better call saul

It appears to be more about creative fate than coincidence that Sarah Minnich can be seen starring in a string of period pieces. As a child, the California-born actress who first drew attention for her run as Brenda on “Better Call Saul,” always found herself playfully portraying characters living in the past.

“I used to literally play dress up all day long in period costume type stuff because it’s just what I wanted to do,” she said in a recent phone interview.

Years later, that imaginative playtime is paying off for Minnich. She can currently be seen in the buzzy western series “Godless” for Netflix and in the ripped-from-the-headlines six part mini-series “Waco,” set to premiere January 24 on Paramount Network.

 

We recently sat down with Minnich to discuss the pull of history on her career, how she approaches playing non-fictional characters in a semi-fictionalized story, and why the future of filmmaking is looking so bright.

TrunkSpace: In addition to you working on a string of period pieces, we have also noticed that a number of your recent projects, from “At the End of the Santa Fe Trail” to “Waco,” are based on true events.
Minnich: And you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ll tell you something interesting… when I was in high school and middle school, I was terrible at history. I always screwed my GPA up because of history classes, but now, in the past five years or so, I’ve started listening to audiobooks, and specifically historical fiction audiobooks. For some reason, I’ve become much more attracted to and interested in learning about history and historical events. It sort of fits right in like a puzzle with my love for doing period piece type of work and trying to explore the character and mindset of folks that used to live in the past.

TrunkSpace: Does playing someone who actually existed or portraying a fictional person who existed within an actual moment of history force you to approach finding a character differently?
Minnich: Typically, my homework before I go for an audition is pretty extensive in terms of researching. Obviously the homework is fairly extensive for any piece that you go in for, but for period pieces, you want to look at the era. You want to look at personal accounts from people that lived in that era. For roles that are based on actual people, that becomes even more difficult because it sort of becomes a process of trying to actually capture that person’s essence, which is friggin’ hard! Then, you run into issues of, “Well, what if you don’t capture it right, and they don’t like that?” It’s kind of this game of guess and you do your best to base it on what you’ve learned and what you can find.

That’s another thing… you can’t always find information on the people that you’re attempting to portray, so you sort of just got to put your best foot forward and go with what the director asks from you, and rely on your instincts, but at the same time, rely on the direction you’re being given.

TrunkSpace: When you’re working on a project that is based on real events, does the vibe on set take on a different feel?
Minnich: When you’re portraying actual folks, it becomes more of a legal concern because they want to do their best to portray the facts, but at the same time, there’s a certain amount of liberty taken when writing about historical events because you weren’t there. I wasn’t there. I can’t say exactly what happened. So on the production that I recently worked on with “Waco,” we had to be really sort of careful in how we portrayed things because you don’t want to step on people’s toes and you don’t want to portray it incorrectly.

TrunkSpace: “Godless” is really turning heads and seems to be quickly becoming the latest water cooler Netflix series that everyone is talking about. For a lot of people, westerns are more of a brand than a genre. If they dig westerns, they are willing to give a new one a try, much in the same way that science fiction fans are. When you were doing something like “Godless,” did it feel like you were working on a series that was automatically going to have a built-in audience?
Minnich: Well, because I was working with Jeff Daniels, and because the show was a Netflix show… right there is your built-in audience. Yes, it’s a western, genre-wise, so yes there’s a mass group of people, just like you said with sci-fi, or just like maybe with romance or heavy drama or dramedy, of a built-in audience, people who are attracted to those kind of shows. What was so great about “Godless” was that it kind of flipped it. Westerns are typically male-driven. Yeah, you have Jeff Daniels as one of the main leads, so there’s a strong male figure in that production, but then you have quite a few females who are playing strong, independent, stubborn-minded type folks, and that’s sort of flipping it on its head. So some people who are normally attracted to westerns are like, “Whoa, what is this?” Some people who aren’t normally attracted to westerns are like, “Whoa, what is this?” It’s nice to walk into something that is both a norm, a norm for a genre, and at the same time flipping a genre on its head.

TrunkSpace: And you touched on this a bit, but when you’re going into a project with that caliber of talent both on screen and behind the camera, while also being a Netflix show, you’re going to get eyeballs on it right out of the gates.
Minnich: Netflix isn’t playing around. If you’ve seen some of their new projects, some of their newer stuff, they are bringing it to the table. Netflix used to be more of this sort of thing where you’d go, “Oh, you know, I’m bored, I’ll stick this on. There’s gotta be something on it.” Now, they’re competing. They’re putting out projects that are literally competing on a bigger scale that are gaining an audience. Like “Ozark?” Holy moly, that was an epic show, and who expected that to come out of Netflix?

