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A Conversation With Ralph Hemecker, Part One
(Executive Producer/Writer) April 2001
Q: Who are some of the guest stars . . .
A: Well we've got several really great guest stars. We've got a guy named Nestor Serano who plays Bruno Dante, who I can't tell you all about his character right now because it's part of what you'll find out when you watch the show. But he's very intense. He brings a real New York flavor to the show. He plays the Captain of Special Investigations and Homicide and he's just a great actor. We've got a guy named Kim De Lury who's also guest starring in three of the episodes. He plays Sara Pezzini's love interest, Conchobar, who's kind of an Irish rocker, and to get him we launched a pretty extensive talent search. We cast in London, Dublin, Melbourne, Sydney, L.A., Toronto, New York and we needed somebody that was a great actor. That can hold their own with Yancy Butler, you know, in a kind of a very intense love relationship and, well, just say in an intense relationship, and also somebody that could could pull off the musician part of the role. Which Kim did with a lot of grace. We've got a guy named John Hensley who plays Gabriel Bowman. He's in several episodes and he has a dotcom company called Talismaniac.com, which sounds like what it is. He's got all sorts of weird talismans, icons and idols. And the actor John Hensley is really engaging and works perfectly for the character. The mesh between the character and the actor is great. One of the guest stars that we cast is Roger Daltrey who plays basically the devil and I think he gives a performance that will blow a lot of people away. I mean a lot of people obviously know him as a rock star but he's actually an incredibly talented and intense actor. And I think that people who watch the show are gonna be very surprised by just how talented he is as an actor.
Q: Why did you pick him for the role?
A: Well, 'cause we needed somebody with a real demonic, intense energy. We needed somebody that was very powerful and the way we came upon using Roger in the role of the devil is basically I'd seen a lot of his work and a lot of his other acting work and I was really impressed by it. So when this role came up it was really an easy decision. . . . It was like, 'oh, yeah. This is perfect.' So, you know, with his accent and he's also very physical. We did a lot of wire work and he did all his own wire work and basically all of his own stunts. And he's in fantastic shape. And so it was a lot of fun. Yeah.
Q: What is the driving force? What makes it so compelling?
A: Well, I think Witchblade's compelling for a variety of reasons, but I think there is a veil of mystery over the show. It's like you never quite know what's going on. You never really know what's around the corner. So I think the mystery component or the mysterious tone to the show is really compelling, as is the primal energy and the great characters.
Q: Talking about great characters...What makes Yancy Butler the perfect Sara Pezzini?
A: Well I think Yancy works as Sara Pezzini in a lot of different ways. But she has that really great combination of toughness and vulnerability that I think is very compelling and very appealing. She's also, she's very real. She's very accessible and she's also very - she's tough. I mean, you know, if Yancy throws a punch or runs it's believable. It doesn't look like when I have to throw in a stunt double who looks totally different to do a lot of the basic physical stuff. Yancy does scenes where she hits a heavy bag, where she works out -- she does a lot of her own stunts in the fights and, you know, that's part of who she is. She's a physical, strong person.
Q: Was she cast based on your knowledge of her past work?
A: I did know some of her past work but she just came in. The reason Yancy was -- during the casting process, obviously I had known of some of Yancy's previous work but she just came in and gave you know a fantastic read and she was Sara Pezzini.
Q: She's a character that most people can relate to.
A: Right.
Q: How so?
A: I think Pez, Sara Pezzini, Pez is accessible to most people because because she's very real and she's got a she's got a good heart. And I think she goes through a lot of the same pain a lot of people do in the real world except in her case it's just maybe a little more intensified and condensed. But I think that, you know, part of what, a lot of what she goes through -- loneliness, angst, are things that people can dial into and relate to.
Q: A lot of what I read talks about this unusual destiny Sara has. What is her unusual destiny?
A: Well her unusual destiny is something that we'll unravel throughout the course of the show. So I can't really tell you too much about it. But she is sort of in a place where a lot of powerful forces can verge. I can tell you that much, yeah.
Q: Why is the blade such a struggle for her?
