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By Suzanne

Interview with Tony Curran and Jaime Murray of "Defiance" on Syfy 5/1/13

SYFY CONFERENCE CALL - DEFIANCE

Moderator: Brenda Lowry
May 1, 2013
3:30 pm CT

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to theSyfy conference call for Defiance. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Wednesday, May the 1st 2013. I would now like to turn the conference over to Brenda Lowry. Please go ahead.

Brenda Lowry: Thank you. Hi everyone. Thanks so much for joining us on our call today with Tony Curran and Jaime Murray - two of the starts of Defiance who portray Datak Tarr and Stahma Tarr - members of an alien race called the Castithans.

Hi guys, thanks so much for doing this call today. We’re really excited.

Jaime Murray: Hi. Thanks for having us.

Tony Curran: Thank you. Hi.

Brenda Lowry: And in case anybody doesn’t know by now, Defiance airs Monday nights at 9:00 PM onSyfy. So I think without further ado, let’s kick off the call.

Operator: Our first question comes from the line of Jamie Ruby with scifivision.com. Please go ahead.

Jamie Ruby: So can you talk about - especially in this next episode coming up, we’re learning more and more that Stahma seems to be the one in charge of the whole council thing and everything. Can you guys talk just kind of in the general sense about how that dynamic is shifting and how we’ll continue to see more of that through the season?

Jaime Murray: Well, you know, it’s really an interesting role to me because although I’m playing this woman who I see five years in the future, really I sometimes felt like I was in a period piece because there are two things about the Castithans which are very similar to, you know, where we came from, you know, hundreds of years ago. And that is that they come from very patriarchal society. So based on gender, Stahma is quite repressed and her job would really be, you know, what historians might think well, you know, a breeder and a bleeder.

And she could have been expected to be a good mother. However this is actually complicated by the fact that Stahma and Datak come from a society with a really strict cloth system and that they have very strict cost. And Datak would almost have been an untouchable. He would have been on the very lowest end of that kind of cloth system. And Stahma would have been at the very top almost like aristocracy or royalty.

So they would never on their own planet have been together. But when, you know, it’s a whole new world that they’re on now and in many ways, the qualities that Datak had to employ to survive back on Caspi made him very powerful and strong in the new world of Defiance because, you know, he’s - and she’s now with this very powerful man.

But there’s this interesting dynamic in their relationship and it’s almost like there’s an interesting power struggle because she’s more highly educated than him and she’s - I mean they’re both intelligent but she has, you know, she’s probably been to more schools than him and maybe seen at the lumber game where he’s very shroud and sharp and he has lived on his instincts all his life.

And so together they’re an awesome combination but because of the fact that she’s a woman, she can’t really - she can’t tell him what to do - not outright. So she has to be very cunning and shroud and go sideways about how she communicates ideas to him and suggests, you know, ways of dealing with situations to him and I think that he is sometimes at the whim of his emotions more than Stahma. Stahma is very controlled and so sometimes she’s often counseling him to be more patient, to take more time, think of the long term and try to do it without injuring his pride.

Tony Curran: Yes, I think as you see - as an interesting question - as you see the season progress and each episode unfolding, as Jaime says, you know, you see so many interesting dynamics with a lot of the characters but one of, you know, they’re all compelling but one of the one’s we thinks’ quite interesting is the fact of Jamie as of Stahma and Datak coming from another planet but also coming from very different ends of the spectrum within a very sort of social sort of society, culturally very different.

And I think that - I think Datak - I think they’re both - they’re trying to reinvent themselves basically which they have been doing like Stahma would have had - wouldn’t have had as much power like she has now the way she’s able to will it in her very subtle manner what she has to do with Datak and thinking, you know, giving him the feeling that, you know, he’s holding all the cards or he’s got the ideas when actually, you know, she doesn’t want to upset him because he gives such a volatile character.

But back on their own planet she was obviously - as Jaime said - it’s a very clear patriarchal society. She would not be able to wield her cunning sort of ways as she’s doing in Defiance. And then Datak and his sort of journey as well - I think he’s beginning to, you know, become a little wiser and Stahma’s almost unconsciously or she wants it to be unconsciously skewing Datak in the sense of no honey, don’t react too quickly because, you know, you have to keep your volatility and your temperament in check because when you behave like that, it doesn’t do you any good. It doesn’t do your family any good.

So I think that as the season progresses and hopefully, you know, we will cross for next season. You’ll see that Datak becomes a little - he wizens up to Stahma’s sort of cunning approach to things because as, you know, he’s a bit of a blunt instrument and she’s much more of a refined tool if you like. And both of them together are obviously – they are, you know, quite a formidable couple.

Jaime Murray: So one thing that I thought was interesting for me as an actor is I realized that we all wear masks and sometimes there’s an act where you kind of work out which mask your character is wearing when. And sometimes, you know, you’ll start as an actor - you’ll have a relationship that you can show where your character’s not wearing that mask. And as Stahma she’s wearing the mask all the time and she wears the mask even with Datak and it’s not that she doesn’t love him and obviously she does.

But it was interesting for me - as the season progressed, I felt as though there were times when the mask slipped and that was very interesting for me. Not completely - I’m hoping that it will next season though.

Tony Curran: No, that’s an interesting point because it’s sort of - and as Jaime said, you know, it’s a very human thing because it’s something that we - because to cast the fans in the show, me and Jaime’s characters Jesse who plays Alak. They started shooting and we had not actually even, you know, we were supposed to start shooting but we hadn’t actually completed, you know, finished on our makeup and how we will look. And I think that was an important thing about playing the aliens.

Yes, so aliens, different languages. We look different. We sound different. But we wanted it to put people to be able to see the actors, to see your eyes, to see your emotions. And I think that’s an important fact of playing them and the way we’re designed and the way we look that you can relate to them. They are aliens but they have many, many, many traits that are very similar, especially the, you know, the patriarchal, matriarchal society within especially what it’s like, you know, in Asia cultures and Saudi Arabia where, you know, women are still looked down upon in many, many cultures which is, you know, which is completely wrong.

But within - it’s the similar similarities within outcasts in society and I think that’s what makes the women in Defiance so very, very powerful and very relatable I think to young women or any women out there because of the way they approach the characters. And I think that’s very compelling of them for people to watch, you know.

Jamie Ruby: Well thank you very much.

Tony Curran: Oh sure. Sorry, I thought I lost you there.

Operator: And now our next question comes from the line of Steve Eramo from Scifi & TV Talk. Please go ahead.

Steve Eramo: Before I begin, I have to tell you I’m thoroughly enjoying your work on the show so far. You guys have created a couple of really intriguing and rather creepy characters and I’m really looking forward to see where they take them this season.

Tony Curran: Thank you.

Jaime Murray: We’re going for creepy.

Tony Curran: If you have nothing to do with day talk, it’s all Stahma. I would trade, you know, I was a shy kid just going about my work, you know.

Steve Eramo: My first question for both of you - I wanted to find out if you could tell us a little bit about maybe what initially attracted you to your respective roles and also maybe what are some of the initial acting challenges you both found stepping into these executive shoes.

