Pushing Daisies

With the release of Pushing Daisies on video last Monday in the UK, Amazon sat down with the show’s female lead to discuss about her TV series…

You must be very excited about the success Pushing Daisies is having both in the US and here:

Anna Friel: I’m really proud of it! We have such a great time making it. I’m loving it.

How do you account for the show’s success?

AF: It’s nice for people to go home at the end of the day and see something uplifting, and yet it is still for the intelligent mind because there’s the procedural to work out.

How would describe your character Chuck?:

AF: Apart from being very funny, she holds on to every wonderful childlike quality there is, particularly now she has a second chance at life. She embraces every single thing in life and appreciates every beautiful sky and sunset and smile. She’s incredibly loving and an old romantic, but she’s also very intelligent because she reads, like, 100 books a day and speaks I don’t know how many languages and plays instruments. That said, she’s lived quite a sheltered life with two mad, eccentric aunts so she’s a mixture of everything. You can never not be surprised by Chuck.

How easy is the American accent for you?:

AF: I stay with the accent all day long when I’m filming. It makes thing much easier. To an English ear my American accent might sound perfect, but on the set I have my dialect coach and I get 10 or 12 notes a day about my pronunciation. Using the accent even between scenes is a discipline, it makes me concentrate that much harder at work – when I’m American I know I’m at work.

Do you have any similarities with Chuck?:

AF: My daughter has. I base quite a lot of it on Gracie. She’s two and a half now and she has that excitement and that glee. I’d like to think I’m similar to Chuck, too, although she’s a lot more positive than me and doesn’t worry. She isn’t as anxious as I am but her spirit has rubbed off on me – I play her 17 hours a day so it can’t help rub off.

The complete interview is here.