand slam. No doubt this thing was going to be awesome and top to bottom everyone put in, if there was extra effort to put in, everyone did. It was interesting, Lucas and I had dinner the week before and he said, “OK listen, I’m going to need you to block shoot this,” which means basically there’s 8 scenes, 6 or 8 scenes throughout the episode, but they take place in one room. He said, “Can you just flip them all the way through your side then we’ll turn around and get the other person’s side?” So what it meant was 22-minute takes. Yes and I said, yes got it no problem. As long as I got the heads up and it’s from Lucas you know so you wanted just to be able to crush it for him. So that was pretty amazing and an amazing memory and something that I will always take with me no matter what I do.
Yes, the end, you can’t help but get sentimental with every final scene and realize, oh wow this was the last time that you’ll see these two characters together. Everything that they’ve inhabited throughout and gone through throughout, this is the culmination of that. And that’s a huge – it’s a huge ride but it’s special and you’d like to think people will be watching and invested in thinking the same thing. So those were all really, really big kind of pivotal things that I remember.
Emily Rose: I was just saying that Adam recommended the Josh Garrels song that Lucas ended up choosing for the end of the episode. And then we all got so stoked about it that we just kept begging for that to get cleared and we were able to contact him and that great song which was your pick for it. And then Lucas so excited to make that happen to the end of the episode. So it just felt very collaborative and almost like well like, I don’t know how like those senior days at school when it’s like the last day of school but you get to go…
Adam Copeland: Yes. I forgot about that. There’s this artist named Josh Garrels who I was really into because my father’s day video had been done with his music as a present. So I really got into him and I listened to this one song “Ulysses” constantly and I just said, yes this feels like if it’s not the end of the series it needs to be the end of this episode and Lucas agreed. And then we all started listening to it constantly. Keep an ear out for it in that episode because it’s such a beautiful song.
How has it been transitioning from the instant gratification of being in front of a crowd at Wrestle Mania to delayed gratification of finding out how much we like the show six months later? And for the both of you, do you think that a year, maybe two years after the series ends would we get a TV movie out of this?
Emily Rose: Actually, it hasn’t been hard for Adam to transition at all because every day he came to set– he insisted on being cheered into the set the same way. It was an exhausting way to start the day. It was exhausting to put up all those bright lights and to get face paint on. It was like so crazy. But I mean it really – it helped ease him into it for sure.
Adam Copeland: Well played. It was a – it was a transition definitely. WWE and acting, they’re both on the entertainment tree, they’re just different branches. So it was just kind of getting accustomed to those small differences that can be there, like you said, in the WWE, it is instant gratification you know right away if something worked. I’m assuming like theater works. This I really looked for a lot of confirmation from people after I did something because I wasn’t sure. It was new to me and I wanted to make sure that I was on the right path. So I would talk to Emily or Lucas or the directors and just go, “Was that OK? Like did that suck?” Because I don’t have a barometer yet, I don’t have my gauge set for this. Thankfully by the end I was starting to realize when I found what was working I hope. So that …
For five seasons?
Adam Copeland: Like yes that was a little bit of confirmation it’s like oh they keep bringing me back so I guess it’s working. And when it comes to a TV movie as Emily had mentioned before, there is enough questions that people could take and run and make their own stories with these characters after the fact that someone could do that one day.
Emily Rose: Yes, I know totally. I just want to say though because Adam wouldn’t ever say this about himself but, as somebody that was on the outside, I also kind of liked it because I also to just view him through the friend lens. But like I didn’t ever really know or see anything of what he had come from. Like I just you know I heard tales of it, I heard tales. And so, it was pretty cool though because he would just be open and honest about just trying to figure out how is this part working, is this working? And I think one of Adam’s best moments of the entire series happened this season and that was when Lee Rose was directing episode, I think it was 519?…
Adam Copeland: Yes.