Tony Curran: It’s a good question and the first thing that attracted me to well reading the script, there was the size and scale of it all and how challenging this would be and also that the, you know, playing an alien and what that would entail I think for me was just sort of - it was going to be a challenge for anybody really. But I think for me it was that to break it all down with the characters, you know. If you don’t, you can have this fantastical backdrop of these amazing sort of aliens and the statistics of backdrop.

But if you don’t have the - if you don’t have these interesting characters that people can relate to then I think for me that was the most important thing, you know. And also playing someone who’s from a difference of, you know, different planetary system and also who is actually a kid from, you know, from the gutter as well. And this interesting dynamic that I found worth having, you know, something like sense and sensibility if you will when someone from the gutter ends up marrying someone from the upper edge lawns of society.

So for me it was just interesting to play a character who had that sort of - who had that interesting dynamic with, you know, within someone who came from a different star cast system.

Jaime Murray: Yes, I agree. Definitely my relationship with Datak - the Stahma Datak relationship was very interesting to me and I felt as though it was, you know, a lot of play that we could have with that and, you know, a very complex relationship. But also, you know, just playing another specifies was just so interesting to me because, you know, this is the wonderful thing about Syfy. It just skews things, you know, it just offers access just enough that it gives you a whole new way of looking at things - a really fresh perspective on things.

And, you know, I knew instinctively but in my quest to play an alien, it would make me take a fresh look at what it means to be human because, you know, you want these - you want these things that the - have I lost you guys? You’re so quiet.

Operator: No, we’re listening intently.

Tony Curran: No. On your every word my darling, I’ll just make some noises now and again.

Jaime Murray: Keep breathing or something.

Tony Curran: Keep breathing. Don’t die on me. Don’t die on me. Okay.

Jaime Murray: You know, you have to kind of choose things which you are universal enough that the audience wants these different species to kind of make it work. They’re recognizable, you know. You don’t want to just play, you know, an animal or, you know, you want to play something which is human enough but different enough.

And so, you know, as an actor I had to kind of think how am I going to make this woman different enough that people can think she’s an alien but similar enough that they’re not completely kind of turned off by her and they can actually invest in the drama of these people and this family.

And so we kind of - we talked a lot about, you know, cultural and social things which are jarring and make you feel very uncomfortable. And you can have fun with that. Some of those things are quite harmless, you know, and others are really horrendous. So in the second episode, you know, one of the, you know, fairly harmless ones was that creepy scene in the bus somewhere, you know, and I’m very scantily caught and I’m hugging my grownup son.

I think that’s sort of super creepy. But, you know, you could go to European country or, you know, an African country and, you know, nudity is handled in a completely different way. So that was, you know, that was just kind of like an interesting kind of quirk that shows that you’re not in Kansas anymore but then obviously in the second episode as well you see something far more disturbing and grotesque when you see a man strung up and tortured before the whole town because he’s ashamed of the cast of some people.

So it was - I think there’s almost elements where you can have fun with these differences and other areas where you can make really valid important points and which aren’t too far removed which is what’s going on in, you know, other places in the world today. So I thought so there was a lot of power and there was a lot of scope in playing these characters and I was really excited about that.

Tony Curran: And you know the thing you mentioned Jaime about the moment in the bath scene. I spoke to Kevin Murphy about that. That moment where, you know, Stahma’s sort of half semi-clad and, you know, her son is wearing his denim jacket and I’m in the bath. And she gives me a look as if to say oh you be quiet. And then I give her this weird smile which is obviously - everybody’s tweeting out going what was going on there?

And apparently NBC were like well we’re not too sure about that moment and apparently they weren’t going to put it in the show. And...

Jaime Murray: They put it in the show. It was so upsetting.

Tony Curran: It was so weird and people - I said to Kev - but that’s exactly what we people should be reacting to. We’re not doing it for some sort of well let’s do something to surprise them in some sort of emotional response. We’re doing it because the towels are not from Kansas. The towels are from another planet. And there weird and wonderful and then their weirdness should definitely, you know, it should be odd but it should be hopefully people should think it’s kind of different and interesting and intriguing enough to go.

These people are - how many eccentric wonderful weird people do you look at and go wow, he’s odd or she’s odd but then you go I’d like to see them again. And I think that’s what I think the Tarr's are like. You know, as Jaime said you want to make them relatable but at the same time they have to be, you know, we have to make them, you know, a little different, yes.

Jaime Murray: Different enough that you can believe that they’re organically a different species because obviously I’m a human woman playing this alien. So I’ve got to do a few somersaults so you can see...

Tony Curran: Allegedly Mrs. Murray, you are human. I’ve heard otherwise.

Jaime Murray: Only on the outside, exactly. But you know, actually that point that you made, you know, it - didn’t necessarily, you know, you have to kind of think, you know, I didn’t want to move like a human woman, you know. And so when it kind of came to challenges, you know, there’s part of, you know, my acting technique is, you know, I focus on the other actor and I read and respond to their behavior. And then I allow my own impulses - I try not to sensor my impulses - and I allow my own impulses to come up.

That’s kind of like basically, you know, a very basic description of sometimes, you know, how I try and make it work on set. But, you know, in playing this alien, a lot of my impulses are human. Sometimes I would have an impulse and I would think oh well what is the opposite of that impulse? So for example in the pilot, you know, I knew that I had to get into this bath and, you know, I realized that there were things that I would do if I’m scantily clad as a human woman. There is a certain self consciousness that I have about my body and a certain way that I would hold myself which is very recognizably female and human.

And I thought well why would this alien species have the same hang-ups and the same and hold their body in the same way as a human female, you know. Why would this alien - why would she not necessarily stand like a cat or a serpent or ballerina, you know, kind of erect and proud, you know. You know, they’re not the same species.

So you kind of try and make as many choices which shows that they are different and I think that, you know, obviously we work with amazing makeup artists and costume designers and, you know, the lighting with the DP, what he did in the tar house lighting wise I think really elevated our scenes.

Tony Curran: And we’ve also been on the planet - it’s interesting because we still - as Jaime said - we still have sort of a trace of our own cultural and alien background physically. But the tars have also been on planet earth since 2013. It’s now, you know, 33 years later. So we have integrated it. Me and Jaime talked about it a lot with the producers direct about how we would sound when we were speaking English. And we were going to try some interesting accents. But then we decided that because it was set in America that we would, you know, have to talk about this vocal side of it.

We would try and integrate best into the society as much as possible. So we would have sounded like the American people around us. But Jaime made a wonderful way of speaking as Stahma where she tries - she’s very slowly deliberate and tries to find the words as if it’s still tricky for the Castithans to speak English but it’s, you know, they’re very deliberate about it whereas the way I sound and we thought, oh we have to sound the same and then we decided well if someone’s from Oxford in England and someone’s still from England but from the east end of London, you know, they are going to sound very different and that’s why, you know.

That’s why obviously Datak and Stahma you know, when we speak with certain vocals but...

