TV Interview!

Interview with Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf of “Leverage: Redemption” on IMDb TV by Suzanne 9/30/21

These are two of my favorite actors, so it was great to speak with them again. I love the new series, and these second 8 episodes were ever better than the first two, in my opinion. This was a really fun chat, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Suzanne:   How you guys doing?

Christian:   Hi, how you doing?

Beth:   Hi, Suzanne.

Suzanne:   I love your show. I watched it since the beginning, and it’s great to see you guys back.

Beth:   Thank you.

Suzanne:   Your characters grew closer this season; you’re like brother and sister Do you think this is partly because of Hardison being out of the picture?

Christian:   That’s very good. We were talking about this earlier. I think, well, you have to remember that during the time that we were away, they were still working together. So, that’s kind of a fun dynamic that we had to come up with, you know, how close are we? How much do we know? All that kind of stuff. But you’re absolutely 100% correct. Hardison being away with the other teams, it leaves two totally different voids in our life. It’s the love of her life, and so he’s gone, and she’s worried about it. Then for me, that was my best friend. That’s my brother, but I like to punch him, and he punches me, and I have nobody to punch, you know what I mean? So, it’s like there’s a hole that he left there. So, I think they do. I think they look for him in each other. I think it’s brought them closer together, because he’s not there as much as he needs to be or wants to be.

Beth:   I think when we’re on the go, you know, we’ve been working together, like he said, and running these international teams. When we find them again, Parker has learned to throw a pretty good punch, and she obviously has been getting some training from Eliot. Those sorts of moments were really fun.

I think that one of the fun parts about this dynamic, for me, is our ability as characters to compartmentalize. So, when we’re in a moment together that’s super intense, we are laser focused, and there’s no gaggy stuff, but when it’s more of that familial moment, at HQ or over comms or something like that, there’s room for this other stuff to come in. I do really love that about our dynamic. Like I always say, Eliot has a shield up around all of us, and that’s like him protecting us, but there’re still moments where we’re gonna make jokes and make fun of each other, because we can, but when push comes to shove, it’s almost like boom again when we’re right back there.

Suzanne:   I love your guitars.

Christian:   Oh, thank you.

Suzanne:   You know who else has like a zillion guitars behind them on Zoom? Oh, Jeff Daniels.

Beth:   Oh, amazing!

Suzanne:   Yeah, I saw him at the TCA panel, and he had, I don’t know, like fifty guitars or something on the wall behind him.

Christian:   [unintelligible]

Suzanne:   Yeah. I don’t know if he’s in a band like you. I think he just plays for fun. I’m not really sure.

Christian:   [unintelligible] I’m sure there’s a picture of that.

Suzanne:   Yeah. So, with a normal brother and sister relationship, Eliot would probably be protective of Parker. I know you guys have each other’s backs, but is it fair to say that even though they love each other, he’s probably a little afraid of her?

Christian:   Well, I think he’s afraid to be inside her head. I think he just doesn’t understand anything that’s going on in there. When Eliott’s had everything set on fire, the world is burning, and in her head, there’s a bunch of balls bouncing around, and it’s dangerous, and you got to keep ducking. I think he’s very scared to be in her head.

Beth:   Stay out of this realm completely, Christian. Do not enter! [laughs]

Christian:   Which is pretty fun for me, because we didn’t play it right off the bat, and I noticed that we weren’t playing that, how he got so annoyed with her. And I noticed that it was because Hardison was there. You know what I mean? So, this whole thing, and he wasn’t as annoyed with her, but when Hardison left, then I started playing it more annoyed, because I’m like, “Look, I gotta be upset about something,” and so she gives me so much ammunition it’s ridiculous. So, that’s fun to play off of.

Suzanne:   Yeah, and Beth, both of your characters do a lot of physical things on the show. Do either of you do your own stunts, or is there some people taking your place?

