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By
Suzanne

Interview with Billy Campbell and
Jordan Hayes of "Helix" on Syfy 1/13/14
Helix Conference Call with stars Billy Campbell and
Jordan Hayes
Moderator: Stephen Cox
January 13, 2014
Operator: Ladies and Gentlemen thank you for standing by.
Welcome to the Helix call.
During the presentation all participants will be in a listen
only mode and we will conduct a question and answer session.
And at that time if you have a question please press the 1
followed by the 4 on your telephone. If at any time during
the conference you need to reach an operator please press
star 0.
As a reminder this conference is being recorded Monday,
January 13, 2014. I would now like to turn the conference
over to Stephen Cox with Syfy . Please go ahead.
Stephen Cox: Good morning everyone, thank you for joining us
today. We're really excited to have another Helix call for
you today. On the line we have series stars Billy Campbell
and Jordan Hayes. And just a reminder, Helix airs Fridays at
10:00 pm only on Syfy . So without further ado we'll hand
over your questions.
Operator: Our first question comes from the line of Joshua
Malone with Niagara Frontier Publications. Please proceed.
Joshua Malone: Hi Billy, hi Jordan, thanks for your time
today.
Billy Campbell: Good morning.
Jordan Hayes: Hey, no problem. How are you?
Joshua Malone: Good. So you know, a lot of the Syfy programs
have sort have been a little bit lighter in tone. Their
movies obviously are sort of deliciously campy. This is sort
of a very straight forward, serious, really sort of edge of
your seat type series. What did you guys like about this
particular series and what exactly attracted you to it?
Billy Campbell: Well speaking for myself, I was extremely
attracted to the - you know, the sort of situation, the
genre, the situation. I'm a big fan of the - both the Thing
movies, the you know, the Howard Hawks one and the John
Carpenter one, and Andromeda Strain is one of my big
favorite films and so I was very attracted to the situation,
and of course attracted to the fact that Ron Moore was
attached. And not least of which was that we were shooting
in Montreal. Jordan? Jordan?
Jordan Hayes: Sorry it's breaking up a little bit.
Billy Campbell: What - how about you Jordan?
Jordan Hayes: Me? I...
Billy Campbell: Yes?
Jordan Hayes: I loved that - I loved the characters. They
were obviously very smartly written and very intelligent
characters. Yes, it really felt, despite being a science
fiction show there was a huge emphasis on the dramatic
nature of the writing, and that really attracted me as an
actor.
Joshua Malone: Billy, I mean you know, to the extent that it
is a sci-fi show, I mean it is very much rooted in science,
it's the kind of thing that I guess could theoretically
happen. Does that sort of up the ante and sort of make it
even that much more sort of, you know, interesting and
appealing for the audience?
Billy Campbell: I would guess so. I mean that's a question
for the audience. But I would, you know, I would assume that
to be the case. Yes, I would say, "Yes."
Joshua Malone: Okay, thank you both.
Billy Campbell: Thank you.
Jordan Hayes: Thank you.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Tony
Tellado with Sci-Fi Talk. Please proceed.
Tony Tellado: Hi guys. Thanks first of all for the
hospitality on the set tour that we took in Montreal. It was
really cool to see all of you in your work environment. And
now watching some of the episodes it all kind of brings it
home.
And my question is, I really like the relationship, and this
is really for both of you, that you have, kind of like a
mentor relationship and student, but it's also a little
more. If you can both comment on where that relationship is
when the - you know, especially in the episodes that have
aired so far.
Jordan Hayes: Billy?
Billy Campbell: I was going to let you run with that ball.
Jordan Hayes: I think it is exactly what you just said,
"It's a mentor/student relationship." And I think that Sarah
has a lot of admiration for Alan. And she really holds his
opinion in high esteem. And she really wants to make him
proud and improve her worth and impress him.
Tony Tellado: And for Billy, I mean Farragut kind of walks
into a storm here.
Billy Campbell: Yes.
Tony Tellado: Kind of how did you approach him, kind of like
you know, your acting just seems very natural in playing an
element of confusion, but also using your training to kind
of guide you, but you're stepping into something you've
never encountered before either.