Jaime Murray: No but Tony, Tony also you - you are integrated. You learn your - the American language from other Americans on the streets of Defiance and, you know, in the Shanty Town. Whereas I’ve learned to do that and actually I rarely leave the house. I mean you’re the only person, you know, I rarely go out. I start to in this season, you know, I start to integrate a little bit more. But up until this point, I think I really very rarely - Christie’s probably one of the first humans I’ve really spoken to.

Tony Curran: Indeed, she’s someone like Lady Diana back in the day or, you know, there’s these public engagements. Stahma wouldn’t be out on the street very much at all really so whereas, you know, I won’t say too much about it but there is - there’s many avenues of back story to go down in the coming weeks and you’ll find out some interesting things about the tars by going by, you know, by going back which they may do. I’ll put it like that. I beg you that’s enough.

Steve Eramo: Well listen. I cannot wait and again, I’m big fans of you both so again, it was an absolute pleasure speaking to you and best of luck and success with the show.

Operator: And now our next question comes from the line of Tony Tellado with Scifi Talk. Please go ahead.

Tony Tellado: Hey. I have a question about your relationship on the show and one thing I’ve noticed so far - she obviously manipulates him a little bit. Do you think it’s - for both of you - do you think he knows he’s being manipulated and do you think he’d ever do something about that?

Tony Curran: Sorry, that’s a good, good question. It’s an interesting question, aye, Jaime; because I don’t think anybody’s ever asked that question. I’ve thought about it myself. I’ve thought about it and...

Jaime Murray: It kind of depends on how they do it. And sometimes if it feels good, I’ll just go with it.

It’s like, you know, there’s sometimes moments, you know, and I would be in scenes with Tony and Tony’s like such an in the moment organic actor. And, you know, it was almost kind of - sometimes we would have these scenes and they were so charged because it was like, you know, it was almost like a love scene sometimes because it was so volatile but kind of - it didn’t kick off, you know, because I think that he kind of knew and he kind of appreciated it but it was kind of a thing that they didn’t talk about because, you know.

Tony Curran: Yes, you know, I think that it’s interesting, especially, you know, in episode one in the bath and she starts saying, you know, I have to get some changes and I’m going to kill, you know, it’s pretty intense stuff to say I’m not going to kill him but I’m going to kill his whole family. You know, it’s like I’ll tip toe, I’m going to wake up in the middle of the night and burn his house down and piss on his ass, you know.

So he’s in the bath and, you now, as Stahma does - she gently puts the idea in his head that, you know, maybe we should marry these kids off and then we could take over the mines. And I think definitely with Datak or with anybody really - if someone gives you an idea - someone gives you their opinion that just happens to be, you know, more informed or a great idea. I think that Datak - I think he admires Stahma. I think he definitely knows in the back of his mind that there is this culture class system which realistically he isn’t part of - he was never part of.

She, you know, with her husband from the past, you know, he would have been telling her what to do. But now he knows that she’s smart. He knows that. But obviously as Jaime said before, it’s the unsaid. You know, she’s not going to come out and say oh for God’s sake Datak don’t do that. Do this. She does it - Stahma does it in a very suggestive and very, you know, very manipulative cat like way. But she’s manipulating Datak for the better of the two of them of their drive to the top. She’s not manipulating him in a detrimental way - well not yet anyway.

But she’s - I think Datak you know, subconsciously he knows she’s smart and I think he likes the way she approaches him with her ideas and sometimes they would later write the episodes where they talk about being refugees and things to do with Alak. And it isn’t manipulative. It’s more, you know, you see Stahma come out of her shell and she just can’t deal with Datak. Sort of a subtle approach - if you will - from Stahma.

Sometimes Stahma just puts her foot down and says listen Datak you fucking get a grip here. Pardon my French. Get a grip here or we’re going to lose what we’ve got. So yes, I think he knows what she’s doing and I think he respects her and stuff like that. But at the same time I think Stahma has to - she still has to watch her step in many ways which is unfortunate but I think that’s what makes the two of them then sort of quite the dynamic between them quite compelling.

Jaime Murray: I think at the beginning, you know, when you first meet Datak he’s - he listens to her much more and then as the season progresses, I think maybe he does - he enjoys some success in kind of the social climbing that they’re both kind of trying to achieve even from the beginning. And I think that actually her control over him listened.

He becomes more - wouldn’t you say Tony - he becomes more confident in his abilities and he thinks obviously he doesn’t need her council quite so much.

Tony Curran: Yes but I think that’s because he’s getting these good ideas but he doesn’t actually - I think he has to realize that these good ideas are coming from not just her ideology and her philosophy about things but also it’s about calming him down and also giving him good ideas but also I think Datak’s going to change and I think Stahma’s molding him into - he’s always got the power there and the sort of the blunt instrument and the volatility there which is required in a town like Defiance. But that can get you only so far.

But I think Stahma - I think Jaime I think that Stahma’s - she’s fine tuning the attack and to someone - she’s educating them I think. I think she’s educating them.

Jaime Murray: So usually when Stahma councils Datak it’s to fulfill their long-term aspirations whereas the difference between them is Datak will have good ideas how to win something in the moment. But sometimes the repercussions of those choices are, you know, not worth that win.

Tony Curran: Yes, it’s like winning the battle but losing the war if you will.

Jaime Murray: And sometimes also he will make good decisions to win in that moment but what he’s actually winning is the satisfaction of his own ego.

Tony Curran: Yes, it’s very much about his own - he needs that fix in that moment of sort of...

Jaime Murray: It’s that narcissistic fix. She’s not a narcissist. She’s almost vampiric in her avaricious kind of materialistic social climbing aspiration but she never needs to take credit. She never needs to see it be seen as the victor and she never needs to be right whereas he needs all those things really badly. And she plays on those in order to kind of achieve her means.

But there is a real shift in power as the season goes on and they both end up in kind of territory - kind of new territory and they have to kind of find a new way of dealing with each other.

Tony Curran: I think that’s interesting that Jaime says that sort of the unsung heroin if you will - she’s the stoical and, you know, she said that she may have that egotistical say to her but as like with Datak she’s the quiet - she’s the silence of them - the stoical sort of, you know, stealth like serpent that comes through the grass and takes its prey down.

And then you turn around and she’s gone, you know. She’s so - she’s smarter. She’s probably arguably the smartest, you know, alien of person in town and God knows what she would be like if she did - if she did good things for the community which I’m sure Stahma will. But I think that she’s just a stoical character Stahma. Very quiet and I think that one day hopefully - or maybe that will never happen - that Datak and Stahma can really relate to each other in maybe a more sort of equality - yes with an equality sort of approach. I don’t know if that would happen.

Yes, you know, I think that would be interesting. But right now I think the dynamic between the two of them has got so many possibilities because there’s things in the next few episodes that show up which I obviously can’t talk about but Stahma does things that maybe Datak doesn’t know about and that, you know, if your better half - your husband or your wife start doing things that you don’t know that they’re doing and then you find out about them. You know, that can definitely stir the pot if you will.

