Interview: Cinemax’s Femme Fatales Madison Dylan and Shani Pride

When you’re told to check out a show that airs late Friday night on Cinemax, the first thought is always going to be that the show is campy and basically full of sex, especially when you hear that the title is Femme Fatales. However, Cinemax – like HBO and Showtime before it – is in the process of changing that image, and “Femme Fatales” is one of the shows in the new regime. With the second season preparing to start airing its 13 episode run on May 25^th, it was time to check out this show and see if it lived up to the hype.

Femme Fatales is billed as a thriller anthology series with a strong erotic component, the latter being something the creators acquiesced to, according to creator and producer Steve Kriozere. The focus of the show is not the sexual aspect but the strong female characters and the web they weave. And while it is an anthology series, the show takes place in a single universe- in the fictional city of Cuesta Verde – and characters from one story may appear in others, thus creating a connection throughout (not to mention the host of each tale, Lilith, whose origins are subtlety hinted at throughout the first season). In fact, the season finale “Visions” saw the return and growth of several characters that had appeared in previous episodes.

What drew me into the stories were the strong female characters, as mentioned before. The opening of each episode begins with the shows definition of a femme fatale, “an irresistibly attractive woman, esp. one who leads men into difficult, dangerous, or disastrous situations; siren”. Personally, I see this as sort of a Machiavellian personality- someone who does whatever it takes to get what they want. Speaking to two actresses who appear on the show, Madison Dylan and Shani Pride, led to their understanding of what a femme fatale is- basically an empowered woman, but someone not afraid to use their sexuality. Of course, the show is full of twists… those femme fatale characters don’t always end up so well. Though to be fair, everyone always gets what they deserve.

Left to right: Madison Dylan, Vivica A. Fox, Catherine Annette in "Extracurricular Activities"

Question: How would you describe what a Femme Fatale is?

Shani Pride: I would describe a Femme Fatale as someone who is empowered and extremely confident within herself, within her femininity, within her intelligence, within her… just her wittiness, her charm… Everything about her personality can win people over- maybe in some cases manipulate- but just, ya know, a very powerful, empowered woman.

Madison Dylan: A femme fatale, in my opinion, would be a very strong woman. There’s different kinds- everyone has their own little niche that they go off of, there might be some that are very manipulative, there might be some that play a whole act, there might be some that are actually really good people and something bad happens to them one day and they just go off- all of them have the same thing in common, they’re actually very smart women and they have a plan of what they are going to do. They’re strong women that aren’t going to be stepped over by guys. They’ll get the guy before the guy will get them.

My Femme Fatale is actually my favorite one because I normally play very ditzy type, dumb roles, and my Femme Fatale has this whole act that she plays. She lures guys in with her charm and her ditziness, and they think that they can take advantage of her, but really she’s brutally smart and comes up with all these plots and these schemes to lead them into the dangerous situations in which something bad will happen to them.

Initially, it would seem that the target audience for Femme Fatales would be men – especially when you remember it is a late night show on Cinemax. However, the creators point out that probably half the audience is female. Kriozere says that when the show held a panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 and other similar events, the room was full, with a strong mix of men and women. (For those interested, there will be a panel at SDCC 2012 and signings.) Dylan and Pride both spoke of initially seeing the show as directed to men, but that the strength of the female characters drew them in just like the female audience.

Question: In your opinion, who would you say the target audience for this show is?

Shani Pride in "Trophy."

Shani: Well, I know that it’s 50/50, that women and men love it. Ya know, and I have to sort of piggy back on that because I think that because the female characters are so strong and kick-ass and Machiavellian and just really interesting and dynamic, women would be interested in that. And at the same time men would be interested in it. Of course, it’s very sexy and there’s an appeal- it’s a very sensual and sexy show, which obviously men would be attracted to. And the women as well. I don’t think it’s targeted towards either sex, I think it’s targeted more towards people who are interested in this type of genre, this type of show.

Madison: I think they did a test on men and women and it basically went 49% women and 51% men liked the show. And it was very interesting because when we were at WonderCon and San Diego Comic-con promoting the show, we would have so many women coming up to us and they were like “I love the show,” “it’s really empowering,” it was amazing. I really thought… doing the show I thought, “of course, men are gonna like it there’s boobs,” and there’s violence and guys love that kind of stuff, but the girls like that the girls are the ones that in charge.

The strongest element of the show is, obviously, the strong female characters. Shani Pride, who appears in the season two episode “Trophy Wife,” believes that femme fatales are “empowered” and strong woman. Pride goes on to say that women should “embrace their sexuality,” which is a big piece of the femme fatale behavior. Pride touched on the audience draw possibly being associated to societal changes- with women being empowered and having roles as CEOs or running for president, it’s more accepted that we want to see empowered women on TV or in movies. Also, “the writing is very strong” as another draw. Madison Dylan, whose character of Alexis appeared in three episodes of season one and is set for at least one appearance in season two, says that audiences are drawn to the femme fatale characters because “somebody will relate to these women,” citing that everyone has had that bad day or been in a difficult situation, though it is probable that most people do not react in the same way. In fact, Dylan said that she’s a “good girl, so Femme Fatales is my time to unleash.”