Billy Campbell: Well, I'm a genuinely fairly confused person
anyway, so that helps. And then yes, it - I'm not sure that
I thought about it very deeply. You know, the situation is
so apparent that it didn't seem to require that, you know,
much in the way of depth of thought.
It's a very black and white situation; we come, there's an
outbreak, there's - and we have to contain it. And then
things start getting confusing because we're being
misdirected by, you know Hatake, and there are all these
sort of variables. So I didn't - I'm not sure how I
approached, tell you the truth, it's kind of a blur, that
long ago.
Tony Tellado: Well you guys are doing a great job so far.
I've seen the first three and I was like riveted for those
three hours. It's really amazing.
Billy Campbell: Awesome, that's...
Jordan Hayes: Thank you.
Billy Campbell: ...great to hear.
Tony Tellado: All right, I'll get back in line.
Operator: And our next question comes from the line of Jamie
Ruby with scifivision.com. Please proceed.
Jamie Ruby: For take - I'm sorry. Hi guys, thanks for taking
the call. It's great to talk to you again.
Jordan Hayes: Hi Jamie.
Billy Campbell: Hey, you too.
Jamie Ruby: Hey. So we were down there on the set and we
went to the cold room. Now I know, Billy, when I had talked
to you at the Fan Expo, I guess they didn't actually have
the room that was cold or they were adding it or something
at that point.
Billy Campbell: Yes.
Jamie Ruby: Does - so what do you guys feel about that? I
mean does it make it easier to get in the moment, or do you
just not like being cold? Because I think for me I'd rather
pretend to be cold.
Billy Campbell: Well for me it's just a great deal. I know
the crew hated the cold room. First of all, the cold room
wasn't really big enough. It was very limiting as a set. It
was pretty small. And there was a lot of stuff flying around
in the air, so the crew didn't really care for it. But they
could dress how they wanted, we were dolled up in nine
layers of extreme cold weather gear.
So as in the beginning when we didn't have a cold room, when
we were all on the set having to do all this strenuous
stuff, we were you know, not to be too graphic about it, but
sweating a good deal. And that is more unpleasant than
anything I can think of. I'd rather freeze than parboil any
day. How about you Jordan?
Jordan Hayes: Well I never had to go into the cold room
actually.
Billy Campbell: You didn't, that's right you didn't.
Jordan Hayes: I didn't, no. But I do remember being in all
of our Arctic gear in...
Billy Campbell: Yes.
Jordan Hayes: ...July, and it was - that was very
unpleasant, yes.
Billy Campbell: So unpleasant. So the cold room helped, I
think a good deal. But in the end it was kind of untenable,
it was awkward to shoot in and everyone hated it. And so by
the end of the show we had - we just had left the cold room
behind again.
Jamie Ruby: Okay. And then so the second question, "There's
so much right now on the news obviously, about the CDC and
the flu and everything going around, when you guys first
started working on this, and you know, reading the script
and everything, does any of it every, you know, freak you
out a bit because some of it could actually happen?"
Jordan Hayes: Yes, absolutely. I mean that's one of the
greatest things about this show is that it's dealing with
something that is very real. And throughout history we've
seen, you know, huge epidemics wipe out hundreds of millions
of people. And although now thankfully we have the invention
of antibiotics and we can treat things much better, you know
it's still very real and it's still very scary, and can
possibly wipe out, you know, thousands of people.
Billy Campbell: I think it goes to like sort of our most
primal fears, you know the thing which you cannot see that
will come in the night and kill you from the inside out. And
I can't imagine much of anything creepier than that.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Kyle
Nolan with noreruns.net. Please proceed.
Kyle Nolan: Hi, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. So
as you - so how much were you told about your characters and
what was going to happen to them? Like for example, Sarah
seems to be hiding something and she has these hand tremors;
were you just told to do that Jordan, or were you also told
why she was - her hands were shaking?
Jordan Hayes: I was told why the - I had the hand tremors
before we even started shooting. So in that regard I was
made aware of that particular plot point. But there were
several things that will surface throughout the season that
you'll see that we just weren't aware of. And I think that
that worked in our favor because then we weren't - we were
discovering things in the moment, which was nice because
then we weren't telegraphing things from early on in some of
the earlier episodes.
Billy Campbell: Yes. I would have to agree with that. I
prefer honestly not to know what's going on for this - for
the very reason that Jordan brings up.
