Lost Girl - M&C interviews with Anna Silk, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Jay Firestone and Michele Lovretta

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Anna S:
Learning that she was a Succubus answered a lot of questions for her, but also opened the door to a lot of new questions, and that’s where we see her in seasons one and two.


M&C: Does Bo experience a lot of fear in this discovery?

Anna S: Yeah, there definitely is a lot of fear. Bo learns pretty quickly that she’s a pretty tough cookie, that she can handle herself. She’s extremely protective of her new friends. She’s definitely cautious.

In season two that we’re filming right now, she’s smarter. She’s learned a lot about the politics within the Fae world so she can position herself a little bit differently to maybe change things up a little bit.

Bo has a really strong sense of justice. She’s extremely stubborn. She’s good. Within the Fae world, there are Light Fae and Dark Fae. At the beginning of the series, she’s forced to choose a side, and she chooses neither side. So, she’s a bit of a renegade and doesn’t want to align herself. She’s very interesting to the Fae for that reason.
Another thing about her is that she’s more powerful than even she realizes. There are a lot of secrets kept from Bo that she starts to learn in the second season.


M&C: What character do you play on ‘Lost Girl?’

EMMANUELLE VAUGIER: I play the leader of the Dark Fae, and my character’s name is The Morrigan. The difference between the two worlds is the Dark Fae feeds off human energy but doesn’t let them live--most of the time, they kill their victims. The Light Fae lets them live and have a much more positive attitude about humans being around and their purpose.

I’m the bad girl, the leader of the Dark World. I run a record label and I feed off of my clients’ talent and their energy as opposed to Bo, who feeds off of sexual energy.



M&C: Do you like working on a show that features strong female lead characters?

Emmanuelle: I can only speak from my point of view, but I like it when I see strong female lead characters. You don’t see that as much. It is really nice that both of our characters are nice, smart, strong females and also really fun!

My character is deliciously evil. She’s fun, she has a great sense of humor and she likes to see people suffer. It’s frowned upon in real life if you do that, but this is a fun way of having that outlet.

M&C: What was your initial reaction to your character?

Emmanuelle: I didn’t know how a lot about this character to begin with. I don’t think they knew where it was going to go. They did give us some literature to explain the different worlds and creatures, which was really helpful.

We don’t know much about The Morrigan’s history or where she came from. However, Bo’s character is finding out about her background. I’d love to find out where my character came from. I hope we get to see that.

I do appear more in season two. I think it’ll be a battle between Bo and my character, with me trying to lure her over to my side. She’d be a valuable asset, but she’s a stubborn little one! (Laughs) But I am very persistent!

M&C: Do you like the fact that The Morrigan is well-rounded, character-wise?

Emmanuelle: The Morrigan has an incredible charm yet it’s frustrating because you want to hate her but then you like her because she’s kind of funny. She’s kind of likeable. I really hope to achieve that with the fans because a villain that you don’t like is no fun, but the villain you say “I can’t believe she did that, but I love it!” is great.

M&C: Where did the idea for the show come from? Often a Succubus is a guest star on other supernatural shows.

to: EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JAY FIRESTONE AND CREATOR MICHELLE LOVRETTA
Lovretta: I think they’re often guest stars because it is a scary concept for a lot of people. How can you like your heroine if she kills people through her love? It was an exciting challenge, but it came sort of the other way.
Jay and his company came to me and said they were looking something in sci-fi, a newer version of a superhero, something that appeals to women but also explores sex. When you think of all those concepts together, it is tricky. A lot of times you’re going to get something that is exploitative, that is kind of anti-female inherently once you get into sex. Personally, I’m kind of glad they came to a woman!

Firestone: I have to say the original ideas were a bit too racy, but Michelle brought it into a concrete way that worked!

Lovretta: I gave her a heart, soul, mind ... all of that ... backbone. In the end, it was challenging--kind of scary and liberating all at the same time because we were working at that point with a network that was an edgier network. They didn’t have a lot of constraints. It was really freeing. I’ve always been a genre fan, so for me when you put the words “female,” “sexy” or “sexual” and “superhero,” I automatically thought of Succubus.
Once we realized that the key to it was friendship and romance and what was normal or universal about she was going through as a female, it was the last piece we needed.

M&C: Now that Syfy has picked up the show, have you had to make any changes in how you are filming season two?

Firestone: Syfy offered to buy the show originally, but when the second season was ordered, their pursuit got bigger.
The only changes we’re making is a few words. They actually bleep us out a few words, and the conversation I had with them was, “We don’t want to interrupt what you do, but if you’re going to use these words, you’re actually going to get about seven bleeps in an episode. “ And that gets in the way. So we haven’t cut out the language, but we might have reduced it.

Lovretta: In the script, I will try not to say certain words I like as much as I would normally say them, let me put it that way.

Firestone: I’m not stopping them when it’s right, but let’s just not throw them in capriciously. Same thing with the sex in the show. It always has a reason to exist.
Does the show’s conflict come down to a struggle between The Morrigan and Bo?
Lovretta: That’s an overarching storyline, but I don’t think it’s our main one. A lot of Bo’s conflict is mostly internal at this point. “Am I good? Am I evil? Can I ever love? Am I worthy of love if there’s a chance I’m going to kill someone or if I’ve killed someone in the past?” There’s all that kind of stuff, but bear in mind that we don’t keep it too heavy because it is also a fun show. In terms of her arch-villain, it actually becomes another woman by the end of the season. Fans who have watched the first season will know who I’m talking about!

M&C: How do you feel when people compare the show to other genre programs with female leads?

Lovretta: Honestly, as a huge genre fan and female, I’m thrilled about it. I say, “The more, the merrier!” I also like male heroes as well. In the beginning, the only difference that we sort of recalibrated a bit was that we were darker at first.
If you see episode eight of season one, that was actually our pilot. When we were in development, the request was that I write a sample episode, so I sort of imagined a place that was interesting and wrote it. Keep in mind that ‘True Blood’ had already come out and was darker and doing sex and blood, doing it really well. It was fabulous to know that it was out there, but it also meant that our niche was slightly different.

What we looked at more was exploring the heart and the friendship and some fun. The next one that we wrote was episode three of season one, which was to say how light we could go. That was our two poles. We’re always existing between those two in terms of tone, but they’re different enough that I don’t think we step into anyone else’s territory in terms of tone.

Firestone: The humor we put into the show allowed us to deal with every strong emotional issue. You can deal with rape, you can deal with suicide, you can do all these things, but the humor makes it enjoyable to watch while dealing with important issues. It’s a good balance.

M&C: Did you approach the show trying to accomplish that?

Lovretta: For me, the only thing that I hoped it communicates is “Sex=positive.” Bo was somebody who thought that who she was, was a bad thing, and thought sex was a bad thing, and she had to resist it at all cost. In the end, what we’re trying to explore in the first season is, that bottling up was why she would have her blackouts, why she would lose control, why she would damage herself. Part of her journey is to realize, this is a good thing! I can do this! I can have sex! It’s not a bad thing! I just have to learn how to do it within what’s healthy for me. I think the only message I hoped at the end of all that was that people would see that and say that it wasn’t damning people who have sex, that it’s sort of a positive thing. Whether that message is received or not is up to the viewer.

M&C: Are you happy with the response to ‘Lost Girl?’

Firestone: We have a pretty wide fan base. There are men and women, the age range is shocking! We have women in their 40s and couples watching it, we have fans from teenagers to their 40s and 50s.

Lovretta: It has that appeal because the sex is not risque, so something’s naturally there for everyone.
Although no initial air date has been announced, ‘Lost Girl’ is expected to appear on Syfy this fall.

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