Fulfilling and epic legacy

Actress Miranda Otto, who has previously worked in The Lord Of The Rings films, Homeland and will be seen in Annabelle 2, is making her presence felt on our television screens in the new 24 series spin-off, 24 Legacy. She plays Rebecca Ingram, the former CTU head and wife of Senator John Donovan, who is in the running to become President of the USA. What can the actress reveal about her new role?

Q  In terms of 24 Legacy, where do you think you can go now with the storyline, or that gives you great separation from where it’s coming from?

A: In terms of what distinguishes it from the former series — it deals issues that are still so incredibly current and in some ways, I feel even more so than they were at the time. I think the show takes on the changing nature of terrorism and what’s happening in the world today.

This is a very fast-paced story show. It’s fascinating to me that other shows didn’t adopt the same format — that no one else tried to take on the real-time thing.

Q One thing that it did do that a lot of shows picked up on, is by locating sort of hot button issues in the middle of the pulse of genre story-telling. Do you think the challenges are extra great for a new one?

A: I think we’re going to be constantly asking ourselves those kinds of questions. I think this show is a very particular show because of the real-time. There are strong questions asked along the way, but I also feel that it’s very much an entertainment show. It delivers a lot of different reveals and twists in the story. It’s an adrenalised, addictive kind of TV. It’s more a show where everything just keeps unfolding very quickly and it’s about what you do in an accelerated situation.

Q When you do a project like this, do you think about the show not only as an actor but also as a viewer?

A: I guess, having been a viewer of 24, there is a part of me that is still a viewer as well. I tend to like to do things that I would watch myself. I tend to choose things as per my taste — that I would be drawn to watching. But when I’m acting I can’t think about what the audience is taking away from it. I just have invest myself in the situation I’m in at the time. To me it’s really the director’s job to be worrying about the audience.

Q Were you in any way disappointed that there is no Jack Bauer in this season?

A: No, because Kiefer’s gone on to do another show. It’s a never say never situation. You never know whether he might appear at some stage down the track. Kiefer obviously feels he’s ready to do something else. I always think you know better to not keep something going if it doesn’t need to keep going.
There’s also this idea that there are certain people who are compelled to do this kind of work. That there are certain character types who are drawn to that, who are at their best in highly chaotic situations. That there are some people who are drawn to that and handle that really well. And that’s essentially who Eric Carter is. He’s born to be in there, but he doesn’t know that’s what’s going to happen. He’s hurdling towards it whether he likes it or not.

Q Do you have in your body of work, a character that is concluded but from your perspective, in your mind that there is a richness of reserve that you would love to revisit?

A: Concluded? I guess that means ‘did you die?’ I haven’t played that many characters who died. I really love my character in Homeland. When they said that I was going to die I completely got it, because I knew she had done so many things that would have not been feasible for her to have made it through that. But it would have been fun to see her turn up as Putin’s bride or something! (laughs)