Angela
How is the convention experience for you?

Rachel
It is my first convention. We have done Q&As in LA but nothing like this when we get this close to people and really feel like you know the same faces. You feel you get to know people. I have been quite really overwhelmed by it. Like that opening ceremony. It blew me away when people were cheering because I haven't seen that. I don't spend a lot of time in LA where I think they get more attention like that. I am not here that often. I'm quite low key when I am here anyway. I haven't really seen that kind of response, and I think it's incredible. I know from talking to Laurel that people relate to her a lot, and people were saying that in the Q&A sessions. A lot of people really wanted to say to her, "you changed my life and the show changed my life."

Angela
Laurel actually wanted to hear that though

Rachel
Yes, we know she does, but this is why it's so weird because it is so overwhelming. She was only here yesterday and she had to get through 600 autographs. So if everyone does that… they can't, otherwise, half of them are not going to get their autographs. She was saying that compared to the science fiction one [conference], it is a lot more emotional; it is a lot more personal.

Angela
I think the thing for us with the web site is … we were talking to Laurel about it… is how many people post who live in countries where their life could actually be at risk if people know that you're gay. And all of a sudden through fansites, they have a voice, and that is what it does.

While we were talking, Rachel came across a photo of her and Cobie Smulders who played Leigh Ostin, a photo she had never seen before

Rachel
That's Cobie, who looks like me. That was so weird. When we were shooting, I would look at her and say, "You look like me. You are like ten years younger than me."

Angela
Do you think you were cast as Helena because you actually look like Jennifer?

Rachel
When we tested and we got down to the last three girls, I was definitely the one that looked the most like Jennifer, more than any of the others. So I don't know if that was a conscious thing. I think it works well, makes it interesting.

Angela
Do you think the character of Tina fell for Helena because she looked like Bette?

Rachel
I don't know. You know, Laurel was saying yesterday in the Q&A that Helena is another strong woman. She kind of falls for that, I guess. I would like to think that she fell for Helena because not only is Helena powerful in that way and she obviously likes powerful strong women, but also, she was more sensitive to her and did notice the things that maybe Bette should have noticed. It is interesting because there was one shot that friends of mine watched (and actually, my manager watched), where we were in a gallery and Bette walks through. It is quite a wide shot and she is just walking through, and they were all watching and saying, "Oh well. I like what they did with Rachel's hair." And it was only when they came close up that they all realized it was actually Jennifer. Obviously, that is quite an interesting thing. It works well.

Angela
Helena just appeared out of nowhere with no hint that Peggy had a daughter. Have you developed any kind of back-story?

Rachel
Yes. I mean, personally, I have. I have no one to develop it with. I have talked to Holland Taylor and I have my own version. My version is that my dad is English and I imagined that they were married for a while and then they broke up, and they are very rich families. I imagined that I was sent to an English boarding school, a very sort of privileged, high-class boarding school in England. Peggy probably went back to the States after she broke up, and it was a bit like, "I don't really care about my child."

Angela
And it is bound to have been an all girls' school.

Rachel
Actually, I think she had a great time at this school. That is how I have always seen her. I see my dad as being someone who has this very absolute, upper middle class thing where no one really talks about having failed but everyone is quite ruthless in their own way, and everyone starts drinking far too early in the day, and it's that kind of thing.

Angela
Do you think she has any siblings?

Rachel
I would love for there to be a sibling or two. I think there is probably a brother, maybe an older brother. Again, I don't think I have an awful lot to do with it but I think the family is quite a dysfunctional family.

Angela
Peggy is a wonderful character, isn't she?

Rachel
She's so good to work with. I had such a short time to prepare for this after being cast but when I was preparing, I'd watch that scene where Peggy walks into the hotel, and Bette goes up to her room and thinks she is someone else, and she has the dogs. I watched that again and again, and the mannerisms she has where it is just like, "Take that, darling, take this." She's like, "Follow me because I am doing stuff, talk to me." I watched that again and again to get that kind of feel of pace. That kind of, "It is all about me, darling." That kind of rhythm.