Beth:   I mean, Christian doesn’t do his stunts. I do all of mine. [laughs] Oh my god, no, Christian does everything, I will I have to say that, but I just try to glean any bits of his genius on stunts and try to incorporate that, and he’s very, very capable and able. I know when to step back and let my stunt people come in and do the real hard work on that stuff. Christian has been a really great mentor to me on all of that and said, “You don’t need to do this part. Have somebody else do it,” because he also knows, especially when I was directing or when I have a heavy day of some other stuff, he’s like, “You save yourself, and you don’t need to do this part. You let the professionals come in to do it.” But, you know, trying to stand next to him, we’re always all like, “Whoa, this is incredible,” because even from a director’s standpoint in “The Bucket Job,” I know I can trust that his intuition on these fights and everything is going to be so much better than anything I could probably come up with to tell him, because he’s got all this experience, and it’s amazing.

Christian:   Yeah, and you know, the thing is that my stuff is a dance. People don’t understand that, because it looks violent on screen, but really what I’m doing is a dance. It’s a salsa dance, you know, it’s literally I’m just dancing with the other person. Her stuff is a lot harder than mine. People don’t get that she’s hanging office stuff, and she has to hang there sometimes for a long time, and then, she has to jump to the other one, or she has to hang there for a while until they get it all done, and then, you’re tired. Then, you got to jump down and jump up and do a flip. Her stuff is way harder than my stuff. Most of my stuff is literally a choreographed dance. Hers is actually really physical, and the problem that we run into, as we’re in the middle of a pandemic, is in New Orleans, [there are] no gyms and nothing but good food that’s usually fried. So, it’s very tough. This this season was very tough.

Beth:   A lot of salt.

Christian:   Yeah, a lot of salt.

Suzanne:   Sugar, too, right?

Beth:   Yeah.

Christian:   [unintelligible] and not get hurt. Luckily, just just bumps and bruises for both of us, but it was tough. You had to be very disciplined and, you know, do your push ups in your home, because you couldn’t go to the gym, and it takes takes a toll on your body, for both of us.

Suzanne:   Well, you guys both look great on the screen, so it doesn’t show if you put on a few extra pounds with that great New Orleans gumbo. So, I was going to ask you if you work out a lot to keep in good shape. So, obviously, you do Christian; you were talking about it. What about you, Beth?

Beth:   Yeah, absolutely. I mean, with all the wire work and the harness work, you have to keep your core super strong to protect your back and your neck and everything else. So, I work out as much as I possibly can. I think stamina-wise, the show moves really fast. It’s a really, really tough show, because it’s big, and emotionally and physically you have to be rested and in shape to kind of hang with these hours and keep it fresh and and stay for stamina purposes.

Then, we have the humidity and the heat in New Orleans, which is its own character, and so electrolytes became very important for me. And I had to cut back on some caffeine, and I’m used to drinking a lot of coffee, and I had to kind of tweak. That’s kind of the fun about going on location is you get a new set of rules, and you’re like, “Okay, how do I do this here?” but it was absolutely challenging. I mean, I would agree with Christian, it’s a very physical show for us, and it’s really fun, but it is challenging at times.

Suzanne:   I was talking to Aleyse earlier, and she’s definitely enjoying doing some of your kind of thing, hanging from the wires.

Beth:   Oh, yeah.

Suzanne:   Falling and all that stuff.

Beth:   Yeah.

Christian:   It’s a lot of fun.

Suzanne:   Going back, you were talked about directing; I read that you directed two episodes. What can you tell us about that?

Beth:   Yeah, absolutely. I had the time of my life working with the whole team and LeVar Burton in “The Bucket Job.” I think it’s a classic Leverage episode. I loved it so much. [There’s] a lot of emotional growth for Eliot and kind of windows into the things that he’s been going through emotionally, psychologically that we haven’t seen before. So, that was a lot of fun.

