EXCLUSIVE | Stephanie March talks about how 'Naomi' is 'turning' the superhero genre
For those of you keeping up with The CW's 'Naomi', it certainly comes as a breath of fresh air in the superhero genre. The series follows the origin story of DC hero, Powerhouse -- Naomi McDuffie. While Naomi believes she's a normal teenager, a string of unprecedented events proves that she is anything but.
If you're looking for other series under the superhero genre, you might want to consider 'Superman and Lois', 'Peacemaker' and 'Doom Patrol'.
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MEAWW caught up with Stephanie March to talk about the series, her process when it came to playing Lady Akira and what was it like to work with the cast. Here's what she had to say!
Fans are yet to see the full extent of Lady Akira's role in Naomi's life, but it's clear she plays a significant role in helping Naomi access her full potential. How did you prepare for the role?
It's funny that you should ask that. I wish I had a really interesting story about my process, but I don't because they were very secretive with us, as well about the specifics of our participation with characters. They really wanted to keep the plotline secretive, even from the cast.
So I asked as many questions as I could, but the most I was able to get out of it was Akira has a very significant relationship with Naomi and with her past. It has yet to be revealed that she will be a force in her life. For good or for bad, we cannot say. Now that's pretty open-ended. That didn't give me a lot to work with, but rather, fortunately, I had some great scenes with Casey and some great scenes with Cranston, who plays Zumbado. And we were able to piece together a few things that made it fun for us as actors to play around with.
And, you know, as an actor, I have often played women whose professions are very important to them, women who are very work-oriented and driven by what they do, and thus had relationships with young women as mentors. So I thought, well, let me channel what I know, what I love to do and what I think I do okay, and apply that to Naomi and make her a mentee, even if I don't have the best intentions in mind to create that kind of relationship.
The series takes fans on a journey, where they uncover new twists as and when Naomi does, is there anything in the series that took you by surprise as well?
Yes! And that should be revealed in the season finale. So, I can't say what it is, but when we had scenes together as actors, we called ourselves the 'grownups'. When Jen, Greg, Dee Zumbado and Akira have scenes together, and we have a few, we had a lot of fun riffing.
There were a couple of things we joked about, like if we were going to be there in future episodes. It was "Well, do you think you just got fired?" "I don't know. Do you think you just got fired?" And we kind of played around with that, because there's some twists and turns!
The series certainly has some cool fights thrown in. Are we going to get to see Akira in action anytime soon?
In the second half of the series, I would like to say that Akira is a little bit of a badass!
Did you have fun doing those scenes?
The truth is, it's really the stunt people and the special effects people who have all of the work. All I have to do is convincingly look like I'm punching somebody or look like I'm doing using my superpowers, and then I ask for coffee or tea or have a snack or whatever, and then it's up to everybody else to figure out how to make it look real!
The series has quite a talented cast. What was it like, working with them?
Well, so many of the stories involved plotlines and us joking around, really, but I can say that I have a great scene with Zumbado (Cranston) and we shot it in his office, which is the used parking garage, and we shot it at night, and we had a lot of fun joking around about what kinds of cars our characters would have and what kinds of cars we as people, in our real lives in high school would have driven. And it was like, "Okay, if you were in high school right now, pick which car you would use to go on your first date."
So, we just have some really nice, fun backstage bonding moments. What was so great is that no one was actor-y. It wasn't a lot of talking about our process and talking about our history and other jobs we've been on. It was just people breaking down the story and trying to figure out how to make it make sense and be the most real in it. It was one of the easiest sets I've ever been on. Everybody was wonderful to work with!
What is it like being a part of the Arrowverse?
It's a huge honor to be a part of a group like the DC Comic Universe. That's really fun. It's a very devoted fan base and some really interesting storylines, that in itself is great.
With 'Naomi', Ava and Jill and DeMane are turning it (the superhero universe) on its head a little bit, and putting a young black woman as the lead who doesn't come from a history of pain or trauma. She's just this really exceptional young woman who finds out she has all of these gifts.
For them to tell the story the way they are telling it, as an actor, it's really fun to play with because there's a lot of character development. We don't rely so much on special effects or superpowers. We tell stories of people and to be able to work in the superhero genre doing that with somebody like Ava DuVernay is freaking amazing.
Lady Akira aside, fans would love to know what's next for Stephanie. Is there something up in the works that fans should all keep our eye out for? Something you're excited about?
You know, I'm a very, very superstitious person. There are two things, but until it has actually happened, I will not jinx it! I know better now. Unless you're actually on set, doing the job, don't announce that you've got the job. Just don't do it!