With directorMark Williams’Blacklightnow playing in theaters, I recently spoke withEmmy Raver-Lampmanabout making theLiam Neesonaction thriller. If you haven’t seen the trailer,Blacklightstars Neeson as an FBI fixer who gets in way over his head after getting involved in a deadly conspiracy. Raver-Lampman plays a local reporter trying to hunt down the story. As you might expect, Neeson is forced to kick some ass. Written byNick Mayand Williams,Blacklightalso starsAidan Quinn(Elementary) andTaylor John Smith(Sharp Objects). The film was produced by Willams,Paul Currie,Myles Nestel,Alevé Loh, andCoco Xiaqlu Ma.
During the interview, Raver-Lampmantalks about getting to work with Neeson, why fans love watching him punch people in the face, basing the character on her father, and why she was okay with not being involved in the big action scenes. In addition, she talked aboutThe Umbrella AcademySeason 3, how the show has really found its tone, and the way the 3rd season has completely different energy. Finally, she also talked about why she loves being part ofCentral Parkon Apple TV+, and why the third season will be great.
Check out what she had to say below.
COLLIDER: I like throwing a curve ball at the beginning.
EMMY RAVER-LAMPMAN: Okay.
If someone has actually never seen anything that you’ve done, what is the first thing you want them watching and why?
RAVER-LAMPMAN: The first thing I want them to watch and why? If my mom still has it, I have quite a collection of home videos of me standing on my coffee table at home, in my childhood home, dancing and singing for anyone and whoever would watch. And I would want people to watch that, because that is the child that helped me grow into the woman that I am. My parents in moments like that knew that I had this love of music and this love of putting on a costume and being able to transform into somebody else and performing, and I never ever had any sort of stage fright. Those are really informative videos about how I have ended up where I’ve ended up. And just a glimpse into the past, there’s so much to learn from where people started.
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Which of your friends and family were the most excited when you booked a movie with Liam Neeson?
RAVER-LAMPMAN: I have a friend, Jonathan, who lives in New York, and we did my first professional theater show that I ever did in New York, Children of Eden at the Astoria Performing Arts Center. My friend, Jonathan, we’ve just always stayed in touch, and he is a lifelong friend from that experience, and when he saw the trailer forBlacklightcome out a couple weeks ago, he lost his mind. Because I had told him about it and he was so excited then, but then so much time passes between when you shoot a movie and when it comes out. So I posted the trailer on my Instagram and he immediately texted and was like, “Oh my God, you didn’t tell me you were the female lead of the movie with Liam Neeson.”
So I think he just was completely blown away just at the trailer, and how much in… I’m so grateful of, my face pops up a couple times in the trailer, which is so exciting. And so I was excited about that and he was just over the moon, because I think he has seen every Liam movie over and over and over again throughout his entire career. So he was definitely the most excited.
I love watching Liam kick ass on screen. He’s just great.
RAVER-LAMPMAN: Oh yeah.
Why do you think it is that people love watching Liam punch people in the face?
RAVER-LAMPMAN: Well, one, because I think he’s so good at it. And after working with him, he actually loves doing these stunts, and he works really, really hard with our stunt team and our fight coordinator. He also just has an incredible career of working specifically in this genre of action. He’s just so informed about how to be in a fight and how to fight on camera, and how to use weapons, and he’s just a master at that, and so he’s just so great at that.
But then he’s also really endearing and he’s an incredible actor. There’s also soul and this deeply grounded choices that are coming along with his incredible ability to pull off these stunts and perform them himself. I think it’s a combination of a lot of things, but I definitely think it’s the fact that he’s such an incredible actor, and he’s just really endearing as on camera and off.
He’s also just really talented at stunts. Stunts are not easy. I do a ton of stunts inThe Umbrella Academyand it’s a lot of work. It takes a lot of practice and diligence, and you’re working with people that are masters at this, and Liam is just incredible at it.
Were you happy or a little bit disappointed that you didn’t have to do more big action set pieces inBlacklight?
