Exclusive interview: Sara Canning is writing TVD, interview › 26/03/2010

Canadian actress Sara Canning is best known for her role as Jenna Sommers on The CW's freshman TV drama The Vampire Diaries. As the young aunt and new guardian of Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and her brother Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), the 20-something who was always the cool, fun one, now finds the transition to responsible authority figure to be a bit of a challenge.

The show, which follows the relationship between the human Elena, her vampire boyfriend Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) and his brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder), premiered to the highest ratings in the network's history and has since gone on to win the 2010 People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama.

In this exclusive interview with IESB, Sara Canning talked about the wild ride she's been on with the successful new series and how she can't wait to see where Season 2 will take them.

IESB: How did you become an actor? Was it just something you always wanted to do?

Sara: There is someone who played a big part in it. When I was 12, I was in a drama class in my junior high school and I auditioned for a play. We would use our after-school time and we were putting on this production, and I just had this really awesome teacher who was into the more quirky sides of theater. He would go into the dark side of Shakespeare, and that kind of stuff. So, I think he really influenced me, just wanting to be a performer and becoming really interested in theater, and then that developed into an interest in film and television, later on.

IESB: How did you originally get involved with The Vampire Diaries? What was it about the show and this character that was appealing to you?

Sara: I actually auditioned for The Vampire Diaries back in Vancouver, in February of 2009. It's been a year since this whole process started, and it's been such a crazy journey, we can't believe a year's gone by already. I auditioned for a couple of the roles, and then I got an audition for Jenna. At first, I didn't really know what to think because the breakdown said she was much older than I am. But, as soon as I read the script, I saw that she was a very relatable character. What I found so appealing about her was that she was doing this really noble thing, in trying to be a good role model for her niece and nephew, since her sister has died, and yet she is still really young to be shouldering this big responsibility. She has very interesting flaws. She's really trying to do her best, but essentially growing up herself. It's not like she's just a parental figure. For me, it was very easy to connect with the role of Jenna, and I thought she was really cool.

IESB: Will Jenna continue to struggle with being a responsible authority figure, or will she become a bit more sure of herself throughout the rest of the season?

Sara: I think that there's been a definite arc with Jenna, just expressing her fears about being a parent and really being afraid she's going to screw up. She's been learning a lot. As the season progresses, we're definitely going to see Jenna becoming a little stronger with her choices for Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen). She does have a good idea of what's best for them, and she really does have their best interests at heart. I think we'll definitely see her becoming more sure of herself.

IESB: Have you thought at all about how you would react, if you were ever put into the situation to be the responsible parental figure for teenagers?

Sara: Yeah, definitely. I have been evaluating my own life. Every time I get a script for a new episode, I'll look at it and think, "How would I handle this?" It really is a test of character for Jenna, all the time, and I definitely look at my own life. When I'm doing a job, as an actor, I always look back into my own past experiences and see what I can relate to, and it brings up a lot of stuff. It's not only what I've had to deal with, in the past, but at some point in my life, something like this may happen. With any job that I do, I look at the character and say, "What if this happened to me?," and try to connect that way.

IESB: Are you ever disappointed that she doesn't know that there are vampires and witches, and all of these things going on in town? Do you hope that she'll get to be more involved with the action, in the future?

Sara: I do. I would love for Jenna to find out. At this point, it's all completely up in the air. We don't even know how the first season is going to end, and it's quickly creeping up on us. But, she's spending a lot of time with Alaric, and things are becoming more and more intense within the town. It's not just vampires anymore. I would love for her to eventually find out, or have an inkling that there's something shady going on in Mystic Falls, just because I would love to see how Jenna reacts to Elena having a vampire for a boyfriend, and what parental instincts kick in versus that adventures side of herself. She's very liberal and open-minded, so I would love to see where that would take Jenna.

IESB: Are you as excited and anxious to read the next script and find out what's going to happen, as the audience is to watch each episode?

Sara: Yeah, absolutely. We have the same mentality that our audience has, from week to week, just because there are such large cliffhangers and so many new storylines that develop and things that pop up all the time that are so shocking. The audience is really excited, from week to week, to see what's going to happen, and that's how we feel, reading the scripts. Quite often, we get the script with not too much time before we start shooting, so we'll really have not had an idea of what's going to happen. We may have a general idea, but there are lots of surprises that happen and it's really exciting. We'll just start texting each other and say, "Are you on this page yet?," because nobody ever wants anybody else to spoil anything for them. We're really adamant about that. Everything is just so surprising. It's great. It's a lot of fun.

IESB: What hints can you give, as to what's in store when the show returns?

Sara: Yeah. In general, with the show, the viewers can definitely look forward to the aftermath of the tomb having been opened. I can't say too much because everything that happens is so important to the show and the storylines, but that tomb is going to be very significant in the upcoming episodes.

