Interview: From FOX’s “Dollhouse”, Eliza Dushku

Dollhouse is a new scifi series about identity and mind control–and we recently sat down with the show's lead actress and executive producer Eliza Dushku, to talk about the shows beginnings and her take on playing a different character each episode. Be sure catch up and read our interview with Joss Whedon from last week.

Gamesville: Can you tell us a little bit about the premise of the show?

Eliza: We pick up in the Dollhouse where these programmed “Dolls” are starting to have these memories and develop these little flickers of self awareness and recognize one another. Of course, that’s considered a glitch in the Dollhouse system and that’s where all hell breaks loose. That’s kind of where the show expands and that’s where it gets interesting to me.

What would you say is the main theme or message that Dollhouse is going to explore?

It’s about not only the search for one’s true identity, but also identifying what makes us who we are and our thoughts and our surroundings. What happens when you start to allow other people, a big corporation or a mass of people define that? I think objectification is a huge theme of the show and  how and why we are authentic individuals.

Is there a reason that your character Echo is the one that is becoming more aware?

I can tell you that you’re going to find out what kind of time frame the Dollhouse has been operating under and what maybe happened to previous dolls. I think that we just come into the story with Echo, but there have certainly been dolls before her and there will certainly be dolls after her.

You’re essentially a different character every episode; is that a large part of what sold you on the show?

Well, Joss and I came up with the show together and we were talking about what kind of show would suit me right now in my career and in my life. So the premise of the show was based on my own life and on keeping things moving and on keeping me active and having the chance to play and jump around in between these characters every week and sometimes multiple times every show.

What are the best and worst parts about getting to play such a variety of people, yet playing a single character as the base?

The base character, Echo, is in a word simple. She’s blank. She’s had her personality and memories erased and she’s a child with no inhibition, no fear. She’s sort of a blank slate and it’s exciting in the sense that every week there’s a new star of the show and it’s whatever character I am imprinted to be.

We found out early on that one of the challenges was each character, when they’re introduced they need a good scene full of story. You basically need to give this character’s background and we found that it was nice to get me in the role in some of the easier scenes first, before having me step on set in the outfit as the person with five pages of dialogue explaining who I am. It’s nice to get in the skin and find something to latch on to that makes that person distinct. Some scenes are easier than others to slide into and I have worked with Joss specifically on certain roles. I also have a coach that I’ve worked with since I was ten-years-old and I’ve taken it very seriously. It’s been humbling, exciting and I’m ready for more.

Four years from now when you’re working on season five do you still think that you’ll have places to go with this character?

Absolutely. I look at how much we as human beings evolve everyday. There’s constant evolution, if you think about how many desires and how many scenarios occur in daily life. Apparently Joss has had a five-year plan for the show from day one and we’ve talked about what some of those are. I think that’s one of the things that’s so exciting about this show is that it’s so open for endless possibilities.

Has your new role as executive producer of the series given you any new perspectives on making a TV series that you might not have had before?

It’s sort of been what I expected. I have been in this business now for over 15 years. I grew up in this business and it was exciting and validating to have a friend and a partner like Joss in this. I have picked up and learned a lot about how the machine operates. It was more exciting than anything and it also made me that much more invested in the fine details of the show. There are just so many elements, but I absolutely loved it because, again, this is something that I asked for. It’s been the best kind of challenging, because I’ve learned so much and I’ve gotten the opportunity to be more hands on than project I’ve ever worked on.

Dollhouse airs Fridays, 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific Time on FOX.