TrunkSpace: People keep calling this the Golden Age of Television. For someone working within this time period, is it exciting to see television taking this dramatic, character-driven turn?
Minnich: It really is. It’s interesting and sort of surreal for me to sit back from it and be like, “Whoa, this is an era. I’m living in an era because looking back on this time period in 20 years, in 30 years, we’re gonna be like, ‘Oh, that’s when TV sort of was turned and we started to see diverse-driven projects. We started to see female-driven projects.’” And then we have the whole legal stuff that’s going on right now in the industry. This is an interesting time. Although our country is going through some major changes in terms of administration, it’s going through a different sort of renaissance in the film and television industry.

I’m really glad to see shows bringing on leads who are of different, sort of the non-heteronormative, non-stereotypical skinny, white female or strong, tough white male. You’re not just seeing those as the leads. You’re not just seeing these typical type of stories. You’re starting to see the perspectives of other types of folks, of the non-represented, people who haven’t been represented in the past 50 years in filmmaking. So in that sense, that’s beautiful, and it’s great in the film industry because it opens up so many doors and now we can represent those experiences and start to explore those and talk about educating the masses. What I did my master’s thesis on had to do with entertainment based education. I looked at how we could educate people using entertainment, using film and television. Look at what we’re doing now. We’re starting to pull out non-normative experiences… well, what they consider normative… non-normative or considered normative experiences and bringing them out into the light. That’s how we educate the masses in this day and age, so I think it’s great.

TrunkSpace: And while it’s exciting to see it happening now, the real impact will probably be felt in the work of the filmmakers of the future who gr0w up in this particular media age.
Minnich: Oh yeah, I can’t even fathom it. Sometimes I just have to not even imagine things because I don’t even know where that can go. We look at the generations who are younger than us, and we’re like, “Wow, dude, you’re gonna be tapping into stuff that I don’t even conceptualize at this stage.” Just like my parents or your parents who can’t really understand how to set up their Apple TV and they have to call us and have us do it for them – imagine what our kids are going to be doing?

TrunkSpace: It seems the mediums have flipped as well. Earlier generations looked towards film as the true art form, but now it seems like television is becoming that, while film becomes a mostly popcorn-driven media.
Minnich: The demand for content is so insane. The whole concept of binge watching was not around 10 years ago. That was not around 20 years ago. And so now all of a sudden there’s a demand for content, but not only that, there’s a demand for good content. So like I was saying, Netflix is rising to the occasion. That’s just going to continue to move forward. I think the whole TV concept, the episodic concept, people like that because then they have something to look forward to. They’re like, “Oh okay, I watched this episode, and now I can sort of mull this over in my mind for the next week until the next one comes out.” I think for some reason, that’s really attractive to people. They like to have stuff to sort of chew on during their work week.

TrunkSpace: When you look back at your career thus far, what was the turning point for you in terms of more doors opening and more opportunities presenting themselves?
Minnich: I think it might have been “Better Call Saul.” I don’t have a massive role on “Better Call Saul,” I have a recurring small role, but there is something to be said about having a show like that on your resume. So that got doors opened for me that would not have been opened. It’s like this trickle effect – one big thing, which really isn’t that big in terms of what you’re doing, but it’s a big name, and one big name opens a door for you, and then all of a sudden, you get to do this other thing. You do this other thing, and that opens a door. You do this other thing, and that opens a door. So, even doing these teeny little things on big movies or big television sets have opened doors so that finally I’m doing supporting roles, and finally I’m reading for lead roles. In the past 12 months, I’m finally auditioning for lead roles, which is like, “Hallelujah!” So, I can’t pinpoint an exact turning point for you, but I can say that one thing has led to another in a very step-by-step kind of way.

Season 1 of “Godless” is available now on Netflix.

“Waco” premieres January 24 on Paramount Network.

As Betsy Kettleman on AMC’s “Better Call Saul,” Julie Ann Emery solidified herself as one of the more versatile actresses working in television today. Her performance as the headstrong wife and mother of the Kettleman clan became the most memorable of the series, which is impressive considering it is an entire show built around memorable performances. Now the Tennessee native is back at AMC stealing scenes in “Preacher” as the zealot Featherstone, a role she calls one of her favorites.

We recently sat down with Emery to discuss how “Preacher” is speaking directly to its audience, how in many ways the series feels lifted directly from the pages of the comic, and why Betsy Kettleman’s wardrobe meant so much to who the character was.

