Inside WandaVisionsecond episode of, “Don’t Touch That Dial”, the series begins to show more of what Westview is like, like Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and your neighbor Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) go to a meeting with other ladies in the neighborhood to help organize a talent show.
Although Wanda is excited about the idea of performing, her hopes for a show go sour a little when she meets Dottie Jones (Emma Caulfield), a woman presented as WandaVisionthe idea of a mid-20th century suburban queen bee type that delights in harassing its other housewives. It is during a face-to-face conversation with Dottie that Wanda witnesses one of WandaVisionfirst big flaws in reality which introduces color into the world of black and white, suggesting that there may be more to Dottie than his sitcom facade is showing.
When we recently spoke to Caulfield (whose other credits include Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Beverly Hills, 90210) on WandaVision, she explained how, despite not having received much information to work on the character, her faith in the narrative skills of series creator Jac Schaeffer was enough to convince her to sign the contract. As she got to know Dottie more, Caulfield realized that while her character certainly keeps secrets, she is a type of personality that we are more than used to dealing with.
Charles Pulliam-Moore, io9: When you were reaching the WandaVision, what is it about Dottie that illuminated him? Because, I imagine, you have been informed from the beginning.
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Emma Caulfield: Yes, Jac Schaeffer is a phenomenal writer. I was so blessed to work with her Stopwatch, and she and I have wanted to work together again for years since that movie, but we just hadn’t found the right project. More than anything, I was really excited to speak his words again. I just want to do a good job for me, but I really wanted to do a good job for her with that. And for, you know, our captain, Kevin Feige.
io9: What’s in Jac’s narrative, then, that immediately made you have faith in WandaVision?
Caulfield: She makes me proud to work now. I don’t know what that intangible magical thing is, but it’s too hilarious, and so smart and so fast. Working at Stopwatch it was one of the highlights of my professional career. I desperately wanted that movie, and there was some other actor who usually beat me up. In fact, she always did. She was my kryptonite. So when I have Stopwatch, I said yes!” because I won my kryptonite and it’s very, very rare to get something you want so badly.
io9: Of course.
Caulfield: You know, you get a lot of bad scripts and end up doing projects you don’t want because you have a mortgage, or you have established a certain way of living and you have to continue. With WandaVision, it seemed like a chance for something I love and someone that got me excited.
io9: Even though everyone who lives on the show changes from episode to episode, there have been common traits in the types of characters they are. We are introduced to Dottie as the character of the queen bee, but as the series progresses, what kind of archetype does she personify?
Caulfield: I’m trying to find a way to answer that without revealing anything, but keeping this conversation interesting. Regardless of what the series is doing in each episode, I always wanted it to have something identifiable or vulnerable about it that wasn’t obvious to the audience, but it would be clear to me internally.
io9: What was that here?
Caulfield: With Dottie, I’m asking “why [is she] threatened by this person? Why [is she] so bothered? It’s because [doesn’t she] trust them? “Dottie is smarter than her general malice would let you see, and her general need to hurt the people around her really keeps her from shining and overshadows everything else she has.
There’s a brief moment in episode three when she is like, “Hey, do these earrings make me fat?” Funny line. Love. Jac wrote this. It seems disposable, but it is not. No one is really around at the moment, and Dottie is wondering, “How do I look? I’m fine, right? “When I was shooting that scene with Dottie’s husband, I remember that just before we started shooting, I leaned over and whispered,” By the way, I never loved you “, and then someone screams” action “and my partner has this brief moment of confusion. But that was just for me. At that moment, Dottie is as trapped in the far reaches of the world of Wanda in Westview as anyone else. She is playing a role, but she still needs approval on some level and resents it.
io9: Because of the roles you have played, you have connections with some of the biggest fandoms in the wider pop cultural landscape. Overview, what kind of major changes did you see in the tone and temperature of the fandoms?
Caulfield: When I started, there was no presence on social media, and you could just do your job without repercussions, actually. The only people you really needed to worry about were on the network and if they were going to keep you. You didn’t really have fan interaction or support that much, and the feedback took a lot longer. You can actually pick up a magazine and read something weeks later, as opposed to this immediate feedback loop of love, cancellation and sending.
io9: Right.
Caulfield: [laughing] I think I’m very lucky to have done a lot of work without the burden of having to make sure that I don’t slip. In a way, it’s like constantly being with a lot of Dotties, you know, because there’s always that concern about having to do things right, because if you don’t, Dotties can come at me forever like “free- if hers. ”Having this built-in Marvel fan base is incredible, but then again, I really hope to do a good job, because I really don’t need fans trying to kill me.
WandaVision now boiling at Disney +.
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