Co-Creator/Series Director John Fawcett talks to The Inside Reel abot tone, characterization, build, parallels and differences in regards to his new series continuing the Orphan Black universe: "Orphan Black - Echoes" on AMC.
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00:00I'm in danger, and I think you might be too.
00:17This is part of something bigger than you can possibly understand.
00:25I'm going to get some answers.
00:26You going to help me or what?
00:32And it's interesting, especially, you know, going from directing Orphan Black Regular
00:38to directing Echoes because of the way it sort of transmuted.
00:42Did you have to come in with a different mindset or psychology because it's different?
00:46Obviously what Kristen is doing is completely different than what Tatiana did.
00:51Could you talk about that and finding the right tone within, you know, your directing
00:56and within the series to make it your own, but also make it feel like Orphan Black still?
01:01Well, listen, that started like back, you know, with Anna Fishko, you know, in the creation
01:07of the show, the concept.
01:10There was always a discussion about like, hey, listen, it's really, really hard to compete
01:15with the original show.
01:17Like that show is special.
01:19Tatiana was special.
01:21Like we can't, you know, we can call it part of the Orphan Black universe, but we, you
01:28know, we can't just make a copy.
01:31We can't just go and make a copy of the original show.
01:34So it was always in my mind that we had to do something different.
01:37We had to take a different approach, a different, you know, do something very different so that
01:42it feels like it shares DNA, like we can put Easter eggs, we can put characters, we can
01:49see what some of, you know, the original show, what's happening in the, you know, 30 years
01:55in the future.
01:56But ultimately, it wants to look and feel different.
01:59Like I just didn't really, I felt like it's better to judge this show on its own merits
02:04rather than compare it to the original, which everyone's going to do anyway.
02:10Like they're just going to go, well, it's not Tatiana and it's not the original show.
02:14It's a difficult situation to be in.
02:16So, but, you know, when we were making the original Orphan Black, it was always about
02:22like, what do people, what do we think people expect?
02:27And when we have a sense of what people expect, then we know what not to do.
02:32And so that was, it was always about where's the bar, how do we, how do we exceed the bar
02:38yet do something that people aren't expecting?
02:42Hi.
02:43My name is Lucy.
02:47I like spaghettios, long walks on the beach, and I have an almost pathological desire to
02:57avoid talking about the past.
02:59It's not meant as a criticism at all, John, it's just a, it's a way that you have to approach
03:12it.
03:13I mean, because obviously, you know, because humor was always part of the Orphan Black
03:16universe, you know, and the fact of how Lucy operates, the way Jules operates as a variety,
03:23and then the Eleanor situation, you have to sort of play it in.
03:26So, but it's that balance between the humor and the drama and the dread, you know, and
03:31that comes down to tonally, visually what you're putting on screen, but also how you're
03:36directing the actors.
03:37Can you sort of talk about that and finding that balance, you know, with all your experience
03:42over the years and knowing how that's done?
03:44Listen, you know, like, I think that the show feel like Graham Manson and myself had a very
03:51specific chemistry and a very specific, like the way we put our personalities together
03:59that created the original Orphan Black.
04:02So there's a lot of humor because Graham's like, Graham has a difficult time writing
04:07things that are just serious all the time.
04:09Like he loves adding idiotic lines and hilarious character things and weird situations.
04:16Like he was the one that came up with the tail cutting in the original first season,
04:21which we all thought was weird and hilarious.
04:25And but this has a, you know, Anna and I have a very different chemistry.
04:28And so the show maybe isn't, you know, and Anna would be the first one to say, like,
04:33Anna's like, I want to make it funny, but like the subject matter isn't kind of lending
04:38itself to the same humor and tone.
04:43Today, we are changing the world.
04:47I need to talk to you about our project.
04:50I think she's in danger.
04:56Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the greater good.
05:04I think I may have done something terrible.
05:08People that are looking for me are dangerous.
05:12With her background, I mean, obviously with Tyrant and Colony, that's a completely different
05:17sort of political aspect.
05:19Not that the original didn't have that.
05:21But how do you find sort of the blending of where did you find the blending of where you
05:25two sort of met?
05:27I think we, you know, it was just we developed this over a couple of years during the pandemic.
05:35We'd meet up on Zoom.
05:36I never actually met her in person until we were literally making the show.
05:40And I would bring my stuff to it and she would bring her stuff to it.
05:43And it was kind of like it became a kind of an amalgamation of the two of us.
05:49And I'm always pushing for like, you know, let's like let's find the characters that
05:55have the humor.
05:57And hers is, you know, pushing along thematic, the thematic love story angle.
06:04And so it was it's a very different it just becomes its own thing.
06:09And I'm really proud of our our our collaboration together.
06:14I have to figure out who I am.
06:18Sorry, do we know each other?
06:19Don't think so.
06:23I think she's me.
06:34This isn't going to end well.