Kace's Interview: Rachel Shelley by Kace Evers Excerpted for L-word.com ------------ What?s Up?! This is Kace and it is a pleasure to have with me at this time someone who is very well known and has an increasing fan base by the day. She is known as Helena Peabody on the The L Word, and she also has a movie coming out and her name is Rachel Shelley. Rachel--welcome to the program!

Rachel: Thank you Kace. Pleasure to be here.

Kace: You?ve got the The L Word coming up and we are going to ask you about Season 4 here in just a bit. But first, you?ve got a movie coming out called Gray Matters. If you can, just tell me a little bit about the movie and what it is all about.

Rachel: Gray Matters is a romantic comedy and the star of that is Heather Graham, and it is about her discovery of her sexuality. It is very funny. It has Alan Cumming in it, as well, and Bridgette Moynihan, and it is a fun romantic comedy set in New York.

Kace: You mentioned Alan Cumming, another The L Word person in Season 3 as Billy Blaikie, and Heather Graham. There is also Bridgette Moynihan, Molly Shannon, Sissy Spacek all in this movie. Such an all-star cast. What was it like working with all these people?

Rachel: Molly Shannon, did you mention her? She is great. She is so funny, Molly Shannnon. Sissy Spacek, who I never met, again great. She is very, very funny. It is a very funny film. It is good fun film.  

Kace: It should be coming out, I believe, in February, if I am not mistaken.

Rachel: Yes, that is what I am told, yeah February. I am really keen to see it over here and in England, as well. I can?t wait for it to come out over here. I think it comes out here in the spring.

Kace: And when it does come out, you and I have got to talk again more about this movie because I am looking forward to it. Here is the thing about fans of The L Word. We become such devoted fans of the show and the people in the show that anytime they are in anything else we immediately flock to it.

Rachel: Good. That is what we like to hear. We love that. Did you see Mia (Kirshner) in Black Dahlia?

Kace: Yes I did. Very nice.

Rachel: She was amazing wasn?t she? She was fantastic in that.

Kace: Mia is awesome. She is someone else I want to talk to sometime down the road ? So how did you wind up on the show (The L Word)?

Rachel: I have a manager in LA, like I said, I am based in London but I have been going to LA ? I started going to LA initially, I did a film called Lagaan, which was a big Bollywood (editor?s note: India?s version of Hollywood) film. It was one of the biggest Bollywood films ever made, and it was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film in 2001. So I went to LA with that film, got a manager, and then just started doing, you know, auditioning every now and then in LA. But ultimately with The L Word I was back in London and was asked to put myself on tape, so I did my audition in a friend?s living room one Saturday morning, a bit hung over, and sent it off to LA. A few days later they called me and said you are coming over to screen test and if you get the job you are not going back to London for four months, and I was like, ?What!? I just packed a small hold-all and did not go back to London for ages. I was sent straight up to Vancouver.

Kace: So does that mean that automatically whenever you show up to play the role of Helena you have to be a little tipsy at the time or was that just a one-time thing?

Rachel: No. It is funny though. We actually shot something recently, it was very funny. We shot something recently where I ? they said that the timing was going to be in the evening, and I was ?Well I think I should have a drink then. I should be knocking back a drink.? And I have been told that they changed it now so that it is going to be set in the morning. So Helena is going to look like an alcoholic slugging back whiskey first thing in the morning.

Kace: Well don?t worry, that is still sexy, so don?t worry. It is okay.

Rachel: Yeah, maybe it?s apple juice!

Kace: The Helena character that you have portrayed has had some interesting pairings since showing up in season two. There was Helena and Tina, played by Laurel Holloman. There was the brief affair or relationship with Leigh Ostin played by Cobie Smulders, who has gone on to How I Met Your Mother, and in Season 3 there was the Dylan and Helena relationship affectionately known as Dylana, with Alexandra Hedison. Were you ever comfortable getting into those really romantic scenes, especially the ones with Dylan because they seemed a little intense?

Rachel: They were intense with Alex. But she and I really clicked very well.  She has now become a great friend of mine, and we really clicked very quickly, and we were both as comfortable as you can be doing those scenes. You know, it is always going to be bit uncomfortable, but I think we worked well together, and I feel like I have been very, very lucky with all my on screen partners--with Laurel as well. I felt very comfortable with Laurel immediately and I am very good friends with Laurel, too, who plays Tina. I have been very lucky. There is always going to be some sense of feeling uncomfortable when you shoot scenes which involve some nudity. Obviously you are going to feel vulnerable. You feel self conscious, but the role of the actor is to sort of overcome that and play a different intention and not play your discomfort. You have to leave that behind. They can be uncomfortable. If you working with great people--which we are lucky enough to do on the show (and that is not just cast but crew too)... We have a lot of fun on the set, but we also have very respectful crew who, when we do those scenes, do their best to make me feel comfortable, and so it works well. 

Kace: Now with other people that I have interviewed in the past that have been associated with The L Word,  from Elizabeth Ziff to Ilene Chaiken, who I got to interview a few months back, that was a really fun interview...

Rachel: Good for you. I didn?t realize she gave that many interviews.

Kace: You know, it was actually a funny interview because at the time she was in the middle of dealing with downtown Vancouver traffic, and she was calling me from her cell phone.

Rachel: She was driving?

Kace: Yea, and she was driving at the time, so I made sure not to ask her any really annoying questions. Except for the one about ?Why Dana?? I did ask her about that, but after that I kind of kept it to myself. I will be honest with you, there are a lot of people who are still kind of bummed out about the whole thing the way Season 3 ended with Helena and Dylan breaking up and the way that whole thing turned out with the Shane and Carmen wedding fiasco and Dana dying. Did you particularly like the way Season 3 ended, or do you think it kind of helped set things up for Season 4 better?

