IR Interview: John Fawcett For "Orphan Black - Echoes" [AMC] - video Dailymotion

The Inside Reel

Co-Creator/Series Director John Fawcett talks to The Inside Reel abot tone, characterization, build, parallels and differences in regards to his new series continuing the Orphan Black universe: "Orphan Black - Echoes" on AMC.

Transcript

00:00I'm in danger, and I think you might be too.

00:17This is part of something bigger than you can possibly understand.

00:25I'm going to get some answers.

00:26You going to help me or what?

00:32And it's interesting, especially, you know, going from directing Orphan Black Regular

00:38to directing Echoes because of the way it sort of transmuted.

00:42Did you have to come in with a different mindset or psychology because it's different?

00:46Obviously what Kristen is doing is completely different than what Tatiana did.

00:51Could you talk about that and finding the right tone within, you know, your directing

00:56and within the series to make it your own, but also make it feel like Orphan Black still?

01:01Well, listen, that started like back, you know, with Anna Fishko, you know, in the creation

01:07of the show, the concept.

01:10There was always a discussion about like, hey, listen, it's really, really hard to compete

01:15with the original show.

01:17Like that show is special.

01:19Tatiana was special.

01:21Like we can't, you know, we can call it part of the Orphan Black universe, but we, you

01:28know, we can't just make a copy.

01:31We can't just go and make a copy of the original show.

01:34So it was always in my mind that we had to do something different.

01:37We had to take a different approach, a different, you know, do something very different so that

01:42it feels like it shares DNA, like we can put Easter eggs, we can put characters, we can

01:49see what some of, you know, the original show, what's happening in the, you know, 30 years

01:55in the future.

01:56But ultimately, it wants to look and feel different.

01:59Like I just didn't really, I felt like it's better to judge this show on its own merits

02:04rather than compare it to the original, which everyone's going to do anyway.

02:10Like they're just going to go, well, it's not Tatiana and it's not the original show.

02:14It's a difficult situation to be in.

02:16So, but, you know, when we were making the original Orphan Black, it was always about

02:22like, what do people, what do we think people expect?

02:27And when we have a sense of what people expect, then we know what not to do.

02:32And so that was, it was always about where's the bar, how do we, how do we exceed the bar

02:38yet do something that people aren't expecting?

02:42Hi.

02:43My name is Lucy.

02:47I like spaghettios, long walks on the beach, and I have an almost pathological desire to

02:57avoid talking about the past.

02:59It's not meant as a criticism at all, John, it's just a, it's a way that you have to approach

03:12it.

03:13I mean, because obviously, you know, because humor was always part of the Orphan Black

03:16universe, you know, and the fact of how Lucy operates, the way Jules operates as a variety,

03:23and then the Eleanor situation, you have to sort of play it in.

03:26So, but it's that balance between the humor and the drama and the dread, you know, and

03:31that comes down to tonally, visually what you're putting on screen, but also how you're

03:36directing the actors.

03:37Can you sort of talk about that and finding that balance, you know, with all your experience

03:42over the years and knowing how that's done?

03:44Listen, you know, like, I think that the show feel like Graham Manson and myself had a very

03:51specific chemistry and a very specific, like the way we put our personalities together

03:59that created the original Orphan Black.

04:02So there's a lot of humor because Graham's like, Graham has a difficult time writing

04:07things that are just serious all the time.

04:09Like he loves adding idiotic lines and hilarious character things and weird situations.

04:16Like he was the one that came up with the tail cutting in the original first season,

04:21which we all thought was weird and hilarious.

04:25And but this has a, you know, Anna and I have a very different chemistry.

04:28And so the show maybe isn't, you know, and Anna would be the first one to say, like,

04:33Anna's like, I want to make it funny, but like the subject matter isn't kind of lending

04:38itself to the same humor and tone.

04:43Today, we are changing the world.

04:47I need to talk to you about our project.

04:50I think she's in danger.

04:56Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the greater good.

05:04I think I may have done something terrible.

05:08People that are looking for me are dangerous.

05:12With her background, I mean, obviously with Tyrant and Colony, that's a completely different

05:17sort of political aspect.

05:19Not that the original didn't have that.

05:21But how do you find sort of the blending of where did you find the blending of where you

05:25two sort of met?

05:27I think we, you know, it was just we developed this over a couple of years during the pandemic.

05:35We'd meet up on Zoom.

05:36I never actually met her in person until we were literally making the show.

05:40And I would bring my stuff to it and she would bring her stuff to it.

05:43And it was kind of like it became a kind of an amalgamation of the two of us.

05:49And I'm always pushing for like, you know, let's like let's find the characters that

05:55have the humor.

05:57And hers is, you know, pushing along thematic, the thematic love story angle.

06:04And so it was it's a very different it just becomes its own thing.

06:09And I'm really proud of our our our collaboration together.

06:14I have to figure out who I am.

06:18Sorry, do we know each other?

06:19Don't think so.

06:23I think she's me.

06:34This isn't going to end well.

IR Interview: John Fawcett For "Orphan Black - Echoes" [AMC]

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