Then, logistically, “The Great Train [Job]” episode was one of the toughest, I think, to sort of plan, because we had an episode written that takes place on a moving train, but we didn’t actually have that as a location. So, we were finding two trains, but the trains couldn’t move, and we had to build some on the stage, and it was while shooting the finale as Parker, so it was a lot to juggle. I’m really really proud of how they both came out. Everybody brought their A game. They always do, but it was really an incredible process for me, because I got to work with so many people that I – as an actor, I don’t get to work with the production designer in the same way you do as a director, so all of those decisions and collaborations were so exciting and really, really fun.

Suzanne:   All right, and they tell me I have just a little bit of time left. Christian, your character goes through the wringer emotionally this part of the season with maybe meeting some of your family, and I don’t want to give spoilers away and what happens with a relationship, but you have all the usual hitting and kicking and punching and all that kind of stuff. What was it like for you?

Christian:   It was an emotional time for me, to be honest with you. I lost my father in December to COVID right in the middle of shooting and then had to come back and do the last walk off scene for Beth’s episode, because we’d already shot the episode, but then we still needed that pickup, that beautiful shot down Bourbon Street. Couldn’t have asked for a better situation. So, there’s a lot of things I was going through too at the same time, and I really loved that. I’d like to dedicate her episode to my dad, and just that walkway is such a beautiful shot. And I needed my friends around me at the time, and I couldn’t have asked for [better] ones in my life, which were the people that I was working with. So, it’s so good.

Then, to have Eliot in a relationship, it’s like it was something new, because he’s never done that. I mean, he’s lied to people; he’s hit on people, but he’s never really had let’s say, a quote unquote girlfriend type thing. And I’ve talked to Beth about about this. I needed him to be broken at the end of the season, because I’ve got to go somewhere with my character, and I don’t like him to be all fixed up.

So, with Beth directing, the emotion that came out with me and the beautiful LeVar Burton, and then the relationship troubles that he has, I feel like at the end of the season, it really pays off for me.

So, I’m excited. I’m excited people to watch it. We all play better characters when we’re a little bit broken. She doesn’t have Hardison, and I’m broken, so we end up broken, almost always end up broken, at the end of the season, which is fun. We’ve got somewhere to go now.

Suzanne:   Yes. Well, I hope there’s another season; I really enjoyed the episodes, and I would stay. I would love to stay and talk another ten minutes with you, but they tell me I have to go. So, thanks so much again.

Beth:   Yeah, until meet again.

Suzanne:   Thank you. I’ll see you on Instagram. Bye

Here’s the video!

Interview Transcribed by Jamie of http://www.scifivision.com

MORE INFO:

Please visit our Leverage Page!

Preview

In this new iteration, and new world, the Leverage crew have watched as the rich and powerful continue to take what they want without consequence. Grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), thief Parker (Beth Riesgraf), hitter Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), and hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) have watched the world change over the last eight years. Since their last job, it’s become easier–and sometimes legal–for the rich to become richer and the powerful to squash anyone who gets in their way.  To address the changes in the world around them, the team finds new blood in Harry Wilson (Noah Wyle), a corporate lawyer who is looking for redemption after realizing he’d been sitting on the wrong side of the table for his entire career, and Breanna Casey (Aleyse Shannon), Hardison’s foster sister who has a knack for computers, robotics, and getting into trouble.

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

Back to the Primetime Articles and Interviews Page

TV Interview!

Interview with Gina Bellman (Sophie) and Aleyse Shannon (Brenna) of “Leverage: Redemption” on IMDb TV by Suzanne 9/30/21

It was nice to chat with these two women because I had never chatted with Gina before, when she was on the older version of the show, and Aleyse is brand new to the show.  Gina’s character, Sophie, is the new leader of the group, and has a lot to deal with this year, since her husband’s death. Breanna (Aleyse’s character) is a breath of fresh air that the show needs. It’s great to have some “young blood,” and to fill in for Hardison, since his portrayer, Aldis Hodge, couldn’t be in the whole show due to other commitments.

Suzanne:   How are you guys doing today?

Gina:   Oh, good. Thank you. I wish I was [unintelligible] right now.

Suzanne:   You wish you were where?

Gina:   With that palm tree and the ocean.

Suzanne:   I wish I was too. I’m in Arkansas.