Kyle Nolan: Now while you were filming did the cast ever,
like at lunch, speculate who was going to be the next to be
infected? And was there like any kind of segregation at the
lunch tables like, "Get away from me."
Billy Campbell: There was plenty of speculation I think. I
think there was a lot of fun speculation as to who might be
next in all of that.
Operator: And our next question comes from the line of Erin
Willard with SciFiMafia. Please proceed.
Erin Willard: Hi, thanks so much to both of you for being on
the call. I'm so glad I get to talk about Helix again today
because I had it on all weekend long and I just - I felt you
know - I missed it all of a sudden today when it wasn't on
so. And I had such a great time on the tour, honestly it
made a really big impact on me, even back then having no
idea how the series was going to go. So thanks for that and
thanks for your panel discussion then.
And I asked you this, I think back then, but I'd like to
know if that's changed because more filming's been done
since then, but what - which were your favorite one or two
episodes of this season?
Billy Campbell: I - that's hard to say honestly. I think the
one upcoming might be my favorite.
Erin Willard: The third one?
Billy Campbell: The one - the third one, yes.
Erin Willard: Okay.
Billy Campbell: I don't...
Jordan Hayes: Yes, I think the third was my favorite as
well.
Billy Campbell: I know. I can't say why exactly, I haven't
seen it. I haven't seen really anything. I didn't even get
to watch this weekend.
Erin Willard: Too bad, because it's been kind of non-stop,
at least on Saturday, which was really terrific. And what
then maybe could you say are - were your best and most
challenging experiences during production?
Billy Campbell: I would say, you know, I think that would
just have to do with - I don't know. I don't know what was -
it was - the whole thing was a great deal of fun. I don't
know what really was challenging.
I mean it's always a bit of a challenge to put yourself - to
imagine yourself into the circumstances. But even that was
relatively easy because of stellar cast-mates and kind of a
wonderfully, creepy set and situation. And you know, I don't
know.
Jordan, was anything particularly difficult for you?
Jordan Hayes: Yes, well to answer the question about the
best experience. I think just loved the team involved on the
project in general. The cast and the crew really made it
just such an enjoyable experience.
In terms of difficulty I think for me the most challenging
part was necessarily memorizing the dialogue and
understanding exactly what we were saying. It was very
important for me to have a clear understanding, or as clear
as possible as I could, of the science that we were
referring to. So that was a little bit like going back to
school, and you know, looking at old textbooks and learning
about the science all over again.
Operator: And we have a question from the line of Jay Jacobs
from popentertainment.com. Please proceed.
Jay Jacobs: Nice to talk to you both.
Jordan Hayes: Hi.
Billy Campbell: And you.
Jay Jacobs: You both have done a lot of genre work
throughout your careers. Just as fans, do you tend to
gravitate toward science fiction and horror personally or is
that just sort of how things have turned out in your career?
Billy Campbell: I dig science fiction. It's kind of my - one
of my favorite things...
Jay Jacobs: Okay.
Billy Campbell: ...just because - well I don't know why
exactly. I mean I always have, since I was quite young,
science fiction and fantasy, possibly as an escape from my -
I went to military school for six years when I was quite
young. And so it was a big sort of escape for me. And I've
loved it, I guess I've loved it ever since.
Jay Jacobs: Jordan?
Jordan Hayes: Yes, I - it kind of just happened for me I
guess. I have done - a fair amount of my work has been in
the horror and sci-fi genre. And I guess I'm just fortunate
in that regard. It wasn't a particular choice on my part, it
just kind of worked out like that.
Jay Jacobs: Okay. Now Billy, you've had a few long-running
series over the years. I was a huge fan of Once and Again
and The 4400 and also The Killing and now this one
hopefully. But I was wondering, with Once and Again that was
obviously a network series, but most of the series you've
done since then are cable.
How do you feel that working on a network is different than
cable? And why do you think that many of the imaginative
shows now seem to be shifting to cable from the traditional
network model?
Billy Campbell: Well I mean, it's I think fairly easy to
understand why that's the case; there are simply more
options on cable TV for storytelling.
I mean as a network you have to, you know you have to please
a great many people, and from all, you know, parts of the
spectrum and so things necessarily get a bit, you know
what'll you say, watered down. And cable is more aimed at
particular niches, you know, and so you can write more
specifically and more daringly. And I think that's the big
difference.