TrunkSpace: You joined “Preacher” in its second season and you also had an incredible run on “Better Call Saul” with AMC being the common thread that ties both of them together. It really seems like there’s no better place to be in terms of quality, character-driven content than AMC these days.
Julie Ann Emery: Thank you AMC for handing me two of my favorite roles of my entire career! I’m absolutely thrilled to be back at the network and thrilled to be on “Preacher” with Sam Catlin who was of “The Breaking Bad” world before he was of “Preacher” and I feel very at home and very challenged by my character, which is a lot to say as a woman in the business. To actually have two characters like that, who are so incredibly challenging to play and challenging to get into the headspace of, it’s a real gift as an actor.

TrunkSpace: And obviously there’s more content now than ever before, but at the same time, quality has not been overlooked for quantity. In fact, the quality of TV just keeps getting better.
Julie Ann Emery: The thing is, it was four main networks and HBO before everybody else jumped in. And HBO was doing really interesting niche stuff, but when you’re trying to appeal to the broadest possible audience, the characterization in the stories kind of gets watered down. But with so much programming happening, I feel like we have really embraced more niche programming, which “Preacher” definitely falls into. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: You hear so much about how shows need to be “grounded in reality” in order to get on the air, but what we love about “Preacher” is that in a lot of ways it says to hell with reality and just does its own thing. Does that make the performance aspect of the show more appealing because anything can and does happen?
Julie Ann Emery: I was a fan of season 1 of “Preacher” before I ever got the audition for season 2 and what intrigued me about it was how far it pushed the envelope, but them how grounded the acting was. So, “Preacher” is definitely wacky and it definitely lives in its own universe… the violence is kind of Tarantinoesque and always has a sense of humor… but there is always something grounded and relatable about the characters walking around. And that as a viewer is definitely my sweet spot. To really push the envelope in terms of circumstance, but to still have the interesting, complex, relatable characters doing grounded work inside of that, it’s both challenging as an actor and a thrill.

TrunkSpace: The series also just looks different than most of the other shows on TV, which is another refreshing aspect of it as a whole. In many ways, it feels like they just brought the comic book to life.
Julie Ann Emery: We just had the premiere at the Ace Hotel in LA and watching it on a big screen, there were moments that literally looked lifted straight from Steve Dillon’s art in the comics. They’ve really found a way to honor what they’re doing with the comic book series and still keep some kind of real life going on. It’s really interesting to watch and it struck me how much of the tone of the show happens in post with the choice of music and the visual editing style and the production design by Dave Blass. It’s so brilliantly done. It’s so grounded in reality, but it also honors the comics in such a huge way and takes such risks visually with colors.

It’s a really thrilling thing because when the artistic work on a show is so high across the board and when everyone is so excited to dive into something so unique, it’s a really nice spot to be in as an artist.

TrunkSpace: If everybody is giving 100 percent and there are excited faces all around you, it’s hard not to go to work with an equal level of excitement every day.
Julie Ann Emery: Agreed and I’ve had the great fortune to be in that circumstance both on “Fargo” and “Better Call Saul” and now “Preacher.” Everyone is there every day trying to raise the level of what’s going on… trying to elevate the work. It’s really exciting when that happens across the board like that.

To be inspired by a costume or a set piece or a new set they just built… with a show like “Preacher” you can draw inspiration from such a variety of places. It’s great.

TrunkSpace: For those who haven’t read the comic, where does your character Featherstone fall into things?
Julie Ann Emery: So Featherstone is a member of an organization called The Grail. It’s described as a pseudo-fascist religious organization bent on world domination. And they are. Featherstone has a very strong faith. She really believes the world has gone to hell and she is working to save it and she will blow it up if she has to in order to save it. She’s very dedicated. She could be described as a zealot. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do to accomplish her mission or serve the cause.

There’s a transformation aspect to Featherstone that I think lends itself to the “there’s nothing that she wouldn’t do.”

TrunkSpace: Will viewers get to see that transformation and the origin story of how she finds her way?
Julie Ann Emery: I’m not going to get into story spoilers. (Laughter) But, I think you will definitely see that the Featherstone from the comics is very much honored but there are dimensions of her on the show that have taken her further. And those dimensions are such a thrill as an actor to play. They really have rounded her out in a really beautiful way.

She’s definitely a bad ass. Even more so than in the comics. She’s Type A and a woman in a man’s world. I’m surrounded by men a lot in The Grail, but she is always the most capable person in the room, save maybe for Herr Starr. She is super, super dedicated and has no life outside of The Grail and her mission and she likes it that way.

