- 2/22/2025
Melissa Roxburgh On Manifest, The Hunting Party, Scary Filming Moments, & More
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.
00:02I'm so excited to talk to you about The Hunting Party.
00:04And I know this is your first leading role since Manifest.
00:07So I'm curious, after Manifest, how did you...
00:10Like, what were you looking for?
00:11What was it about The Hunting Party that made it stand out
00:13and that you wanted to be a part of it?
00:15Um, I mean, I was kind of open to anything.
00:17Manifest was so specific.
00:19It was very sci-fi, and she's this cop,
00:21and, you know, like, so many extraordinary events were happening in that show
00:25that I was like, you can't really...
00:27Like, anything else will be different.
00:30Um, so when this came up, I thought it was cool
00:32because I do love profiling.
00:34I love, like, psychology and getting into people's brains and stuff.
00:37And so this character obviously does that full-time for a job.
00:40Um, and she does it for very interesting, unique killers.
00:44Um, so I just thought that it would be fun to go down that path
00:48and, um, see what creative characters the showrunners would come up with
00:52for these serial killers, um, and dive into that, yeah.
00:56And I was going to ask, like, were you a fan of true crime
00:58before you got into doing this project?
01:01I mean, who isn't, right?
01:02The podcast, or, like, I grew up watching Criminal Minds,
01:05um, that kind of stuff.
01:07And so, yeah, you want to know why someone isn't normal.
01:11You want to know how they got there and why they're doing what they're doing
01:15just because you don't see it.
01:16And I hope, hope you don't see it.
01:19Um, so, yeah, I mean, who doesn't love a serial killer story?
01:24And I've seen the first four episodes,
01:26and, you know, it can get quite dark,
01:27so I'm very curious, was there ever any moment where you were actually,
01:30like, as you were filming, kind of, like, spooked out or, you know?
01:33The only time I was actually spooked out was episode four
01:36when I'm in the chair, um, I don't know how much you've seen,
01:40but I'm, yeah, I'm in...
01:41When he, the kid, yeah.
01:42Yeah, so I get kidnapped, and I'm in his chair being held as hostage,
01:47and they put duct tape over my mouth,
01:50and it wasn't scary necessarily, other than I couldn't breathe.
01:54But we were rolling, and so I, I had, like, a freakout.
01:58It was, because you can't yell cut, you can't yell for help,
02:02you can't really do anything, but I couldn't breathe.
02:05Um, so, yeah, I definitely had a moment there of panic,
02:09but as far as the killers go,
02:11I think the only time I was ever like,
02:13ooh, I don't want to see that is, um, episode nine.
02:19It is, it's dark, it's gross, yeah.
02:23Well, jumping off that, because I did have a question,
02:25just about the emotional aspect of filming something so dark.
02:27Like, how do you kind of protect your mental health in between filming,
02:30and just kind of not taking, you know, work home with you?
02:34Because it can get quite heavy, I imagine.
02:35Yeah, I think, we, we work such long days on set
02:39that by the time we are able to go home,
02:41you kind of just leave it.
02:43Yeah.
02:44And I don't, I don't know if it's a choice, or you just do it,
02:47but on your drive home, you're just like,
02:50I'm tired, I'm going to go have a nice bath and go to bed.
02:53So that's, that's all I'm thinking about, thankfully.
02:56And I also wanted to ask you about the physical aspects of it,
02:58because this is very physical, you're kind of like getting into fights,
03:01you're like in the, you know, in the field.
03:03So what was that like for you?
03:04Did you have to prepare more?
03:06Did you have to adjust, or was it just very seamless?
03:08Yeah, I was super out of shape going into filming,
03:11so it was definitely an adjustment.
03:14It's also really hard to go to the gym when you're doing those long days.
03:18So, oops, sorry.
03:20So, we had a tech advisor helping with all the gun stuff,
03:25because we did want to make sure that a lot of that was as correct as it could be.
03:30But as far as like running through the woods and stuff,
03:33I mean, the only embarrassing moment was,
03:35I told everyone I'm a runner, which I am,
03:39and I was like, this next shot's going to be no problem,
03:42and it was me running through the woods,
03:44and within five seconds, I've fallen on my butt and really hurt my back, so.
03:49Are you okay?
03:50I'm okay, I'm okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:51But, no.
03:53Yeah, we had help. We had a lot of help, so.