Emily Rose: And there was a really big emotional moment and I know that Adam was kind of, just like every actor is just a little you know intimidated of, if that’s going to happen and not really knowing what it will look like and not wanting to force something but also wanting it to be very real and authentic. He did takes and was was like, OK that’s great. And then they both just agreed they were like, let’s just do this you know one more time. I think we can even go further with it. It was a really, really, really beautiful moment from Adam and it was really great to be there and to witness it and to watch have that personal acting victory that we all have these milestones in our acting career where we’re like, “I’d hope to achieve this can I do it?” And to watch him do that and it’s such a great beautiful side of Adam and something that he brings to the role, that it was just so exciting to see that and to see that for him and to see where he – how much he has even grown. I mean he has always been fantastic but just when you’re – when you act beside your friend for so long, you know exactly what they want to work on or where they want to grow, or what they want to achieve. So to be there and be able to see that is always really exciting and Adam does some great, great work this season for sure.
Emily, you’ve had to play several different personalities during the course of the show, and unlike some other sci-fi shows you didn’t really have the help of any sort of special effects make-up. How did you go about creating these distinct yet connected personalities?
Emily Rose: Well it’s always about the team that gets assembled and communication. You know when you’re in theatre school and you have a character class you – it’s all about responsibility lies on you and it’s a lot about experimenting at home and observing people’s physicality and getting to work on that. And what’s great about the TV and movie industry is that, you have these professionals from each of those fields to sort of help collaborate with you.
But it’s hard too because I’m used to the theatre side of like going home and working things out and trying to work it out for myself and you have to be able to communicate that to everybody. So first of all, I never when I signed up for the show I had absolutely no clue that that was the direction it was going to take and that I would get the opportunity to play all of these people. So it just worked out so great because that’s like an actor’s dream to be able to be shown versatility and be able to play with that on screen.
But really you know in the beginning it was Steven Lynch my amazing make-up artist and Jojo, Joanne Stamp that is –did hair. And then we had Steven doing wardrobe as well this year and he was – he was so great because he would bring in a bunch of options for us, or for me wardrobe wise and we would talk about. I’d say like, with Lucy, something I really wanted her to have this like leather purse she needed you know something for carrying and that really helped me with my physicality. And – but then also all the work, we actually had Dorothy Martin who was doing my make-up this year, doing a bunch of stuff for Lucy and some other stuff that I needed. And just through the time of getting to sit in the make-up chair, I just remember there was I think a couple more things that we got to do this season and just sitting and being able to watch the character come together. And then watch Steven Wright come into the trailer and look at the wardrobe and then to have Dorothy there and then to have Joanne there and us together, look and kind of come up with something that’s felt good for all of us.
Then to have the producers come in and I remember specifically probably one of the biggest victories this season when it came to characters was we worked on a collaboration of a character. And I walked into Matt my show runner and Stephanie and a bunch of other people and just kind of walked in, just kind of was watching and they kind of turned and looked at me and said hi to me as if I was a visitor. I remember inside going, “Yes.” So it was really exciting because they looked at me and said hi to me like a visitor and then they kind of looked again and then were like, “Oh my word.” So that’s always really exciting you know when you can pull off that kind of transformation and it just comes from having a really good team.
And then just a small – I’ll make this short but just a small little story that happened this year — right before I played a lot of the Lucy stuff, I ended up really hurting my knee. My meniscus and my ACL went out when I was on set. And so I was having to figure out OK, how am I going to cover this up because I still have to walk and I still have to look normal and I have to maybe be wearing a brace. But it was really cool because we were able to conceal but yet that sort of leg thing really fed into my character and it really worked. And if I wouldn’t have had that injury at that moment I don’t even think I would have thought of half of the stuff that I needed for you know Lucy in those moments. And so, sometimes the biggest mistakes can turn into the greatest gifts if you let them do that so and you’re open to it and you don’t get all bummed and fight it. You know so just a big collaboration of you know messy creativity and then just throwing something to the wall and seeing if it sticks.