The Point Radio: Jamie Murray Remains Beautifully Defiant

We head back to the set of DEFIANCE for some quality time with with Jamie Murray who talks about her part on the new season plus her past acting jobs on shows we loved like DEXTER and HUSTLE. Then writer and comedian Spike Feresten explains how he puts people behind the wheel on another season of CAR MATCHMAKER.

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Transcript

The Point Radio. It's Mike Raub. We circle back to the set of Defiance and the invitation of Jamie Murray to talk more about the new season and about some of her favorite roles from the past. Plus talk show host and comedian Spike Farrison is along to talk about putting you behind the wheel of your favorite car. Let's get to The Point. This is The Point. The Point Radio. Get The Point Radio. There's a lot going on in the new season of the sci-fi series Defiance. Fans are pretty excited and so is actress Jamie Murray. The season on Defiance is the stakes are raised higher than ever. The season premiere was a very brutal and bloody one and it's really kind of changed the dynamics of season three.

It's winter time in Defiance and it's going to be a long winter. For her part in the show, Jamie undergoes a huge physical transformation. But that's really no problem for her. It's just been such a gift for me as an actor. You know, I studied actor acting for three years before I went out there and you know, you get really excited about playing all these different characters and roles. But then when you when you when you get out into the big wide world, you realize that actually, you know, casting directors and producers really, they want the girl that they've written to walk through the door and they're looking for the person who's got that energy. But on this character, you know, I was able to completely start from scratch and I was able to study, you know, how she might move differently and how her speech pattern would be different because English is her second language and, you know, all the all the cultural differences.

You know, I was really able to create something very different from myself. And then obviously I have the help of an amazing group of costume designers and makeup artists. And I'm unrecognizable in this role. And, you know, I doubt that I'll get another chance to do something so different from myself again. It's been wonderful. She's acting resume contains all kinds of different roles, but some of the more memorable ones are in the sci fi genre. And I ask her why she thinks this particular type of show is so hot. I think with the sci fi genre, you're able to deal with some really big issues in a very creative and interesting way. And stakes are really high. It's life or death. It's good versus evil. And I think it really speaks to people in the way that mythology and archetypes have always spoken to us.

And as an actor, you know, I love playing in the genre because I think really I'm a character actress, really. And this gives me plenty of drama to play with. So what does she look for in a script? I really like different. I really like something, you know, that is interesting and intricate and allows me to be creative. And I like standalone characters, you know, women who are, you know, powerful or interesting, good people who have, you know, dark sides and bad characters that have redeeming qualities. I like that gray area. I don't want to play a caricature. I want to play somebody who's kind of morally ambiguous. That's a lot of fun for me.

Among the stuff she's done in the past, I ask her if there's any particular role she'd like to go back and revisit again. Just one more time. Oh, my goodness. I mean, I don't think any actor ever walks away from a job wishing that they couldn't go back and redo it. I think that that's part of it, you know, like kind of walking away and, you know, you loved it. And, you know, I mean, Dexter, you know, I love that character, Lila. But I still want to go back with the things I know now and in richer in ways that I didn't fully understand then. And, you know, I really care about my characters. I really kind of, you know, when I feel sad when I put them to bed, you know, I kind of, you know, I enjoyed giving them life and I kind of feel a lot of affection for them all.

Jamie's first major role was in the British series Hustle, one which a lot of fans remember with a great deal of affection and ask if there's any chance for a reunion. Well, actually, you know, we the show ended about three or four years ago and I went back and I did the season finale. I went back and I revisited and got to play with those guys again. But that was an awesome job for me, too. I mean, I was working with Robert Vaughan. He was – that was my first job out of drama school. I learned so much from those guys. So is there still one acting job she'd still like to grab? I think at some point, you know, STEM has went my perfect for the Lady Macbeth type. So maybe it would be Lady Macbeth at some point in the future.

See a lot more on Jamie and her part in Defiance right now at Sci-Fi.com. And there are new episodes of Defiance every Friday on Sci-Fi. The poet radio! Comic Con coming up and here's what's going on in pop culture. Good news. If you or somebody you know is a fan of the homies, Dynamite Comics is now signed a deal to bring that particular license to comics, graphic novels, and it all begins with a retrospective art book that has the history of the characters who began as early as 1978 in an underground comic done by artist David Gonzalez. Dynamite plans a big announcement coming up at Comic Con, including a free figurine giveaway at their panel. We'll give you more information on that in our San Diego preview coming up in a few days.

