I still haven’t watched Orphan Black (need to get my hands on a subtitled version for Sarah’s accent), but Lili Loofbourow’s NYTimes profile delights me:
… “Orphan Black,” you see, is about a group of persecuted clones, and all of them are played by Tatiana Maslany, a 29-year-old actress who has ridden her multiple roles to cult stardom and critical acclaim. On a recent morning in Toronto, Maslany was wearing a frizzy blond wig and was made up as Helena, the dangerously mercurial Ukrainian clone. Her face was covered in blood and filth. She was not — as far as I could tell — thinking about the Screen Actors Guild Award nomination she received that morning, or (as I was) the circumstances that landed her in the peculiar fishbowl of fame. She was focused instead on butter.
The crew was getting ready to shoot the other half of a two-clone scene they had started the day before, when Maslany was playing Sarah Manning, a street-smart con woman and the protagonist of the show. Helena, by contrast, is a cult escapee with homicidal tendencies and a ravenous, animalistic relationship with food. The director of this episode, David Frazee, and Maslany were working through how Helena’s insatiable appetite would affect her behavior in this scene. There was butter present in the shot, but it was not there to be eaten. Would Helena be able to resist? Even a tiny taste?…
The cast and crew of “Orphan Black” labor painstakingly over minutiae like this, in the service of a much grander contemplation (or, perhaps, demolition) of female televisual archetypes. The show’s premise allows Maslany to portray a bewilderingly diverse set of stock characters — the punk-rock con artist, Sarah; the shrewish suburban housewife, Alison Hendrix; the geeky stoner, Cosima Niehaus; the Ukrainian psychopath, Helena; the icily aloof career woman, Rachel Duncan; the pill-popping cop, Elizabeth Childs; and many others — encompassing almost every trope women get to play in Hollywood and on TV. (Maslany’s legions of adoring fans call themselves #CloneClub on Twitter and contend that the credits on “Orphan Black” should say “Tatiana Maslany” nine or more times, once per clone.)…
The clones eventually join forces, which means that Maslany winds up playing as many as four characters in one scene. These performances weren’t just a revelation to audiences; they astonished people close to Maslany. Frazee, recalling one of the first multiple-clone scenes he shot, said, “I remember thinking, [the clones] are so different, we probably could have gotten away with different actors who look similar.” He shook his head and added, “I couldn’t see, at all, the same person.” Stephen Lynch, the show’s makeup artist, told me that he is often asked what prosthetic piece he uses for a particular clone’s nose. (The answer: none.) Once, Maslany’s mother was on set watching her own daughter and wondered aloud when Tatiana would be back…
The secret code name for “Orphan Black” at Pinewood Toronto Studios is “Time Vampire.” It’s also the crew’s nickname for the Technodolly, a telescoping camera crane that memorizes and repeats complex movements exactly, enabling a multiple-clone scene to be constructed in layers. Maslany does the scene as each clone twice — once using a double (or doubles) to get the blocking, timing and shadows right, and then once without. Because the camera movements are identical from take to take, they can be layered together in postproduction. When shooting the scene the second time, Maslany uses suspended tennis balls or marks on the wall that signal where her eye line should be. While “Orphan Black” also employs stationary-camera shots, the Technodolly allows for a more dynamic feel. “To me,” said John Fawcett, the show’s other creator, “it makes the shot a little bit more interesting and a little bit more fluid and a little more organic. The camera is moving the way it should in a normal shot.” It’s a brilliant piece of technology, but it eats time the way Helena eats chicken. Even its real name sounds sinister.
And yet the kind of emotional cohesion “Orphan Black” produces requires more than a Technodolly. Though she is rarely even seen on the show, Maslany’s primary body double, Kathryn Alexandre, is crucial to the process. An actor in her own right, Alexandre has learned the physicality and the accent for each clone, so that Maslany has someone to play off in a multiple-clone scene. Maslany sings Alexandre’s praises often, because there’s a reciprocity to their craft. Alexandre is often the first to play a clone in a scene — she stood in as Helena my first day on set, Sarah the second — so her dramatic choices often influence Maslany’s performance. The final result is a mishmash of at least five different takes (and occasionally, body parts). “You never know where an arm might come from,” Fawcett said. “Sometimes it might be Tatiana’s body and Kathryn’s arm.”…
Hal
This is one show I’m planning on binge watching when I have a few days off. I ended up loving Sherlock and Dr. Who, both shows I held off on for awhile. I just wish the series would come to Netflix.