Operator: And our next question comes from the line of
Sabienna Bowman with TV Equals. Please proceed.
Sabienna Bowman: Hi guys, thanks so much for talking with us
today.
Billy Campbell: Hey, sure.
Jordan Hayes: Thank you.
Sabienna Bowman: Jordan, I was going to start with you. You
were just fantastic in the first two episodes. I mean...
Billy Campbell: Here-here.
Sabienna Bowman: ...the range of emotions that Sarah went
through were just - it made the character so compelling. I
kind of wanted to ask, "What can we expect from Sarah moving
forward?"
Jordan Hayes: Sorry, I must have misheard that because at
first I thought you were referring to Billy. Yes, what can
we expect from Sarah moving forward?
Yes, I think - well I think for - and this is true for all
of the characters, that when you're put in a situation like
we are, where the stakes are so high, where the stakes are
literally revealing them (unintelligible) life and death,
your character gets challenged and you end up doing things
that you don't think that you are capable of doing.
And I can't say too much, but I will say that Sarah's
(unintelligible) some very challenging situations where she
is forced to do things that she never thought that she would
be capable of doing.
Sabienna Bowman: Awesome. And for Billy, with both - like
with both Alan's brother and now potentially his ex-wife
turn (convector), will Alan be trying to save them or will
they be trying to recruit him, a little of both? How's that
going to work?
Billy Campbell: Well I would be pretty safe to say, I think,
that he would be trying to save them. Whether he's
successful and whether they are willing to be saved is
another question. And you know, the act of saving them of
course is inherently dangerous and who knows what perils lie
ahead for Alan and the whole team.
Operator: And our next question comes from the line of Simon
Applebaum with Tomorrow Will Be Televised. Please proceed.
Simon Applebaum: Yes, thank you very much. Cameron
Porsandeh, who was the creator of Helix, was on my Blog Talk
Radio program on Friday, and it seems that one of the things
that's not being covered about the series is that he is a
first time writer/producer. This is his first television
series ever and he's come from a whole different career to
do this.
And Billy and Jordan I'm wondering, what has been like to
bring this newbie to television's creation to life?
Billy Campbell: It's been fantastic -- really fantastic. He
- Cameron is a very, very talented fellow, as well as a
lovely human being. And I have to say it's been nothing but
a deep pleasure to be working with him.
Jordan Hayes: Yes, I have to agree. I think Cameron is
extremely talented. And it is his first year. There’s
something great about that because it's a very original
concept and it's written in a way that's fresh. And so yes,
we're just very fortunate to have someone like him on board.
Cameron Porsandeh: You said earlier you haven't seen the
completed episodes yet, but have you gotten any audience
feedback since Syfy ran the first two episodes this weekend
with limited commercial interruption -- which was a
curveball. And a very nice curveball because originally it
was supposed to be the first episode only.
Billy Campbell: Yes.
Cameron Porsandeh: But have you heard any feedback about
things like the point/counterpoint, the use of music, Do You
Know the Way to San Jose, or the (unintelligible) scene that
was at the end of Episode 2?
Billy Campbell: I haven't heard much of anything. I'm sort
of cocooned down here in San Diego and I suppose will be
hearing this week, you know, how the audience liked it. And
I have seen a little bit on Twitter where people were - and
the response seems to be mainly terrific so far. And I think
people loved especially, the crazy use of the - the
contrapuntal use of the music.
Operator: And our next question comes from the line of Robin
Burks with fangirlconfessions.com. Please proceed.
Robin Burks: Hi Jordan. Hi Billy. Thank you for talking to
us today.
Jordan Hayes: No problem.
Billy Campbell: Hey, thank you.
Robin Burks: I am loving the series so far. In fact it's a
little bit more horrific than I think I expected. There's a
lot of shock and gore.
Special effects are great, including you know, the visual
effects on the - and I guess the onset special effects, how
does that help you as an actor to kind of get into that
horror frame of mind?
Billy Campbell: Well goodness, I mean you know, you can just
imagine. Well first of all Jordan actually threw up in her
helmet. That was a - I'm kidding of course. But you can well
imagine opening a body bag and having the goop drip out and
having the skeleton there, it was all very, very conducive
to that kind of feeling. Am I right Jordan?