TrunkSpace: Comic fans are so rabid when it comes to their favorite properties and characters. You mentioned that there are new dimensions to Featherstone that may not be familiar to readers of the comic. Was there a discussion about how those changes or additions would be perceived by fans of the source material?
Julie Ann Emery: I auditioned for the role, so it was something that was added already when I came on board, but I think it is something that they spoke about quite a lot in the development of her. I know that when I auditioned they had already rewritten the character a few times, even throughout the audition process. The bones of Featherstone, what I like to call Featherstone proper where she’s in her Grail uniform and being herself, is very much from the comic. When she goes undercover or lays a trap for someone and there’s this transformational aspect of her and how far she’s willing to go with that, that’s a new element. So it’s not like they diverted from the Featherstone of the comic, it’s just that they have taken her further.

I am a fan of the comics. I had not read them before I started the show and now I’m very deep into them. I recognize her completely from the comics and I think fans of the comics will recognize her as well, but there are other dimensions to her that round her out.

TrunkSpace: Is this your first time playing in the fanboy/comic world sandbox and are you prepared for the feedback that follows?
Julie Ann Emery: I don’t know if there’s preparation for that.

I worked on “Better Call Saul” and the “Breaking Bad” fandom is very intense and very intelligent. They will notice something on a shelf behind you that is barely in focus and then they will have a discussion about it. I’m used to that side of it, but as much of a sci-fi/fantasy fan that I am, I’ve never done anything from a comic or that’s sci-fi related.

Well, that’s not true. I did Steven Spielberg’s “Taken” for the SyFy channel years and years ago, but that was before social media took over the world. (Laughter)

I’m excited about it because I am a fan like that of things. I’m a huge “Star Wars” fan. I’m big fan of “Wonder Woman” and I like to go online and chat with people about stuff, but I have not been on the receiving end of that nerd out, so I guess that’s a journey I have to see play out. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: As a character, Betsy Kettleman is one of the best to ever grace the small screen. She was someone we all know in real life, but at the same time, was completely original in the TV world. She had so many great layers to her and we’re curious where you ventured to in order to discover her?
Julie Ann Emery: The development of the Kettlemans was incredibly collaborative from the top down. Vince Gilligan directed our first episode and he and Peter Gould were on set the first day of shooting and we spent an enormous amount of time doing character development and talking about the Kettlemans and who they are and defining them. That never happens on a TV schedule. We had extra time to shoot the first episode from Sony and AMC, otherwise it might not have happened. And they changed what happened to the Kettlemans after we shot that first episode. The writers became kind of fascinated with what happened out of that collaboration on set and some of the things we talked about, which also never happens on television because they have to turn the scripts over so fast that they’re not very often able or willing to go back in. But they did in this case and it turned out as something, I think, incredibly special.

I love to play characters who are different than who I am. I like to step into someone’s shoes that I don’t necessarily understand. And Featherstone falls into that category in a lot of ways. I always say that a lot of times the character might think differently than I do, but Betsy’s brain works differently than mine does. She was a huge gift for sure and I love that on the outside she does look like someone who is probably walking around your neighborhood and then what you discover about her is something entirely different.

Saul Goodman on “Breaking Bad” was the wacky, out there character. The Kettlemans are that on “Better Call Saul.” In some ways they’re so wacky and out there, but they love each other so much that it always comes back to something grounded and relatable. There are a lot of us who would do almost anything for our families and Betsy definitely falls into that category in a meta, uber way. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: Often times actors will say that getting into wardrobe helped them discover who a character was, particularly in period pieces of science fiction. But Betsy had this amazing wardrobe that was also so not amazing at the same time. Did her style help you with who she was?
Julie Ann Emery: I discovered a lot along every step of the way with Betsy and wardrobe had a lot to do with it. In some ways her wardrobe is very plain and something you would see somebody walking around in, but then at the end of the first episode she puts on this lime green skirt suit that’s a little ill-fitting. It was a little big on me and I asked them not to alter it. At the heart of it, I wanted her to have money but have no idea what to do with it. Like, she saw some politician’s wife wearing skirt suits, so she needed a skirt suit, but she went and picked a lime green one. And then she went and picked a burnt orange one. She is figuring out what the world is and getting it wrong sometimes, but she thinks she’s getting it right. And then as the show went on, the clothes started to fit more and the colors were still off, but she was getting more of a handle on it, which was something that I thought no one but the costume designer and I would ever realize. Good on you, man! (Laughter)

“Preacher” airs Mondays on AMC.