03:55Perfect.
03:56And also, you know, there's a lot of kind of twists,
03:57and you really have to stick with the show
03:59to find out all of these kind of new details about your character,
04:02and kind of what was going on with the explosion and the pit.
04:04As an actor, I'm curious, do you want to know everything beforehand,
04:07or do you not want to know because your character doesn't want to know,
04:09and you don't want to kind of color that performance or approach?
04:13Um, I kind of go back and forth.
04:17Like, there's some days where I'm so overwhelmed
04:19by what's currently happening in the script,
04:21and making sure that I have my lines down, or trying to understand it.
04:25And then there are some easier days where I'm like,
04:27I'm going to go be nosy to the showrunner now,
04:29and I want to find out what happens.
04:31And as the series went on,
04:33with the mystery kind of twisting and turning a little bit more,
04:36I did start to get a little more curious.
04:38Okay.
04:39And so, at the end of episode, I believe, three or four,
04:42you know, Bex does help get info,
04:45because I was going to ask about your first love interest.
04:48You know, she does get...
04:50Sorry.
04:52She does help get info from his phone without his knowing.
04:55So I'm very... I just wanted to talk about that relationship in general.
04:58Like, how did you build it out,
05:00and kind of what can you tease about where they're kind of going to go from here?
05:03Because it is very...
05:05Like, I ship them, but I don't know if I should.
05:08I don't know if I should, but I'm invested,
05:10so I'm very curious about that.
05:12You are the unpopular opinion on that.
05:14I am?
05:15Yeah.
05:16I mean...
05:16He killed someone.
05:18It's okay.
05:19He did a bad thing.
05:19I mean, there's so many killers on the show.
05:21It's okay.
05:22It's fine. It was one little murder.
05:24I think...
05:26You know, I'd actually known Nick kind of in passing before that,
05:30so it was...
05:31And then he nailed the audition,
05:33so going into filming with him,
05:34it was nice to have a little bit of, like, history already,
05:37even though I didn't know him too, too well.
05:40And as far as the characters go,
05:42I'm always, like, cheering for the history relationships,
05:49where it's like they've been through so much together.
05:53I think, on the other hand, though,
05:55Shane, if they do build this love story,
05:58the triangle,
05:59Shane is safe, and he's, you know, very calm, cool waters,
06:04and so I think that it could...
06:05You know, we have, like, the bad boy who murdered someone.
06:09He had a reason.
06:10We have the person who didn't murder someone.
06:12So, yeah, we'll see.
06:14And also, you know, Bex is a mother.
06:16She did adopt that girl from the case where Oliver murdered someone.
06:20But I'm curious, how would you say motherhood has helped her in her career?
06:23And kind of...
06:24I'm very curious about that aspect of the character.
06:27Yeah, I was nervous about that part going in,
06:28because I don't have kids of my own,
06:31and then also it's not just, like, a three-year-old.
06:33It's a full-grown woman.
06:37And so I was like, okay, how do I do this?
06:39And then there's some solace in the fact that she didn't raise her.
06:43There probably is a little bit of...
06:46unknowing of how to raise an already-grown human.
06:51But I think, at the end of the day,
06:52it makes Bex more empathetic,
06:55because, one, she went through what she went through when she was 15
06:58with her best friend,
07:00and then seeing it happen to this girl that she's now adopted, Samantha,
07:04I think every time she goes into something,
07:06it's like, what if this happened to her?
07:09And so there's a lot of empathy,
07:11and there's a lot of, yeah, trying to understand people,
07:14because it does, has, and will affect her daily life.
07:19And I'm also curious, obviously,
07:20we're finding certain things out as each episode goes along,
07:23but I'm sure there's going to be a lot more.
07:24What can you kind of tease about where the mystery is going to go?
07:27Do we get all our questions answered by the end of the season?
07:29No, of course not.
07:30Or are there a lot of things we're not going to see coming out?
07:32No, because then we wouldn't get a second season.
07:34Yeah, no, there's definitely more question marks,
07:36but it kind of ties it up in a way that you're like,
07:40I see where this is going to go now,
07:43and it's really exciting.
07:45I think that season two is going to be even better in a lot of ways.
07:48Fingers crossed that we're going to get it very soon.
07:51But I have to also ask, because I'm a big fan of you from Tracker,
07:55so before the hunting party,
07:56you made a brief, very memorable appearance on Tracker.
