ScreenAnarchy Talks Terminal City With Maria Del Mar

Actress Maria Del Mar is a well familiar face on the Canadian landscape. From her debut in the long running and hugely acclaimed television drama Street Legal Del Mar has been one of the most respected actors working in my native land. And though people outside Canada may not immediately recognize the name a good lot of you will recognize the face thanks to a major recurring role in 24 as well as major guest spots on Frasier, Monk, and a host of others.

Del Mar's latest effort is the made for cable, ten episode series Terminal City, in which she plays Katie Samson, a woman just diagnosed with breast cancer who becomes host of a failing hospital-set reality TV show when a chance encounter with the crew strikes a chord with the viewing audience. Part drama, part satiric comedy Terminal City boasts a strong cast - Gil Bellows is in as Del Mar's husband and the remaining cast members sport lengthy resumes as well - that explores questions of mortality and media saturation.

TB: Let’s start with a bit about your background.

MDM: Sure.

TB: Obviously the big early role would have been Street Legal [a long running, heavily awarded Canadian legal drama].

MDM: That’d be it. My introduction to the world of TV.

TB: What was your background before that? How did you get involved in acting?

MDM: Childhood dream. Denial, denial, denial. Frustration. Moved to Toronto. Boom. How’s that? [laughs] I grew up in Ottawa, the youngest of six kids. Born in Spain. I think – well, I know – that my parents had aspirations more along the doctor / lawyer / engineer path and I detoured from that path in a big, fat, hairy way and ended up in Toronto trying to convince somebody to take me on as a talent. And I never looked back.

TB: Now, you’ve done the bulk of your work in Canada. Has that been a choice of yours? Have you taken a run at LA? You’ve had some good guesting roles in the US.

MDM: Oh, yeah. I did Dreamworks’ first pilot and some recurring roles and a movie with Jimmy Smits. The variety and quality of work that’s available in the States is brilliant. Unfortunately, because we are a smaller market, we’re more limited in what we do up here but by choice I’m living mostly here because of my children. I’d rather raise my children here if given the choice.

TB: You talked a bit about the variety available in the States. The movement of Canadian talent to the US has become a bit of a pet issue of mine lately. I’m a big fan of a lot of the HBO shows …

MDM: Oh, understandably …

TB: … and I’m still a little bitter that they cancelled Carnivale but HBO is really poaching a lot of Canadian talent. And on one hand it’s great that Podeswa and Molly Parker and people like that are able to get really good work but it’s really frustrating to see so many talented people forced to leave the country if they want to make a living.

MDM: Absolutely. Well, you know, I won’t jump on that train because I’ll go on ad nauseam. Given my druthers I would … again, it’s all a reflection of the size of the country that we live in, the money that’s available for production. It limits the choices here while they’ve got the plethora of projects going on there and the quality can be absolutely brilliant. It can be absolutely atrocious, too, but because there’s that much more money available for producing the results are what you see. But I’m tremendously proud of this new show and, maybe I’m misled but I like to think that Terminal City is of a quality that it should be noticed. But we’ll get back to that … I too have had to go to the US to look for work.

TB: Yes, you were one of the long line of Canadian women on 24.

MDM: Right. [laughs]

TB: I have to wonder … is Kiefer pulling strings on that? [For those who don’t know, Kiefer Sutherland is Canadian]

MDM: I don’t know. I don’t think it was him that pulled my string. I went in for an audition for another character, actually, and they brought me back to play a character that was more substantial. I don’t think it’s Kiefer, necessarily per se, I think the producers involved, like Jon Cassar, are aware of the talent pool that they can draw from here. We’re nameless faces to the majority of people in the industry and the audience in the States but we’re a group of actors who … look, if we’ve lasted this long, if we’ve gotten to this age, it’s because we’ve had a lot of work along the way and been able to keep our own. I think they know that and they get to draw from it.

TB: I looked up your credits on the IMDB today, at some of your guest starring roles, and you have worked with some very fun people.

MDM: Right.

TB: And if you had to pick, let’s pick one of Kelsey Grammar, Tony Shaloub, Kiefer Sutherland, William Shatner or Kyle MacLachlan.

MDM: Wow. Yummy, huh? And don’t forget Gil Bellows.

TB: Oh, we’re getting to him.

MDM: Okay. Let me see … Jimmy Smits was a dream. A complete gentleman: courteous, pleasant, professional. Kyle MacLachlan was simply dreamy. Let me see … who else did we mention?

TB: Kelsey Grammar, Tony Shaloub …

MDM: Ah! Okay, Kelsey Grammar is brilliant. Just brilliant.

