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By
Suzanne

Interview with Laura Vandervoort of "Desperately Seeking
Santa" on
ABC Family 11/21/11
ABC Family’s Q&A Session with Laura Vandervoort
Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas/Desperately Seeking Santa
Moderator: Do you like doing comedy?
L. Vandervoort: Yes, I mean I started working when I was about 13 and I
really just started doing more mainstream television on sci-fi doing
Smallville and V so that’s kind of been my world for a while—the sci-fi
world. But recently, since V’s ended, I’ve had a chance to do some
feature films and really kind of mix it up for myself doing Ted and This
Means War and then obviously Desperately Seeking Santa was a romantic
comedy and I had never had the chance to do that.
Obviously I relate more so to Jennifer Walker then my other characters,
which were aliens and flesh-eating lizards, but it was a lot of fun to
film and it was in my hometown. I just finished a Lifetime film and
having Ted come out next with Mark Wahlberg, I’m just trying to do new
things and comedy seems to be a lot of fun for me.
Moderator: There were rumors out there that when you were in Smallville,
there was talk about you possibly having a spin-off show, a Supergirl
spin-off show. Was there any truth to those rumors?
L. Vandervoort: Season 7 in Smallville is when I kind of came onto the
show and there was—I was actually just a guest star at the beginning
doing two or three episodes and I guess the reaction to Kara, my
character, was great and they decided to keep me around and I did all of
Season 7. I did hear rumors about a spin-off. For some reason, that sort
of never came about and unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to kind of
test out those waters. But there were discussions about that and then
obviously, I moved onto V and just did some returning guest stars on
Smallville.
Moderator: Desperately Seeking Santa is such a fun twist on that money
miser Christmas theme. When you first read the script, what did you like
about it most?
L. Vandervoort: Honestly, the fact that she was human was a small portion
of the reason I chose to take it because I’d been playing so many out of
this world characters, which is a lot of fun to do, but it was nice
because I actually felt like I related to Jennifer more than the other
characters. She’s a bit of a workaholic like myself and I tend to forgot
to have fun sometimes because I am so serious and much like Jennifer. In
the film she learns that it’s not all about working hard and being
focused. You can actually have fun and relax and I had a chance to do on
this film.
It was the first role where I really thoroughly enjoyed the process. We
were laughing. We were improvising. We were being silly. The smiles in
the film are all real. It was just a great cast and I was finally able
to relax. So it’s sort of ironic that what my character went through was
sort of what I was going through, which is just learning that it’s not
all about work. But, it has been a great year for me and the work has
been fantastic and now I’m learning to just really enjoy it.
Moderator: Do you have any favorite Christmas traditions?
L. Vandervoort: I do. I’m going home this year. I’m from Canada and I
just moved out to L.A. on my own, so I’m looking forward to going home.
Every year, both sides of my family—my mom’s side and my dad’s side—we
do kind of family reunions and we see the grandparents and all the
cousins get together. So that’s nice, but really the tradition I enjoy
the most is just having a fire with my parents.
This year, we’re going to our cottage up north and there’s snow and we
have deer that come right up to the door, so it’s like a pretty
beautiful Christmas. We’re lucky. Much like the movie, as we get older,
it’s not about the presents, it’s about the fact that you don’t get to
see your family as much as you’d like, especially in this industry. For
me, I’m traveling alone a lot of the time, so it’s really special for me
now more so than ever to be with my family and also my mom’s broccoli
casserole.
Moderator: It seems like your character might be a little bit of a
Scrooge, so I was curious how your own feelings about Christmas differ
from Jennifer’s and how they’re similar.
L. Vandervoort: Actually, it’s funny that you put it that way because
while we were filming it, I said to one of our producers, Irene,
Jennifer Walker’s pretty much the Scrooge in the film and I’ve never
really played a character that people hate or want to hate. So that was
kind of fun for me and obviously, she learns her lesson and that sort of
thing.
Moderator: How is your attitude about Christmas like hers?
L. Vandervoort: Oh, I love Christmas. Who doesn’t love Christmas? In the
last interview, I was just saying how much I enjoy spending time with my
family and really just reconnecting and having the fireplace going and
the music going. I think it’s a great time in the year to just be
thankful for everything that you have.
Moderator: A lot of people, like we’ve said before, know you from your
sci-fi work and that’s obviously a totally different genre. What did you
learn from those two series that you’ve been able to apply here and how
different was it on this set?