Jaime Murray: What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

Tony Curran: Exactly.

Tony Tellado: Well from a viewer standpoint, if I were each on their bad side, I would fear her more because I mean I could see him coming from a mile away but her - I’d always be watching my back and that’s really what...

Tony Curran: I know, exactly. You’d hear a silverback coming through the jungle before you’d see a snake in the grass. Let’s put it that way. I’m watching the Twitter feed here and everything we’re saying’s coming up. It’s quite funny.

Jaime Murray: Hooray. It’s not live is it?

Tony Curran: Stahma is the silent stealthy one, probably the smartest in town. There you go. It’s all down there in the tweets darling. You can’t hide from it.

Jaime Murray: You’re so rude.

Tony Curran: It’s so rude. I thought this was between us. That’s cool.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Erin Willard with Scifi Mafia. Please go ahead.

Erin Willard: Hi, thanks so much for being on the call today. I was already a big fan of both of your work and so I’m so glad you’ve been given these such great parts in Defiance. And I got to say this subtlety that each of you bring to your parts are what I really, really enjoy about watching you to do it overall.

Tony Curran: Thank you. Jaime’s very subtle as Stahma. I’m trying to be a little more subtle.

Erin Willard: Well, you know, it’s those troubled times that you kind of make us like him that I really appreciate because, you know, it’s one thing to be kind of big and loud and mean but then every once in a while you’ll pop in something like, you know, I really kind of like this but I don’t want to...

Jaime Murray: Yes and I think that I - whether the audience sees it - but when I’m in scenes with Tony, you know, he’s like there’s a lot of hot air that comes out of Datak but there’s so much vulnerability. You know, I would be in a scene with Tony with Datak you know, and it’s confusing as an actor sometimes. And just see this little boy or this little alien.

Tony Curran: Yes, no it’s true. It’s true.

Jaime Murray: And I often, you know, there were real moments as Stahma that I just wanted to take care of him. I just wanted to save him from himself. And I loved him. I love him.

Tony Curran: Now going down that straight through as a gentleman just said who was on the phone, I think that, you know, those big characters like Datak as a lot of men who have got a volatile temper and it’s probably from their unfortunate past that they’ve had. So then Stahma’s obviously had more of a, you know, silver spoon in her mouth - if you will - upbringing. But she is definitely - I don’t think she’s as vulnerable as Datak can be. He is like a - yes, he can be like a spoiled child. Yes, that’s a good point.

Jaime Murray: So I wanted to ask...

Tony Curran: Which makes people interesting to play I guess. It makes them interesting to play, yes.

Erin Willard: And that’s kind of what I wanted to ask is what - do you have like a greatest joy about your part and maybe your biggest challenge?

Tony Curran: Yes I think what you mentioned there that I think is fun because, you know, there’s a lot of rules out there that anchors play and, you know, and I think for me playing a role that it’s, you know, when I was doing the pilot there was the rule of this oh aggressiveness - oh he’s this aggressive type alien type character. But I always - I always look to movies like him - angels with dark faces or white heat. I was always a big fan of Jimmy Cagney.

And when people like you are playing an alien and you’re watching Cagney movies, I’m like yes because - like he was a kid from the street as well. And at the end of the day he was as hard as a shell that he perceived to have. He was damaged. He was damaged goods. He had issues and the reason that he behaved the way he behaved was because of his upbringing because obviously like we all - our past shapes, our future. And definitely Datak’s past is shaping his present and his future.

But just to be all about sort of blowing all air and behaving in an aggressive manner would be very dull. I think it’s interesting to see that and you’ll see in episodes to come how Stahma you know, takes care of Datak because he is like a big kid in many ways and he is a vulnerable individual who tries to have this, you know, he is a strong character. There’s no doubt about it but at the same time like any human being - to talk about humans again. Yes, I think that he is - there are huge vulnerabilities in him.

Anyway, a lot of the characters in Defiance - they have many skeletons in the closet and they’re almost trying to separate themselves from their past and instead of facing the past and dealing with it. And I think as you see the next few episodes come up, there are some back-story coming up which will reveal things about many characters in Defiance that you don’t know about now.

So yes, I think it’s - it’s good to have a role - of course the regular character. If it’s all on the same level, it becomes, you know, not so compelling I feel.

Erin Willard: And Jaime?

Jaime Murray: Sorry. I’ve lost a sense of what the question was.

Erin Willard: Oh, okay. I was kind of asking what your biggest joy was about your part that you really get the most out of.

Tony Curran: Apart from working with me obviously.

Jaime Murray: No, no way. I really lucked out there.

Tony Curran: I thought you fell asleep there while I was talking. I thought Murray - she’s fallen asleep again. She’s buying a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes. Sorry.

Jaime Murray: The - well I mean I think, you know, I talked about, you know, the challenge for me in playing, you know, the unexpected delight in playing this alien is it forced me to look at what it means to be human. And, you know, when we’re talking and trying to look like these characters, you know, you’re constantly talking about what human beings do. So that was really fun.

But also I just feel as though there’s so much scope for this character. I feel as though and it will start happening in this season but I feel as though Stahma doesn’t really know who she is. I don’t really think she has any real idea of who she is. I think she only knows who she is in terms of other people and I think that’s going to be really exciting for it to suddenly dawn on her that she’s not on planet Casti anymore, that she’s surrounded by free and emancipated women.

And although she has power and although she is intelligent, she is so defined by the men in her life and I think it will be interesting to see it dawn on her that there might be other ways of existing in this new world.

Erin Willard: Wow. I think she’s just going to be a force in nature. I can’t wait.

Tony Curran: She’s going to become more of a force than me.

Jaime Murray: I’m an existing mix of - she’s incredibly powerful and almost mach valiant. I can’t even talk this morning.

Tony Curran: Machiavellian.

Jaime Murray: Machiavellian in the way that she behaves. But there’s - a lot of, you know, I often felt very vulnerable playing her. I felt very isolated. I felt very lonely because she doesn’t really let that mask slip with anyone. So if you’re constantly hiding behind your mask, you’re not really truly connected. And I think that she might actually kind of realize how disconnected she is and she might kind of try and be brave and connect with somebody and that might be quite of a profound feeling for her. And let’s see how that turns out.

Tony Curran: Yes, that’s interesting. If you’re held up in that sort of, you know, in that castle all the time. I mean there’s not many...

Jaime Murray: She’s a bird in a gilded cage.

Tony Curran: Yes, exactly. I mean she’s not - she can’t release people.

Jaime Murray: The way you behave in that moment - I mean there’s a raw immediacy about who he is which, you know, I bet he sleeps quite good at night whereas I bet Stahma doesn’t sleep so good.

Tony Curran: Yes.

Erin Willard: Wow. I can’t wait to see any of it. Your performances have been absolutely outstanding and I really appreciate the work. Thank you both so much for your lovely responses.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Tim Holquinn with TV Over Mind. Please go ahead.