TB: He’s been so typecast. I think he’s capable of a lot more than he’s ever been allowed to show.

MDM: I agree, but that’s the plight of an actor. I agree with you one hundred percent. The man is brilliant. Tony Shaloub is inspirational. He and I giggled … I suddenly turned into a seven year old kid caught in class doing something naughty and was not able to stop myself from laughing. And he did the same thing, we were just cracking up. I had so much fun doing that show because it was just so wacky and silly. That was a blast.

I’ve also done things with Rob Lowe, Dolly Parton – I did a Christmas movie while I was in LA with Dolly Parton and Malcolm MacDowell – who else … James Spader, The Pentagon Papers. Alfre Woodard in my first TV gig. I’ve been really blessed.

TB: Do you ever get kind of star struck? Get put in to something and just say ‘I can’t believe I’m here doing this’?

MDM: Well, yeah, and what’s worse is I think, “Oh my God, they’re going to call me on my bluff! They’re going to find out I can’t do this!” And then you speak to them and get to know them and they’re scared of the same thing!

TB: On to Terminal City … watching the beginning of that I was reminded how the specialty networks are really stealing a lot of the thunder from traditional broadcasters these days. How much would you say HBO has changed the way the business works today? Because I don’t think Terminal City gets made if not for the success of the recent crop of HBO shows.

MDM: Well thank God they did, number one, because I think for so long we’ve been watching TV that underestimates the intelligence of the viewing public, their tastes. So if HBO broke the ground for other TV networks to raise the bar, then kudos to them. And hopefully we’ll all learn from them.

I think things happen in waves, right? And thank God that this happened because if I had to watch another reality TV show I’d throw myself off my second floor balconey and that’d be messy.

TB: One of the things that struck me about this, and most of the other premiere shows right now – something that the CBC doesn’t seem to get at all, but that the BBC does, and that HBO does – is that they’ve become successful by doing shorter run, really auteur based projects. Just letting someone with a really sharp vision create something and run with it until it reaches its natural conclusion and then stopping.

MDM: Very observant, thank you very much. You’re absolutely right. I think a lot of the problem with TV, especially in Canada, is that generally the writer is not given power to see through their vision. And so by the time twenty five producers get involved, they all have to pee in the pot to put their stamp on the project and the vision is watered down. The difference now in the States is that if you’re the writer chances are you’re one of the producers because you’re the one with the vision. This is the gig that was sold. Why are you going to vary from that when that’s the reason why it’s being made? Apparently somebody liked it. So I think that’s a power that should be given out more frequently in Canada, the power to see the vision through to its conclusion.

I also think, when we speak of the BBC, that whether it was Cracker or Prime Suspect, the characters are flawed; they’re real; they’re robust; they’re multi-dimensional. And that’s why I liked playing Katie Samson in this so much, she is flawed. She’s irreverent, she’s at times in tremendous denial or completely self absorbed, but she’s real and she’s not just a mom, and not just a woman with breast cancer and not just the neighbor who lives in the pretty house.

TB: What can you tell me about Angus Fraser [the creator and writer of Terminal City]?

MDM: What would you like to know about him?

TB: Well, all that I’m familiar with from his earlier work is Kissed but from what I’m reading this show is pretty much his baby.

MDM: It’s pretty much his baby, his vision, and he saw it through to fruition. I was familiar with Kissed as well, and I’ll be brutally honest – as I’ve been with him – and say I wasn’t a tremendous fan of that movie. So I didn’t take Terminal City on because of the success of Kissed, I took it on because in its own right it was brilliantly written. So I think this is a man with a very clear vision and a man who wants to raise the bar and has a great respect for the viewing audience and, hence, feeds them something that’s a little more than pablum.

TB: You’ve already mentioned the breast cancer element of this show and there seems to be a lot of willingness to deal with mortality themed things in television and film right now. Do you think that’s a reaction to the current political climate? Are we starting to question ourselves a little bit more?

MDM: You know, if you’re talking specifically about breast cancer I think it’s coming to light because the statistics are pretty shocking. I also think that we’re going into that territory and we’re exploring those subject matters because we know how to do it in a way that’s a little better than the way it used to be done, in other words all those trite, overly earnest movies of the week that manipulate you to have a box of Kleenex sitting beside you from beginning to end. I think we’re all tired of that. And I think that’s why you have shows that are based around something like a funeral home or around breast cancer that are presenting it in a different light. Sure, there are moments that are very surreal but life is too long and too bizarre to have it maintain the same note of intensity or earnest, tear jerking moments from beginning to end of a movie. It’s a roller coaster ride. It’s funny. People have to have a sense of humor. There’s no point in trying to run to make it to the finish line.