L. Vandervoort: All of the sci-fi projects I’ve done, even all of the
other projects—it’s a growing process and a learning experience. I
started at 13 and didn’t have a clue about how the industry worked or
whether I could handle it. And then with every role I took, I was
learning something new. So on the big shows like V and Smallville, I
just I was trying to understand how to work the dialogue and just
learning from the other actors and understand the hours that you’d have
to work and really kind of holding that discipline.
But, on this film, it wasn’t as serious and it was more about just
really letting yourself shine through and enjoying the process because
sci-fi can be very serious, especially with V, we didn’t show emotion.
So this film was a huge transition for me being about to just be silly
once the character realizes what Christmas is about and she develops a
bit of a personality. It was nice and to do these romantic scenes, it
was a change for me and it was a lot of fun and it shows a different
side of me.
I’ve been doing some other movies this year that are comedic. I have Ted
coming out next year and This Means War, which McG directed and we were
able to improvise. And I just finished a thriller for Lifetime two
nights ago. So, I’m trying a little bit of everything. I want to try it
all.
Moderator: What was it like working with Nick Zano in Desperately Seeking
Santa?
L. Vandervoort: It was great. We got along really well and I think the
producers were happy with the chemistry. It was pretty easy. We both
have similar personalities—joking around on set and I was lucky the rest
of the cast was fantastic. Because we shot it in Toronto, I ended up
knowing a lot of the actors that were cast—my friend, John Bregar and
Paula Brancati. So it was just a nice atmosphere on set. Everyone was
just being silly.
There was one night when—I think it was the final scene where Nick
Zano’s character is performing on stage as Santa and it was like 3 a.m.
or something like that and those of us who weren’t in the scene were
dancing around behind the monitors. It was just a nice crew and a nice
feeling shooting that movie.
Moderator: What was the hardest scene to film?
L. Vandervoort: I could joke and say the hardest scene to film was when
my character Jennifer auditioned all the hunky Santas and I just had to
sit there and watch all of these handsome actors in front of me. But,
that was an easy part of the job. I think one of the hardest scenes to
shoot—actually, they were all pretty enjoyable. I mean, just technically
speaking, a lot of the walk and talk scenes are a little tough and we
were in a mall that was not closed to the public, so we did have to stop
often for actual shoppers making noise. But, it was a pretty seamless
shoot. It was a lot of fun.
Moderator: Have you been approached about doing another miniseries,
perhaps to follow-up because the season finale was so epic and I know a
lot of your fans would love to see you return as Lisa at some point. Has
there been any talk about that at all?
L. Vandervoort: No, I haven’t been approached or heard anything about
that. I know Project Alice is trying to get us back on the air, but no
there hasn’t been any discussion. When it ended, it ended. We didn’t
hear from the producers again about it. And a lot of the actors have
moved on to other projects, though we keep in touch when we can. It
would be nice to sort of wrap that storyline up a little more, but
haven’t heard anything.
Moderator: Are there a particular actors that do the comedic/drama thing
that you draw influences from?
L. Vandervoort: There are a few. I haven’t really thought about that
before, so it’s a great question. I mean, even the serious actors like
Meryl Streep have these great comedic moments. Ryan Reynolds, funny
enough—he has a dry sense of humor and I feel like a lot of Canadians
have that dry sense of humor or that’s what I’m being told out here
anyways, in L.A. Rachel McAdams—there’s a ton of really serious, great
actors and actresses who do these little comedic films or independent
films or have that flash of comedy. So, I don’t think I could even
really list off the ones that I draw from. I’m just inspired by any
serious actors who try to do the comedic side of it because comedy is, I
think, one of the toughest things to do.
Moderator: It’s such a great time of year when you can turn on the TV and
almost any given night from here on out be treated to a Christmas movie.
So how do you find that Desperately Seeking Santa both fits in and
stands out from the other holiday movies that are coming on TV every
year?
L. Vandervoort: It fits in, first of all, because it’s a great family
film, but it’s also a very romantic, sweet story between these two very
different people. She is the Scrooge of the film and she’s very focused
on making it up the corporate ladder and she doesn’t realize what’s
right in front of her, which is true love and family, which she doesn’t
have.
It’s unique because it’s just this kind of almost comedic take on it as
well. There’s a lot of laughs and we sort of laugh at ourselves in the
film. Obviously, we have Nick Zano, who’s wonderful, and a lot of the
other Canadian actors. It’s just a young, new cast and it’s our kind of
take on a modern Christmas love story.
Moderator: How about for you? Are there any Christmas movies that stick
out to you as favorites or ones that hold a special place in your heart?
