SpoilerTV had the chance to catch up with Wynonna herself, Melanie Scrofano. Cast in her first leading role, Scrofano talked about her experiences in this life changing gig, as well as her relationships with the cast and crew, in particular building that bond with onscreen sister Dominique Provost-Chalkley (Waverly). Scrofano also talked about the fans and had some interesting tidbits to share concerning the magnificence, for lack of better words, of Shamier Anderson (Xavier Dolls) and the mysteriousness of Tim Rozon (Doc Holliday).
Scrofano: Yes
SpoilerTV: What was the most valuable lesson you learned filming Wynonna Earp?
Scrofano: You take for granted when you’re on set everyday and almost in every scene, you really have to love it, which I do, thank goodness. I learned that I loved it because there is no better test than this role. It just gave me a respect for how hard this is to really have to show up and put your heart into it everyday and not just take it for granted and be like, ah, I’m just going to phone this one in. It was really challenging in that sense. You sort of go if I can do that, I can do anything.
SpoilerTV: So, in a sense you learned just how much commitment you have to give to a leading role?
Scrofano: Yeah, to just be committed to the story, and no matter how tired you are and just telling yourself you have to commit to telling a story and not letting down the future fans down. Because that was always on my mind – this is going to matter to someone – I need to make it good.
SpoilerTV: Speaking of the fans, tell me how the fandom has been?
Scrofano: Its just been so cool, I feel like I have a billion new friends. Twitter has been a really warm and friendly place to just talk about the show and joke about the show and it’s cool that there are so many people who really, really care. I was like, is this going to translate, did we do a good job of telling the story?
And people have been following and getting into the real life of what the characters are going through and not just the superficial aspects. They really go like, wow, she is totally feeling guilty or betrayed, people are catching on to the human element, which is really gratifying.
SpoilerTV: Yeah, well, I find when it comes to genre, sci-fi shows, like Wynonna Earp, the fandom seems to be more hardcore and invested
Scrofano: That’s so true! And Emily talks about the thing about genre is that it gives you a make believe world where you can talk about real life things. And so if a character is betrayed, you can talk about it and make it bigger and more exaggerated and heartbreaking and it actually brings out the humanity that much more. This is versus a movie or TV show where it’s real life and you have to ask yourself, is this believable? In genre we can be like, f*** if this believable. It’s not real, we can just completely play with these emotions [laughs]
SpoilerTV: How similar is Wynonna Earp to you?
Scrofano: I think the real me is very similar, but the me I show people is very different. I try to be very considerate and polite and I might not make all the jokes I want to make because it might hurt someone. Wynonna Earp is the version of me that I wish I could always just say the worst things and be like, oh, well, I’m Wynonna! So, I’d say we are actually very similar and especially using humor in dark times and just that being our default.
And we’re also both very much the wing it variety. Whereas Waverly is the planner, I’m not that. I am the worst and Wynonna is the worst party planner too.
SpoilerTV: Well, one commonality I noticed is that you did drop the F bomb earlier in the interview, I don’t see too many of those in interviews and that is just so Wynonna.
Scrofano: Oh, did I? [laughs]
SpoilerTV: Yes [laughs]
Scrofano: Oh, if only Wynonna can swear too!
Scrofano: Well, we, first of all, got lucky. We both really hit it off and so there is an element of luck involved, you either have it or you don’t. But then we’re both from day one, the second we got to Calgary, and the second she gets here, I gave her my email and let’s get going. So, we went for coffee and we were both new to Calgary so would walk around and explore. We ended up living across the hall from each other, so we spent a lot of quality time together and we would be in each other’s company and sometimes just not talk and be ok with it, so we got to that level of comfort with each other. So, it was a mix of luck and circumstances that just made it perfect
SpoilerTV: You mentioned Calgary. I read that you attribute filming in Calgary to really helping with that chemisty with the rest of the cast.
Scrofano: Well, it’s like you’re in a place where we have nobody and we can’t just be like, oh, Friday night, I’ll go out with my friends. We had nothing. We had none of our own stuff to distract us, we had none of our own people to distract us, so we can only rely on each other, and we got to hang out with each other more than we we would if we were in our own hometown.
There is something about being that far away. It’s just a different place and the landscape is just so specific in the type of people. We really got a sense of who are our characters would be and how we’d interact with each other and that helped build the chemistry with the whole cast…and the crew!