Corner Stone
This New Era of Civility ™ is hard.
satby
Oh hell, now I have to watch it. It does sound good.
satby
@Corner Stone: to what do you refer?
Nicole
Orphan Black is fantastic. The second season wasn’t quite as riveting as the first, but still pretty fucking good. And for those who enjoyed The Tudors, Maria Doyle Kennedy is on Orphan Black, sans the Spanish accent.
Viva BrisVegas
You have trouble with Sarah’s accent? That makes me feel much better about watching The Wire with subtitles on.
Gin & Tonic
I don’t know the actress or the show, but what’s funny from the article is the mention of butter in one scene, and the character’s desire to eat it. The surname “Maslany,” in Ukrainian, derives from the same root as the root of “butter” or “oil.” So her name means, essentially, buttery or oily.
patrick II
I am streaming Orphan Black from Amazon, and it has captions there. It is a fine series and Ms. Maslany has the amazing talent only some actors have of completely inhabiting a different person. I was telling my wife that when Bruce Willis played an assassin named the Fox and he changed characters, it just looked like Willis in a wig, or Willis in a goatee, but Willis just the same. The same thing for Val Kilmer in “The Saint”. Not that they aren’t good actors withing their range, but people like Phillip Seymour Hoffman or Ms. Maslany have the amazing ability to seem like completely different people in their different roles. Helena actually seems taller to me than the other drones because of her physicality. It is remarkable work.
trollhattan
Let me just say that OB is a devilishly hard series to drop in the middle of and figure out what the hell is going on, but do it anyway. It’s really that good.
Having a sad that “Justified” is ending its run but happy “The Americans” has been optioned for season 4. Astonishingly good series, possibly the best drama left standing.
patrick II
@trollhattan:
A thing I appreciate about Justified is the depth of the various smaller parts on the series. It has opened my eyes to the fact that there are a lot of incredible actors out there — character actors that I have seen on various series really step up when given some interesting characters to play and dialogue richer than a just a mechanism to move the plot along.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
If any knitters are lurking about, I finally decided on a pattern for the baby sweater I’m making for my coworker. It’s called Oscar and it’s way too freakin’ adorable:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/oscar-9
I’m going to make it in a cotton-tencel blend yarn because we’re in Southern California. My only dilemma is, what size? The baby is due in June.
mtiffany
Maslany is brilliant in her performances on this show — each clone she portrays comes across like their own authentic individual. She’s so good that you can forget that it’s one actress playing all those roles, even when they’re all on screen together.
Mike in NC
We’ll definitely miss “Justified”, one of our favorites. Some of the actors in it also appeared in “Boomtown”, a great series set in LA that lasted only one season.
Read something online tonight that Netflix is out across the whole East Coast.
Tenar Darell
Awesome series. I watched both seasons by borrowing the DVDs from one of my local libraries. I would have probably watched it faster, but I had to put it on hold once. It’s very popular. I can hardly wait until next season.
Glidwrith
@Mnemosyne (tablet): I figure most folks will give newborn-sized clothes, so make something that can be used 9 months down the road. It’s not like the baby won’t grow into it…
zmulls
OB is not in and of itself a great series….I think the plot chases its own tail and by the second season I was just blah blah blaming through it. It’s good for most of the first season, and just OK for the second.
But, Maslany’s performance is astonishing and is worth sitting through anything. When two (or more!) of the clones are on screen together, I frequently forget it’s the same actress. Her physical and vocal work are as convincing as the wigs and makeup. And she manages to make each of the clones a totally distinct human being, not just an assortment of tics.