L. Vandervoort: Yeah, I have the classic White Christmas and because I’m
a Tim Burton fan, The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is an off
choice, but I’ve always enjoyed that. There was a clay animation film
that I liked growing up called The Abominable Snowman. It was a clay
animation film. There are definitely films that I’d want to watch every
Christmas that bring me back to my childhood.
Moderator: I had the chance to watch the film and I really liked it. It
was so cute. Aside from the romantic relationship between David and
Jennifer, I really liked all the scenes with you and Paula (Marissa in
the movie) and how it was really about friendship and family as well as
the romance. In the final product, what was your favorite part as far as
the friendship between you and your co-workers?
L. Vandervoort: I really enjoyed working with Paula. I knew her
beforehand. She was on Degrassi and I was on Instant Star so we sort of
shared the same crew and set. We get along really well so a lot of the
scenes that we got to do that were kind of the silly friendship scenes
were a lot of fun and the fact that my character Jennifer sort of turns
on her was tough. But, I mean, I don’t think that I had a favorite scene
between her and I. I just liked the development of the friendship. It
was just fun to play.
Moderator: You mentioned Ted, the movie that’s coming out with Mark
Wahlberg. Can you give us any information on that?
L. Vandervoort: Sure, it was directed by Seth MacFarlane. He does The
Family Guy. It was his directorial debut. It had Mark Wahlberg and Mila
Kunis and Patrick Warburton in it. Mark Wahlberg plays a character who
has no friends growing up so he makes a wish that his teddy bear would
come to life and it does. And then as he becomes an adult, he still has
that teddy bear with him. He works at a car rental shop and my character
works at the car rental shop with him. So, I had a lot of my scenes with
Mark. ‘
It’s just kind of a really funny comedy—kind of that potty humor. I
don’t really know what to compare it to. It’s kind of a guy’s movie, but
it was a lot of fun. I think it’s going to be really great.
Moderator: Would you say that this ABC Family movie prepared you for Ted?
L. Vandervoort: I guess I would say doing Desperately Seeking Santa kind
of made me confident in doing a bit of the more comedic stuff and being
silly and being more like myself. By the time that we got onto the Ted
set, I’m sure it helped, but they were completely different characters.
My character on Ted was sort of a guy’s girl. Like she can hang with the
best of them and throw back the comebacks at the guys. Whereas Jennifer
in Desperately Seeking Santa was more—she was independent and strong as
a corporate woman, but when it came to relationships, she was naïve. So
the characters were completely different. It was different types of
comedy. But I do enjoy doing the comedy and improvising.
Moderator: We love ABC Family, so I was curious if you have any other ABC
Family appearances planned, we’d love to hear about them. If not, what
would be the one time project that you’re most excited about and why?
L. Vandervoort: I don’t currently have any more ABC Family projects lined
up, but that would be a lot of fun. I enjoyed doing this one, so I
definitely would want to. In terms of what I’ve done that’s coming up,
I’m excited for Ted to come out and I have a little cameo in This Means
War, which comes out in February with Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine
and Tom Hardy. So, I look completely different in that, which I’m
excited about. Yeah, I just did a thriller for Lifetime—it wrapped two
nights ago—called Broken Trust, and again, that was something new for me
doing a thriller.
I’d like to do more in the feature film world. I’d love to do a fairy
tale type story line like the Snow Whites that are coming out, that sort
of thing. The more mystical kind of Tim Burton world. And obviously, I’d
love to be back on television. I always enjoy it. I’m trying to keep
busy.
Moderator: You’ve been working very hard since you were pretty much a kid
in this industry. If you could somehow travel back in time to when you
were just starting out and give yourself some advice, what would you
tell your younger self?
L. Vandervoort: I would probably tell myself to try to enjoy it a little
more and not take it so seriously. That it will all come together and
that you don’t know everything yet—you’re still going to discover new
things about yourself and about this world so just hang tight.
Moderator: The character Jennifer is this big marketing exec who really
has a lot of ambitions and I was wondering what took away from working
on the film as far as the world of the business person and the high
stakes marketing stuff. Like is that something that you would ever want
to be a part of? Were you able to learn about how the stresses they go
through or what was that like?
L. Vandervoort: Yeah, I’d never want to be a part of that. That’s
something I think I already knew, but the corporate world is—I don’t
think it’s for me. I just finished playing a lawyer, so it’s fun to play
them and to try out new careers through film and television, but I don’t
think I’m cut out for the corporate world. I think I’m just going to
stay where I am for now.
Moderator: You had mentioned that when they filmed the movie, they did
not close the mall to the public. How was that experience? Was it
different from shooting on the studio sets or was it really not that big
of a change?
