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I had the pleasure of a front row seat at the Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con panel with Julie Benz, star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dexter and most recently, No Ordinary Family. Julie was delightful and happily answered a myriad of questions. She talked about getting the role of Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was very exciting for a young actress, although she originally auditioned for the role of Buffy. Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy, would tell her each episode that they were keeping her on for "one more" and that they'd kill her off in the next episode. Things just grew and evolved from there. When asked how her role as Darla on Buffy compared to that of her new role as Stephanie on No Ordinary Family, Julie said the two roles couldn't be more far apart. While she really enjoyed her time as Darla, she's having a great time as Stephanie, although she has trouble with all of the techno-babble Stephanie has to use all of the time. She said that most of the time, she has no idea what she is saying.
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Although Julie was there as part of BuffyFest, most questions that she fielded were about her role as Dexter Morgan's sweet and loving better half, Rita, on the hit Showtime series, Dexter. Julie talked about getting the role of Rita when, in fact, she auditioned and heavily prepared for the role of Debra, mainly because she wanted to be able to swear on TV. A lot. However, when she auditioned for Debra's role, they basically laughed at her. So although she hadn't really prepared for it, she walked in to audition for Rita and everyone agreed that she was the embodiment of what they had envisioned for Rita. Julie believes that an actor's best roles are the ones where they don't have to try too hard and she simply became Rita, with all of her baggage and vulnerability, but with an ever-present hope and love that brought so much light and happiness into the show and into Dexter's world. She was asked about her love scenes with Michael Hall and whether there were problems on set while he was dating (and subsequently married) Jennifer Carpenter. Julie revealed that love scenes are so awkward, in general, that everyone on set tries to make things more comfortable and she basically tries to lighten the mood. Plus, she is such good friends with Jennifer and had love scenes with Michael before they ever started dating, so jealousy was never an issue.
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Julie was asked how she thought Rita would have reacted to Dexter's secrets and she said she always felt that Rita would not have believed that about him, even if she was presented with pictures of him caught in the act. Rita just had too much hope and positivity and wouldn't have been able to believe something that terrible about the person she loved so much and the man who had been such a wonderful husband and father to her and the kids. Naturally, most of the questions revolved around Rita's tragic demise in the season finale of Season 4. One fan asked if she thought that Trinity told her the truth about Dexter as he killed her and she confessed that, in her mind, he took Rita completely by surprise and she was so afraid for her baby and worried about protecting him that she wouldn't have heard what he was saying anyway. She was also asked if she knew in advance that it was going to happen and whether she left Dexter for her role on No Ordinary Family. Julie shared that she was told a few days before filming that she was being killed off, after having been told much earlier that Rita's character would not be killed off. She chalks this up to Hollywood in general and the need for characters and plots to evolve, but she was totally shocked that Rita was being killed off the show and that she was losing her job. She called her closest friends together, Jennifer Carpenter (Debra Morgan) included, and got wasted on Marga-"Ritas" and spent a day mourning the character she had breathed so much life into during the course of the show. Her fellow actors, those people she had spent so much time with and who had essentially become her family, were only told an hour or two before filming the episode, so the emotions were raw and very real and there was a lot of crying going on. A lucky break for Julie, and her fans as well, came the day after the season finale aired when she got a call from the folks at Desperate Housewives offering her the juicy role of Robin, a stripper with a heart of gold who embarks on a relationship with one of the housewives. Once that role wrapped up, she got the opportunity to play Stephanie on No Ordinary Family and one of her first questions was about whether she would be killed off in the course of the show. Her fans will be happy to know that there are never any plans for Stephanie to leave the show.
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Julie also shared that she is a devoted dog lover and has four dogs currently, two of her own and two older Labs she is fostering. She's also a self-confessed Twitter addict, so be sure to follow her on Twitter at JulieBenz. Getting to hear Julie talk about her various roles was great fun and we are so happy she came to New Orleans and Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con. If you get the chance to see her in person, don't miss it!
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-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins |
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