Hellter Interviews Natasha Henstridge (Species films, Medinah, The Secret Circle)!!
Gruemonkey is so happy to bring to our Grue-Lings the legend herself Natasha Henstridge (The Species Alien). Natasha is a Canadian actress who is best known to fans as Sil, the alien from Species films. She won a MTV award for that role. She mad Aliens look so sexy. You wouldn’t mind dying if she was the killer. She did episodes for The Outer Limits and Saturday Night Live. She was in The Whole Nine Yards and The Whole Ten Yards as Cynthia, It Had to be You as Anna Penn, Ghost of Mars as Lieutenant Melanie Ballard, Species 1 to 3 as Sil, The Secret Circle tv series as Dawn Chamberlain, and Medinah tv series as Salma. She is a icon in entertainment. Please welcome Natasha Henstridge:
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HELLTER: A film I really enjoyed that you did is Home Invasion. I was worried it would be a typical home invasion film and I wanted to avoid it but I gave it a chance and the film really stands out. How did you, David, and the rest of team make this film stand out?
NATASHA: David Tennant had a very, very strong vision and instead of just looking at it as another job and not really caring–you know everybody always wants to do a good job–but I think he was very dedicated to making the characters very specific. Even in terms of look. Even the invaders themselves and the choices of costumes that he came up with. He was digging deep into the characters and trying to add layers instead of ‘Woman in home. Protecting child. Break in happens’. And really just trying to come up with some layers there. I have to give a lot of credit to David for that. Just being a very visual director, too, I think he just had a really good eye for the look of the film. I didn’t feel that I looked so great in the movie, but I guess in a traumatic situation, you shouldn’t look good. But I thought the look of the film as a whole and the pictures–He’s just sort of very visual and I think that’s where some of the layering comes from. And I think as actors, we all try to find a little bit more depth to whatever it is we are doing. He and I certainly spoke about the film a lot and we sort of went back and forth about my son and if he was my biological son. [We questioned whether] I would have the same sort of needs and desires to take care of him if he wasn’t. And then we came up with the arc of him not being my biological son and that it was a little bit of a difficult situation, initially, and that kind of gave me an arc. There were some changes that were made leading up to shooting and that made it really interesting.
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HELLTER: You are a strong powerful woman and it show’s when you get into these amazing characters. It seems like you love playing Strong Women and you rock at it.
NATASHA: I do love to play a strong woman. I’m not gonna deny that. I am drawn to those characters, for sure. But I think it’s a combination between me being drawn to those roles and those roles being drawn to me. I think that people probably see an aspect of me that is strong and I think in some ways, it seems like–it’s very hard to see a woman, for instance, that is playing a cop and taking down the bad guy and can’t hold a gun. If you just don’t believe it–and not every woman, no matter how great of an actor they are–they don’t always have the physicality for it or the confidence or whatever that is. That kind of commanding presence. And I think I’m lucky in some ways to have some of that, which I think has been very helpful for me in garnering those kinds of roles, at times. I’ve been very lucky in that way.
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HELLTER: You are a strong woman. No doubt about that. I love those roles you play. One of my favorite horror tv series is The Secret Circle. I loved that show so much. I rank that right up there with Charmed for Witch shows. I was crushed when it was cancelled after season 1. So many questions left unanswered. If a network or Netflix wanted to bring back season 2, would you do it?
NATASHA: If I’m being really honest, and I will be, I thought my character–it wasn’t real fleshed out. It was tough. We were filming in Vancouver and I know they were trying to keep things easy in terms of flying in and flying out. So, there were a lot of scheduling issues and stuff. I found that the character wasn’t all that fleshed out in many ways and I got a little bit–it would have been interesting to see where it went. Let’s just put it that way. But, I got a little bored. I’m not gonna lie. I kept that crystal and what was going on? I was like, ‘What the heck is happening here’. You never know. You never know where things are gonna go. That’s for sure. But I felt like I was doing the same thing over and over again. I’m always interested in reprising a role if it’s interesting, as far as what would have happened if the show had gone a second season, you’re guess is as good as mine. They didn’t let us know those answers either.
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HELLTER: When you were filming Species, did you ever thing it would become a huge hit and is still very popular to this day with a huge following?
NATASHA: Honestly when I finally won that role, I thought, well this is great I’m going to be in one film in my life at least for sure. I really had no idea it would lead to a career that I had dreamed of as a kid. I mean I’m getting to do exactly what I’ve always wanted, I mean give or take a few roles. It was a surprise hit for everyone involved I think.
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HELLTER: There was a special edition DVD of Species that you did Audio for. How was it like to go back and revisit Species?
NATASHA: I did. There are some really cool things on the release. I did commentary which was really fun. I got together with Ronald Donaldson who directed Species and Michael Madsen. We had a great time revisiting our memories of filming. There is also a interview with Giger on the DVD. Over the years alot of people have become very interested in his work and alot of art fans and science fiction fans are always asking me about Giger and it’s great that a feature about his work will be included on the DVD.
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HELLTER: Awesome!! How does it feel to know you’ve created such an iconic memory for a generation of fans, as your role of Sil for the Species films?