Angela
Tell me about the scene where Bette first meets you in New York? What was going on with the wardrobe in that scene?

Rachel
That was one of my first scenes that I shot and we did it about 2:00 in the morning after a 16 hour day. It was very hard. I think the idea was to make her look more feminine and to make me look harsher. I had a very tailored, sharp pinstripe suit. I think they were trying to make her be a bit softer, a bit more feminine, to have a contrast.

Angela
Obviously, you get to dress very well and you also get to drive an Aston Martin.

Rachel
You should see the car I drive this season.

Angela
What is it?

Rachel
I think it is called a Maybach? It is so funny, this Maybach, whatever it is called, when I was driving it, they brought me in to have a special test drive in it, and it is huge! It is enormous. It's like, if you put loud bass music in it, it's like a real pimp car. It is huge! It's like an airplane. It is all leather and walnut, and it's incredible. The transport people were like, "Come in and have a test drive. We're really excited! Have you seen your car, have you seen your car?" And I am so underwhelmed by cars.

Angela
What kind of car do you drive?

Rachel
I don't have a car. I don't care about cars.

Angela
Well, you don't need one in London anyway, do you?

Rachel
When I am over there, I rent a Prius because it is clean, one of the hybrids, I do that. I really don't care about cars. They were so disappointed. "Are you crazy? This is an amazing car!" I said “it’s alright, is it warm?" Because when you do exterior shots, it's great if you have the car and then you put the seat warmer on, and everyone jumps in between shots to warm up. <laughing> "Get out of my car!" I'd say.

Angela
So come season three, we are really hoping that Helena is going to soften and be nicer. One of the things on fansites with fan fiction is that it gives the fans the opportunity to develop the characters in different ways. What we are actually starting to see now is people want to see Helena be nicer. So, they are writing her nicer in stories.  So what is she going to be like in season three? Laurel says she is going to become more part of the group.

Rachel
More part of the group. It is not that I mellow. I am slightly California-ized, which I think is quite interesting. You see me doing more sort of LA type stuff, which is good. I do hang out more with the group but still, in a way, she is quite different from the group just because she is English and because of her wealth. She has a slightly different approach to the world anyway and that does not completely go. Ilene had ideas that she wanted to explore her more and see different lights, but I think you cannot turn it around 180 degrees because that does not make sense either. You cannot do that. So we have to keep elements. At work, she is still quite sharp, but with her social circle, she is much softer. She has a pretty rough time of it. Peggy is there again. Peggy appears a few times.

Angela
It was actually good to hear you say that she did really fall in love with Tina.

Rachel
That’s how  I saw it, because obviously we do not know where we are going with it until we get it either, and you sometimes have to go, "Oh, that altered my perception here." But the way I sort of play those last scenes where I show up at the hospital with a bit of, "Oh it's my hospital." But it's just her defence. Like you say, it is her defence mechanism kicking in. And when Tina says, "I think we should see other people…"

Angela
Helena was shocked, wasn't she?

Rachel
But then she says something like, "Oh, I'm sorry. You had the misapprehension that we were going to be committed." Well, of course, it's that classic sort of, "Oh, no, no, no. Of course, I was going to say the same to you."

Angela
Probably one of the most controversial scenes that caused a lot of discussion was the bedroom scene where Helena makes love with Tina, with the kids there. That was really a hard one to justify.

Rachel
It's like a hard line that you have to tread, which means knowing what makes interesting, controversial drama. Sometimes you have to negotiate it a bit, but that was a hard one to figure out. I guess I sort of just tried to think… "You know what? Peggy Peabody is right there when Bette goes to see her and she is being massaged, and she has them translate it. She's not afraid to go in the bedroom with them." I just kind of think, if that is what my mommy is like…well, what do you expect with a momma like that? What do you expect? That's how we rationalized it. It was probably the hardest thing for me, too. I can rationalize it, but I don't know whether I can totally feel that.  You know, with a mother like that, what do you expect?