Jordan Hayes: Yes, absolutely. And I mean if you look at
Peter Farragut who's played by Neil Napier, if you look at
his makeup I mean it's just terrifying. Our special effects
team in Montreal is just unbelievable. They're just so good.
Billy Campbell: Yes.
Jordan Hayes: And I remember Neil would come and sit down
next to us while we had lunch and it was unappetizing to
have him sitting across from you (unintelligible). But no, I
mean it does help a lot. Yes, that definitely helps you get
into the mind frame of, "Look at this virus, look at what
it's doing to this person," because the special effects
makeup is just so, so good.
Billy Campbell: Yes.
Robin Burks: That particular scene is actually the one I was
thinking of, with the black goo and her throwing up. That
was amazing.
My next question is actually for Jordan. We spoke with Steve
Maeda and he mentioned that your character was eventually
supposed to be kind of back-stabby. And he said she was
going to be something like Eve from All About Eve, but that
when you came in and they met you and started, you know,
portraying the character, that they kind of changed their
mind with the way that the character went. Is that something
that you were aware of.
Jordan Hayes: No, it wasn't actually. Oh, that's funny. No,
I wasn't aware of that at all. But I think, I mean I think
I'm going to take it as a compliment.
And yes as - I mean as we said before, we're kind of - we
have the luxury of discovering these characters episode by
episode, and I hope that my discovery is there along the
way, turns out as good as it could. Yes, I never saw her as
a backstabbing kind of character so I'm - I guess I'm happy
that they changed their mind on that.
Operator: And we have a question from the line of Steve
Eramo from SciFiAndTvTalk. Please proceed.
Steve Eramo: Hi Billy, hi Jordan, a pleasure to speak with
you both today.
Billy Campbell: Thank you.
Jordan Hayes: Hi.
Steve Eramo: And I know I'm going back a little bit but I
wanted to find out what maybe sticks out most in both your
minds about shooting the pilot episode. And is there either,
I don't know a memorable or especially challenging scene
that you can recall from that shoot for both of you?
Billy Campbell: Well I mean for me I think it harkens back
to the outside stuff before we had a cold room. I mean we
were, in the very first couple or few days we were swaddled
in our extreme cold weather gear on a stage with fake snow
blowing around and in the middle of summer. And it was
horrible. And I think I - in fact I remember I got sick
because I ingested so much crap, crud into my lungs I got
quite sick for a couple of weeks.
So that's the thing that sticks out to me from the pilot,
other than just being so insanely happy to be in Montreal
again.
Steve Eramo: And how about you Jordan?
Jordan Hayes: I think the experience that standing out the
most for me was the first time that I walked into the BSL4
Lab, onto that set, was kind of great. It was just so
wonderful to see all of the scientific paraphernalia and
kind of get to play around with it. And we had an actual
scientist on set who was showing us exactly what every
instrument did. And yes, I think that was the funnest part
for me.
Operator: And once again Ladies and Gentlemen if you would
like to register for a question please press the 1 followed
by the 4 on your telephone. And we have a follow-up question
from the line of Tony Tellado with Sci-Fi Talk. Please
proceed.
Tony Tellado: Hello again guys. I have a couple of questions
but first of all, you both have a lot of technical dialogue,
how do you - did you get any coaching in that area? And
what's it been like to recite some of that stuff?
Billy Campbell: Well I honestly had very much - I did not
have nearly the technical dialogue that Jordan had and I'm
deeply, deeply thankful. And so I'll pass that along to
Jordan.
Jordan Hayes: You had a lot of technical dialogue. Yes, I've
never found memorizing lines to be difficult. As I said
early the most important thing for me was to have a clear of
an understanding of the science that we were referring to.
And yes, we did have a scientist on set who was there to
help us whenever we had questions.
And I was also fortunate enough, my older brother majored in
anatomy and biology, so whenever I wanted clarification on
something he would whip out one of this massive text books
and try and teach me with drawings and in very layman terms
how the science was working that I was referring to.
But no, I think that it's - I think it's great. I don't
think - I like that they didn't dumb down the science in it.