Aleyse:   Close very close.

Suzanne:   So, we heard today about the UK picking up your show in late October. So, how do you guys feel about that?

Gina:   I’m so excited. I feel like I’ve been waiting ages. It’s been so frustrating sitting here in London and hearing these little plaintive messages like, “When are we getting the show? When are we getting the show?” and not being able to give an answer. So, to be able to say it’s coming on October 22nd, all sixteen episodes, is just really, really thrilling for all of us.

Suzanne:   So, they didn’t get the first eight episodes either.

Gina:   No, [not] here in the UK.

Suzanne:   Great. They probably are big fan of yours, being in the UK, and that’s probably why, one of the reasons they liked the show. What do you think, Aleyse?

Aleyse:   Oh, I mean, it’s great. This show is is a labor of just love, and as many people as possible that can get wrapped up in that love, the better. I hope it’s received the same way; I hope it just brings joy the same way that it seems to have brought joy here domestically.

Suzanne:   Right. And Aleyse, you’re new to the show. Can you tell me about getting this job and the process you went through?

Aleyse:   Yeah, I worked at Starbucks and was messing up people’s Frappuccino’s. I got an audition. I quit Starbucks saying that I already booked it, and then I booked it, but I did my audition with Beth over Zoom in my mom’s house and kind of didn’t know what I was in for. I got here, and it’s the best thing that’s happened to me, artistically speaking. It’s a dream show that we’re working on.

Suzanne:   What was your first day like?

Aleyse:   My first day I get an email saying there’s a hurricane coming, actually, now there’re two. So, there’s all this anticipation and build up. I’m like, “Do I know these lines, or do I think I know these lines?” Hurricane comes, you sit down for another seven days, you’re like, “Oh my gosh, all my adrenaline’s gone,” and it kicks back in. But it was good first day. A lot of the players were in, [I’m] sitting there rattling off a monologue going, “Oh my gosh, that is Aldis Hodge, Beth Riesgraf, Christian Kane, Noah Wyle, and Gina Bellman, wow.” It was intimidating, but I got through it and was met with so much love, so great first day.

Suzanne:   I never thought of that… filming in New Orleans, of course you’d have to contend with things like hurricanes.

Gina, how was it welcoming new characters into the show?

Gina:   It was great. I think one of the things about continuing with an existing show is it’s got to have new elements. It’s got to feel fresh; it’s got to have like new dynamics. You don’t want to ever feel that you’re standing still or looking over your shoulder. You need to be looking to the future. And when I watch a show, I love to discover the characters through the other characters’ eyes, so having their lens on us makes our characters – you know, it sort of informs the audience of who we are, so it’s also really helpful as a device.

Then, we get to meet these lovely new members of our family and develop friendship over nine months, and we’ve all become close.

It’s an interesting thing acting with people, because you’re in a vacuum; you become very, very close, but you’ve become very close in a vacuum. I’ve known so many of these people for many, many years, but they don’t know my friends. I don’t know their friends. So, you have this very intense kind of love for one another, but it’s quite unique. It’s hard, I think, for other people to understand how you can feel that strongly for people that you work [with] in this bubble. Yeah, it was lovely, welcoming both of these [unintelligible].

Suzanne:   And even more of a bubble now.

Gina:   Yeah.

Suzanne:   Well, one thing that’s nice about Dean is he seems to repurpose his actors in the different shows that he’s [done]. I think Christian’s been in all of his shows.

Gina:   Yeah, I mean, Dean’s best friend is our cameraman and has been from the pilot episode. So, that’s just like one example of how these are real collaborations and personal friendships, which is the dream really, I think, for everyone, isn’t it?

Suzanne:   Yeah, it shows his loyalty to his friends as well.

So, with Nathan gone from the show, is it fair to say that he has been replaced by Sophie with the main team and by Hardison, globally, now that there’s a global aspect?

