Meaghan Rath is the star of SyFy’s new hit show “Being Human”. Adapted from the British series, Meaghan is playing the character Sally, living in a house with a vampire and a werewolf. Movie Mikes had a chance to chat with Meaghan about her character on the show and what we can expect the rest of the season.
Mike Gencarelli: Tell us how you got involved with Syfy’s “Being Human”?
Meaghan Rath: I got the script and audition material from my agent. I haven’t heard of the British show before. I went home and read the scripts and immediately fell in love with them. I really connected to the characters, the people that they were and the struggles that they were going through. I just knew I had to be a part of it. I auditioned a couple of times and read for the casting agent. Next, I work-shopped the audition with Adam Kane, the executive producers and director of the first two and finale episodes. Then they flew me to screen-test and that is where I met the guys for the first time.
MG: Tell us how you prepared for your character Sally Malik?
MR: I wasn’t trying to play her as a ghost…I was playing her as a real person. I think that is the whole trauma of our show. We are not playing the stereotypes of a vampire, a ghost or a werewolf. We are playing them as real people. It wasn’t too hard for me because I really saw a lot of myself in her and connected with that she was going through. It wasn’t much preparation. When people ask me “What type of research did you do to be a ghost?”, I have always believed in the supernatural my entire life…I didn’t have to research that much. Sally is really new, so I am going through everything she is going through at the same time. I am learning as she is learning.
MG: In the show you actually forget that she is a ghost until she disappears or something, that is planned right?.
MR: Exactly and that is great that you say that because that is sort of what we are going for. The show is a character based show and it is about their relationships but on top of that we have this element of the supernatural that makes the stakes higher.
MG: Since being a part of the show, did you go back as check out the British version?
MR: I watched maybe two episodes during the audition process just to get a sense of the tone. We made the conscious choice not to watch anything while we were shooting because we wanted to just bring ourself to it and not be influenced by what we were seeing, or we didn’t want to see something we really liked and then not be able to do it. We wanted to completely put it out of our minds. Since we stopped, I haven’t seen any more but I think Sam Witwer bought the DVDs, so maybe we will all watch it.
MG: We recently found out a big secret about your character and your killer, can you tell us a little about that?
MR: It was a really intense episode to shoot. I had a feeling of what it was though from the beginning. The writers were very secretive about our character arcs and plot lines. I was really happy to see that they were going to go there pretty early on in the season and now that leaves a lot of room for development for my character. I found in the first couple of episodes, I didn’t want Sally to just be mourning and luckily they got the death thing out in the open. By the end of the season, Sally ends up in a completely different place then when she started and it is really exciting. It is not necessarily a happy place. It is really exciting for an actor to be place to play that kind of thing.
MG: Tell us about working with such a great cast?
MR: It has been amazing to work with Sam Witwer, Sam Huntington and even Mark (Pellegrino). The Sam’s are the two of the most talented people I have ever worked with. They are so generous on set. We never have to worry when we are doing scenes together, the three of us, we have so much friendship and history already to bring to these characters. We find our ways through scenes and discover new things as we go along and it is really nice to work with them. It is like going to work with your best friends.
MG: What has been your favorite episode to shoot so far?
MR: I have a couple of favorites. You know that flying sequence we did, that was one of my most amazing times ever spent on the set. There was something really special about it. I also really love episode five, a lot of shit goes down in that episode. I think that is really a pivotal episode of all of our characters. It is where stuff really kicks into gear. Also episode seven, it is just really good. We are all just finding our grooves really well and it is working. I think it just gets better every week. I have only seen to episode ten and I am telling you each week gets better and better and more dark and more funny. It is amazing.
MG: What can you tell us about your characters’ storyline in the upcoming episodes?
MR: Expect to see a more darker Sally. I am more sober…in the beginning of the series, she is kind of bubbly and excitable. She does retain a lot of that during the season but I think she is constantly hitting these new rock bottoms. She is now brought into this supernatural world. I think that, especially with the reveal of how she died, she is dealing with a lot of feelings of revenge and she has a darkness to her that grows. She is struggling and sort of on the fence of being on the light side of things to the dark side of things. She is trying to find her way. It is really cool.
