Eve Myles Discusses Torchwood Miracle Day

We’re not the tits and ass. We actually get to kick ass like everybody else. _Eve Myles: Torchwood Miracle Day


Eve Myles: Torchwood Miracle Day
Actress
Credits: Doctor Who, EastEnders: Dot’s Story
By: Judith Wallace

 

How do you like your new home in LA?

Eve Myles: Well, we arrived in Los Angeles on the 16th of December and we left four weeks ago. So it was the big part of the year really and we just had the best time ever. It was incredibly stressful, the huge move over with a small baby and my partner had to leave work for a year. But we knew that we were coming to do something outstanding and we couldn’t wait to be there and to do it. So it was great fun. I just found that LA was just the pace of life was a lot slower and a lot more relaxed. And with the sunshine people just tended to be a lot more happy and it was just generally a very, very lovely place to be and of course you bumped into a few like rock star kind of crazy people, which made me feel like I fit in with a few crazy people. It was a lovely, really nice place.

How have you managed to keep your character fresh and exciting?

Eve Myles: That’s not up to us. That’s completely to Russell T. Davies and what he puts on the page for us. And he challenges me as an actor every time I get a script through the door. And it’s kind of like (new) but it also keeps you alive as an actor and every day you go in and once you’ve conquered the scenes and some of them are massive, big, epic, beautifully written scenes, it’s the best feeling in the world. And every year those characters are evolving and becoming different people and becoming stronger people. And becoming these great kind of modern day kind of heroes but in a very, very different way. And that goes for every character in it this year. It’s down to Russell and the words he gives us to say.

 

Did you do all your stunts?

Eve Myles: There is one stunt that I couldn’t because (my head) would have fallen off literally. But I tried to do it and I wasn’t allowed to do it. But I try to do as many stunts as possible. As long as you don’t hurt the other person you’re all right.

 

If you knew that you couldn’t die, what one crazy thing would you do?

Eve Myles: I think it would be to swim with sharks actually. I’d love to swim with sharks without thinking that they’d eat me like some sort of Welsh finger. The more time I’ve had to think about it, I think I would probably just move to Ibiza.

 

Was it immediate chemistry between you and the new castmates?

Eve Myles: We always come in to welcome them on board and make sure that everybody is happy so that we make the best project possible. And Alexa, Mekhi, Bill, Lauren – I could go on and on and on. It was a dream to work with them every day. It was just fantastic. They came in and nailed it and that was a big wonderful – for John and myself to learn that these people are fine actors and had done so much homework and came in and just blew us away. Incredible. I can’t talk highly enough of them.

 

What is it like for you to play a strong female role and how was your experience working with Bill Pullman?

Eve Myles: We’re not the tits and ass. We actually get to kick ass like everybody else. To be able to play somebody like Gwen Cooper is a dream come true for an actor. It’s just she’s an absolute powerhouse but she’s also a very kind of ordinary girl stuck in this beautiful, extraordinary world and situation. It’s how she deals with things and her challenges, which is so watchable and great for me to play. Working with Mr. Pullman – it’s very rare that you catch me behind the monitors watching scenes happen. But I have to with Bill Pullman because it was an acting lesson for me. It was a master class. The guy is a genius. On top of all that, he’s the most gracious gentleman you’re ever lucky enough to meet. He’s just a joy to work with and yes, one experience, lots of business going down in my little black book as one wonderful experience.

 

What do all the characters think about Jack and Gwen think about being involved in this again and Esther and Rex think about being pulled into this world?

Eve Myles: Torchwood is an absolute – that’s Gwen Cooper’s adrenaline. And she is an absolute adrenaline junkie. It runs through her veins and her heart and her soul. And when it’s not there how on earth are you possibly going to carry on your life without having something to do with that wonderful, weird, bizarre, crazy organization called Torchwood? It leaves the biggest hole ever and nothing, nothing fills it for Gwen Cooper except for Jack Harkness, Torchwood. So when she is seemingly having this very quiet, very strange, secluded life when she sees Jack Harkness, when she sees trouble knock on her door it’s not good. But in a way her heart starts pounding again and that’s the Gwen we all know and that’s the Gwen I love playing. So coming back to Gwen Cooper it’s just the best thing in the world.

 

What are you most excited about for your fans to see this season?

Eve Myles: There are so many. There are lots of references and there are lots of references also to people we’ve lost and things that the fans are going to go crazy for which we went crazy for when we read it also. It’s very like when Russell brings up little elements of the past it’s fantastic. My fiancé is also a massive, massive Torchwood fan and I can’t even leave a script in front of him and he gives me a huge telling off because he doesn’t want to know anything about it. He wants to watch it every week and get excited every time it’s on. And I’m not allowed to tell him anything. So I can’t wait for him to see certain elements where he’ll give me a nudge and go I know what’s going on here and get excited about it of course, very excited.

On STARZ on Fridays at 10pm ET/PT

STARZ’ newest original series is a reimagining of the UK sensation, which originally debuted in 2006 on BBC One. The show’s original creator, writer/producer Russell T Davies, serves as executive producer along with BBC Worldwide Productions’ SVP Julie Gardner, with Davies also serving as show-runner. “Torchwood: Miracle Day” is produced by BBC Worldwide Productions for Starz, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Worldwide.

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