The editing is seamless — I didn’t know about the special robotic camera they were using. During a scene in S1, one of the clones pours wine for another (and the wine goes from the bottle into the glass). I was so taken in by the acting and relationships that it didn’t occur to me how freaking hard that must have been to do.
I’m not excited about S3, I think I’m going to have to drag myself through it, but I am so anxious to see what else she is capable of doing.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@patrick II:
Yep, e.g., Mikey over the last few episodes.
Mike J
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
I read that as “cotton tentacle” blend and was wondering how many arms the kid would have.
aimai
We have watched the show from the beginning–and have been waiting for the next season with bated breath.It is just as good as people say. Tatiana Maslany deserves all the praise and all the awards. She is astonishing.
jibeaux
It’s so fantastic, and Tatiana Maslany is unreal. She just forces you into the different characters. There’s no watching it and remembering that it’s all one actress.
patrick II
@Steeplejack (tablet):
Mags bennett, the grandmotherly criminal clan leader as played by Margo Martindale in season two, was probably the champ of great characters on Justified. But others, such as Ron Eldard as “Colton Rhodes”, the ex military police druggie in season 4, knocked by sox off. But many actors stepped up in even smaller roles — like single episode characters the dentist and his girlfriend (Alan Ruck and Michele Nordin) on the run from the mob in season 1.
SiubhanDuinne
This is Betty Cracker’s gig.
ruemara
Watched OB since the pilot. I can’t recommend it enough. Maslany is amazing on the show and was robbed of an Emmy for her performance. She deserves the SAG awards because she embodies what it means to be an actor. Just brilliant. Not sure if I’m keeping cable for much longer, but if I do, I will be watching OB once it starts back up.
dogwood
@patrick II:
Martingale was also featured in seasons 1&2 of The Americans. It’s a shame that The Americans doesn’t have a large audience because it’s arguably the best series on TV.
Citizen_X
@dogwood: I loved Margo as Philip & Elizabeth’s KGB handler, but I also love Frank Langella as her replacement. So I’m torn.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@patrick II:
Agreed. I just picked Mikey because an almost cipher character suddenly blew up into someone semi-deep and oddly touching at the end. Most recent example.
patrick II
@Steeplejack (tablet):
you are absolutely right. Mikey has been a quiet guy who all of a sudden showed unexpected deaths. It was great work by the young actor
patrick II
@patrick II:
that was supposed to “depths” not “deaths”, but I guess unexpected deaths works too.
TG Chicago
I’m more on the zmulls train. Even with a bunch of Matt Frewer (I’m a fan), it didn’t really click with me. I think they might be a little too worried about trying to show off Maslany’s skills (which are indeed impressive) rather than dealing with the characters and the plot. I don’t need to see any more clones at this point, and I think we could leave behind the soccer mom at this point. I don’t think the series needs more than Sarah, Rachel and Helena. Soccer mom was fun in the first season, but they had to stretch to fit her in for season 2. Just let her have her suburban life and move on.
Bubblegum Tate
The show kinda falls apart as it goes on, but it’s definitely worth watching, and Tatiana Maslany is fucking incredible.
EDIT: Yeah, basically what zmulls said.
WaterGirl
I’m sorry I missed this thread in real time. I love Orphan Black, and like everyone else I think Tatiana is incredibly talented. I think she may be the greatest living actor.
WaterGirl
I don’t normally read reviews, but the woman who reviews every single episode of Orphan Black is so great. Each review comes out about a day after the episode airs, and it feels like you’re getting to talk to a friend about the episode.
If anyone is interested, I’m sure I can dig up the link.
WaterGirl
Here’s the link to the recaps of all 10 season 2 episodes. Recaps written by Danielle Henderson, who did a terrific job.
I plan to read them all again before season 3 starts.
Culture of Truth
It’s an amazing show. IMO.
John M. Burt
I didn’t realize until well into Season Two that big bad villainess Rachel was also Tatiana Maslany, and thus one of the clones — although based on her smug comment about the excellence of their genome, I’d say there is a possibility that she’s actually the donor mother (which would technically make her a member of the clone, in the original definition of the word).