Warehouse 13 - Claudia Donovan Interview

Thanks to Esteban for the heads up.

Claudia Donovan is Warehouse 13’s techie-type character, the one who spends long hours cataloging stuff like Man Ray’s soul-sucking camera and P.T. Barnum’s top — and then fortuitously saves everyone’s life with a quick hack to her cell phone and a glancing pop-culture reference to boot. She’s just so likable! So don’t be surprised when her real-life counterpart, Allison Scagliotti, wins you over with some big spoilers for the Warehouse season finale and a name drop of her favorite Mad Men character.

There are [two] episodes left this season. Is that enough time for us to figure out definitively whether H.G. Wells is good or evil?
Oh, H.G. Wells. I mean, I don’t want to spoil the party. I’ll start by saying that Jaime Murray is an absolute dream to work with. I was a big fan of her work on Dexter before we had the pleasure of casting her as H.G., so it’s very exciting to work with her. She did an amazing job… I don’t want to specifically say that there’s going to be a major betrayal, but there may or may not be a major betrayal. [Laughs]

It seems like that’s something that’s looking to wrap up this season.
Yeah, I mean, I feel like the final three, four episodes are really kind of ramping up the energy, because our finale is going to be pretty explosive. It’s our “Indiana Jones” couple of episodes. Sept. 11 is our Indiana Jones episode. The finale is just out of this world.

“Indiana Jones” episode? What do you mean by that?
I mean that the team goes to Egypt, and there’s a good bit of adventuring. There may even be an Indiana Jones joke pointed at the Artie character… That aside, my character, Claudia, stays behind in the warehouse, and it’s revealed that her destiny is not up to her choosing — that her future is part of the warehouse design and she’s far more important to the warehouse than one would assume.

Oh, really!
It makes me wonder, and I hope the audience gleans this too, that perhaps Claudia’s not at the warehouse by accident and there’s a conspiracy at work.

That’s interesting. I guess the Regents are all wrapped up in that?
Yes, absolutely. I get to go toe-to-toe with Lindsay Wagner, who will be back, and CCH Pounder [Mrs. Frederic], and it was really inspiring to work with two incredibly seasoned, graceful, talented women. Working with them made me realize that’s the kind of career I want to emulate. They’re classy and versatile and wonderful.

I pretty much love every relationship Claudia has on the show. Myka’s sort of the big sister and Artie’s got the surrogate dad thing. Do you have a favorite of those relationships to flesh out?
I guess it’s an expected answer, but my favorite relationship is between Claudia and Artie because it’s so true to my real relationship with Saul [Rubinek]. He’s very much a sort of would-be dad, but we’re also sort of competitive and bickery with each other because we work together and it’s natural for people who work together in that intense environment for so long to drum up that family sort of vibe and be at each other’s throats. Kind of like summer camp that you can’t escape for six months. But it’s really a joy and a privilege to work with someone as experienced as Saul, because he has so much to offer in terms of being a mentor and also stories that he has to share.

One thing I think is really cool about Claudia is that she’s filling out a role that, even on Eureka which you crossed over with earlier, is typically filled by really nerdy sort of man-boys, you know, and here’s Claudia with all this knowledge—
[Laughs] Oh, my God, you’re my best friend.

I don’t gain any pleasure from playing absent-minded.

Source: Full Interview @ movieline