I think that it adds to the show and it makes it just a more
intelligent and interesting show. You know it's - at times
it can be difficult for the audience to understand exactly
what we're referring to, but if you think about the reality
this is how scientists talk, you know?
Tony Tellado: Yes. And the hazmat suits, how were they to
work in?
Billy Campbell: Not...
Jordan Hayes: Well they were very real.
Billy Campbell: They were very real. I mean they were - they
weren't built for the show, they were real hazmat suits. And
I would have this to say about them; they weren't as
uncomfortable as they might - as you might think, because
they were, you know ventilated. We had a pack on the back
that actually ventilated the helmet. So they were pretty
cool to work in.
They were a pain to put on. And they are - unless, you know,
you looked like Jordan or Kyra they're not terribly
flattering. So they had that going on for them, or didn't
have that going on for them in my case. So yes, that's all
I'd have to say about those. Jordan?
Jordan Hayes: Well I - yes I just remember one time Billy
you - like Billy said, there's these ventilation packs. So
we actually - the helmets were sealed off so we actually had
oxygen being pumped into our helmets. And I can remember at
least once, maybe twice Billy, you pulled my hose out of the
pack.
So yes, no, they were fun. Yes, like Billy said, they were
difficult to get into. But I really liked them and I think
they look really cool on screen. So I think it worked out
well.
Billy Campbell: That's because you look the way you do.
Operator: And we have a follow-up question from the line of
Jamie Ruby with scifivision.com. Please proceed.
Jamie Ruby: Hi again. So I'm curious, a lot of times with
series nowadays just because - I guess because people, I
don't know, they can't seem to keep their attention span as
long as they should, I like it better that way, but a lot of
shows they are always talking about, "Okay, we're going to
be procedural, we're not going to be - you know the
mythology, everything. And it seems like this is a show that
really can't be completely procedural, which I think is a
great thing.
But can you talk about that? Is there any kind of balance
with that, or do people - are people really have to watch
previous episodes to understand what's going on?
Billy Campbell: By procedural, you mean episodic?
Jamie Ruby: Yes, like Mystery of the Week, you don't have to
watch them all…
Billy Campbell: Yes, so it's all contained within...
Jamie Ruby: Right.
Billy Campbell: ...an episode, yes. No, this will be more
along the lines of uncovering, you know uncovering a
mythology and a sort of a deeper story. So I would say that,
"Watching any one particular episode would be exciting, but
you wouldn't get the, you know, the full excitement or
fulfillment unless you sort of carried on watching all the
way through."
Jamie Ruby: Yes, that's good to know. I like that better,
but I don't know, some people complain.
Billy Campbell: I do too like it better. I don't see any
reason to be - unless you're a show like, you know, Law &
Order or something like that...
Jamie Ruby: Yes.
Billy Campbell: ...I don't see the real reason in being all
that episodic. The beauty of the serial form is telling a
story over the long-term, developing situations and
characters and so forth. I don't - I mean the episodic model
doesn't, and really never has, entirely appealed to me.
Jamie Ruby: Great. Helps suck you in, that's what I like. If
it's not continued you don't keep coming back as much.
Jamie Ruby: So my other question is, on the other call that
we did with Steven Maeda and Kyra, they talked a bit about
how we are - and you mentioned early in the call that we're
going to get to see a little bit more per se outside the
base and we will get some other guest stars just because
hallucinations and all of that. Can you talk at all about
that, just tease kind of any of that that we will be seeing?
Billy Campbell: Well sure. I mean what can say is that, "The
story does open up." And so we are not confined to the base
the entire time, and that other characters do enter - make
an entrance into the story, into the situation and they
change things up in a very big way. So yes, I would say.
Jordan do you have anything to add to that?
Jordan Hayes: Yes, I mean I think that we're allowed to say
this because it's public knowledge, but as you probably know
Jeri Ryan comes into the show and that's just kind of...
Billy Campbell: And kicks ass.
Jordan Hayes: Yes, she's great. She's awesome. And that just
kind of reinforces the notion of how we get to this base and
we think we're dealing with one thing and it's actually
dealing with several other things. So as those several other
things begin to surface you'll see more and more characters
come out as well.
Operator: And we have a follow-up question from the line of
Kyle Nolan with noreruns.net. Please proceed.