IESB: Is there anything coming up for Jenna that you're particularly excited about viewers getting to see?

Sara: With Jenna, we're going to see this relationship with Alaric definitely develop further. Off the bat, we saw some great chemistry between them, but it's not going to be just a simple relationship. A lot of dynamic is going to surface with that, between the two of them. And, Jenna is going to find herself having to make some more important choices for Jeremy and Elena. She'll have to protect them a little more.

IESB: How has Matt Davis been to work with?

Sara: Matt has fit in so well with the cast. He came aboard and just settled right in. He's hysterical. We are just always laughing, whenever we're working together. He's great. He's a lot of fun. We're just so goofy. It's funny because Jenna and Alaric have this relationship that's developing really quickly. It's great to work with him because he's so easy going and just a lot of fun to be around.

IESB: What's it like to work with Nina Dobrev and Steven R. McQueen? Did you do anything to get to know each other, prior to working together, or did you just click right away?

Sara: The cast really clicked very quickly, when we worked on the pilot in Vancouver. Everyone became friends very quickly, and we've just been lucky that that relationship has carried through to Atlanta. Everyone is still super-close. Whenever everyone is here on a weekend, we'll all hang out. I live with Nina, so she really does feel like family to me. It's not that much of a stretch to actually create this family dynamic with Nina or Steven. The three of us are really close, and a really interesting little family dynamic has developed. In reality, I'm only a year older than both of them, but I'm playing their aunt, which is bizarre. On the show, she is still a really young aunt, so there is still that dynamic. It feels really close to home. It naturally happened, really easily, just through being such good friends with them. We're all here for each other, if any of us ever needs anything, so that carries over easily to film.

IESB: What's it been like to film in Atlanta, and is there anything you particularly enjoy about the city?

Sara: For me, it's been a really cool experience. It's my first time living anywhere in the United States. It's interesting that my first move to the States was to Atlanta, which is so different from Vancouver, but I really like it. Southern hospitality is a very real thing. Everyone here is so friendly and has been very welcoming. Our crew is wonderful. And, I've been exploring the city a little bit, too. I think I'm very adaptable. I can be put into any environment and I'll find things about it that I really like. I like shooting here because it's good to be removed from Los Angeles. I think it would be very different shooting there. It was interesting when the show first premiered because we were tucked away down here, just going to work, going home, sleeping, hanging out with each other and going back to work. When the show did as well as it did with the premiere, it was great, but it was a little bit shocking. I think we still forget that the show has the audience that it does because we really are just down here, going to work. We're definitely in a little bubble here, and I like that. I think it's great. Everyone has just been focusing a lot on making the show everything that it can be.

IESB: Being the first time you've lived in the U.S., were there things that you realized you missed about home that you were surprised about?

Sara: There are little things that I'll forget about. I went back to Vancouver for Christmas and, just being near the ocean and the mountains again made me realize that I missed that. Vancouver is such a great city because everything is right there. You can drive an hour and a half and be in Whistler, or you can go to the beach. I definitely miss Vancouver. When I moved there, the hype about the Olympics was just beginning. They literally had a digital clock, counting down the hours. So, it was funny to be there for three years while all this hype was happening, and then the Olympics happened while I was in Atlanta. I'd much rather be here working on the show, any day, but Canada will always be home. I have a lot of friends here now, but all of my family is up there. It will be nice, on hiatus, to go up for a little bit and just hang out, but I love it here. I think I can live anywhere and consider it a little piece of home.

IESB: Had you been a fan of the vampire genre prior to doing this, or is this your first exposure to it?

Sara: I had read the Twilight books and I thought it was a really cool love story. I've always been a fan of vampires, but more the classical vampire stories. I love Dracula. I love the Swedish film, Let the Right One In. I just really love the unattainable allure and the love story about vampires. I know that it's being developed for more of a modern audience, and it's become a total pop culture sensation, which is great, but I really love the essence of the vampire story and the dark romance of it all, and I've always been a fan of that. So, it's fun to be a part of it now and be a part of how it's been modernized. It's about watching two people who really shouldn't be together, try to figure it out, with a lot of problems along the way. Who doesn't love that? That just makes for a great story.

IESB: Can you understand the appeal and the devoted following for the vampire genre then?

Sara: I definitely get it, but it is totally fascinating, at the same time. It seems like it's just hit with such a bang, in the last couple of years. We went and did this event signing at Hot Topic, here in Atlanta, and I was blown away. I was expecting the fans that were present. It was totally insane. I remember these moments of looking at my fellow cast members and saying, "Are we actually at the right place? Is this real? Are these kids here for Twilight? Are the Twilight people here somewhere in this mall?" But, it's been really cool. It does shock us, every time something like that happens, but it's great. I don't think that the vampire phenomenon is going away. I think it will just continue to evolve, as it has, over the years, like with Interview with the Vampire and The Lost Boys. There's always been such a sexiness to vampire stories that I think it's just going to continue to evolve, which is exciting.

