By BetteAndTinaForever

INDEX of all photos and reports from L5

<<PREVIOUS

Q&A -- Rachel Shelley

Rachel’s Q&A session was next and she looked as beautiful as always and very happy to see everyone. Attendees began taking her photos and at some point she took out her small digital camera and began recording what we were doing.

Again, I will concentrate on the main things that I remember from that day.

- Rachel talked about Mia’s book “I live Here” and how amazing it is. She encouraged us all to buy it.

- Helena is back for season 6 and she will be in the whole season, not like in season 5. Alexandra Hedison is back as Dylan and Rachel said that Alex and she worked hard to get Dylan back.

- It is fun to play rich Helena but it was also fun to play her when she was poor. Rachel really enjoyed her scenes with Alice and switching back and forth between different stories.

- Her favorite line from the show is “Never apologize, never explain.”

- Rachel said that she wants her character to end up with Dylan.

- She never got any negative feedback for playing a lesbian. No one advised her not to do it and even though there always be bigoted people, Rachel doesn’t care and if someone thinks that she’s gay because she’s playing one, she is fine with that. The show allowed people who are gay to be honest and open about who they are, like Leisha. And now Leisha has a spin-off coming and she totally deserves it. Everyone kept telling her that she will end up on her own show one day and Leisha always said that it would never happen and now she has one.

- Off set Rachel spends most of her time with Alex Hedison (like recently, when Alex was in London doing her art show); in Vancouver its Laurel, Mia and Rose Rollins but while filming they all hung out together all the time.

- Rachel talked about her new show “Children”, the British indie film that is coming out on December 5. She likes to do independent films and also would like to do some TV shows in England so she can be home and work at the same time, but it’s hard because there’s no job in England right now.

- She mentioned again to watch the first few minutes of episode 601 and don’t go to bathroom or do something else, because we will discover everything then. (Those who read spoilers already know what it means; for those who is staying spoiler-free this season I can only repeat: watch the teaser of episode 601, it will be shocking and revealing.)

- Question that is asked a lot: how do you prepare for sex scenes? Rachel joked that they all watched a lot of X-rated movies in their trailers and then they were like, “Let’s practice.” Then she said that to film a sex scene with a woman is the same as to film one with a guy or anything romantic. You have to develop feelings you don’t have and it doesn’t matter who is your partner in that scene.

- Talking about a teaser in season 5 when Helena and Bette had an imaginary fight/kissing scene, Rachel said it was fun to film. They were fighting on a sofa and Jennifer pushed her down and wouldn’t let her move, because she is so strong.

- When asked about best kisser on the show, Rachel laughed and said that they were all pretty good but Laurel is up there. Then she added that Alex would be upset if she finds out she said that.

- Working with Holland Taylor was great. She doesn’t take any sh** from anyone and sometimes she gets scripts and throws out what she doesn’t want to say, re-writes her lines and everyone agrees to her changes. She has a great presence and everyone on set loves when she comes to Vancouver to shoot her scenes. When someone asked if Peggy is back for season 6, Rachel said that she can’t tell what happens but the characters are talking about her.

- Sometimes she wants to do something different from her previous roles, maybe an action movie, be a Bond girl or something like that.

- Her role models and biggest inspiration among actresses are Julianne Moore and Rachel Griffiths from “Six feet Under”.

- Rachel is different than Helena but she is also persistent in the same way as Helena and it’s a good thing for an actress.

- Helena changed a lot during the seasons because she was first created to make trouble for Bette but that storyline wouldn’t go anywhere and in order to be a part of the group she had to adapt or she would always be a pariah. Helena had to change or there wouldn’t be any drama and she would stay a two-dimensional character.

- Rachel knows about fan fiction stories involving Bette and Helena or Belena and that’s why that teaser was made, to give some fans what they wanted.

- The basketball scene was fun to film, they practiced as a group but after that never went back to court. Then she mentioned that Bette’s jersey from the basketball scene will be auctioned later.

- Jail scenes were also fun to film, especially when Alice, Tina and Shane came to visit Helena in jail, when Peggy came and talked about family style, and when Pam Grier was acting like Foxy Brown.

- Someone asked about Helena kids and Rachel said that it’s like a long-running joke between the cast that a lot of things happen off camera (OC) and so many characters were introduced and then suddenly disappeared and nobody knows what happened to them. Kids grew much faster on the show than the filming is going and so they look much older, or the actors get other jobs and that’s was the reason that Holland Taylor couldn’t come back. As far as Helena’s kids, they talked about them in season 6 and basically they are gone to France with Winnie.

- The show completely changed her life and not just spending her time in Canada or LA, but the people she’d met and the friends she’d made. Even talking to fans during the photo shoots or hearing their life stories was worth it.

- Rachel said that she would love to be on a show like “My Fair Lady”, singing and making funny accents.

- Nobody in Rachel’s family is involved in the arts, so she didn’t have role models growing up, just movies she was always watching. She thought that she wouldn’t be able to make a living being an actress but she was persistent and finally became one.

- Something that Helena didn’t do but Rachel said that she would like to play Bette’s boss for a little bit in earlier seasons, because then she would really be in TiBette’s business.

- Rachel would love to see more British characters on the show, like more of Helena’s family, for example but it didn’t happen.

- What Helena will be remembered for? Rachel was thinking about this one and someone from the audience yelled, “She’s hot.” Rachel laughed and said, “Yes, for being hot and also for being an individual because The L Word is about a group of friends who are almost like a family, and even though Helena is a part of the group now, she is slightly on a periphery, she’s an individual. She’s involved but not totally absorbed.

- Rachel was asked about Jennifer Beals and she said that Jennifer is very intelligent and articulate.

- When they finished filming, the cast members had different wrap parties but mostly they just got drunk and danced. The cast also had a couple of dinners together and it was very emotional and tearful for them. They had worked together for so long and got really close and when things came to the end, people declared things that were not said before, they gave gifts to each other and it was beautiful and very emotional.

CONTINUED>>