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Is there anything you can say about your character that we may not have seen yet?
[That you’re able to talk about]
Hmm… well, no. Eleanor is different.
She’s not exactly the person you’d want to have as your mother or your grandmother – or any relative –
or even in your house.
Eleanor goes through an evolution, shall we say, and that is not apparent in
this early stage. I don’t think I’m in this episode [episode 3] this coming Monday. The storyline
shifts from location to location, and if I remember correctly the storyline this time is shifting to… I’m not
going to tell you where, but another country. So I think that I’m not in this particular episode. Then I
come back, I think, in two episodes. But Eleanor is definitely not – all is not revealed as of yet about
Eleanor, let’s put it that way. You may think one thing, but it may be something else, and that’s all I
can say. The whole thing about Eleanor is really not revealed until episode thirteen.
Are you currently watching each episode as they air on television?
I am,
yes.
What are your thoughts so far on the show?
Well, we’ve already seen the pilot; we saw that at our wrap party. Then at our premier party we saw episode
thirteen. And then of course when we were allowed to read all the scripts, which we were not at first… once we
were allowed to read the scripts, then I read every script; started from the beginning and read all the way through thirteen.
There are no surprises for me except for the fact that editing has changed things. The last episode I was surprised
to see that the end of one of the scenes that I had done had been edited out, and I was surprised by that, but then I realized
that if they had left that in, even though we shot it, if they would have left it in it would have revealed too much.
So the only surprises for me is what’s left in or what’s edited out.
But to get back to
your question; I love this show, and I’m being completely unbiased, I love shows in that genre. And that’s
why I did the show; I love the genre, I love Eleanor – I think she’s so fascinating and I love where she
goes, and if there’s a second season I love where she will be going. I was a huge fan of ‘Lost’…
and the last episode – some people were disappointed, but I was thrilled – I just thought it was perfect.
But anyways, I was a huger fan of ‘Heroes’; I was watching ‘Heroes’ in September of 2008 and I remember
that because I was watching with family and I was looking at the role of Angela; Angela was the mother… it was a wonderful
role… a wonderful role for a [clears throat] mature actress. I was looking at that role and I said to my family
“If I could get a role like that; I would be interested in working again” because I was working here and there,
but not that interested because the roles were not that interesting. I never lost my passion for acting; I just simmered
for a while. By October of that same year I got this script and the audition – and by October I was in Mexico
shooting what I thought is very similar to the role of Angela in ‘Heroes’; I was thrilled. And I do love
the show; I think the show is brilliantly written… brilliantly created. Every time I read I script I would gasp
because the scripts read like novels, I would read them and think “My God, do they realize they’re writing for
television”. Television is really good, and I’ve made a great living from it, but this is a cut above.
Have you heard how the ratings are going so far?
No, I haven’t because I don’t follow ratings or read reviews. I read what the fans say because that’s
all that matters. Of course the ratings matter, but the fans create the ratings. I don’t bother reading
reviews; I probably should. I do read a lot of the threads on NBC.com and I read what the fans say. It’s
fun, it’s like being on a gossip line… it’s really fun to watch people try to figure it out.
What experiences are you going to take back with you from your time on the show?
All my experiences were really really good; it was tough because I commuted, and one of the directors said that
I had the best of both worlds by living at home, but work in Mexico. Mexico was great; being around all the people in
Mexico was really wonderful… just sensational people; I didn’t meet anybody who wasn’t truly friendly,
courteous and helpful. I loved the cast, but I didn’t work with everybody because my storyline is separate…
so I worked with Daisy of course, the little girl, Gerald Kyd, Mike Harney… so when you’re a character like that
and you’re outside the main storyline it’s real different. And then just being on the streets of Mexico
City; which was so crowded… there was never a moment you weren’t shoulder to shoulder in crowds. Then our
trailers would be parked, they tried to find some place removed from the crowd, but you couldn’t because there wasn’t
a place. A couple of times I had to go out… I was shooting the telephone scene from last week… so I was
in a bathrobe and a night gown and slippers. I had to come out of my trailer in the middle of the day with my escort,
and just be there working my way through crowds in my bathrobe. That was pretty funny.
What else are you currently working on?
Well, I don’t know yet. I’m working
on a number of things that I can’t talk about, but it’ll be on my website [leepurcell.com]. They will be announced as I’m able to announce them.
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