BEING HUMAN – Dichen Lachman discusses being Suren & this season’s temptations

I recently had the pleasure of sitting in on a conference call with Dichen Lachman, from Syfy’s Being Human. She talks about her experiences on the set, recurring themes on the show this season, and her character’s relationships. Below are some excerpts from the interview. BEWARE: There may be some light spoilers.

QUESTION: “Tell us about Suren and her journey on Being Human. What do we have to look forward to?”

DL: “Lots of things. Obviously I can’t tell you all of them, but she’s very interesting character and I had a lot of fun having the opportunity to play her. I mean, as an actor obviously, playing a vampire is one of the things sort of on the list.”

“And she’s incredibly complex, very damaged and reckless in many ways. But at the same time, she’s sort of striving to grow up and mature and be the woman that her mother would like her to be.”

“She’s really interesting and I think you guys will enjoy watching her journey through the show because she really – Aidan’s character, it’s – she’s one of those things that just keeps sort of pulling him back into the world of vampires which she’s constantly trying to escape. ”

“So she really throws this (banter) in the works, but he’s planned.”

QUESTION: “Can you talk a little bit more about how Suren connects to Aidan’s past? I know you can’t talk a lot about it, but can you just give us an idea of,  what we can expect from that?”

DL: “Well, it’s one of those I guess love-hate relationships. I mean, this had a very long history together and she’s obviously been in the ground for 80 years. So minus that. I mean, there’s sort of (bid) in Boston together and going further back, he knows. I mean, they’ve just had a very complicated past and I don’t think their relationship has ever been consummated.”

“I think it’s just this very strong attraction they’ve had. And it’s going to be interesting them being together I think you guys will see in this modern world because she’s been away for so long underground and he’s had the opportunity to go through all these changes and change his ways.”

“And so there’s that – her trying to understand or how far he’s come.  It’s I guess when you catch up with an old friend who you haven’t seen in a really long time and you sort of end of change.  Because real change as time goes. So it’s going to be – I think you’ll enjoy watching their relationship play out in the present day as well as the past because there’s these opportunities in the show to flash back which is why the show’s so great. And it’ll help you sort of understand their relationship now.”

QUESTION: “Can you kind of talk about what’s been the most challenging for you filming the series?”

DL: “The most challenging, it’s going to be so – such a basic thing. I think it was like showing the teeth with the dots so they could like the fangs extending. And wearing the black contact lenses which cover your entire eye. I mean, all of us – all the vampires you had to have them fitted. You used to dread sitting in the makeup chair having someone like put these enormous lenses in our eyes.”

“It was very difficult and Sam and I often had conversations about how to show our teeth so they could see CGI, the fangs growing because you kind of feel like a complete (unintelligible) in front of the camera and you’re trying to raise your upper lip so they can,  find the dots to make the CGI possible.”

“That was I think one of the more difficult things because I’ve never done anything. Well, I’ve done things with CGI, but never sort of, that’s part of the performance. And when you’re performing – I mean, this is one of the things about being an actor. Sometimes it’s just very technical, it’s not sort of really craft-based.”

“You have to be this angle and you have to raise your lip just the right amount and,  you’re still trying to keep in the moment and also satisfy the needs of the effects department. That was a real challenge and it’s such a basic thing.”

“But no, I found that one of the more difficult things and obviously, as an actor sometimes when you’re doing a show, you have – and they shoot so fast especially, on a show like Being Human. I mean, they’re all remarkable. They work very quickly. They work very hard and the actors are all incredibly good. So they’re all, they’re for each other and for the show.”

“But when you have to reach that emotional point, sometimes you don’t always have the time to get where you need to get and there’s a lot of pressure that I put on myself to get to those places and really commit to them. And I think one of the things in television is when you’re working at that speed, you really have to have a technique.”

“You’re like a very strong technique so that you can be in those moments truthfully for the show and for the character.  That was also challenging and that’s challenging in all shows, when you have to get to the heightened emotional place. But you couldn’t be working with nicer people, more supportive. And yes, so it was definitely the technical aspect first and then  reaching that sort of heightened emotional state.”

QUESTION: “I was just wondering what is it you think about Being Human that keeps people tuning in?”

DL: “Well, it’s such a wonderful show and I think just people, human beings struggle with being human and just being part of society every day.  I mean there’s a lot of people who feel outside of the community or they don’t feel like they fit in or they’re trying to fit in or they’re just trying to get by.”

“And I think,  even though it’s a show about a vampire, ghost and a werewolf, I think it’s very relatable.  Everyone’s trying to make a relationship,  work with a job and juggling,  different things that come up in their day to day lives. And I think people relate to the show. And the characters are so fun and watchable and they have that balance of sort of drama, but also that lightness.”

