Gracepoint, Episode 9 (of 10)
When: Thursday, Dec. 4, at 6 and 9 p.m. (The show is not being broadcast in its regular Thursday slot today.)
Where: Fox/Global, check listings
Jessica Lucas had only spent a few hours on the job in the Times Colonist newsroom, but it was long enough to make her realize journalism wasn’t for her.
The Vancouver-born actress plays overzealous reporter Renee Clemons in the Fox crime series Gracepoint, filmed in Victoria.
“No, I just like being an actress,” she said with a laugh when asked if she was ready to give up her day job. “I don’t think I’m ruthless enough.”
Her character’s mission in the 10-episode U.S. remake of the British mystery series Broadchurch is to get the scoop on who killed Danny Solano in the northern California seaside town of the title.
The Times Colonist newsroom stepped in last January as the newsroom for the San Francisco Globe, the fictional newspaper where Renee learns about and takes a keen interest in the Gracepoint murder case. Her obsession is mostly because the crime is being investigated by Det. Emmett Carver, the homicide detective played by Scottish actor David Tennant, who reportedly buried key evidence and botched the investigation following the disappearance of three girls in another apparent murder case in Rosemont that she covered.
“She wants to make sure he doesn’t screw up [the Gracepoint investigation] like he did the last one,” says Lucas.
The actress described by entertainment website Heavy.com as “half-Haitian, half-Pakistani and all-around gorgeous” wasn’t above exploiting her sex appeal to breathe conviction into her character as the hard-nosed reporter who’ll do whatever it takes to get the story. It includes cosying up to Owen Burke (Kevin Zegers), the Gracepoint Journal reporter and nephew of Carver’s partner Det. Ellie Miller (Anna Gunn).
“She has a lot of characteristics I assume a big-town reporter would have,” said Lucas, whose movie credits include The Evil Dead, She’s The Man, The Covenant and J.J. Abrams’s Cloverfield.
The actress made her debut as Bekka Lawrence in the Canadian teen drama TV series Edgemont and is best known for her roles in Melrose Place, 90210 and Friends with Benefits.
“Renee is very ambitious, very ruthless, and she goes after what she wants,” said Lucas, who also appeared in the music video for Coldplay’s True Love.
“She believes in truth and justice, but it all comes from a place that she truly, deeply cares about — the story she’s telling.”
As different as Lucas is from Clemons, they do share some things in common, the actress said.
“I’m also driven and ambitious in my career. I get that,” she said. “She’s a bit harder than I am, though. I think I’m quite soft and friendly.”
No stranger to spending months shooting a series, Lucas said her extended stay in Greater Victoria filming her fifth big TV series was a comforting experience. Her aunt and uncle, three cousins and her grandmother live in Oak Bay. Los Angeles-based Lucas returns to visit them each Christmas.
“It was very surreal,” she said, recalling how she found herself staying at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel just three weeks after having drinks there with relatives last Christmas.
The homecoming aspect was a bonus during a fulfilling creative experience, she said.
“I pinched myself every day I came to work. I mean, I’m working with Oscar and Emmy nominees and it was amazing just watching them work.”
Although she saw two episodes of Broadchurch, Lucas stopped watching when producers told her “what happens with me is very different than from what happens with her.”
With just two episodes to go, it seems unlikely that her character could be the killer, but Lucas wasn’t speculating except to teasingly note that Clemons does have that connection to Carver.
Lucas wasn’t even aware of the culprit in Broadchurch until her castmate Kevin Rankin, who plays Rev. Paul Coates, spilled the beans, she recalled with mock irritation.
Another bonus of shooting Gracepoint, she said, was getting to spend so much screen time with Zegers, a fellow Canadian she didn’t meet until her audition. “He’s fantastic,” she said. “I think we’re really similar in our approaches. We’re both serious and focused but we also like to have a good time and he’s really laid-back and down to earth.”