RAVER-LAMPMAN: I was excited to be an observer of the mayhem happening on screen for the first time. InUmbrella, I’m very much a part of it, and I’m constantly working with our stunt and fight coordinator, and training, and doing the wire work in and out of harnesses all the time. It was actually really nice to sit on the sidelines and be in and among all of the chaos, but it was just a different perspective of big action sequences that I haven’t really had the chance to be a part of watching it from the sidelines, as opposed to being the cause of it or being in the middle of it.
You play a reporter in this movie, is this one of these things where you actually attempt to research this and really get in your head space? Or you’re like, “I got this. I know I can play a reporter. I don’t have to research much.”
RAVER-LAMPMAN: The funny thing is, my dad was a journalist, so I grew up with a journalist as a parent. My dad still has mannerisms that are left over from his life as a journalist and as a reporter and as a writer. The way that he asks questions and the way that conversations go with my dad, it’s very much coming from a journalist perspective of getting the story and getting as much information as you can. I actually used my dad as a lot of my inspiration, which is why when I read the script and when I met with Mark, the director and the writer, and when I auditioned, it’s like I immediately felt connected to her because I just understand that mentality so profoundly because of my dad.
Like millions of people around the world, I am also a hugeUmbrella Academyfan.
RAVER-LAMPMAN: Oh, thank you.
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I interviewed Gerard Way before season one came out, and he told me that he gave Steve (Blackman)and Netflix his outlines for all the upcoming graphic novels that he was eventually going to write. How much did Steve and Netflix share with you that information, and how much are you guys finding it out script by script?
RAVER-LAMPMAN: They don’t share anything with us. They hold all of their cards really close to their chest. But I also think a little bit of that is by design, but I also think a little bit of that is because Steve is also wanting to pay homage to the source material and to Gerard and to the graphic novels. But I also think the show in and of itself and the actors that are brought into the show have a life of its own now at this point and are forging our own journey. So, we’re running adjacent to the graphic novels, but I don’t think Steve is beholden at all to the graphic novels, by needing it to be something that’s verbatim, it needing to reflect exactly what’s happening in the graphic novels and what’s happening on screen.
But I do know that Gerard and Steve are in constant communication. So, I don’t doubt that they both know what the other has ideas in what the other is thinking. I think there will always be a connection there, but the further we get intoThe Umbrella Academy, the TV show, I think it’s finding its own way. It’s finding its own route, which is exciting. I feel like we start every season and I never really have any idea where it’s going.
And more so this past third season more than any other season. I think the first season was pretty by the book and following the graphic novel because it’s a new show and wanting to establish itself and have the connective tissue to the graphic novel. Then the second season, we stepped out a little bit. This third season, we’re really, really doing our own thing, and I think the show has found some really cool plots to follow and explore.
Season two ended on this great cliffhanger. What was your reaction when you read that?
RAVER-LAMPMAN: I was just excited because it feels like there’s some epic rivalry that’s about to happen. And I thinkThe Umbrella Academy, they’ve never truly been matched before. They struggle and they have their moments, but that’s all exciting, and you never know if they’re going to rise to the top. But then they always do, and I don’t know that they’ve ever been matched in this kind of way where they’re staring at a different version of themselves. So, that is really, really exciting. I’m excited for everybody to see what happens there.
Have they given you any info as to when it might be on this year? I’m hoping this summer.
RAVER-LAMPMAN: I hope this summer because I want to see this season so badly. We’ve started doing ADR and it’s a massive season. There’s just a lot of work in post that has to be done, but the little snippets that I’ve seen so far when I’ve been working on ADR in the studio, it looks incredible and it looks so exciting, and it just has a completely different energy. So, for everybody’s sake, including my own, I really do hope it comes out this summer. I’m so ready to see it.
The thing withUmbrella, is that it’s obviously very heavy VFX. I’ve noticed that with Netflix, once you wrap, it is anywhere between 12 and 16 months that the show will then be streaming. It’s a big chunk of time to get all that stuff done.
