Interview: Moon Bloodgood (TNT’s Falling Skies, Terminator: Salvation)

Hoping to capture summertime audiences, TNT is at it again. This time they brought out the big guns with a science fiction action series which promises to hit all the marks. Backed by legendary director, Steven Spielberg, Falling Skies is more than an action series. The new series also tells an engaging human story of what might happen if an alien invasion destroyed the planet and the survivors must band together to keep alive and strike back.

Lending her talent to Falling Skies, is Moon Bloodgood, who many remember, most notably, for her role in Terminator: Salvation. Her name has become synonymous with action. In Falling Skies, Bloodgood co-stars as Anne Glass, a pediatrician who lost her husband and child in the initial alien attack. Now as part of the 2^nd Massachusetts, she is as close to a combat surgeon these survivors can hope for. More than that, she becomes the heart of this motley group, caring for the physically and emotionally wounded as they attempt to cope with their new lives.

I had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Bloodgood. We discussed Falling Skies and her feelings about the departure from action roles. I discovered how she would survive an alien invasion. We spoke about her love of stunt work, how she feels about the roles for women in action and scifi, as well as her passion for video games.

Falling Skies premieres with a two-hour episode June 19, 2011 at 9/8pm CT on TNT. If you cannot wait, be sure to visit the websites (http://www.tnt.tv/series/fallingskies and http://www.fallingskies.com) for access to more Falling Skies, including character blogs, behind the scenes videos, a flash game and the web comic.

In the meantime, Sit back, relax and read on to learn more about the exciting new series Falling Skies and to get to know Moon Bloodgood better.

JP: What appealed to you about Falling Skies? What made you want to sign on to do the project?

Moon Bloodgood: I think what initially appealed to me was the fact that it was Steven Spielberg. Once I got the call, they said Steven Spielberg, Robert Roda – who wrote Saving Private Ryan, and TNT are doing this show. I think at the time, it was called ‘Untitled Alien Invasion’ and starring Noah Wyle. It was offered to me. I didn’t have to audition or anything, which is always appealing. Then I read the script and I thought it was a really beautiful, simple human story and not this elaborate science fiction story that didn’t have any heart. I think that’s what sealed it in for me.

JP: Now that the series is ready to air, what are you most excited about?

Moon Bloodgood: I got really excited last night at the screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX, just hearing the reactions and people staying around to ask questions at the Q&A got me really excited. Now I try not to get excited because I never want to have expectations of a show. I try to live in the moment, but I’m getting excited. I hear people’s input – things they like about the show and characters they like. I’m excited for it to come out.

JP: How involved was Spielberg in the show?

Moon Bloodgood: It was his original concept with Michael Ray. He was very involved. He picked all the cast. He was really involved in story lines. He was absolutely involved in all the science fiction, the aliens – what they looked like, how they were constructed. Then, about a year later, when we started shooting the show, he was involved. Not micro-managing, but involved in story plots and so forth.

JP: Hopefully, the show gets a second season. Have you already started thinking ahead in terms of what you would like to see for your character?

Moon Bloodgood: I don’t know if we’re getting a second season. Of course, I hope that we are, and yes I have starting formulating things – things I would like to see, other characters I’d like to interact with. I’m curious about what happens with the next phase of the show. Things like that.

JP: Is there anything in particular you are hoping audiences will take away from the show?

Moon Bloodgood: I don’t think there is anything in particular. I just hope that they feel moved. I hope they feel we’re telling a truthful story and that we keep them stimulated. That’s what I hope, that they’re moved.

JP: Falling Skies seems bigger in general, from the scope and special effects. Definitely, of course, because Spielberg is involved. How would you say it compares with, or differs from, other projects you’ve been involved with?

Moon Bloodgood: Let’s see. They’re not so different. I mean there’s elements that are different about it. I think the part of the aliens is different from anything, even from Terminator when I did Terminator: Salvation, because they’re more fleshy versus mechanical. The fact that I’m playing a doctor makes it different. It’s something I’ve never done before, and that I’m not doing any physical action. It makes it feel a lot different for me as an actor, it’s a different character. Every project has the feeling of ‘you feel like you’ve done something similar to this, and yet something totally different.’ Each project is unique, it’s always a different story, a different character you’re playing.

JP: The emotional dynamic with your character in the series, was that something that really excited you or were you perhaps a little disappointed not to have as much action?