Kyle Nolan: Hi. You had previously talked about how the cast
didn't like the cold room, but did you guys have a favorite
part of the set to work with, or was there something on the
set that you found particular creepy?
Billy Campbell: Jordan?
Jordan Hayes: Yes, well I - yes, the sets were really great,
particularly creepy.
Billy Campbell: You know what set I love - I really loved
was when we did the episode with Jeremiah directing and we
went to - we go off base, Kyra and I, and we go off to an
abandoned...
Jordan Hayes: Yes.
Billy Campbell: ...listening station. And I can't tell you
what happens, but it was dreadfully, dreadfully creepy. The
set folks, the set designers and decorators, did an amazing,
amazing job with this place. And what happens there is
intensely, intensely creepy. And I just - I think that was
one of my favorite sets.
Jordan Hayes: Yes.
Kyle Nolan: Now with the show getting - it gets really
intense, like how do you manage to keep things light and fun
on the set while also like doing those intense scenes?
Jordan Hayes: How do we manage?
Billy Campbell: Well Jordan is a great prankster and...
Kyle Nolan: Yes.
Jordan Hayes: No, no, no, Billy is a huge prankster.
Billy Campbell: Don't try to turn it back on me.
Jordan Hayes: Come on.
Billy Campbell: Don't even pretend. Everyone knows that
Jordan is like - we can - it's very, very difficult to even
get her to, like you know, be serious for a scene. It's -
she's crazy, I don't know what to say.
Jordan Hayes: I mean I think I can't speak for everyone, but
I had such a great time with this cast and this crew. It was
very, very easy to keep it light on set.
Billy Campbell: Yes.
Jordan Hayes: Yes, everyone was just very friendly. And yes,
we all just really got along together.
Billy Campbell: Yes, yes.
Jordan Hayes: So it was very light and easy on set, yes.
Billy Campbell: It was wonderful. You know there are a lot
of sets when, you know, when actors aren't on camera they
all scurry back to their individual dressing rooms and never
see each other except when they're in front of the camera.
And I don't think a single one of us ever went to back to
our trailers between shots. We all sat as a group on the
set...
Jordan Hayes: Yes.
Billy Campbell: ...you know, playing games and
chit-chatting. And then - and which was, I think deeply
appreciated by the, you know by the crew, because when they
called us to be in front of the camera, there we were in
like 8-1/2 seconds.
Jordan Hayes: Yes.
Billy Campbell: So yes. So it was a very special situation
that way. And I have to say, I have to also add to that that
I think it - that it might have been my favorite crew of all
time.
Jordan Hayes: Yes, I have...
Billy Campbell: Yes.
Jordan Hayes: ...to agree. The crew was really, really
spectacular.
Billy Campbell: Yes, yes.
Operator: And we have a follow-up question from the line of
Jay Jacobs with popentertainment.com. Please proceed.
Jay Jacobs: Thank you. Those scenes in the ventilating duct
seemed like very claustrophobic just watching. And I was
wondering, what was it like to deal with that as an actor?
Was it as tight as it seemed? And how was that to negotiate
as an actor?
Billy Campbell: Well it was, you know, I mean it was pretty
tight. It wasn't as tight as it could have been. It - I mean
mainly the pain was getting in and out of them and then
scrambling around on your elbows and knees, which you know,
would begin to hurt pretty badly after a few minutes.
Jay Jacobs: Right.
Billy Campbell: So it was, you know I mean it seems more
claustrophobic probably in the viewing than it does in the
execution because you don't see that just around the end of
course, is the opening.
Jay Jacobs: Right.
Billy Campbell: And so you never feel like you're - I never
felt like I was trapped or anything like that. I'm not a
particularly claustrophobic person to begin with, but it was
less cramped than it appears.
Jay Jacobs: Then also getting off on a slight sidetrack
here, beyond Helix you also have a new Lifetime movie about
Lizzie Borden that's just about to come up. I was just
wondering what - if you could tell us a little bit about
that? Were you familiar with the case before taking the
role? And what was it like to go back in time on such an
infamous case?
Billy Campbell: It was a good deal of fun. I mean I - it's
not - I'm - I don't have a big role or anything, I play
Lizzie Borden's lawyer. And I knew the director from before,
he did - he directed some of The 4400.
