Orphan Black’s Ari Millen discussed the challenges of playing clones, what to expect from Season 3, and scorpions with Nerdist. See what he had to say!
Nerdist: So how different has this season been for you compared to season two now that you’re the face of all the bro-clones, as I’ve taken to calling them?
Ari Millen: Bro-clones, love it. It’s a full time job now, you know? Sometimes five days a week, so it’s not slowing down. We’re coming to the end of our holiday hiatus though, and I think for the first week I only woke up to like, eat. I didn’t realize — I don’t think most people realized — how tired we were until we had the chance to sit down and take a breath. And that’s great, you know? I’m very happy that I can say that this job has tired me out. It’s been a blast.
N: John just told me, too, that right before break you guys watched the first episode together. What was that like?
AM: Well to a certain extent, it’s kind of been happening in a bubble, right? I start with doing the work, doing pre-production, and figuring out who these guys are, and I get the scripts and we start shooting. And I’ll watch a take here or there, but seeing that first episode? And seeing it cut together, in context, seeing it told as a story was like, ‘Thank god,’ you know? Because I didn’t know! I didn’t know if I was doing it right, if I were these distinct characters, so it was such a sigh of relief. And for my money, that’s the best episode yet.
N: I’m so excited to see it. I wonder what it must be like to come up with these clones now that you’ve played on both sides of it. I know you spoke a little bit about it at the panel, but did you have any challenges with that?
AM: Yeah, they’re all precious to me [laughs], because this whole experience is so exciting to me, so yeah. I don’t take any of them lightly, I don’t one-off them. I put so much work into creating these guys, that when they’re in danger I get sad and go, ‘Oh, no!’ you know? They mean so much to me, so I can’t definitively say ‘No, I like this guy [the best],’ but on the day I’m doing something — if Rudy’s doing something — I’m like ‘This is the f**king best thing I’ve ever done.’ And the next day I’m Mark and I go, ‘Ah, you’re kidding me! This is awesome!’ And the same goes for Miller and on and on. So kudos to John and Graeme [Fawcett and Manson, the series’ co-creators] and the writing team for creating such great story and giving the fans what they want. Trust me.
N: What are you most excited about for this upcoming season?
AM: Where the story’s taking us this year, and the clone scenes that we get to do — either with Project Castor and Project Castor or Project Leda and Project Castor, or even Project Leda and Project Leda — the scenarios they’re creating are just like [Millen blanches with amazement], if I’m peaking now? If this is the last thing I do? I’ll be happy, this really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
N: Well it seems like there’s a lot of layered stuff going on there. There’s definitely a rich feminist territory that Tatiana gets to play into with her scenes. But it’s seems like it could be really subversive to see some of those struggles played out with the male clones, even though they’re self-aware.
AM: I think what it comes down to is the fact that there are male clones and there are female clones — yes this can set up a male versus female dynamic, but Project Castor also has questions that it needs answered. It’s not a juggernaut of power that’s infallible. Why we’re in the story is because we need answers and we want those answers from Project Leda. So our answers are also going to help answer what Project Leda is looking for. Even though we’re kinda working against each other — and Project Castor is not going to make life easier for Project Leda — as a story tool we’re there to help solve that mystery. We’re only strengthening the sisters.
For the full interview click HERE