07:58Is there hope that you will return as Justin Hartley's on-screen sister?
08:02I know you're busy with this, but...
08:03I mean, I hope so.
08:04Yeah, I had so much fun on that show, and Justin's great.
08:07It's such a lovely, warm set,
08:10and he does such a good job of making it that way,
08:13and so I'd love to go back.
08:16Justin's a friend, and it's nice to play with your friends,
08:19and I love the show, so we'll see.
08:22Also, I'm very curious, going back to the hunting party,
08:25what were the biggest challenges of filming a show like this?
08:30Not sleeping.
08:33Yeah, I talk a lot.
08:35I talk a lot in this show,
08:37and so as good as my memory can be,
08:41when you're working that much,
08:43and you're trying to also act good,
08:48yeah, honestly, I underestimated the amount of profiling she actually does.
08:54So, yeah.
08:55And I'm also curious, you're a smaller cast,
08:58because I feel like there are some shows where there's this big ensemble cast,
09:01but here, I think it lends itself to the fact that there's like five of you,
09:05so how did you kind of build up that relationship off-screen,
09:09and build that kind of,
09:11because you have different bonds with different people on the show,
09:14how did you kind of bond off-screen,
09:16especially because there's such a small group of people?
09:19Yeah.
09:21You know, I'm from Vancouver,
09:23and so I kind of went into the show being like,
09:25oh no, I have to be the one to bring everyone together
09:28and show them Vancouver,
09:30and thankfully everyone in the cast is very similar
09:34in the sense of taking their space or wanting to connect,
09:38and so we all did our own thing,
09:40and then we'd be like, we miss each other,
09:42and then we'd all have dinner,
09:43or we'd all, you know, go play a game,
09:45or whatever it was,
09:47and on set too,
09:50especially me, Josh, and Patrick,
09:52we just spent so much time together,
09:54and Josh and Patrick are such phenomenal human beings
09:57that it really felt like I'd known them for so, so long,
10:00and then obviously Sarah and Nick are great as well,
10:04but I didn't get to work with them quite as much,
10:07but everyone had each other's backs,
10:09which I, it's hard to get that sometimes,
10:13so it was nice.
10:14And also you're number one on, you know, the call sheet,
10:18and this is not your first leading role,
10:19but I'm very curious kind of how do you approach it,
10:21how do you, like, is there a responsibility
10:23that you feel kind of leading the show?
10:25Did you learn anything from your time on Manifest
10:27kind of being the lead that you took?
10:29Yeah, Josh taught me a lot, actually,
10:32because I went into Manifest still pretty green
10:34as far as leading goes,
10:36and so I watched a lot of how he handled things
10:38and conflict and all that stuff,
10:40and he just has such a grace about him
10:42and this pleasant energy that he doesn't have conflict,
10:45and so I was like, okay,
10:47even on, like, a really long day
10:49where nothing's going right,
10:50he still handles it like that.
10:51Okay, good.
10:52And so then going into this show,
10:55it didn't really feel like I had to do anything
10:57because everyone was just great,
11:00but I think the only thing that, like, I really care about
11:04is making sure that everyone on set feels good
11:07because I've had sets where I don't feel good
11:09or I don't feel like people want to connect with me
11:12and stuff like that,
11:13and I just don't want anyone coming on
11:15to the hunting party to feel that way,
11:17and so I guess just that.
11:20And also Manifest, obviously, was such a big show,
11:22and I feel like there's still all these fans
11:24kind of supporting you from project to project,
11:26so what's that been like,
11:27kind of getting to have this fan base
11:29that goes with you,
11:30and what has been their reception to this show
11:32because it's a little different from Manifest
11:34but still really good?
11:36The fan base is so loyal,
11:37and they feel like family in their own way to us now,
11:41but I feel just, like, warm and fuzzy
11:45the fact that they love Manifest
11:47and then they're cheering for this show to do well
11:49too, it just makes me feel like,
11:51I don't know, I don't know who some of you guys are,
11:53I don't know where in the world you are,
11:55but the fact that you spend this much time
11:57supporting and pumping it up,
11:59it's so meaningful and lovely.
12:01Thank you so much,
12:02and it was such a pleasure to speak with you.
12:04Nice to speak to you too.
Recommended
1:35
2:00
1:00
1:00
1:07