IESB: Had you been aware of the fact that this series is based on books?

Sara: I was, yeah. I had actually heard of the books before, and then, as soon as I was cast as Jenna, I read the first four of the novels. It's been really interesting to see what they've kept from the novels, and how some things have differed. So many of the core ideals from the novel have been used, but then a lot of things have grown and different relationships have developed. It's really cool. But, I'm happy that I had the books as a basis. Such great characters were developed there, and what's awesome about the books is the relationship between the Salvatore brothers, which has really taken flight with the show.

IESB: As difficult as it is to actually get anything on the air, how did it feel to learn that the show was the most-watched premiere for The CW ever and that it got a Season 2 pick-up right away?

Sara: It's so exciting. I have to pinch myself, sometimes. I have to say, "Right, okay, this is for real. This is my job." It's really bizarre because, before coming to Atlanta to work on The Vampire Diaries and before booking the pilot, I'd always worked in Canada, on projects that I'm really proud of, but that didn't have the momentum that The Vampire Diaries has had, so quickly. So, finding out that it was the biggest premiere in The CW Network's history, was so shocking. It was a bit hard to wrap our minds around, just to look at the numbers and the stats each week.

To me, it's still just a number and I'm still just trying to grasp the magnitude of what the show means to people and how many people are tuning in on Thursday nights. To take it from a number and to really think about how many people are watching this show, it's really bizarre, but it's wonderful. We're so grateful to our fan base. We're just excited for the show to get better and better, and for the storylines to continue to develop, in the way that they are. We're so excited to see what's going to happen with the second season because we have no idea.

IESB: Do you get to give any input at all, into where you'd like to see your character go, or do you just let the writers run with it?

Sara: At this point, I think the writers are totally running with it. Everything is so brand new that we're definitely just waiting and reading, just getting excited about things and going with it. We're all on our toes right now, which is great. It's exciting, but it can get pretty crazy. But, at this point, we're just letting them do their thing and just waiting to see where we're going to go with the second season.

IESB: With such talented people behind the camera, as well as in front of it, did you have a point where you knew you were making something special that was going to connect with viewers, or was it just totally surprising to you when the series won the People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama?

Sara: The People's Choice Award was our first concrete, "Well done!" We'd just all been working so hard and for such long hours, cast and crew alike. Everybody is really putting everything they have into the show, and there hasn't been a lot of time, besides the premiere being what it was and seeing how many people were watching the show and knowing people were excited about it. We were just really working through it all and wanting to make each episode better and better.

With a first season, there are a lot of new things to learn and we're just figuring out our pace right now and really developing the tone of the show. So, when we got the People's Choice Award, everybody was just floored because we were all down there shooting and then we won. It was really shocking and just so gratifying. It's such a lovely feeling to know that that award was based on a lot of people voting. We just had a mini-celebration with the cast and crew, and said congratulations to each other. We are really holding each other up and keeping each other going. It was really great for us, as a team, to say, "Wow, we have created something special that people care about."

IESB: What is Black Field and who do you play in that?

Sara: That is a Canadian independent film that is directed by Danishka Esterhazy, and I played a 19th century Scottish homesteader. It's very different from The Vampire Diaries. I actually was lucky enough to do that in between the pilot and filming in Atlanta. I played the lead role in that film. We had a very low budget and a very tight shooting schedule, but it was probably the biggest learning experience I've had so far, as an actor.

I'm just really proud of that film. Everybody who was working on it was there because it was a passion project. It was such a great story that everybody was there just to get the film made. It was really what filmmaking is all about. It's actually going to be theatrically released in Canada in June, so we're really excited about that. It premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival. It's a total gothic love story. It has similar elements to the whole vampire thing, just minus the vampires. It's very Bronte-esque. It's a really lovely, devastating story. It was a great experience.

IESB: If the attention that you receive from being a part of The Vampire Diaries leads to more film work for you, have you given any thought as to what you'd like to do next?

Sara: The sky is the limit, right now. I just want to take on anything and everything that I can, just to grow as an actor. I would love to do a quirky comedy, just because I've done some fairly heavy stuff in the past couple of years. That would be great. I would love to do another period piece. I have a huge place in my heart now for period work and just getting to develop different accents and understanding women from different eras. I love that kind of stuff. I'm looking forward to doing some stuff like that, in between shooting The Vampire Diaries.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES airs on Thursdays on The CW