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SciFi About.com 9/4/02: Victoria Pratt
Mutants, Action, and Acting with Victoria Pratt, an Interview
It's no coincidence that Victoria Pratt is standing in front of a "High Voltage" sign. Currently a blue belt in Shotokan Karate, Pratt once worked at the Human Performance Lab at York University in Toronto (from which she graduated summa cum laude). Now she plays kickboxing mutant Shalimar Fox on the sci-fi TV show Mutant X.
Great looks, physical prowess and the ability to act intelligently while standing in front of a blue screen have helped land Pratt a series of action and sci-fi parts, including Cyane on Xena: Warrior Princess(1995), Jackie Janczyk on John Woo's Once a Thief (1997), and Sarge on Cleopatra 2525. Pratt takes pride in the development of her characters and sees Shalimar not has just some foxy warrior, but as a woman of depth and feeling.
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Pratt: The audience can see female vulnerability in this action role. If you take my last two roles, Sarge had very little vulnerability. She was like a machine, like...well...a guy. When they came to me with Shalimar, she was Sarge-like. I told them she had to change and be different from Sarge, and we worked together to make a character that was more vulnerable. She's much more sensitive to the rest of her "family" on the show. She doesn't just charge in and take over.
Shalimar reminds me somewhat of Linda Hamilton's role in the Terminator movies.
Oh, Linda Hamilton is my hero. She was so tough and so strong and so vulnerable at the same time. I think that's what woman action figures are allowed to be: vulnerable, in a way that women are. In the beginning, people think vulnerability will make you weak, but it does the opposite. It shows you're strong enough to care.
Vulnerable? We see that in male action heroes, like Bruce Willis in Die Hard, when he's talking about how he should have been nicer to his wife.
Yes, but that sort of turns off and on. Shalimar doesn't act tough, then vulnerable, then tough again. She keeps it together. She's got that secret love for Brennan, a deep respect for Adam, a sisterly affection for Lauren. You show your vulnerability through relationships, and those feelings are your soft spot. You need to have a soft spot.
And I wanted Shalimar to be "feminine." She wears dresses sometimes and kicks ass in high heels. She cries when she's moved. Sarge wouldn't do that. I think the audience can relate to Shalimar better because of that. In the second season, for instance, there are some scenes when Shalimar freaks out. She sees an old boyfriend, leaps on him, and starts pounding away. The audience reaction to that is great. They're like, "You get him, girl!"
With this character, I get so much to work with. It's all about exploring the more unpredictable aspects in the character, not just fighting people.
What makes up the center of your character?
I think all of the mutants have a conflict within themselves. They want to be normal, and they want to be a part of society in a normal way, but they have these extra gifts and responsibilities that take them out of that world. It's a balance they're all trying to maintain.
But what about Shalimar. What makes her an individual?
I approach my character with the question: What would an animal think? How would an animal respond? A lot of times, it's quick action and no fear, and sometimes it's irrational fear. You don't always know. Shalimar, for instance, has a totally irrational fear of fire. The instinct is to remove herself from that situation. But then, if I were attacked, I would turn around and attack back. I have to go through it each time, figure out which way to go.
Yes, if it were automatic, it would be boring.
That's the thing with sci-fi and action roles. You have to play the danger as real. If you don't play the danger for real, you end up with egg on your face. You have to commit. As long as you do that, you're okay. You can't think about how stupid it might look without the special effects or whatever.
I think women can't be afraid to look like action heroes. It's not always pretty, but when it's on the screen, it translates well to the audience.
Do you think you and other women in action/sci-fi roles get pressure to look pretty all the time?
You default to what you know. Most women don't play like guys do: they don't wrestle, fight, get into brawls. They don't know how to express themselves in a physical, active way. When that sort of woman gets thrown into an action role, she doesn't know what to do. But I'm all about it. I competed in track for ten years and have been doing kickboxing forever.
Did you have brothers?
No.
Too bad.
Yeah, they would be in trouble.
But I was thinking more about what most sci-fi/action female stars have to wear. I mean, some of those outfits! I don't understand how some women can actually act in those things.
It's part of the job to compensate for outfit. The most important thing is to just be good at what you do. You do a good job playing the character, and people will be taken up with your character, not your clothes.
One of my favorite quotes from a sci-fi actor comes from Brent Spiner, who comments that acting on Star Trek is, "a cross between doing Shakespeare and running around with a towel around your neck, pretending you're Superman." What would be your description of filming Mutant X?
Smart grown-ups running around at recess.
Do you think the fact that you guys don't take things too seriously helps audience to enjoy the show?
We take the show very seriously, but we don't take ourselves seriously.
Ah, so you read the scripts all the way through?
I read every script from beginning to end, and I read every draft that I can. I like the show, I like the character, and I want to protect both of those things. We have a new writing team for this season, and while they're great, they might not know things about the character that have been established. I know Shalimar better than anyone else, and I really believe it's the actor's job to protect that knowledge.
So when the writers have a problem with their script, we all work together. There's it's a very open line of communication between us and writers
That's quite rare.
Well, it doesn't help anybody to put out a bad script. If the actor says, "There are too many Ps in this sentence," the writers should help out.
And sure, sometimes the script isn't about you, and you may feel like you're sort of just background pushing the story, but that's your job. You don't take the story any less seriously. You're making the story as good as you can and supporting your fellow cast members, knowing they'll do the same for you.
I hate hearing about actors who don't like the show. There are so many actors out there who'd give their right arm for what I'm getting to do.
So you feel lucky?
Absolutely. I love the show. I love working with these people. We all get along so well.
Hmmm. You hear that from a lot of people, but tell me, do you think the audience can tell if a cast isn't getting along well?
I say, if you watch the show and the characters don't look at each other while they're talking, the actors probably aren't getting along.
Well, there's no shortage of eye-contact on Mutant X. So you think your camaraderie on the set helps the audience enjoy the show?
Sure, but that's just part of it. I mean, it's a great show, and with Mutant X, we're not on some spaceship and we're not in the future. We're living in present day. We're living in the society we live in now. I mean, look around at what's going on with genetic manipulation. The show's premise may be unlikely, but it's not impossible to believe. It's just on the verge of being possible. We're on the streets, and I think that's what makes it scarier and creepier than high-concept sci-fi like Star Trek.
You wear street clothes, not space-suits.
Right. In fact, this second season we reworked the wardrobe a lot, trying to blend into the world better. The first season, the clothes were so fantastical no one could relate to them. Now we're a lot more casual.
Speaking of your second season, how how do you want to see Shalimar grow as a character?
Well, as I said, we just got a new writing team and we love them. They are exploring everyone's personality, and they have all the characters relating to each other in a very real world. When the new head writer handed me my backstory, it was really interesting to see their vision of our characters. I think they're going to bring us to a whole new level.
I know it's important to have all that to work with for your character, but what about the whole sci-fi thing? What skills as an actress do you have to bring to acting in sci-fi? I've always been interested in the trick to acting in front of blue screen. I don't think I could keep a straight face.
Actually, the hardest thing may be working with the dialogue that is completely unfamiliar. It's so much harder to memorize dialogue that isn't the language you speak every day. I think of people who work in a medical series; it's probably harder for them too.
And you're right about the blue screen, but like I said, you have to commit. At least it's a lot easier on Mutant X than Cleopatra. On that show it was all put in afterwards. We felt really stupid in the beginning, then only marginally less stupid as we went on. With Mutant X, there's much more to work with.
But still, I just stared down a stuffed animal!
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