NATASHA: It’s such a compliment. I do feel this sense that I’m disappointing people when they now meet me and it’s been 15 years and they go, “Oh, you’re that girl from Species — you don’t really look like that anymore… (laughter)” No. It’s cool. I guess, it really made an impact, because no matter where I go in the world, people remember that film. It’s amazing. It’s amazing that only through time do you realize the impact that a film had on someone. That it was this classic moment and really impacted people and such. It’s amazing that as time goes on and the more and more people you meet, that they still remember certain moments or certain scenes from a film. It’s great.
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HELLTER: Back to The Secret Circle. Most of your scenes were with Gale Harold. Were you familiar with his work before? What is he like and what is it like to work with him?
Natasha: I was not familiar with Gale, although that’s not saying much, I’m one of the worst people in Hollywood for knowing who’s who and what they’ve been in, terrible, thank goodness for IMDB. Gale is a very interesting man, he is a lover of the arts in all forms I think he actually went to art school in San Francisco and came into acting quite late in his mid thirties I believe. I always joke that I need a translator when I’m talking to him, he makes a lot of obscure references about many different things including music and always totally assumes you know what he’s talking about, so you just see people looking at each other quizzically! He is very warm and kind and really dedicated to his craft though! I loved working with him.
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HELLTER: Was there any behind the scenes jokes or bloopers that happened while filming The Secret Circle?
NATASHA: Well with a show about witches there are some pretty ridiculous stuff involving spells and basically making up our own language at times, I’m sure the editors had a good time with that! Also I love the different ways people act when the go up on lines, everyone has their way of coping, mine happens to be swearing!
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HELLTER: What drew you to your character on your character on The Secret Circle?
NATASHA: It was r
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HELLTER: Is the rumor true that you got the role in Ghost of Mars because Courtney Love dropped out? And how do you get ready for a kick ass film like Ghost of Mars?
NATASHA: Yes. In fact, I only came on a few days before shooting began, so I had no time to prepare. But Liam had already been cast months before, so he had been really busy training and doing all this hand-to-hand combat, and I kept hearing all his stories about boot camp, and thought, ‘That sounds like fun. ‘ I have martial arts skills. Plus, I used to beat up a lot of kids at school, so I already had it in me. And it was just so much fun to be part of a big action film where you’re not the girl in the high heels and mini-skirt being dragged around by the guy who gets to be the action hero. Melanie is sort of the anti-hero in the story. She is just trying to do her job really. Then when all hell breaks loose, she ends up becoming the commanding officer and has to take over. We were shooting at nights and there was a lot of weather and the physicality of the role and the movie itself was tough. We were carrying a good thirty pounds of stuff with the guns and the vests, and then I also did most of my own stunts. I figured, if you are going to do a movie like this, why bother if you are not going to do your own stunts? You’d be sitting around a lot, you know.
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HELLTER: Were you shocked when they made Species 3? It was a give in they were going to make Species 2 by how it ended and how popular the film was. And how do you feel that till this day people will always remember you as Sil and her nude scenes?
NATASHA: I was really surprised that they made a third film. But, apparently there was enough of a market there to make a third film. And about your second part of the question. What is funny is that when i’m old, people are still going to come up to me as and say are you that girl from Species and talk about the nude scenes (laughs). What’s funny is when someone recognises me it’s like Oh My God You’re…. and I always wait to hear what they say. About 80 percent of the time it’s Species (laughs).
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HELLTER: That’s so funny. Me and alot of people on our site gruemonkey love the paranormal and we do paranormal investigations on the site. So we believe in Ghosts. Do you believe in Ghosts and have you ever seen any and if so what was your experiences like?
NATASHA: I do believe in the spirit world and that there is plenty we still do not understand and that is still unexplainable. Yes I’ve had a few experiences as has my mother.
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HELLTER: What drew you to the tv series of Medinah?
NATASHA: To be honest it was a bit of a crap shoot as I knew so little about the show before hopping on a plane. But I will say, you don’t get to shoot a TV show in the Middle East very often and I’m always up for an adventure. I only had the first three scripts to read and a lot happens with many characters so I had to put my trust in the creator Ahmed Al Baker when describing what the role and show will become, he mentioned something between Lost and The Walking Dead which I thought has really captured the attention of so many, he is somewhat secretive and dispenses info on the show on a need to know basis so it’s kind of a surprise every time we get a script as well.
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HELLTER: Is it a tv series based in the Middle East and do you have to shoot your scenes in the Middle East, if so, how did you like being in the Middle East filming the series?
NATASHA: Yes I shoot in and around Doha Qatar. It’s been a bit of a culture shock on some levels but is quite westernized in some other ways. The locations can be so beautiful and Epic but also shooting in 130 degree heat in the desert has its challenges at times for sure.
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HELLTER: You work with Eric Roberts in Medinah, how is it like working Eric?
NATASHA: Interesting (laughs).
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HELLTER: Can you tell us what your character is and what the series is about?
NATASHA: I Play Salma who has lost her love/fiancé and has had issues with mental illness in the past and has been medicated for it. I find myself somewhat in a situation and a marriage to Randall / Eric Roberts character who was my psychiatrist and my ex’s psychiatrist, he can be very controlling and has used medication as a way to keep his power over me. As far as what the show is about, I’ll leave that question for the creator of the show.
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HELLTER: Anything else you want to discuss or promote?
NATASHA: No. Thanks for having me and promoting Medinah.
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