Nichelle Nichols (Nana) and Dana Davis (Monica Dawson) sat down last week and had conference call with various media and press. Here are a few highlights from this Q and A session.
Q: Many of the characters on Heroes, they accept their powers begrudgingly, like they’re cursed instead of blessed. Monica seems to enjoy her powers so far. I think that’s kind of refreshing. What do you think about that? And also, if you were in a position like that in your real life, are you the type of person who would view it as a blessing or as a curse?
NN: I don’t think anything God given is a curse. It’s a matter of how we, but some things that happen to us that we, powers if you have, it’s startling when you discover you have it and it’s a little disconcerting when you realize that you’re different from other people or other people view you as differently. But I think that Monica did a wonderful job in being amazed by hers...
DD: Yea absolutely. I think in the beginning the producer sat down with me and they said just what you said, they said Dana, all the heroes, you know, most of the heroes on the show are burdened by their powers and we want to bring, you know, back the excitement of like when Masi in the beginning was so, you know, yatta! and so excited about his powers they wanted to bring that back ... a little bit with Monica and so it is refreshing, it’s fun because I’ve done a lot of drama in my career and I’ve played a lot of burdened sad characters, so it’s, it’s fun for me to play Monica.
Q: Heroes has a rather interesting way of working in that they’re shooting sometimes three episodes at once, meaning that you can work with three different directors in one day. How is that for you?
DD: When I first came into the show, I started on Episode 4 on like a Tuesday. And then Wednesday I was on Episode 5. Thursday I was back on Episode 4. It was crazy. I’d never done that before and really it’s very, very stressful for the actor. But you kind of get used to it. Like right now we’re on Episode 11 and I’ve gotten used to it. At first it was really hard, but now I kind of enjoy it. It’s fun. There’s never a dull moment on the set.
NN: I can attest to that. And I’m really delighted to hear that Dana did have that difficulty because when I first came in and we were shooting one scene. And then it’s four months earlier and I’m not sure what took place and where. And I’m one, you know - I immediately ask questions. And I think they thought I knew more than I did about the series, and I should be adjusting. But it was very stressful. I learned to adjust - make that adjustment and now it’s fun.
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