Question: What are your thoughts on using sex appeal for vengeance, or using it to get what you desire which is what many of the Femme Fatales have been doing?

Shani: I’m all for it! I think there’s a power with sex; I think there’s a power with withholding sex especially. I think that if you have the ability to use that, along with other things, to your advantage- especially on a television show, in real life… to each his own. In the form of entertainment, I think it’s interesting. I think it’s dynamic. It adds another element to these characters that are murderers etc. in the context of this show; I think it makes it more exciting.

Madison: I actually really like it cuz I do it in my everyday life. That sounds kind of weird. (Omitting story of playing poker in Vegas so fans don’t learn Madison’s secrets and ruin her fun). Do what you gotta do, to get what you gotta get done, done.

Question: Do you seek out the strong characters?

Shani: Definitely. I gravitate towards that. And the type of actresses I admire, like Charlize Theron or Angela Basset, ya know- women who play these amazing characters that are multi-layered, extremely empowered, and some of them have evil streaks in the characters… For me, I look for and gravitate to, roles that are interesting and have depth. Like this Femme Fatales role- it was the first time that I did play someone who was so devious, and so conniving, and so manipulative and I found that very exciting. Because men play those roles all time, they have evil streaks or are controlling, where woman are submissive and fill that type of role. Absolutely, I look for roles that are different and edgy and interesting and have extreme amount of depth.

Madison: Those are the roles that every actress dreams of, the ones that are the really powerful women. In the past, I actually… I love playing the ditzy characters because they come really naturally to me; it’s like a lot of fun for me. Femme Fatales was actually my favorite role because I got to play a strong character, that also gets to play ditzy and I get to play all different kinds of emotions and do all different kinds of things. It was like a stepping stone, so now I’m going after the more powerful women.

Question: Do you think the characters in Femme Fatales are inspirations or are they warnings?

Shani: If you’re on the only end of it… it definitely is a warning. I’d be scared if I was the guy who was about to be murdered. (Shani related some spoilers regarding her episode that have been omitted.)

Question: The show has an erotic component, as well as being a thriller anthology with strong women, how do you feel about the balance in the episodes?

Shani: I think it starts with quality, you have to create characters, again, have that depth and have layers, and aren’t just women running around having sex. There has to be more to the story, more to the storyline, you just need to have a 360 degree character. If it’s well rounded, it’s well-written, and the characters are fully fleshed out, then I think you’ll avoid that campiness and get something that actually is interesting and enticing at the same time. It starts on the page, but then the actor has to come in and bring it to life, and also bring that depth and that integrity to the character.

Madison: For me, personally, I look at the character in general- basically I want to give a great performance, that’s my goal. I know that the creators, they’ll finish a whole episode and there will barely be any sex in it at all and they’ll just make this wonderful film. I know Cinemax likes to include a little more boob and sex because it appeals to the audience, so there might be some reshoots. I had to do a scene in “Visions” where it was me, Catherine (Annette), and Charlie O’Connell’s character – where he’s like a Girls Gone Wild guy – where it’s a flashback, shown barely at all, but literally we had to film that for about probably 15 minutes with him telling us to do stuff. It was so uncomfortable, it was so weird, and it was a little terrifying because he’s like screaming at us, however, you know it’s going to be like a sexy type part on the show. So it’s like trying to be sexy and really believing it, it’s like as long as I believe what I’m doing, I feel fine with it (referring to creating that balance of sex within the show). The acting comes first. Whatever they want to do in the future about the sex stuff… who cares, I’m up for it.

The show is billed as a thriller but every episode tells a different story. There are comedic episodes, such as the “Speed Date” episode from season one, there are campy stories, such as the series premiere, “Behind Locked Doors”, and there are very dark episodes, like “Angels and Demons”, which boasts a very creepy performance from the male lead. According to Kriozere, season two includes a very Noir episode, a Sci-fi episode, and the season finale even has a super hero story. So how does the show balance the female strength of the femme fatale character with the erotic component, especially with a new lead in each episode? Kriozere says it starts with the writing. Dylan and Pride agree that through a well written story the strong characters come alive. Dylan pointed out that there is great support from everyone- which makes it a great working environment and therefore easier to focus on the story and acting and not on the nudity or sex.

Another fun piece of the show is the guest stars. According to Kriozere, the creators “called in a few favors” to get various names to appear. From the opening scene of the pilot episode (which boasts appearances by Richard Kind, Adam Goldberg, Allan Loeb) throughout the series – Charlie O’Connell appears as a “Joe Francis” type and season two has Vivica Fox on the guest list.

All in all, if you have not checked out Femme Fatales, you are missing a gem. Though I initially balked at the pilot episode as still maintaining that “skinemax” feel, by the end of the episode I was sold. Each episode after it has improved and drawn me further in. I am left with questions- who is Lilith? How much manipulation does she actually do? Are Tiffany and Alexis going to get away with more? What happens next in Cuesta Verde? I guess I have to wait for season two for my answers. Til then… you have plenty of time to get caught up.

Madison Dylan can be found on twitter: @madisondylan

Shani Pride has a website fans can follow her at: shanipride.com.