And I was, most of all, I was just anxious to go to Halifax
and - which is a place that is near and dear to heart, and I
have many friends there. And I knew the project would be
good. And so I went to Halifax.
It was a great deal of fun. I love - I adore Christina Ricci
and I think the show will be terrific. And so I had a great
time. I had a wonderful time drinking Guinness at my
favorite - one of my favorite pubs in the world.
Operator: And we have a question, a follow-up question, from
Steve Eramo with SciFiAndTvTalk. Please proceed.
Steve Eramo: Hi again guys. I have a couple of follow-ups.
The first one is a little bit technical. The atmosphere of
the show is really, really neat, I think, with the lighting
and such. And I wanted to find out maybe if you could speak
a little bit about that at all, and working with the DOP and
creating that atmosphere. Anything you can speak of on that
regard?
Billy Campbell: Jordan? I've been yacking a lot.
Jordan Hayes: Yes, our - yes, we have - sorry?
Billy Campbell: No, no, I was just punting that to you.
Jordan Hayes: Okay. Got it. Yes, so our DT is Steve McNutt
and he is, I mean, he's just amazing. I mean I don't
understand lighting at all, it's kind of like a mystery to
me. But it really - I think it really makes the show.
Steve Eramo: Yes.
Jordan Hayes: You know, the - I - like Billy, I - actually I
didn't see the entire two hours, but I mean from what I've
seen had this huge effect on the mood of the show. And yes,
he's just so incredibly talented, I think that we really
lucked out getting him on board.
Billy Campbell: Yes, yes. Yes, McNutt.
Steve Eramo: And there's a follow-up for Billy. Just wanted
to find out if I could get your take on Alan's and Julia's
relationship on the show, and maybe what you enjoyed most
about sort of developing that on camera?
Billy Campbell: Well you know, I'm not sure we did all that
much about developing it on camera. I mean that's the - sort
of the purview of the writers.
Steve Eramo: Right.
Billy Campbell: They write that stuff, they develop it, and
we just, you know, kind of do what they write.
But it wasn't, you know again, with this cast it wasn't
difficult to have chemistry with anyone. There were no
divas, there were no monsters of any kind, except in front
of the camera running around with goo coming out of our
mouths. It was just a wonderful, wonderful situation. And in
that case, it's really not difficult to develop chemistry
with anyone.
You know, the times when it's hard to have chemistry with
someone is when you don't like them as a person, and then
you have to go in front of the camera when - you know, and
pretend to like someone or even be in love with someone that
you actively dislike. That's - that can be really difficult.
And on this show there was none of that. I actively loved
everyone I worked with, which just made it so wonderful to
go to work.
Operator: And our final follow-up is from the line of Jamie
Ruby with scifivision.com. Please proceed.
Jamie Ruby: Hi again. Good, I get to go again. So can you
both just quickly describe your characters in three words.
Billy Campbell: My goodness.
Jordan Hayes: You go first Billy.
Billy Campbell: No wait a minute, this might even be more
fun. How about we describe each other's characters in three
words?
Jamie Ruby: Okay, that works.
Jordan Hayes: Okay.
Jamie Ruby: Sorry, I didn't mean to make it so hard.
Billy Campbell: No, this is hilarious. This is wonderful.
Intelligent, of course. I would say there's just a little,
there's just a spark of defiance, I would say, "Intelligent,
defiant and, well sexy."
Jordan Hayes: Okay, Alan Farragut is commendable. Yes, why
not? Standup guy, I know that's not one word, but yes,
standup guy. And...
Billy Campbell: Forthright.
Jordan Hayes: ...sensitive. What?
Billy Campbell: I was trying to put your standup guy into
one word and I came up with forthright.
Jordan Hayes: Yes and that - yes, that's the perfect word.
And yes, and sensitive.
Jamie Ruby: Great.
Billy Campbell: I think that fairly does it, I think that
does it pretty well.
Jamie Ruby: Yes, that's good. All right, well thank you,
both of you, so much.
Jordan Hayes: Thank you Jamie.
Billy Campbell: Well thank you.
Stephen Cox: Thank you all for joining us today. We were
very happy to have Billy and Jordan on the phone for you.
And don't forget Helix airs Fridays at 10:00 pm only on Syfy
. Have a great day everyone.
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