NOTE: There are spoilers for the first season of Fear The Walking Dead throughout the interview
Elizabeth Rodriguez put her heart on the line, taking on the role of Liza in the first season of Fear The Walking Dead. As a companion series to the phenomenon that is The Walking Dead, the show had to make a huge impact upon its release, and fortunately it's become another notch on AMC's belt of brilliant dramas.
We got the opportunity to chat to Elizabeth about her character on the show, the goings-on behind-the-scenes, and much more in a new and exclusive interview. Read on to find out what she had to say.
For those who have yet to see Fear The Walking Dead, what should be expected?
I think what should be expected is an incredible opening to this new world, this companion series. People keep mistaking it for a sequel, which it is not, and I think it's a slow burn, it's more character development, and as the episodes go by, things start happening. When the apocalypse finally happens, it happens quickly and so, I think people should just take the ride for the six episodes! (laughs)
You play Liza in the series, what was it that initially drew you to this character?
It's interesting because she wasn't developed, but I think it was the fact that she seemed like this woman that was really nurturing and really smart, really driven.
The research I did on being a nursing student made me have this incredible respect for the amount of work it takes while you're being a single mother and having to hold down a job, as well. I thought the qualities she had were some of the ones I have, which were having a lot of empathy and being really nurturing. I was really excited to explore her and find her.
The six episodes were written already so writers knew what was gonna happen, I knew what was gonna happen also but in terms of how she was gonna unfold, it usually is a sort of ride the first time out, you don't have a sense of her, you develop her as she's put in situations and she makes choices.
I fell absolutely in love with her in real-time while I watched her, which is when I was watching it with the rest of the world.
You mentioned Liza was developed as things went on, so how collaborative an experience was this?
I think there were things that I sort of had anxiety about. I did have anxiety about the episode where I was gonna leave my son, which we didn't shoot until much, much, much later. We shot out of sequence back when we got to Los Angeles and I remember feeling like I didn't understand it, I felt like that was a flaw and I hadn't [yet] seen that flaw in her. So, I think there was some discussion and some more writing for Dr. Exner (Sandrine Holt) in that to help that transition.
So there was a little collaboration but for the most part... I guess it just became about moments I felt that Liza would have been a little more patient or something, and particularly when I go to the neighbour's house that first time and I'm leaving, and she wants me to stay for dinner... But there was a little bit of that. I think it was about finding her together which was really, really great.
We worked with some incredible people behind-the-scenes and in front of the scenes. I think just doing the work and wanting all of us to agree and find the best, most honest, truthful experience, was everybody's goal.
As a companion series to the hugely-successful The Walking Dead, was there a heightened element of pressure there to really deliver something special?
Do you know? There really wasn't. AMC's really, really great and everybody was really great, in terms of, if there was at some level, at AMC, it was never trickled down to us! So I wouldn't know, but for us we were just doing a job, everyone was bringing what they were bringing through the project. We were working to live truthfully in this apocalypse, with these real stories of this mixed family and broken family and, exploring what it would be like.
We did spend time really talking about that before principal day of photography with on-set producing director Adam Davidson, that directed the first three. So, I think the fact that he directed the first one and then the next two was really great in terms of tone, and how he had already seen what he had done in the pilot.
There wasn't pressure for us. The thing is you just do what you do and, it either comes together or it doesn't. Everyone goes into everything they do to do the best work they can and then, that's the magic, when it does come together, and more magic when it's appreciated and accepted.
There are a lot of powerful scenes in the show, so is it ever hard to disconnect emotionally?
Oh absolutely. Absolutely! Ab-so-lute-ly! There are days... When we first go to Salazar Barber Shop, and the riot outside, that particular night was a really, really long night, it might have been a 16, 17-hour night.
And so, just experiencing this thing, it doesn't matter that you get to see them saying 'rolling, action', you're experience chaos so up close and personal. Your body does not know the difference. Emotionally, one does not know the difference. I remember getting home exhausted, having to take a shower at five, six in the morning, the sun was coming up. I didn't leave the apartment for two days, I was scavenging for food in the kitchen, just because I just needed to sort of like, balance what I experienced.
It also happened when we all got to episode six, and it was really late night on a Sunday and I had a really early morning on Saturday but I was like, 'I have to read this, I cannot go into work tomorrow without reading how this actually happens', and I was lying in bed and I was hysterical. Just in reading. It was such a beautiful, beautiful, ode and strength. It was just such a brave and beautiful thing, such a complex, layered way to go. I was just literally crying and I got to work the next day and everyone who had read it, it was like their heart was broken too, and that's just because of the writing, before anything was even shot!
Your character is killed at the end of the first season, how did you feel and how did you find the fan reaction after that scene?
It was interesting. I watched it at home and I had two of my friends, one knew and one didn't know. I told a very, very, very small amount of people, because it's a burden to give that away, and no-one's supposed to know. One of my dearest friends, and the other person was a dearest friend too, I didn't want him to be home alone watching and feel betrayed. So, we all sat separately and we bawled, we were just heartbroken, on so many levels.
Then I watched Talking Dead after and I was just so raw. Cliff Curtis said something about me and they talked about me and I was crying like I literally lost one of my family.
I was so vulnerable that I started looking at my Instagram account and it was just flooded with comments from beautiful people, just feeling the same way, couldn't believe that she died, which is what happens in an apocalypse. That's the beauty of developing someone that the fans care about, because it's part of real life.
That left me so heavy. I spent the next day literally walking around feeling like my heart was dangling by a string, I'm not exaggerating! (laughs)
It's such a collaborative thing it doesn't matter what I do. I'm on the other side of thinking I've done great work, then it gets edited. I think it was really hard and the first part of that scene was really, really difficult to do. It was like a 10-hour shoot just on the cliff, because I had to try to find a balance of not getting emotional figuring out where it was gonna happen. It was such an impossibility, it was so hard for me, it was a lot of giving from the other actors.
Then with Cliff, you know, at some point it was just us, we weren't being directed, we were just left. Some magical, truthful moments there just happened between two actors.
The director and the way it was edited, and the way the story was told at the end. There's so much more than 10 hours that day in that scene, you know? But I was really, really really just happy, that it was such a glorious ending to Liza.
We also have to talk about Orange is the New Black, another huge hit - can you give us any season four teasers?
Oh, let me tell you that, there's gonna be some HUGE surprises at the end of that season. We're ready to shoot the last episode, I could not even READ it, because my heart just sank. Yes! There's gonna be a lot of talking, trust me! (laughs) There's gonna be a lot of opinions after what happens at the end of that season!
FEAR THE WALKING DEAD: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is available on Blu-ray & DVD on 7th December, courtesy of eOne.