Gina:   Yeah, we don’t go into too much detail about the kind of international operations, but yeah, that’s the device. I mean, obviously, we all know that Aldis is an incredible actor who’s very much in demand. You know, we take what we can get, but we didn’t really focus on so much what the other international teams were doing. I think it’s totally fair to say that Sophie’s put into a leadership role, but what I loved about the way it was written and the way it was developed was that she doesn’t just arrive and take that role. She’s waiting for it to be given. Everybody gives it to her; everybody gives her permission, a little bit more permission. That’s part of her journey of recovering from her loss and her grief. They know her so well that they know that they have to give her a purpose; they have to help her on on her way. Then, I think, as the season develops, and going into these final eight, she kind of sees light at the end of the tunnel, and she’s on her path, and she sees her destiny.

Suzanne:   I think that the great thing about this show is the you all get to play multiple characters. So, it’s more than just like playing one show. You’re on multiple shows in a way.

Aleyse:   Oh, yeah, I mean, you get a script, and there’s just so much opportunity all over it to sort of do something that’s just on your mind, or maybe you’ve seen a show, and you’re like, “Oh, wow, that must be a really cool set to be on,” [and] all of a sudden you have a medieval moment that you’re stepping into; it’s great. I mean, imagination, there’re no bounds bringing ideas; you’re never really shut down. Everybody’s like, “We’ll try it. Let’s see.” Yeah, it’s like 100 different show.

Suzanne:   Well, that segues into my other question, which is do they give you any leeway into changing the dialogue at all? Are they open to suggestions and changes about your character? Sounds like they are.

Gina:   Yeah, I mean, we riff in like little, tiny ways, and Aldis and Aleyse are the prince and princess of that, of just doing spontaneous little riffs. But I like to kind of really – I’m a very kind of text focused actor. So, I like to rework scenes and try and make them better and reorder things. Also, we like to bring in little physical like improv that will just elevate a scene, make it feel more, you know, present sometimes. You just bring in a little bit of business, and then you’ve got a reason why you’re all sitting around that table. You’ve got a reason why you’re all in that room, and we’re all really good at that, and they’re very open to it.

Suzanne:   And Aleyse, your character learns a lot. This half of the season she ends up being more than just the the girl at the keyboard. What was the most challenging physical thing that you did this half of the season?

Aleyse:   Oh, I want to say maybe being on ropes dropping through a ceiling. That was kind of hard; it’s because we’re like [at] a dead hang, and it’s through a hole in the ceiling. So, you have to climb on a ladder. But honestly, I think the thing that was most taxing on me is falling like that, but it’s always my choice to fall. I don’t think that the falls were really written in there for me, maybe one, but, yeah, that just becomes challenging, because you’re trying to keep it fresh, and you’re trying to sell the fall, and that would be my thing.

Suzanne:   Okay, well, they told me that’s my last question. I really appreciate talk me guys. I’ve talked to all of you now except for Noah, [but] the original Leverage, I got to interview everyone except for Gina. So, I collect them all.

Gina:   Thank you. Thanks, Suzanne.

Suzanne:   Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the rest of the day and don’t have too much stress sitting there for hours.

Gina:   Not at all, it’s fun.

Aleyse:   Bye.

Suzanne:   Thank you. Bye bye.

Here’s the video!

Interview Transcribed by Jamie of http://www.scifivision.com

MORE INFO:

Please visit our Leverage Page!

Preview

In this new iteration, and new world, the Leverage crew have watched as the rich and powerful continue to take what they want without consequence. Grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), thief Parker (Beth Riesgraf), hitter Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), and hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) have watched the world change over the last eight years. Since their last job, it’s become easier–and sometimes legal–for the rich to become richer and the powerful to squash anyone who gets in their way.  To address the changes in the world around them, the team finds new blood in Harry Wilson (Noah Wyle), a corporate lawyer who is looking for redemption after realizing he’d been sitting on the wrong side of the table for his entire career, and Breanna Casey (Aleyse Shannon), Hardison’s foster sister who has a knack for computers, robotics, and getting into trouble.

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

Back to the Primetime Articles and Interviews Page