“And the camaraderie between the house mates is so beautiful and I think Aidan’s sort of love of – he wants to sort of serve and yet he’s sort of always pulling between giving and also satiating his hunger. And I think that’s in life – I think that’s a balance that everyone struggles with. Everyone struggles with a dark side and they’re always trying to do the right thing.”

“We all – everyone always tries to do the right thing. We don’t always manage, but I think most people I think are inherently good. And sometimes where there are a lot of good people who just aren’t good at being a good person, but sometimes it’s a push and pull like we all have it. And I think people relate to that and it’s a beautiful show.”

“The storyline’s are wonderful and when I first watched the whole series,  I watched it all back to back and I thought I just found this really lovely balance between sort of tragedy and comedy. And usually those things go hand in hand anyway. But I think it’s that, you know. I think people just they respond to the characters.”

QUESTION: “We know the theme of the show this season is temptation. Is Suren going to be tempted as well?”

DL: “I think there is some temptation there for her to, I think she’s just been in this world for so long and she’s so deeply entrenched in that because her mother is sort of like the queen of the vampires. I think if it’s there it’s very fleeting because she knows her fate and that’s why in a way she’s so damaged.”

“I think the main – you’ll see more of the temptation creep in with Aidan who’s constantly being pulled back into this world. Somehow he’s always trying to escape it and he’s always trying to sort of run away from who he is and the people around him. And she’s just there, she’s like just pulling him back in and pulling him back in.”

“And as much as he tries to resist, there’s sort of just this – I mean, I guess it all becomes relative and if you’ve been alive for 500 hundred or 1000 years, 80 years isn’t really that long. In the grand scheme of things, maybe it’s like, five years or something. The equivalent of that, in your mind. But yes, she has been a part of his life for a very long time and yes she was gone for a little while.”

“But, she’s back and that sort of feeling with him I think even though he’s never let it really live and occupy too much space. The fact that he’s working so closely with her is making that harder and harder for him. So I think you will see her go through a little bit of that, but her fate is very much, (unintelligible). There’s no question where her future is.”

“And it’s a very hard thing I think ultimately for her to accept, but it’s just something that she knows. And there are things about,  my character as a person,  that I don’t like, but I know that I’m always going to be like that and there’s nothing I can do to change it even if it’s just a little,  mundane thing. There are just some things that we can’t change.”

QUESTION: “Yes, hey is your interaction with (Deena) more on a flashback basis or is it more like she’s a constant presence watching over what you and Aidan are doing?”

DL: “She is in the flashbacks. Absolutely, but their – Suren’s relationship with mother is played out,  very much in the present and in her conversations with Aidan and you really understand that dynamic with the way Aidan,  and Suren communicate. And how she communicates with Aidan and mother like in the present day.”

QUESTION: “Are you going to be on the entire season or do you know how many episodes you’ll be on?”

DL: “Suren’s character is in seven episodes, but they’ll refer to her in the other episodes”

QUESTION: “After filming this year on the set, is there anything that you learned about yourself that you didn’t know and you didn’t realize?”

DL: “Something I learned about myself, gosh I didn’t even think of that. I think, every job you do, you learn something new and I think I learned a lot about my craft, about Sam is such a wonderful actor and most of my scenes are with him. And I learned a lot from him, he’s Julliard trained. He’s been doing it for a long time and I loved watching him work.”

And I was really grateful to have so much time with such a wonderful actor who really takes what he does very seriously and he’ll always try and make a scene better. And he’ll keep nutting it out with the director to make sure that it is the best scene that it can be. And sometimes we don’t always have the time to get everything everyone wants, but  within the constraints, it’s like shooting fast on a TV show. He did that so wonderfully and I learned a lot watching him work.”

QUESTION: “What would you like to say to everybody who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?”

DL: “I can’t thank them enough, you know. I would be nowhere without the viewers and the fans and I have this very soft place in my heart for the people who enjoy my work and who believe in me because,  actors we’re funny creatures.”

“We have these enormous egos, but we’re deeply insecure. There’s an incredible paradox and a lot of the time I, will find – not all the time, but  we all have our moments where we don’t sometimes believe in ourselves and we think, ‘Oh,  I’m never going to work again and I’m a terrible actor.’ ”

“But then it’s the fans, I look to them and they believe in me and they help me keep believing in myself. And it’s – and maybe that’s unhealthy. I should probably speak to a therapist or something about that. Everyone in L.A. has a therapist, but I don’t. But I do look to my fans sometimes and they give me more confidence and hope that,  I’m not too bad at what I do and I’ll continue to be able to do it.”

“And I just – I have so much gratitude towards the people who support me and who believe in me.”

Dichen’s run on Being Human began this week in the episode titled: “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”, and continues January 30 in “All Out of Blood”