By James Mottram
Seemingly out of the blue, young Canadian actress, Tatiana Maslany, has shot forth like a thunderbolt, delivering a performance – or rather, seven performances – in the TV show, Orphan Black (which made its debut in 2013), that has knocked everyone’s socks off. In the acclaimed sci-fi series, she plays seven different characters, or more accurately, one character and her six clones. The actress has now been capitalising on her new profile by branching out quietly into film, with low budget projects like The Other Half and Two Lovers And A Bear. Currently in post-production, however, is Stronger, which will mark her biggest film project yet.
The true life drama stars Jake Gyllenhaal, who takes on the inspiring role of Jeff Bauman, a survivor of the infamous Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 who helps the police track down the killers while struggling to recover from the loss of his legs. Maslany plays Erin Hurley, his strong willed and supportive girlfriend. The film is another typically unlikely work from director, David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Joe, The Sitter, All The Real Girls). “He’s a phenomenal filmmaker,” Maslany tells FilmInk at The Cannes Film Festival, where she was promoting her latest film, Two Lovers And A Bear. “He’s also incredibly prolific as well! He just doesn’t seem to stop!”
Though she escaped unscathed, Maslany’s Erin Hurley was actually running The Boston Marathon when the bombs exploded. “She was like a mile from the end when it happened,” the actress explains. “So she wasn’t hurt, but their relationship was obviously tested quite heavily after that. Jake and I spent some time with Jeff and Erin. They’re incredible and generous, and they have been so good about opening up to us about the experience. It’s amazing to meet people who’ve gone through something like that, and who are just so hardy! The way that they’ve survived the experience is extraordinary. They’re incredible people.”
Does Maslany remember where she was when the Boston bombing happened? “Yeah, I was in Toronto, and I’d probably just finished filming Season 1 of Orphan Black,” the actress replies. “But I was there this year. We were shooting in Boston, and I was there when the marathon happened this year. It was just incredible to be there, in the city at that time, because everybody still feels it. It was only three years ago…it was so recent!”
With so much difficult, heavy material on her resume, perhaps Tatiana Maslany might be angling to do a romantic comedy next? “Oh, I’d love it,” she laughs. “I’d just love a straight up comedy. I would really like that! I keep saying to David Gordon Green, ‘We need to do something light,” she laughs.
Stronger will be released in 2017.