L. Vandervoort: Oh yeah, it’s completely different. I mean, all three of
the series that I had worked on have been in the studio and rarely go on
location. In V itself, I was on green screen the entire series, pretty
much. So to actually be out on location shooting a film, especially in a
mall that isn’t shut down—I mean, it adds to the experience. It does
take a little longer to shoot. You do have people watching and noises
and that sort of thing, but it’s part of the experience when you’re on
location.
We were on location two nights ago in Vancouver on my last project and
it’s just a completely different experience and you’re outside and
there’s other film crews down the street shooting another movie and
people are kind of interested in the industry, so they’re watching. It
just adds to the experience.
Moderator: You mentioned a couple questions ago about being a fan of Tim
Burton and possibly wanting to tackle a roll in some type of—perhaps
like a fairy tale type of film or project. Are you a big fan of Disney
films and if so, is there a particular one or a character, possibly
princess, that you’d want to portray?
L. Vandervoort: Yeah, there’s a ton. Besides Snow White, Alice in
Wonderland would be a lot of fun. Really, any character from the Disney
world would be pretty cool to play. I mean, I’ve played Supergirl and
I’ve played a lizard so it would be fun to add to that sort of fantasy
world of characters that I’ve played.
I do have an upcoming project—it’s not really a Disney character, but I
am going to be playing a dead girl. So the great thing about what I do
is I get to try a little of everything and I’m sort of exploring how far
I’m able to push myself in terms of characters. I’ve always wanted to do
a Victorian piece—the corsets and that sort of thing. So, yeah, any
Disney character would be great.
Moderator: You’ve talked about working on V and also working on
Smallville, had you always been a fan of the sci-fi/action/superhero
genre, maybe growing up? Or is that something that you had to kind of
learn as you went along with these roles?
L. Vandervoort: It’s definitely something I had to learn. When I
auditioned for Supergirl, I didn’t even know there was a Supergirl and
so I immediately did research. And obviously, since doing both V and
Smallville—and V I had no idea was a show in the ‘80’s, so I just sort
of researched and I’ve sort of become part of that comic book/sci-fi
world—going to conventions.
So, yeah, it’s not like I directed my career there or it’s always been
like a dream of mine to play aliens, but I’ve been really lucky because
the sci-fi world does offer really smart, independent women roles. And
even on V if you look at the characters, the three kind of main females
were an FBI agent, the queen of her own race and the princess trying to
kill her own mother—so they were all really interesting females. So,
yeah it’s been a great ride so far and I’m hoping to continue.
Moderator: Why should viewers tune in and watch Desperately Seeking
Santa?
L. Vandervoort: Well, if you love Christmas films and you love sort of
that warm feeling watching them—your heart feels joy and you want to sit
there with family, this is a great film. It’s also if you’re a true
romantic at heart, it’s a beautiful kind of love story. It has all the
aspects. You’ve got the Scrooge, you’ve got Santa, you’ve got Santa’s
helpers, which are all the other characters in this film and then on top
of it all, it is a beautiful love story with a splash of kind of comedy
and humor to it. It was a lot of fun to film, so I think it would be a
lot of fun for people to watch.
Moderator: Who would you really like to work with in the future if it was
up to you?
L. Vandervoort: That is a loaded question because I mean, as an actor, I
would have an entire list of people I’d want to work with. Definitely at
the top of my list would be Meryl Streep, Rachel McAdams. I would love
to work with Paul Giamatti, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Shia LaBeouf—I mean
for all different reasons, of course, but I just want to continue to
work if I can work with great actors around me and learn things from
them and continue to grow, then I’m happy.
Moderator: Do you have a current favorite TV show?
L. Vandervoort: Yes. I’m currently obsessed with The Walking Dead. It’s
kind of right up my dark, morbid alley. But on the other side of that,
Big Bang Theory I think is fantastic. I worked with Kaley Cuoco when we
were like 13. I would love to be a part of Mad Men. I could go on, but
those are the top of the list.
Moderator: You mentioned too, that you play a dead girl in an upcoming
movie. Are you a ghost or a zombie or what?
L. Vandervoort: I can’t really give it away. I mean, I’ve actually played
dead girls in the past, in The Lookout my character is not alive, but
that’s coming up. It’s been a busy year. I’ve been able to play a lot of
different characters that I’ve been wanting to play and one of the
challenges in the last one that I did was playing a lawyer. I mean, I’ve
been playing aliens and 17 year olds for so long, it was nice to have a
change. I played a forensic scientist and now to play a lawyer, it’s
nice to play these women who take control.
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