SpoilerTV: Speaking of crew, I hear a lot of positive things about show runner Emily Andras. Tell me about her as a person.
Scrofano: Emily is just the most generous show runner you will ever meet. She’s just so welcoming to the set. Every character, no matter how small your character is, if you had a question for Emily, you could ask her and she’d just live in this world and wanted it to be real, and so it was an open communication. She is also so trusting, if you are hired by Emily Anders, she trust you can do the job with results and no meddling. She just lets you go and she is just so generous with her praise with cast and crew. There is nothing pretentious about Emily. She is just so real and she loves real people, and she is also a bit of a Wynonna.
She is a badass. You don’t want to get on her bad side, don’t do bad work, don’t take advantage of her, but she will also show you her vulnerable side and be like, I feel like I sucked today, which is never true, but the fact she can be so honest about how she feels, it just makes you feel safer around her.
SpoilerTV: So, who would you say you are most closest with on the set?
Scrofano: I’d say Dom, we had this sort of deal, if either of us were feeling insecure we could just be totally honest with eachother and we’d just be there for each other. There were a few times where we’d get home from our respective apartments, and we would knock on each others door, and start crying [laughing] and I'd be like, ok I'll put on the tea. We just had each others back and I think it is just really good to have that one person.
Also, I had my hairdresser, her name was Jody. She could tell right away if I was trying to power through some tough emotions in real life. She was like OK, I’m here if you want to talk. When someone opens that door, it’s like, [in sobbing voice] oh my God I suck and nobody likes me!
So, those two people I knew I could always count on them to get me through the hardest times or even the stupidest times where I knew I was being petty and stupid. I could be like, guys, don’t judge me this is what I think and they'd be like, oh yeah, that is stupid!
SpoilerTV: And how did you prepare for the role?
Scrofano: My preparation was just tapping into the parts of me that were…I’d go through parts of life and ask what would Wynonna do and would Wynonna do this, or Wynonna would totally make this joke right now, or would Wynonna care if that person flipped the bird at me. Because there were so many things about me similar to her it was just observing myself in real life and finding the things that remained true to Wynonna and the things that didn’t.
SpoilerTV: Now, I’ve heard stories about Shamier (Anderson). From what I understand, he is very different than what we see on screen.
So, it was really cool to see Shamier play Dolls because there is this whole side of him you can’t see, which is true of Dolls who is hiding a lot. It was also really fun to spend time with Shamier outside of work because…the s*** that comes out of that guys mouth and it’s like, how are you allowed to be this funny and handsome, it is ridiculous.
So, yeah, he is definitely the one that is most different from his character.
SpoilerTV: I heard he got some great dance moves too
Scrofano: Yeah, he is a dancer. I was super jealous of how easily he would get the choreography for fighting, because if you are a dancer you are probably a good fighter because it’s all choreography. But he is just so strong and good at moving his body, I think it really was.
SpoilerTV: How about you, do you do any kind of…. are you a fighter?
Scrofano: I did do karate when I was 18, and I’ve done dance as well, I was a swimmer but it would be useless to Wynonna unless we were in Hawaii, which would’ve been great.
SpoilerTV: So, was it challenging with the choreography?
Scrofano: Well, we had a stunt choregrapher who made it easy for us, but we had no time. Shamier had more time to rehearse, I had to jump in and learn it and so it was challenging, because I had to learn my lines as well. It was a tough balance. Whereas Shamier, he had a bit more time to do it and also he just loved doing it. I think he found the time, he’d be like, let’s punch each other dude.
Scrofano: Since the beginning of the season I was trying to figure Tim out, like I, Melanie because he is the most complex; he’ll say he is a simple guy, but I beg to differ, he is the most complicated guy I ever met and Wynonna is trying to figure Doc out, so it was a cool life imitating art situation, he is just…yeah. [laughs].
The Wynonna and Doc relationship - it’s so easy to play with him because he is such a good actor. When he looks at you, he looks into your soul. There is nothing superficial about him, it’s like instant chemistry, we don’t have to say anything, I feel like it’s just so easy with him. Whenever you know you have a scene with him you know it’s going to be a fun day.
Make sure to check out out Wynonna Earp , 'Landslide', tomorrow evening at 10/9c on Syfy!