Moon Bloodgood: No, I was excited I didn’t have any action. It definitely appealed to me to play someone that was just a normal civilian who didn’t have any military background – didn’t know how to fight, wasn’t a cop. Someone who was just a normal person, with a kid. I could be more maternal and I could be more cerebral. I was excited. They were doing gun training and I didn’t really have to do any of that. I was like ‘yeah, you guys go have a ball. I’m good. I’m good on set.’

JP: A silly question: Let’s say the alien invasion really does occur, do you have a survival plan? Or, do you know what kind of role you might fall into?

Moon Bloodgood: It’s not a silly question. I get asked it all the time. It’s not silly at all. Honestly, I think if aliens came in and they were as hostile as the aliens that we experience, the grim part of me thinks, I would just, I don’t know. I don’t know that I would commit suicide, but I would probably just hide. I don’t think I would fight back, I think I would be too scared. My ego says I would fight back. I would use all my shallow gun training I’ve gotten as an actor,. I would help out and I would fight back and I would be part of the resistance. So maybe somewhere in the middle is the truth.

JP: You could take a cue from your character and be that maternal person in the survival group.

Moon Bloodgood: I think I am a maternal person. I think in situations that are really intense and very much ‘fight or flight’, I think my initial impulse is to fight. I think it’s part of my fiery personality and I also think I’m protective. I’m very maternal, even with my own mom and my own cousins. I would try to be very maternal with whoever I was with if, God forbid, we were ever invaded.

JP: It seems in the more recent past that you’ve been drawn to action. Was it a conscious decision to take a step away from the action?

Moon Bloodgood: It was a conscious decision. Like anything, you do something for a while and you want to try something different – something that stretches you and challenges you. You don’t want to be just a one kind of character actor, you want to be able to do other things. Even though science fiction is something I do a lot of, I was drawn to it because it was a female role that was much softer than things I’ve played before.

JP: What is your opinion of female roles in sci-fi and action genres?

Moon Bloodgood: I always feel in action genres and science fiction, females have great roles. They’re never going to be the man, unless they are the lead, like Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil. I think in the future we look at class, race and sexism – all those things start to blend together and become irrelevant and it just becomes about survival. I think women become empowered and become just as important, and I tend to find in a lot of science fiction women are stronger characters.

JP: In some of your previous roles where it does involve stunt work. Do you enjoy the stunt work and the training?

Moon Bloodgood: Yeah! Loved it! I loved doing all my stunts in Terminator. I believe there was one or two that I didn’t do. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was a dancer and I enjoyed it – the stimulation, the intensity. It’s just fun. That part is fun and comes easier to me actually than the knowing my lines and getting the layers of my characters. I started in the physical world of dance, so that was just a blast to do that in Terminator. I never got tired of that.

JP: Personally, I was glad to see you had a role in some of other Terminator projects, such as the video game and the machinima series.

Moon Bloodgood: Yeah, we did the video game. I think I had a doll at some point, I never saw it. That was cool. That was a real interesting thing to do.”

JP: In video games, you also did work on Darksiders.

Moon Bloodgood: Yeah, I never got to hear Darksiders. That was really fun to do something like that, because I really like video games. I don’t allow myself to play them because I feel a little guilty, like I’m wasting time, but I do love Call of Duty and things like that, but I have not heard my voice in Darksiders.

JP: I love that you love video games. I have the same problem, I fear picking up a game because I’m afraid I won’t put it down.

Moon Bloodgood: That’s actually the only reason I don’t play. I love going to arcades! I grew up going to them. Video games are ecapism.

JP: Would you consider doing another video game if approached?

Moon Bloodgood: Sure! Absolutely. I would love to do another video game. I’d love to do many video games.

JP: The gamer in me is a little excited. We like to see great actors come into video games.

Moon Bloodgood: “I just went to an arcade of couple of weeks ago and I just couldn’t leave. Someplace like a Dave & Busters. I played all kinds of things and then, of course, went back to Ms. Pacman because that’s what brings me back to my childhood.

JP: Aside from the series, you are involved in quite a few things. Now that Falling Skies is coming to air, what do you get to do next?

Moon Bloodgood: I just finished a movie called, Surrogate, starring John Hawkes and Helen Hunt. That’s a real cool independent film. I have a couple of other independent films. There’s one that just came out this weekend, called Beautiful Boy, with Michael Sheehan and Maria Bello. A couple of other little independent films I did. Beautiful Boy just came out and the others will come out later. Privately, I don’t know. I’m sure I always have fun stuff to do.

It was a pleasure to talk with Ms. Bloodgood. She is a lovely, down to earth person and a talented actress. I am looking forward to Falling Skies, her independent film work and more from her in the future.