A: Oh the Witchblade is a struggle for Sara Pezzini for a variety of reasons. Number one it's very unpredictable. She can't always get it to work when she wants it to and it's very dangerous. It's lethal. But maybe even a bigger part of the struggle is the fact that the Witchblade alters the way that Sara sees and perceives the world around her and so a lot of times because of this perception shift, because of this expanded perception due to the Witchblade, she questions her own sanity. I think that's a big part of the struggle that she goes through. I mean she talks to a ghost. She can see Danny Woo, her ex-partner, and have conversations with him. And that is because of the Witchblade. But to an outsider they think she's crazy and she often, therefore, does question her own state of mind.
Q: Which begs to ask who's in control? Does Sara control the blade or does the blade control Sara?
A: Does Sara control the blade or does the blade control Sara? Yes.
Q: A little bit more Ralph.
A: That's basically the answer. I mean yeah.
Q: Is it a living thing?
A: The blade... I would say that the Witchblade is a sentient artifact. You know, it changes shapes and it interacts with Sara ultimately on some sort of biological level, but we haven't really gotten into that yet in the shows we've already shot.
Q: Okay going on a pretty generic level. We won't go into the different episodes of what it becomes but could you walk us through a typical transformation?
A: Well usually the Witchblade -- sometimes the Witchblade kicks in when Sara needs it. A lot of times she needs it and it doesn't kick in, which is part of the struggle with the Witchblade. . . it's mastery over it, control over it. But when it does kick in, it's usually in a situation where Sara's in jeopardy or somebody that she cares about is in jeopardy and it manifests itself in a variety of different forms. Sometimes it's a metal gauntlet. Basically, it looks like the gauntlet that Joan of Arc used to wear. That gauntlet sometimes has this blade that comes out of it and it also sometimes metamorphoses into a pata (PHONETIC), which is basically like an iron fist with a longer sword that she can punch and stab people with. And then the final manifestation of the Witchblade is a full suit of armor and there is different variations of that full suit of armor. And that will evolve through the series. Each wielder of the Witchblade affects the Witchblade and how it manifests itself.
Q: Do the bad guys any influence the Witchblade?
A: When you say bad guys, what do you mean?
Q: Exactly what I'm asking you.
A: Well in Sara Pezzini's world it's not always easily discernable who's good and who's bad. You know there's a lot of gray. I mean ultimately it is about good and evil but part of the challenge and opportunity for Sara is figuring out what is good and what's bad and it's often very ambiguous. It's hard to discern who's good and who's bad.
Q: Other than control, what are some of the other struggles of the blade?
A: What are some of the other struggles of the blade? Well part of dealing with the Witchblade for Sara is trying to figure out why her? Why she's been chosen, and that's a big part of it. Part of it is figuring out how to use it. Part of dealing with the Witchblade is learning more about previous wielders of the Witchblade and what her connection to them is. And that's something that we find out in the series but there's been a lot of other wielders through history, a lot of women warriors. There's been a lot of women warriors through history who have yielded the Witchblade and through the series, through the stories we find out that Sara is indeed linked to these earlier women warriors.
Q: But in the movie Sara's pretty much the only one who understands the blade, understands that she knows that she has something unusual on her arm. The rest of the world is not privy to it.
A: That's right.
Q: But in the series you introduce some characters who are . . .
A: . . . there's certain people that are aware of the Witchblade and aware of the fact that it's on Sara's wrist: Irons, Nottingham, and intermittently a few other people, but for the most part, the world can't perceive the Witchblade as Sara does and as some of these other people do. And that's part of what she goes through, is if she really did try to explain what was going on people would think she was crazy.
Q: So what are some of the blessings of the Witchblade?
A: Some of the blessings of the Witchblade. Well you know the Witchblade gives Sara heightened perceptions, heightened athletic abilities and I think those are some of the benefits.
Q: How do you see her curiosity building as the episodes progress?
A: Well I see Sara becoming more and more curious throughout the series about the Witchblade as she gets more information about it. It kind of whets her appetite and as she gains a little more mastery of it she yearns for even more. So it's like one of those things where the better you get, the more you wanna do it, the more you wanna know about it.
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