Chat with Gigi Edgley, 6/22/03

Gigi Edgley plays hip industrial designer George on The Secret Life Of Us. On Monday June 23rd we hosted a webchat with the spunky newcomer. Here's a selection of highlights.

Tash: Hey Gigi, is the show as fun as it looks to work on?

Gigi: No! Just kidding... it's better.

Jodester: Who is the nicest person from the cast in real life?

Gigi: Me! (giggles). Everyone's fantastic. Everyone's been extraordinarily welcoming and just absolutely lush to play with, or work with... if that's what you'd call it.

Jarvo: Gigi, How'd you get your name?

Gigi: My family was expecting a boy, so they had decided on the name Bruce. It took them a month to rename me and mum was driving down around Sydney and Thank Heavens for Little Girls came on; it's a song from `Gigi' the musical. People ask me if it's a stage name but it's not.

Homerzbacon: Were you a fan of The Secret Life Of Us before you joined the cast?

Gigi: I was working 16 hour days on Farscape for three and a half, four
years, so when I got home there would barely be enough time to eat dinner, learn your script and prepare for the day ahead. When I got the audition a friend lent me the DVD box set of the TSLOU series.

Jodester: Who do you hang out with mostly on set?

Gigi: The caterers! The Snickers machine and the Coca-Cola machine and my script, and the heater because it's bloody freezing on set. Gotta love Melbourne!

Dorethygretel: Do you have any advice for the people that want to become an actor/actress like myself?

Gigi: Never stop dressing up and playing make believe. I love what I do and I work my ass off. I don't know what we're doing in this blue green world in the middle of nowhere but I feel that if we do what we love and love a little and teach a little then we can't be doing too bad.

Secretsecrets: If you could be any other character in the show apart from your own, who would you choose to be and why?

Gigi: I'd choose to be the painting that hangs on the wall in our unit with the stars on it. I love that painting. I lose myself into it when I'm looking at my script and studying lines.

Jodester: Are you similar to George in any aspect of your life?

Gigi: George has taught me to be a lot more grounded, and she's taught me to trust my work and my craft in the sense that I'm not covered in three and half hours of makeup looking through contact lenses flying through space. You've got a lot for free in Farscape from the costumes, the animitronics, the set, the computer graphics, so it's been a real learning curve to trust that's what this little girl has to offer.

Lionhair: I heard that there is no music playing when bar scenes or party scenes are filmed. Is it weird having to shout and pretend there is loud music going on in the background?

Gigi: Yeah, it's really bizarre.... It's particularly funny when you have to do dancing scenes without the music. But usually they're pretty nice to us and they turn it up if we're well behaved.

NightMistress: Is there a lot of fun when you're filming or is it pretty serious?

Gigi: I always get nervous before I do a take, but it's the kind of nerves that excite and entice you into channeling a story that has been given to you into a reality for other people to view. There's always lots of giggles and sometimes there's a few tears. All in a day's work.

Espoir: Do people rush to you when you're walking along in the street for an autograph?

Gigi: Oh, mm, there's been trickles! Every now and then you'll see someone looking at you oddly or I'll go into the supermarket and just as I'm walking out they'll go, "Say hi to Evan" and I'm like "Whoa!" It's a bit bizarre, I blush a lot. And the other day I was at a restaurant and a girl said "that's that girl from the show" and then her friends turned around and said "You're the trouble maker - you're going to ruin that boy's heart!" and I'm like, "it's not me, it's the script!"

richies_boyfriend: Have you ever done live theatre or musical theatre?

Gigi: Yes, lots. I love it! I did dance when I was young and stumbled here and there on the stage. Les Mis, all the ones you do in school, and then I did a couple in university... but I haven't been in anything for ages and I've been getting a bit of an itch for the stage of late.

CaRBoNeTTe: Do you sit down on Monday nights and watch the show, the finished product? Or does it bother you watching yourself on TV?

Gigi: No, I love watching the show because it reminds me of George's reality and where she's come from. Because sometimes you can get lost between your own and hers, juggling personalities as such. And it's a fantastic reward to see how the whole show works as a big picture.

Espoir: Do you always need to act by the script or can you act your own little bits from time to time?

Gigi: Different productions have different rules. If you have a valid reason why your character should be going in a different way or you want to alter the words, you can have a chat to the directors or the writers and quite often they tweak it. There is a lot of ad-libbing that goes on but not much makes the cut!

Frenchy: Are sex scenes hard to do? How are they done?

Gigi: Free shnuggles, they're great... and you get paid for it! Sometimes they can be tricky but it's really good to have an idea of how much you both want to make out of the scene and how much you can trust each other... and how much you can play with each other!

Undecided_princess: Do you plan to be on TSLOU for a long period of time?

Gigi: I'm just cruising through... I'm going where the wind blows. It's been an awesome experience to play in the world of TSLOU and I'm blessed just to have walked on the set and worked with the great team that lives, breathes, sleeps there pretty much. So we'll see what happens.

Moniquey: You're a new bubbly addition to the show and its great but you'd probably know how jealous all the chicks are, including me! Is he (Evan) really as sweet and goofy in real life as he is on the show?

Gigi: No. (Laughs)... No just kidding, it's on the TV so it must be real that's he's like that!

Secret MODERATOR of Us: That's it for tonight, folks. Thanks for all your fab questions.

Gigi: Sweet dreams, thanks for coming. Hope your day is filled with sunshine and lots more lush episodes of Secret Life...

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