Tim Holquinn: Hi, I’m really thrilled to get to speak to both of you for the first time today.
After Defiance I got to say “A Well Respected Man” is my new favorite episode and the bit at the end between Stahma and Nolan says so much in so few words. Simply brilliant.

My question is about Alak’s radio station that’s coming up. Kevin Murphy said his plan was to include bold earth vinyl which reminded me that when you first joined Twitter, Jaime, you used to tweet out songs by Lily Allen and Vice and dedicate those.

Jaime Murray: I’m not very technologically clever and I think I probably got on that website because of Eddie McClintock from Warehouse 13 and I need to find another way of streaming music because I love music.

Tim Holquinn: And you would dedicate like don’t hate me to Julie. So I’m wondering from both of you as actors, not your characters but if you could add any contemporary artist to Alak’s playlist just to get artists on the show under the geyser called earth vinyl. Who might that be?

Jaime Murray: Oh Tony, you go.

Tony Curran: Oh I think - it’s because old earth vinyl was - I love that he’s bringing that into it because obviously, you know, I can speak for all of us on the phone right now. That was definitely the first musical format that I remember. The first album that I bought was a Stevie Wonder album called “Hotter than July”. It’s an album with like “Master Blaster” on it and songs like that. And I’ve always been a big fan of Motown as well.

So I did well up for my boy - oh boy play some Motown. Play some, you know, some things like Stevie Wonder for instance or, you know, Diana Ross. I don’t know. Did I say that? Yes.

Jaime Murray: I can’t really imagine like Diana Ross in the most...

Tony Curran: I was going to say Diana Ross is the right thing to say.

Jaime Murray: A bit tweaked. A little bit unsettling like something like I can imagine Pearl Jam.

Tony Curran: Yes.

Jaime Murray: And I imagine like, Jeremy, like there’s kind of like some rage in all those Pearl Jam songs or, you know, or maybe something a little bit kind of quirky like the Cure, you know.

Tony Curran: Yes, that would be cool as well, yes. Adam and the Ants.

Jaime Murray: Exactly. There was some real kind of like because it’s cool. I’m left in the 80s. There’s some of those kind of 80s, early 90s song I think are quite kind of apt to have sound guard.

Tony Curran: I think Alak is going to have a fun time of suggesting things because (Jessie) for us - he’s such a Syfy aficionado and he loves his music as well that he’s having such a blast playing Alak and he’s so wonderful that he’s going to have a tall, you know, ball. He’s like I’ve got a radio station. And I don’t know if you noticed but (Jessie)’s been tweeting as Alak talking about recaps in the episodes.

If you see the tweets, you know, he’ll go so last week, what happened on Defiance. Have you seen that Jaime? Have you seen his tweets?

Jaime Murray: Yes.

Tony Curran: And he’ll basically recap the episode. It’s a little video like a little video he does.

Tim Holquinn: Like a radio station.

Tony Curran: Yes, the radio station. And it’s like, you know, show Nolan or you. And my mom doesn’t like Nolan. He doesn’t like her. And he talks about it and then it’s a little video feed which, you know, that boy’s a genius he is. He’s a genius.

Jaime Murray: You didn’t even like Alak particularly.

Tony Curran: You don’t like him?

Jaime Murray: No, you don’t.

Tony Curran: I don’t like him. I don’t. But if you’re talking about music, see the end of episode one. There’s a lovely scene between Fionnula and the train carriage. And there’s some beautiful - I’m not sure who it is but it’s like from the 20s or 30s - this old sort of speak easy music that was just added in as sort of background music. And it was the very last scene in the pilot.

Jaime Murray: Yes.

Tony Curran: Yes, it really took you into the scene. You were like oh hang on a minute. Yes, it’s very evocative and where is this taking you and what is sort of the ambiguity of the scene and what they were talking about or what they weren’t talking about was very interesting I thought and the music really brought you into that, yes.

Jaime Murray: Yes. I love the music in our show.

Tony Curran: Yes. It’s some interesting fun stuff.

Tim Holquinn: Thank you so much for that and thank you so much for your talent. I really - I treasure it.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Lisa Macklem from SpoilerTV.com. Please go ahead.

Lisa Macklem: I’m just going to join everybody in gushing about how much I love your characters.

Tony Curran: That’s so nice. I don’t think I’ve done a phone call like this before Jaime. I don’t know about you but it’s nice to see and we’re very privileged to have to speak between me and my wonderful fellow actress and my TV wife. We’re very - yes, it’s very nice to speak to everybody like this and to have everybody say nice things.

Lisa Macklem: Well I’m sure I speak for everybody in saying just how wonderfully in depth your answers are and I mean they’re just terrific. So I’m going to try and stay on that sort of same track.

So sort of along the lines of what we’ve been talking about them being from sort of different ends of the spectrum, I mean Datak has kind of had to embrace his evil because he’s had to sort of fight his way out to the streets and Stahma is, you know, it’s part of the patriarchal society that she has to operate the way that she does.

And I’m just wondering because we’ve seen - well Datak can be evil. He’s definitely not a coward. I mean he’s very brave every time that he has to fight or defend his family. But I’m just wondering if at some point he may end up putting the town first. Is he maybe going to get sucked more into the town politics at some point?

Tony Curran: Yes, it’s an interesting point actually. And some people have said to me isn’t there sort of a - Stahma has such a stoic way about her that, you know, wouldn’t it be the case one day where Stahma might get what she wants and then, you know, and then Datak is superfluous to requirements as it were. So to reverse what you said there, it may not be Datak who puts the tone first. Maybe it’s Stahma but that is yet to be seen.

But yes, to be totally honest, my first instinct of that would be I don’t know how far Datak will get without Stahma. I think he can get to a certain point but to talk about or just to mention that the bar - the house of ill repute is called the need want in Defiance. And it’s interesting between Datak and Stahma - how much do they need each other and how much do they want each other?

So I find that quite an interesting, you know, question which is basically will they always need each other and will they always desire each other because I think they desire each other but to get to where they both got to, I think they definitely needed each other.

So it’s interesting because I’ve heard some talk through the grapevine of what may happen in the future and a lot of it is in...

Jaime Murray: I’d like to talk about that Tony.

Tony Curran: Exactly. But that’s what I’m saying. I’m not going to talk about it but it’s like oh really, you think that may happen, you know. So it’s...

Jaime Murray: How do you feel about that? You don’t like it, do you?

Tony Curran: What might happen in the future?

Yes, Datak ends up dying his hair red and I just thought that was - no I was like a ginger. I can’t be a ginger. I’m already a ginger. No, I think that there are things that happen in the future that are going to be, you know, that are going to be very - it’s going to be tough for Datak and Stahma but I think that it’s a very interesting road to go down after what’s happened in season one but obviously...

Jaime Murray: But they are so much a part of each other. The kind of the two only really exist as a part of each other, you know. And so it’s very interesting who are they as individuals.

Tony Curran: Yes and I think that once you take one away from the other - if that was ever to happen physically I mean - then I think then you would maybe - as Jaime said - the last lady chatting online. You’d see maybe who Stahma really is or who she thinks she is or how does she feel about Datak. Yes, who would fail Datak, yes.

