Last week I was lucky enough to take part in a conference call with a bunch of other web bloggers and Jeri Ryan, who will be appearing in tonight’s episode of Warehouse 13.
Jeri Ryan is perhaps best known to genre fans for her role of Seven Of Nine in Star Trek: Voyager, but has done a lot of other interesting work in many other television and movie projects across many genres. She was most recently seen playing Sonya Blade in the Mortal Kombat Web Series, and can be seen later tonight in Warehouse 13.
Ryan Plays the role of new bride Amanda, whose life at her own wedding is placed in danger thanks to an artifact. In the episode it will be revealed that there is more to Amanda than meets the eye and she shares a past history with Pete.
When asked about her fondest memory of working on Warehouse 13 the actress revealed that it was working with Eddie McClintock, which was a highlight for her.
Jeri Ryan: Wow. The most memorable moment. That’s a good question. I don’t know that there’s one specific moment, but Eddie and I — and I don’t want to give too much away with the story — but there were some…a couple of really, really nice sort of emotional scenes that Eddie and I got to play together. It was just really fun connecting with him. He’s a great actor.
He’s a funny, funny guy. But he’s also just a really good actor. So that was a lot of fun.
Asked what attracted her to Warehouse 13 the actress revealed that she went for a role on the show due to a friend suggesting it.
Jeri Ryan: Well, it just seemed like a lot of fun. And, the show runner is a friend of a friend and he’s a great guy and the offer came up and it seemed like an interesting role and an interesting story line and it looked like a lot of fun to do. And it was, I had a ball. And my husband and my daughter came up with me and so we had a good time.
When it comes to Amanda’s history with Pete Ryan provided the following answer.
Jeri Ryan: She’s a Marine. She is Eddie’s ex-wife, which is a bit of a surprise to everyone else at the warehouse. And she is getting remarried and things sort of take a bit of a turn without giving away too much of the story. And she sort of needs Pete’s help to get out of a bit of a problem.
Asked what challenged her about the role Jeri said it was the mix of comedy with the scifi genre, which could at times be a difficult sell from an acting stand point.
Jeri Ryan: Always with comedy in general and especially comedy that sort of is in the Syfy genre so then you’re really (spinning) this belief. You always have to sort of find that line between playing the comedy, but playing the realism too. And that’s always a bit of a balance act. But it’s fun. And again the people in the show, they’re pros and this is what they do. That sort of fine line is where they walk all the time so. There is no better training ground for that. I mean, it was a lot of fun.
Recently Jeri Ryan was seen in her first major Web Series role as Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat: Legacy. When asked how the production on the web series differed with her experiences on television she gave us a fantastic story about how she had to literally become super woman over night in order to play that role.
Jeri Ryan: Production wise, there wasn’t a huge difference once we were shooting. If anything, we actually had a little more time than we do shooting a TV series – a network TV series — because we have seven days to shoot a one hour or basically 40-minute episode for TV. For this, our episodes were like six to – I think the longest one was 12 or 15 minutes. So we could take a little more time when we were actually shooting it.
It’s a big difference within the prep; there was none. So I think I had three days notice of the offer coming through, making the deal, and getting on a plan to fly to Vancouver to start shooting. So the difficulty there for me was no time for fight training. So I think most of the other actors if not all of them are trained fighters. So for them just going in and learning a big fight scene is just a matter of choreography. For me, it’s not. So that was hard. I would have loved to have had, you know, at least a couple of weeks to get in some fight training and really be able to make a more involved fight scene. But that was the only big difference.
When asked if she thinks we will be seeing more Web series in the future and if she can see herself doing more web based productions.
Jeri Ryan: I certainly think we’ll all be doing a lot of more of that in the future because I think that’s sort of where the business is heading eventually.
Another show Jeri Ryan has guested on in recent years is Leverage in which she played the part of con woman Tara Cole so well that she seemed to fit into that cast led by Timothy Hutton, but seemed to belong. When asked if she’d return to that role. The actress revealed that it was a favorite part of hers to play.
Jeri Ryan: I actually just did one for this season. And I would have loved to have come back for more, but I couldn’t get the release – the approval – from the network from the show that I’m on now. But yes. That I have to say was one of my best work experiences my entire career. The most fun I’ve ever had on a set with Leverage and Boston Public. Those are my two that just stick out as the sort of perfect crystalline experiences.
That group of people, that entire cast, that entire crew is – well first of all, they’re all insane. They are. But just the best, funniest, just most absolutely enjoyable group of people that you could ever have the luck to work with. And they’re my dear friends and I love them all and I would love to work with them together. So yes, I had a ball. And I love that character. That was so much fun.
It was fun to play somebody who was light and tough and to get to play a completely different character every week on that show was a real treat as an actor.
When asked to reveal a little more about her character on Warehouse 13. The actress had to choose her words very, very carefully, but managed to give a few clues about Amanda Lattimer, without giving to much away.
Jeri Ryan: I don’t know how much I can tell you without giving away any story secrets. She is a Marine and that’s I guess how she and Pete had met originally as they served together. She is getting married and she needs his help to solve a problem which he sort of I guess kind of inadvertently causes in the first place. So it’s fun. It’s gets into some interesting situations.
When asked if she’d like a return to her role on Warehouse 13 Jeri Ryan was nothing but positive about that experience.
Jeri Ryan: I would love to. Yes, I think they certainly left the door open if she needs to come back again for some reason to get Eddie’s help again or get Pete’s help again. But yes, I would love to go back. I had a great time working there. It’d be fun to go back again.
Fans will get to see Jeri Ryan in Warehouse 13 later this evening on Syfy Channel, but you can also turn in for Body Of Proof, which Jeri Ryan is a series regular on.
Follow us on Twitter @SciFiPulse.
By Ian M. Cullen
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