TB: How do you as an actress come in to something like this? I mean between the title and the cancer element it’s pretty clear that things aren’t going to end well for you.

MDM: Well, you don’t know that.

TB: Maybe not for sure, but there’s a fighting chance.

MDM: Well, right. It’s breast cancer so we don’t know what’s going to happen. And, by the way, I hate the title. Angus knows that, but I dislike the title because people make assumptions when they hear the title, as you did, so I’m not big on the title. But what was the question again?

TB: Just how do you approach working with subject matter like this, when you know going in that this is going to be difficult territory?

MDM: Right. Nervously. Trepidatiously. And a bit terrified. And also very excited to tread those waters that I’ve never explored before. I was so determined to get this part, I’ve never wanted a part like I wanted this one. On the other hand, once I got it I became suddenly terrified at the thought of playing Katie Samson because this is the one time that I’ve had the opportunity to play a character that is so multi dimensional. Terminal City, the series, explores so many facets of this one character. It explores her as a woman, as a wife, as a mother, as a reality TV host and different various fantasy sequences that vary from that theme. And usually, above and beyond the age of twenty six, female characters are not written so beautifully, so flawed and yet multi layered.

TB: One of the things I found really interesting about the show, and I haven’t gotten that deep into it yet, is the way that it really tried to balance real, legitimate characters with some strong satire. The whole reality TV thing … it’s pretty clear that you guys don’t like reality TV all that much …

MDM: [laughs] What actor would?

TB: The show is really poking at this urge people have to take things that really should be fairly private and personal and smear them all over in public.

MDM: Right. Well, you know, it’s that fascination with fame. Fifteen minutes of fame or glory. Reality TV does really strange things to people because suddenly they take their most intimate secrets or moments and, like you said, feel obliged to spill it out there and make complete asses of themselves. On the other hand you really have to wonder how much reality goes into reality TV with so many producers, directors and writers on a reality TV show. It’s a manipulation, no matter how you slice it. They pick and choose what you’re going to see and they manipulate you with that just like any other TV production. You hear people conversing about reality TV shows and what their favorite is and this character is this, and that character is that, and as much as, as an actor, I’m paid to play a part that may not represent who I truly am the audience is just as manipulated by the producers and directors of a reality TV show when they expose a moment that may not represent them as a whole, just taking one isolated incident and blowing it up as if it’s the entire character of this human being. There’s a very big gray area between the black and white of drama and reality.

TB: You mentioned Gil earlier, and everybody sees him and just thinks, “Oh, it’s the guy from Ally McBeal,” …

MDM: Or The Shawshank Redemption …

TB: He’s another guy that I think hasn’t really had the chance to show a lot of depth and this really put him in a different light for me. What was he like to work with?

MDM: Brilliant. Brilliant. He is such a clever, bright man. A very bright man and so involved in the project and he pays it so much respect. Not for a second did his attention or interest or devotion to the project wane. And in that, what you do as the lead or most recognizable element in a show, is that you elevate everybody else’s devotion to the show, too. He set the standard, and he set a standard that was really quite awe-inspiring.

TB: You mentioned earlier that Angus writes really good roles for women and that doesn’t happen very much these days, and looking through the notes on the show it appears that eight of the ten episodes are also directed by women.

MDM: Correct!

TB: That’s very unusual so I have to assume that was a deliberate choice.

MDM: You know, I think it was a deliberate choice. I think because of the nature of the series and what my character has to go through they were going to try to make it as comfortable and safe as they possibly could for me. Which is funny because I’ve worked with very, very few female directors in my life so I didn’t really know what that meant other than, “Great! Bring on the chicks!” I’m the first to jump in line to support my fellow females and it was a very interesting choice because we had such brilliant directors involved and they were so significantly different from one another, so varied. It was brilliant. And we also had a male director, who was brilliant as well. It was almost as if the gods were smiling down on us and hand chose the directors for the episodes they were handling because it couldn’t have worked out any better. Each director was very specifically right for the episodes they ended up directing.

TB: It was a pretty compressed shooting schedule, does that make it difficult jumping from director to director while working with the same material?

MDM: I don’t know if you’d classify it as difficult. I think of it more as a new adventure we would embark on and it takes a bit to know how they work and, of course, for them it takes a while to see how you work, but inevitably you find your pace and your rhythm and carry on. By the end of the first two episodes we already had a rhythm going as far as the task goes, and relationships that were set, so I think it was probably scarier for them to jump on board knowing that we didn’t know them, and we’d already been there for x amount of time, and they had to get to know us as individuals, as actors, as well as the characters. I think they probably had a tougher time than we did.