Lisa Macklem: That’s better away from the other. I wonder I think - I think - yes well I don’t know if I can.

Jaime Murray: Yes, I don’t know if I can answer. I keep on coming at an attempt to answering your question, Lisa, and I keep almost giving spoilers away. So it’s a good question because it’s obviously a question that the writers want you to ask and answer and I think that you might find the answer to your question, you know, this season.

Tony Curran: Next week, yes.

This is lovely because Kevin - he’s obviously a writer or producer or wonderfully talented but I’ve worked with directors sometimes who will come up to you before a scene and they’ll whisper something in your ear and tell me something that they haven’t told Jaime. And so I love organically - we use that world - what can Jaime be because we can do things to each other during a scene, you know, that’s not scripted that she doesn’t know it’s coming or I don’t know it’s coming and it just keeps the scene fresh.

And Kevin Murphy will come up to you in a bar, you know, if you’ve done a rehearsal and he’ll tell you something about what’s to come and you’re like seriously, you’re going to write that? And he’s like yes, yes but don’t tell anybody I told you that, you know.

So you he’ll tell me something he’s going to write about Jaime and I’ll be like seriously? Oh my God. And I’m sure he does it to Jaime as well about other characters but sometimes he’s told me some things recently and I’m like wow, that’s going to be really challenging and really embracing for our character to play that, you know, when he slips a little jam in my ear about, you know, what’s going to happen to another character, you know, which I find, you know, really exciting for the future of all of Defiance hopefully if we’re, you know, going to go into a second season.

Jaime Murray: I actually, Lisa I was thinking about your question and, you know, you were asking would Datak ever put the town before his family and if so, you know, how his family would deal with that. Is that really what...?

Tony Curran: Yes, that’s - yes.

Jaime Murray: Well I think that - I think that she would put the family first but she might get distracted at some point this season. And so Datak might be, you know, she’s still, you know, she’s still there. She’s still involved but she kind of might take her eye off the ball a bit and I think that then Datak - it’s not that he is thinking of the good of the town particularly. I can’t say it’s that noble or selfless.

Tony Curran: Yes.

Jaime Murray: A little bit more time and space whereby he reacts to his own ego and his own kind of - he might kind of, you know, act out a rash decision without kind of having her kind of sooth him and council him. And, you know, you might be interested to see where that all kind of leaves them both.

Tony Curran: Yes. I mean you can see - I think sometimes you can see distance makes the heart grow fonder but then you can also see out of sight out of mind, you know. And I was thinking that Datak might - he might be like a little boy, you know, to begin with - maybe where’s my other half? Where’s my better half? I need...

Jaime Murray: Where’s my mommy?

Tony Curran: Mommy. And then he may revert back to where he was before he met Stahma, you know. There’s that list of the calmer rat if you will whereas Stahma, you know, several of you know they go - anything happened in the future where they were, you know, not with each other. Then you would see a woman being able to - if she had the opportunity - to wield her power without the help or, you know, of a man - of an alien man because she can stand alone and that would be very interesting for her, yes.

Jaime Murray: The new strength. She might discover new ways of being whereas I think with Datak - he might revert back to old behaviors.

Tony Curran: Yes, without her by his side. Yes, definitely. I think that she - he’s trying to, you know, we’re both saying oh Datak, you know. And in very subtle ways she’s trying to improve his manners, you know, his ways. But then I think without her yes, he could definitely fall back into his old ways and I think maybe the complete opposite of that is maybe Stahma could start soaring - soaring far above him and going in a completely opposite direction because she’s like that because she’s so bloody smart.

And who doesn’t think that Stahma Tarr is quite - by the way my nephews - I’ve got to say this quickly - my nephews go from 5 to like 23 and they keep texting me Uncle T, Uncle T. Man, that Stahma bud, she’s so hot.

Lisa Macklem: My husband said that right beside me on the couch.

Jaime Murray: I hope I’m confusing a whole generation.

Tony Curran: You are messing their heads up. There is one - my mom is 79 years of age and she was lying - she was - she was a bit tired. My nephew’s five and he was talking about Jaime. And then one day my mom was like to her, would you please calm down and relax. And my mom sat down and you remember that moment when Trenna plays the endogen darku and she puts a finger on Julie Benz’s head? It was “Good Human.”

Lisa Macklem: Oh yes.

Tony Curran: So Mary’s lying down on the couch and Calin comes up to her and he puts his finger on her head and he goes good human. Good human. I mean that’s crazy. He’s watching the pilot, you know. So it’s definitely getting out there at a young age - a young age. I’ve got a couple of these stories.

Lisa Macklem: That’s great. Thank you so much.

Tony Curran: No, thank you. Thanks for your interesting question. That was very interesting indeed - fascinating. Cheers.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Suzanne Lanoue from the TV Mega Site. Please go ahead.

Suzanne Lanoue: Hi. Well my question got taken but I came up with some new ones. So I have a question for each of you.

Jaime, the last three shows I’ve seen you in, you’ve been kind of a bad girl you might call it - villainous. Why do you think you keep getting chosen for these roles?

Jaime Murray: Well I think that, you know, you play one role like that and kind of - if people kind of enjoy that, you know, then, you know, they kind of see you. And I also, you know, I look so different in this role but, you know, maybe there’s something about, you know, my physiology and, you know, my facial structure. I don’t know but what I do know is that I really enjoy playing these roles.

And, you know, they’re very complex women dealing with very complex situations and what I’ve - the way I’ve always approached these roles is even the worst person in the world kind of including Mussolini and Hitler - they didn’t think that what they were doing was wrong. They were committing the worst atrocities, you know, against humanity and they thought that they were validated and that they were doing the right thing, you know.

People do what they think that they have to do and they often do the thing they think is the only choice they have or they’re making the best of a bad situation. So what’s really interesting if an actor is looking at what might have brought that person to that place and kind of really getting to know that person, you know. And in this case it’s not.

Tony Curran: What shape, you know, what shaped their past to make them, yes.

Jaime Murray: Yes, what shaped those and brought them to making those horrendous choices or what brought them to that value system - that skewed, you know, awful value system. And, you know, I have often - maybe that’s why I keep getting these roles because I try not to judge the character as bad because you can’t play bad. If you play bad, you end up, you know, playing a cartoon or playing a characture.

So really you’ve got to be the best lawyer that you can possibly be for these characters and, you know, Lila and Dexter you know, I played her. She was a broken person and she was really looking for a connection and she’d never really truly in her life had one before. That’s why she was going to all those NA meetings. She was trying to feel emotions that she’d never felt before and then when she found Dexter, she saw his dark passenger straight away and she related to it and she felt a connection for the first time in her life.

And then when that connection was withdrawn from her, it made her go crazy. Like her wounded inner child just took over and she did some really, really awful things. What other bad characters have I played?

Suzanne Lanoue: Ringer.

Jaime Murray: Oh Ringer, yes.