Rachel: For my character or personally? If I deal with Helena first, I mean I obviously always knew that was where the story was going. I knew that Helena?s relationship with Dylan was going in that direction. I know it is not reassuring for an audience when couples break up all the time, but that is the essence of drama. I know that a lot of fans are always trying to get Bette and Tina back together, and that is what they want, but that is what is so fantastic about the show is that we never know whether they are going to get back together or not. You never know. It is the journey that you take that is the drama that creates the drama and creates the fascination and brings people back to watch again and again. I think with Dylan and Helena I thought that was a great story line and something that does happen. Ilene mentioned names to me of people where this thing has actually happened to. It is a fascinating story and that is what creates good television, something that is quite extreme and dramatic. For me as well, Helena at the end to be disinherited, at the end of Season 3, again was a great thing to happen to the character and gave her some much scope for Season 4, which obviously I cannot tell you too much about, but it gives a great scope and a great range when you see a character under pressure in different situations. It is amazing.

When it comes to the story line of Dana, I mean the dramatic effect of that,  again,  is incredible. In fact, I have just been given the new Season 3, which is relatively new out in DVD, and I have been watching it again. I think it is so sad that we lose Erin Daniels as a regular cast member because she was beautiful, funny, she is so smart, and she is so talented, and that is really hard, but for a story line, it is an amazing story line. The performances that she gives and that Leisha gives as Alice, especially, and Lauren who plays Lara, are amazing and great television. Incredibly sad to see a character die, but you know as everyone knows, it actually does happen, and that is what makes it all the more compelling and all the more personal.

Kace: You mentioned there are a lot of fans who are hoping that Bette and Tina get back together. I don?t know if you are aware of this, but at some of the message, some of the The L Word message boards, there are actually a group of people who are shipping, as they are called, shipping for the idea of Helena and Bette getting together. It is called ?

Rachel: Helena and Bette. That is quite funny.

Kace: Yeah, the Belena movement I think they are called. I just want to get your reaction to the idea of those two characters ever hooking up hypothetically or otherwise.

Rachel: That is a funny idea. I think after my first season, Season 2, the whole angle of a Helena was the nemesis of Bette as she is an alpha female ? and I can see that that would be especially in Season 2 Helena with Bette would be quite incredible. But I think a lot happens to Helena ,and I don?t know whether it is quite such an interesting idea now because for what she is about to go through and how she is changing, Helena I am talking about, is changing so much. Bette is changing an awful lot as well. She goes through the whole meditation and Buddhism. I don?t know. They are quite different. I can see when two alpha females prowling each other.  I can see that that would be a very hot combination. But now I am not so sure. Maybe then it is not about characteristics. Maybe for a lot of people it is just about aesthetics and they would like to see Bette and Helena together. I don?t know.

Kace: Well, don?t worry. There is a fan fiction story that I did that had Helena hooking up with Tonya, so what do I know, right?

Rachel: Oh really. That is interesting.

Kace: Played by Meredith McGeachie.

Rachel: Yeah, Meredith. Oh that makes me laugh. Where is that?

Kace: It is called ?The Mythical Season 3.5.? You can actually find it in the fan fiction section at l-word.com. Or if you want to I will be more than happy to e-mail it to you, typos and all. http://fanfiction.l-word.com/story/17265/page1.html

Rachel: Okay, that would be good. I would like to read that. That would be funny and I would actually pass it on to Meredith.

Kace: Okay. Well I appreciate that.

Rachel: Really, that would be good.

Kace: One more question before we go here, and that is Season 4 coming out January 7, 2007 on Showtime 10:00 pm eastern. I sound like a promo guy now. You can tell I work in radio. What can we expect, without being too spoilerish, what can we expect for Season 4 because I know we got a character returning, we got new characters coming in, and of course you?re in there. What can we expect?

Rachel: Season 4 is going to be full of surprises I think, full of huge surprises. For my character, there are huge surprises. A lot of comedy I think. It is going to be a lot of fun especially the first few episodes. Very funny. There is a lot of laughter, and we had a lot of fun shooting it actually. I am trying to think of all the different ? there are so many different story lines. I think Cybil Shepard is really going to make people laugh. She was so much fun and is so lively, and she is very, very funny and a great actress, as well. That is going to make everyone laugh. I am trying to think of all the different story lines. Everyone as always has big drama going on, big laughs, lots of sex, lots of fun. It is going to be an exciting season.

Kace: I think a lot of the fans like that lots of sex part there, and I don?t just mean the guys. I am actually come to discover that there are actually a lot more female fans, straight female fans, who are a lot more perverted about the pairings than I am, so ?.

Rachel: I know, I know. I hear that a lot, I hear that a lot. Like straight women saying to me, ?Well I am straight, but the girl who plays Shane?.? You get that all the time. She is like incredibly, incredibly popular, especially with the straight girls. It is very interesting. But there is a lot of sex. I have to say there is a lot of sex going on for everyone. 

Kace: And there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

Rachel: No, we all love that, we all love that. It is great.

Kace: Well, Rachel darling, I thank you very much for hanging out with me for a few minutes and we are definitely looking forward to Season 4 of The L Word in January and also Gray Matters in theaters in February. And come February, we have got to talk again so we can talk more about the movie.

Rachel: Okay, great. I would love to do that. I would love to do that. I think it is going to be a very fun movie. It is a good sort of date movie. It is fun. There is music and there is a lot of laughter in that film. I think it will surprise a lot of people as well.