Actor Samaire Armstrong got her start on “The O.C.,” “Entourage,” and “Freaks and Geeks.” Her latest role as Elaine Richards on “Resurrection,” an ABC show about loved ones returning from the dead, has her exploring new emotional arcs with the help of some spiritual guidance in a medium she loves.
On being part of “Resurrection.”
“[People coming back from the dead] is something that hasn’t happened, but it feels like it could. It resonated with [director Charles McDougall] and we all had the same response: It seems possible. Filming in another state also takes the normal reality away and forces you to use your imagination a bit more.”
On getting into character.
“I make my friends read for me…. I’m a visual learner; that way, when I get in the room it’s about the moment and the essence of this scene. I used to have to light a candle and chill out and put music on, but I remember for a couple of auditions, I’ve driven with loud music and just been free.”
On the big versus small screen.
“My illusion coming into this career when I was 18 was that the big screen was where it was at. There’s some sort of magic in a screening. I’ve had that opportunity, but for some reason—I think it has something to do with familiarity—people like me in their living room.”
On her character’s changes over the course of the show.
“Last season was initially a lot more emotional. As far as Elaine’s arc, she’s at a peaceful stage. Her dad was a screwup but [she’s] going to keep going. It’s easy to attach to emotional arcs and journeys now that she’s at this balanced place…. It’s like going back to that Clint Eastwood–type acting—it’s just coming through the eyes, not so much shaking of the head or the body movement. Once, [my director] gave me an interesting note; he said, ‘Sometimes you’re a tube of toothpaste with too many holes.’ I try to remember that with my specific job—some you can have too many holes, but this one, I like to have one and just come out directly.”
On coming to her character Elaine Richards.
“There’s so much involved [in] a role becoming yours—part of it is your doing, part of it is fate. I had done a recruiting on ‘The Mentalist.’ I wanted to find a good show, I wanted to be part of a show that was my own. ‘The Mentalist’ treated me like family, but I was a guest star; it made me hungry for a show of my own. I had a spiritual guide [to whom] I go to seek advice, and he gave me this cool mantra: I am open to such and such. He told me to say, ‘I’m open to a good show,’ so that on a molecular level you bring it to your life. A lot of it was also being in the right place at the right time. My managers and agents were really looking for something [I could] sink my teeth into.”
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