Jaime Murray: I think that Olivia and Ringer - she was one of those women that really was very competitive and started competing with men in an industry which was very male dominated. And so instead of kind of rising above it, she actually kind of became the worst type of kind of aggressive mad. She took all the worst traits of all the worst men that she’d ever worked with and kind of, you know, except for what she adopted thinking that she, you know, that was the only way of her winning.

And so it was really nice when the writers then wrote the story where, you know, my character showed a softer side with Andrea Goss who played Catherine. And, you know, and it’s really nice, you know, when you’re able to show these other sides.

So in warehouse 13 with HG World, you know, I start off as, you know, the archetypal, you know, daddy and at the beginning of the season, you know, then I have this amazing arch whereby, you know, I kind of won over the team. And then in the next season I kind of - I save the team. So there’s a real chance for a redemption in that role.

And also, you know, you were given insight into what made her lose it, you know. She lost a child and, you know, I think that, you know, there was a real charm to that character because you understood that she made horrible, horrible decisions but you were given some insight into her crazy and why she might have made those choices.

So I love playing these characters because you’re never really just playing, you know, sometimes you can - as a female - you know, you can sometimes be cast in roles which are just really kind of layering or coloring, you know, the male hero’s role, you know, giving insight into his character.

Tony Curran: Yes.

Jaime Murray: You know and those roles can be fun to play but sometimes these daddy female roles are so complex.

Tony Curran: They’re more complex. They’re more interesting, yes I suppose. The less black and white if you will, right.

Suzanne Lanoue: Yes. I’ve talked to a lot of actors and it seems like actors do usually prefer playing bad guys one way or the other because they get more complicated.

Jaime Murray: Yes, yes, they do.

Tony Curran: They’re not bad. They’re just misunderstood.

Jaime Murray: Right.

Suzanne Lanoue: And Tony, I was going to ask you about your accent for the character. Did you make the choice to make it different than your own or was it somebody else’s choice or how did that work out?

Tony Curran: For Datak?

Suzanne Lanoue: Yes.

Tony Curran: Yes. Well I think at some frames some people said oh, you know, we just love your accent. Why don’t you do it in your own accent? And I was like - sorry - I was like don’t be so stupid, you know. Oh, he’s a Scottish alien. Oh that’s really clever. Yes, really smart.

No but yes, I just - I mean, you know, I’ve got quite a strong accent. There’s no doubt about that but I just think that these aliens are then, you know, they had integrated into their society. If it was set and, you know, if it was set in Glasgow then it might be different or if it was set in London but it wasn’t. It was set in, you know, it was set in America.

So yes, I quite like, you know, it’s a part - especially playing an alien - if I was to use my own accent, I think that would be very odd for me. So I think that, you know, losing one’s self in a different zone. It’s almost like - I don’t know how Jaime feels about it but it’s not like I’m actually doing an accent. It’s almost like I just would - I’d be in my room and I don’t know everybody - anybody else’s process. I’d be in my room talking to myself as Datak or trying to find a voice and some lines that we see and lines that we’re reading paragraphs of the script.

I would be reading from a book I may be reading that time and I would try to find and it’s not like leaving my accent but almost trying to find another sound that obviously isn’t, you know, my own accent but is the sound that I feel comfortable in to express what Datak can - has to, you know, what he has to express I guess. So I think I feel quite comfortable in it now.

And as more - as I watch the episodes for characters that I’ve never, you know, haven’t done scenes with or scenes that Jaime’s done. Arguably one of my favorite scenes - one of them is the scene between Christie and Jaime on the train carriage. I think that Jaime sounds amazing and the scene is amazing.

And I think as actors you constantly keep learning because I’ve watched last night’s episode and then I, you know, watch the last episodes and you’re looking in the world that was created because there’s a lot of the time when me and Jaime aren’t on the set and you’re looking at scenes, you know, that was shot when you’re not there. And you’re like okay, that’s how that part of the world looks, you know, when as before it’s only been in your mind’s eye as it were.

So yes, I think that you’re constantly learning about how you sound, how you look, how you move and how other people do the same. And it’s sort of interesting to sort of try and learn something from that I guess is always interesting.

Suzanne Lanoue: Alright, thank you very much and I hope the show goes on for years and years. I really enjoy it.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Mary Dawson with My Schmoltz Blogger. Please go ahead.

Mary Dawson: Hi Jaime and Tony. Good afternoon from a very snowy Colorado.

Jaime Murray: Oh my goodness. I can’t believe it.

Tony Curran: Are you skiing. Are you skiing (Mary)?

Jaime Murray: We’re in Los Angeles. It’s so sunny here.

Mary Dawson: It’s so cold here but anyway, you’re making it for a warm afternoon. I’ll get on with it because I know there are lots of other questions. As a political junky, I really enjoy picking out the particle undertones of Defiance and I think it’s very timely in that our American congress is about to start debating immigration reform.

And we’ve heard the Defiance mayor insist on several occasions that assimilation is the only way to really coexist whether it’s 2014 or 2040 something, it seems that aliens are always expected - whether they’re space or undocumented - to assimilate here in the United States. With such diverse culture lines drawn in Defiance, do you think assimilation is possible and should it be?

Tony Curran: I think assimilation is inevitable in many ways and especially with the unfortunate recent events with, you know, the way terrorism is sweeping across the - sweeping across the world. But I think what we’re in many ways sometimes on the verge because of certain, you know, religion’s been attached to certain terroristic attacks. I don’t mean to go into that right now but I think it’s important.

But it could be on the verge of turning really bad if humanity cannot see, you know, see a way to try and integrate societies and to have that - to have that - the American dream - the American philosophy of acceptance and of equality.

Jaime Murray: You know, I’m glad that you asked this question. You know, after last episode, you know, Tony and I were emailing the show producers and backwards and forwards because, you know, there were views that really kind of picked up on the points that you’re making. And I was like yes, you know, they’re seeing, you know, some of those, you know, really important universal themes that we wanted to make sure that we showed in a really nuanced and interesting way.

And, you know, what I would say is that societies - all societies need to evolve. And it’s when people become entrenched in certain ways, that’s when you have a problem. And it was, you know, it’s really interesting - that scene between Datak and Stahma in the bath - where Stahma comes from the upper atriums of Casti and society and you can tell that she has a little bit of distaste about, you know, what they’re doing to Eli in the town square.

And Datak who really never got anything good for his own society is the one holding on so tightly to those old traditions and those old traditions did nothing for him. And I think that was a really interesting point that the episode made which is it is generally the disenfranchised of any society that carries on doing damaging behaviors. And damaging behaviors - it doesn’t matter where they come from. They’re damaging to everybody.

And I think that, you know, you then have a child come into that scene and he’s dressed in his modern clothes and he just wants to be kind of connected and hang out with his generation. He doesn’t really see, you know, the other species particularly. You know, it’s not about him retaining who he is, you know. He wants to evolve and there’s always these kind of clashing kind of generations and cultures, you know, in that one scene.