Marvel's announced a new Inhumans series that brings in also the remains of both the Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises. Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, will be a character in it as well, although as the Beast, both being brought into this series rather than continuing any new Fantastic Four or X-Men projects, all due to Marvel's unhappiness with the Fox movie situation. Meanwhile, Uncanny and Humans will be written by Charles Soule with art and the covers by Steve McNiven as well, and will debut in the fall again after the end of the Secret Wars saga. Jurassic World continues to burn out the box office. It has now earned some $500 million just in North America alone. That's the fastest the movie has done that so far. They did it in 17 days versus The Avengers, which did it in a whopping 23 days. Another interesting stat is the fact that Jurassic World has earned as much in North America as it has worldwide, which is unusual for a film like this.

Of course, this ticket sales to continue into a summer that still has to see the release of yet another Marvel movie and some other heavy competition down the road over the next few weeks. Jill Soloway, the showrunner for the much acclaimed Transparent streaming series, has been signed on by Amazon to be exclusive to that particular service. She'll be developing TV projects only for Prime Instant Video over the next few years. Fox will be kicking off their new TV season with the 2015 Emmy Awards. That'll be on Sunday, the 20th of September. And the next night will feature the premiere of the second season of Gotham at 8 o'clock on Fox.

The point, the point. All I'm about is a… Talk show host, comedian, sitcom writer, those are all ways to describe Spike Farriston. But he's also the guy you go to when you need a new set of wheels, especially with season two of his show, Car Matchmaker on the Esquire network. If you haven't seen the show, well, Spike's happy to tell you about it.

Here's how the show works. A buyer comes to me, needs help buying a car. I get to know them a little bit, and then I use my expertise as a car guy to pick three choices that would work perfectly in their life. We test drive them. Most of the time, we drive them like we hate them.

And then they pick one of the cars to go home. Both writing and performing comedy, Spike's done a lot. A lot of great stuff, too. And I asked him what drew him to try this type of project. Well, I've always been a car guy, you know, and I've worked for a lot of comedy car guys.

You know, I spent five years on the Letterman writing staff, and Dave is a car guy. I went from there to Seinfeld, who is obviously another comedian car guy. And, you know, along the way, it just really, you know, turned up the heat on my own passion for the hobby. And, you know, if you're a car guy listening right now, you know people come to you looking for advice when it's car buying time. And I, you know, one year, I think the year we created the show, it helped.

I had a hand in selling like 20 or 30 cars to family and friends. So, you know, I just had a high success rate. I like doing it. I like sharing the hobby with folks. And, you know, it turned it into a TV show.

Not a guy that follows the usual path. Spike's entrance to the show business was the story in itself. I was at music school in Boston, Berkeley College of Music, not really happy with my choice. I thought I was going to be the next Jimi Hendrix, and lo and behold, I was not. It was more like Tiny Tim, actually.

And got thrown out of the dorms or dropping light bulbs out an eight story window. And then not long after saw David Letterman doing the same thing on a tower and getting paid by a network and thought, well, there's there's a home for me. There's a place for me. And it's called network television. I just focused on doing anything I could to get an internship at NBC and somehow was successful.

And, you know, from there, here I am. So what is he like best, writing or performing? You know what? I'm very happy these days hosting this car show. I get to I created it.

I executive produce it. I do a lot of the writing on it. So it checks a lot of boxes for me. You know, and I get to do comedy here and there and be funny in it. It's not really like a late night show or sketch show, but it's a pretty satisfying day of work for me.

Spike's a lover of comedy just as a genre. And I ask him if he had a chance to go back in time and write for any of the great classic comedians. Who would he like to have worked with? Oh, boy, that is fantastic. There's too many choices.

But, yeah, I want to be British and part of the Monty Python group. And that would be the first thing. And I might even go back a little further to be a writer for Ernie Kovacs, which would be pretty great as well. Who makes you laugh? I'm watching.

Well, you know, comedian wise, it's the obvious guys, Louie and Jerry and, you know, guy like Chris Rock. I love Bill Maher on Friday nights. I like Silicon Valley on HBO. Yes. It's the only comedy on TV I'm watching right now.

It's just fantastically written. Super funny. So I'm kind of in that mechanism.