RAVER-LAMPMAN: Yeah, and I also think, due to COVID, I think there is also a massive backlog of VFX and shows in post and needing to get out and get release dates and stuff. I think the 12 to 16 months is normal, especially for a show as big as ours that have so much VFX, but I also think you throw COVID into the mix and I think it’s adding a little bit more time than everybody would want. But I can assure you it will be worth it because I am really, really excited about this coming season.
You’ve read 30 scripts now forUmbrella Academy, how would you compare the season three scripts in scale and scope and what happens to the first 20 episodes?
RAVER-LAMPMAN: I think our show has really found its tone. That’s part because we’ve all been working on the show for so long together now. Also Steve and the writers really know how to write for the characters now, and they know how to write for Tom and me and David and Elliot and Aidan. They really understand…we all feel like we speak for these characters now and have a deeper understanding of them, and also of the universe that they exist in.
I think in parallel with the conversation about Gerard and the graphic novels and as the seasons go, the show finding its own voice, it’s also finding its tone and it’s finding just its sweet spot. This past season, this third season, we’ve really settled into to the Umbrella world. It was really exciting to film because it’s comforting in a way as an actor when you get to go back and reexamine every couple of years this character that now it’s like second nature. Allison has lived so easily in me when I am in Toronto and we’re working on the show, and everybody has fallen into this groove. The actors, and the writers, and the producers, and everybody that helps us make the show, our incredible crew, we’ve just really started to figure out, “Oh yeah, okay, we know how to make this show now,” which is really exciting.
I am also a really big fan ofCentral Parkon Apple TV. Josh Gad told me that, I think he said season three is his favorite yet with the best songs and he loves it. What can you tease about upcoming episodes of the show?
RAVER-LAMPMAN: I wish I could tease anything, but I will just double down on what Josh has said. The songs are… I thinkCentral Parkalso is another example of, in its third season is really finding its groove and really finding itself and its tone and its energy. And so are the actors, and so it’s really just been so incredible this past season too. Just the writing is so good and some of the songs are just incredible.
The mashups that are happening with characters, it’s good. There’s just great duets and great group numbers, and the solos are incredible, but I’ve just really enjoyed that whole process through. I just get so excited when I have, I had one yesterday, when I have a section forCentral Park. I just love that whole team and we just laugh all the time. Josh, because it’s all Zoom and COVID safe, Josh will pop on the Zoom and say hi and we’ll have some laughs and then get back to work. But it’s just been amazing working with this team. They’re really incredible, and they’re just geniuses, all of them.
I don’t think people realize how difficult it is to make a show like that, especially during COVID.
RAVER-LAMPMAN: Oh yeah. There’s a million moving parts. Right now we’re nearing the end of finishing season three, but I’m still going in because are constantly rewriting and they’re changing the animation and editing songs and moving things around. You’re constantly tweaking and working on stuff. But it’s just, I’m honestly in awe of the whole process and I’m just so grateful to be a part of it.
If someone has actually never heard any of the songs onCentral Park, and there are so many that are great, is there one that you think they should start with or an episode they should start with? Because I keep on trying to tell people to watch this show, and I’m just wondering if you want to have a recommendation to people.
RAVER-LAMPMAN: I feel like you just have to start at the top and go on the journey with this family. Because I think jumping into season two, you’re like, “Who is Bitsy? Who is Helen? What’s Shampagne?” It’s just all of it. I think just the way that they’ve unwrapped this world and this family and this community is just so smart. And the soundtrack, you may also just download that wherever you download music and listen to all of the songs separately. And they’re all bops in and of themselves. But I think paired with the show, I just think they’re brilliant. Everyone is artist at what they do. It’s hard to pick a favorite. I just think you have to start at the top. I think that’s the best place to start. Jumping in the middle, you’re going to miss some incredible things that happened in the beginning.
I am not arguing with this answer. On that note, I’m just going to say thank you so much for giving me your time.
