Comingsoon.net have an excellent interview with Producer David Eick and the Bionic Woman herself, Michelle Ryan. The Interview is very recent (8th Sept.) and they ask Eick about Glen Morgan’s departure and a possible early show hiatus - Eick doesn’t rule out some downtime and pays tribute to Morgan’s contribution, whilst indicating that perhaps Morgan’s vision for the show was too specific and wasn’t flexible enough:
We don’t have a short break planned yet. Although you always look for opportunities to give yourself time to catch up on scripts, even if there are surprises. On just about every show I have ever done we’ve taken a week that was unplanned and unbudgeted and you get the studio to pay for it. You sort of shut things down and go on hold just to catch up or adjust your navigation. I don’t that yet, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we did. It would be unusual if we did. As for Glen, things will change because he is a very specific personality with great leadership skills and a real clear vision of the show. To some extent some of that is going to undergo some adjustment. He is going to be missed. I think we all agreed that what he was helping to build toward the show to come was quite good and valuable. We will be using a great deal of it.
Comingsoon asked most of the questions I would’ve asked had I been doing the interview and one such question concerned the choices that Ryan’s character will be faced with – the tantalising theme of Woman Vs Machine..Sister vs Soldier. Interestingly, Ryan relates the battles that Jaimehas to face with her own journey as a young lady in today’s world, which I think is an honest insight to her as a person and will hopefully make for a great portrayal on screen (beware slight spoilers follow):
I think it is absolutely the human side… Yes, she has these super abilities, but at the core of it, there is a woman’s journey of self discovery and her right to empowerment. I feel like I am on that journey. I just felt an instant connection. I know this young character (Vivian), who also has sudden abilities, she comes along farther down the series and Jaime takes her under her wing immediately. She is very compassionate and she questions every step of the way when Jonas and Antonio say, ‘We are the good guys.’ She questions everything. I love that. She is just this very grounded multi-layered character and person. That’s why I felt, yeah, there is so much potential to play with her character, aside from the action sequences. The sci-fi element at the core of it is this human being who has got so much depth. That’s the woman I want to be like. I want to find my voice and I want my voice to be strong and confident. I feel playing Jaime is helping me get there.
It’s an exceptional interview which gives great insight into the mechanics and aesthetics of the show. I will no doubt come back to some of the issues it raised but for now you can read the entire interview here - it’s quite long, but well worth it.