I thought was really kind of interesting what he done. And I would just say that I think that universal desire is that human beings have is for connection. And as you look at immigration and moving forward, assimilation sounds, you know - I don’t know - it has connotations which could be really positive and sometimes, you know, really kind of get people’s back slapped.

I just think that we need to look at ways of a different cultures connecting with each other on an authentic way so that we don’t end up with disenfranchised people who want to do damage to our societies.

And whether it’s the UK and the British people or the American people - they have to be prepared to evolve too. You know, you don’t want to stay the same. Who wants to stay the same? And then other cultures, you know, that come into, you know, a new place. They have to be willing to evolve as well and together we can create something new and we can create something better maybe.

Tony Curran: Yes, definitely. I think that’s what - that’s what the more optimistic, the more hopeful and progressive side of Defiance is trying to achieve. And to get away from the secular nature of humanity that is that you stay over there because you are a white middle class person and we have black people over here. And we are Asians over here and we are whatever over there. And we’re all going to integrate with each other because we get on better separately.

I think in the sense of Defiance and in the sense of the world at large, people are traveling now to different countries for many different reasons because of the lack of opportunity in their own countries, because of war and my wife is, you know, she was born in Saigon. You know, she came over here in 73 and she’s like, you know - if you will - with Datak and Stahma in the sense of their being a refuge - a displaced person who had to come to come to another country for opportunity.

And then I think it’s for anybody who comes from another country because they’re forced to do so and to come into a society. And arguably the greatest country in the world America - I wouldn’t even say arguably - for opportunities for people from all over the world. I mean that’s why America started in the sense of when people came from Europe and people came from South America and, you know, they founded the United States. It was other cultures within the American - well obviously the American Indians were here first.

People started creating opportunity and that’s what - that’s what America’s been based on. So the political cultural similarities between, you know, America and the planet today with Defiance. I think people are going to find very - especially for a science fiction show that you might not think has that depth or clout or progressive sort of message to say no to people. I think that’s what - within this wonderful fantastical backdrop of the science fiction world. You’re going to find some very, very human stories with it - no pun intended - about people being alienated within their societies wherever they come from.

And I think that’s what Datak and Stahma and a lot of other characters in the show that we talk about, that we discuss and I think that’s what makes it - this show could go far in many ways because it’s holding a mirror up to like any good drama. It’s like holding a mirror up to society and saying this is what we are. You don’t like those bits. These are some good bits but we can’t deny what we are. And the question is what are we going to do about it?

Are we going to try to make it better or are we going to turn a blind eye to it and just, you know, and just go backwards basically because if we don’t land from our past then our future can be very bleak. Jesus it all got very heavy all of the sudden.

Mary Dawson: It did, didn’t it?

Tony Curran: The other thing I think is very, very interesting and I love your - I’m sure Jaime feels the same way. I love your question.

Mary Dawson: Thank you very much. I hope that more people start to think of assimilation as less of a melting pot and more of a stir fry.

Tony Curran: No. As Gandhi said, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. So he was a good bloke.

Mary Dawson: Well thank you very much. I love the show and continue good work and keep up hitting them on the political angle. I love that.

Operator: And we do have a follow-up question from the line of Jamie Ruby with scifivision.com. Please go ahead.

Jamie Ruby: Hi again. So this is a fairly quick question. Have either of you played the game yet and do you know if your characters are - if they have any plans for them to be in the game.

Jaime Murray: My character’s not in the game. As I was saying, you know, I’m kind of quite a lady. So I don’t know how they...

Tony Curran: I’m a lady.

Jaime Murray: A few unknowns or a few in the next season but I did play the game at Comic-con and I played it a couple of months ago in the UK and I wasn’t very good at it at all. I think for the qualities that drew me to acting like, you know, kind of getting into things and kind of having empathy and kind of getting excitable and like kind of following my impulses make me a horrible, horrible gamer because I get really excited and I squeal like a little girl and, you know, I get really nervous when I’m playing the game.

And so I’m better off kind of watching other people play the game because it think you need to be cool, calm and kind of, you know, cool headed when you play these games and they’re not qualities really that I have. But I enjoy watching the game because, you know, you see the grass blowing in the wind and it’s so intricate and the world is really kind of beautifully created. So that kind of enriched me as an actor but unfortunately I’m not a very good gamer at all.

Tony Curran: With the way Jaime says that, I think I’d like to watch Jaime playing the game actually.

Jaime Murray: I do have this picture of me playing the game. I’m all like elbows and hunched and worried like I’m an anxious little child.

Tony Curran: I’ve played the game at Comic-con. I’ve got it at home. When I get a chance, I get on there. But the thing is the video games - once you get on it - it’s not like yes, I’ll play for ten minutes. You can waste hours playing video games. And, you know, some people don’t have that much time. But I think they’ve done a great job with it.

I think when I was in a Syfy event in New York recently; I spoke to some of the gamers. I played there and the guys who created the game. And God, there’s like 300 people who have been involved in it over the past five years. And they said, you know, characters like Stahma and Datak and Alak will be integrated into the next stage of the game.

Jaime Murray: Including me?

Tony Curran: Oh yes, including you. Yes because you’re like oh, what have I got? Oh, I’ve got to really, you know, challenge blade and I’m sure Stahma’s going to have some little, you know, maybe Stahma will have some special powers, you know. Who knows, you know. But yes, I think so. I don’t think they could put me in the game and not put you in.

But if I’m going to have to get into a little black tight motion capture outfit, I’m sure as heck - you’re coming along with me sister, you know.

Jaime Murray: I’ll come and take some pictures and tweet them.

Tony Curran: Yes. You look like an Olympic runner. But I think the characters are going to get empty because this game is, you know, it’s slowly hopefully going to expand more and more. So then I think it would be fun to be part of and then they’ve already mentioned that some of the main other characters are going to be part of the game. So Julie and Jaime and myself and Jesse and so on. So that’ll be quite exciting to play yourself in the game, you know.

Jamie Ruby: Well I like the game so far and I love the show and I think next week - next week’s episode we got the screener for. I think that’s actually the best so far and I really enjoyed that one and all the political stuff going on and everything, so.

Jaime Murray: Have you seen next week with the bio man?

Jamie Ruby: Yes, yes.

Tony Curran: Kenya gets kidnapped.

Jaime Murray: How about you giving a spoiler alert?

Tony Curran: Well she’s already seen it. She’s already seen it, you know. So this is live on NPR.

Jamie Ruby: Yes, I won’t tweet that part. I won’t tweet that part.

Tony Curran: Yes, no tweedy, tweedy. Thank you. Thank you. Yes.

Jamie Ruby: Anyway, thanks a lot guys.

Tony Curran: No honey, thank you. Thank you very much.

Jaime Murray: Thank you.

Brenda Lowry: Thank you everyone. This is Brenda Lowry with Syfy. Thank you everyone for joining safe call. We really appreciate the software questions and look forward to your coverage and thank you so much for your time and truly insightful answers. Have a good day everyone.

Tony Curran: Very interesting. Thank you very much.

Jaime Murray: Thank you.

Tony Curran: Bye.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, that does include the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.

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