Tracey
Talking to Meredith McGeachie [Tonya] a little bit earlier, she said that she had gone onto the message boards on the fansites to see what people thought of her character. And of course the phrase "toxic Tonya" and everything was coming out. She actually got quite emotional about it and said, "I can't look anymore." Did you get any of the feel for what was happening with the fans?

Rachel
Actually, at the very beginning, the others were talking about the web site and going online, and I was like, "Oh, okay. I am going to have a look." Obviously that was before any of my stuff had come out and I could read about them and think, "Oh, they said this and they said that" about the other characters. But once my stuff had started going out and I did go and have a look, and like you say, when you start hearing stuff like, "She is such a bitch. Oh, let's hope she doesn't come back" and all this sort of stuff … and I just thought, oh, I am not reading this. And I don't now. I don't read it.

Angela
There was one thread that was pretty good. It was a poll, "Is Helena hot or not?" It was about 95% hot.

Rachel
Oh, that's not bad! The thing is, you just don't know. When you might be reading something that you think is going to be really nice and then … you know what it is like. You can read those little things, and it will stick in your head.

Angela
It must be like the British newspapers, I guess.

Rachel
No, you just need a little word, a little phrase …

Tracey
I think the only reason people were quite so obsessed by it all was the fact of the characters of Bette and Tina. 85% of the people that watch the show would be quite happy for them to have a nice, boring, safe life, sit at home every night watching the TV. I think so many people aspire to have that perfect relationship. I think you could have come in between any other couple on the show and it would not have had the same impact.

Rachel
They are like the rock in the show, and that is where everyone kind of pivots around. Very interesting.

Angela
You would not believe the rumours that we hear about the show, like the show has been cancelled.

Rachel
I know. My brother who lives in Cambridge, was speaking to my mother on the phone and said, "Oh I hear Rachel's show has been cancelled?" My mom rang me up and asked if the show had been cancelled. "Where did you hear that?" "Your brother." "What does he know?" "He got it from the Times." I don't know where it starts, but those rumours are generated and they just take control.

Angela
Absolutely. They do get a life of their own. It is scary. It is also really scary how obsessed that people are.

Rachel
They always get obsessed.

Tracey
I think as a community we can be quite obsessive anyway.

Rachel
It's not surprising. If I had one show that I felt was about my life or people I know, I would get obsessive about it. I got obsessive about Six Feet Under and you know, it is in the last season of Six Feet Under, and Matthew and I would like go, "What were you doing… don't tell me!" I get sort of obsessive about it. But if you had one show…

Angela
You don't walk around Vancouver trying to meet Jennifer Beals though, do you?

Rachel
No, true. I would not do the equivalent. I have a friend in New York who came onto the set in Vancouver. She is a gay woman who lives in New York and she was blown away. I gave her a tour of the studio. She was meeting everyone, and she was really wide-eyed, and she just could not get over the fact that Bette and Tina's house is a set and that the pool is in the studio. It has fake trees and she was seeing it when it, obviously, was not lit because we weren't shooting there. She was just like, "It's not a real house… it is next door." She was blown away by it. She just could not believe that she was walking through Bette and Tina's house. She kept saying, "What is happening next season?"

It is funny. I know we all talk about it sometimes, about how you can learn more about the show by going online than we actually know. You can see where those rumours start.

Angela
I think most of the rumours, a lot of people did not actually believe anyway. Some people don't want to know. I prefer not to know anything.

Rachel
I don't want to know. I remember being in LA and opening some magazine and seeing the headline about the last episode of Six Feet Under and what happens in that. I was … “no, I don’t want to know that” It is such a dramatic thing as well. I was just like, "No!" And it has already spoiled my ultimate enjoyment to watch it.

Tracey
But sometimes, they are totally off the mark and then it really gets worked up.

Rachel
Especially at the end of the season. They love enormous cliffhangers.