L Event: Rachel on Alexandra

From Rachel's solo Q&A session at The L Event, Thistle Hotel, Heathrow, London on Sunday 27th November 2005. Question: "Is there any particular actor in The L Word who you would say their energy is particularly attractive to work with?" Rachel: "Umm, I've worked a lot, this season that we've been doing, with an actress called (I don't know if you know her) Alexandra Hedison... some of you might know her. She was amazing to work with. We... had a great connection. That was fantastic. We did a lot of work together that was good." "I think everyone has their different ways of working, and I'm sure I have my own little foibles as well, which other people would tell you about better than me. But we, you know... you know I work with Laurel a lot and with Jennifer a lot and it's different in different scenes. Jennifer likes to sort of joke around quite a lot, and she might be pulling faces a bit, and that's quite fun. She keeps it light... you know... and other people are much more... I suppose it depends on the scene." This insightful question lead on from the following question from the same person, who said she worked behind the scenes in the industry. Question: "How much does the energy of whoever you are in the scene with affect you, when you're actually playing the scene?" Rachel: "An enormous amount, it's a umm... a huge amount... umm, that's... acting is... However much preparation you do as an actress at home, on your own or even if you're working stuff out with the other people in the scene before you actually get to shoot it, what happens on that day, and it can be anything as... random, or small... major... whatever. If something's happened to you in your way in to work, or something's happened to you in your personal life, and all that sort of stuff... you bring it in with you. And you can't... it's very hard not to, but it's always very interesting if you, you know if you... There was one day just recently, when we were in Vancouver, and someone's car got... I mean, it actually sounds quite funny, but their car was run over. [LOL, I think Rachel means involved in a collision, or as Americans would say 'totalled'.] (Rachel laughs) They weren't in it and umm... you know, that obviously shook her up a lot and she had to shoot that afternoon. There's no way that didn't affect her, and I think... I think the thing to do is to use it. If someone comes... has something going on, and we all know each other... you know, we basically, we don't live together but you pretty much live each other's lives when you're up there. So we all... generally know what's going on with someone, so if someone's come in with great energy cos something amazing's just happened or bad energy, or sad energy or whatever it is, it definitely feeds into the... As long as you don't let it control the scene, it's interesting if you indulge it and get what you can out of it. I know that when... sometimes when I've been at my most... miserable, for whatever reason, that's when my work is probably the most, it's such a cliched phrase but actors use it all the time, the most truthful. Because you're just exposed and things just... and they take you in different directions, so it's always very interesting when someone brings something surprising to a scene. And that comes from the director as well, not just the cast."