Victoria Pratt is enjoying exploring Shalimar Fox's feral side in the new run of Mutant X, as Isabelle Meunier discovers.
"Our new writers are exploring our characters a lot more. They've written us some interesting character beats, and are developing relationships between us, and it's fun to see the different interactions we have now. We have scenes where we sit down on a couch and get to talk instead of just going out on a mission and fight, and I like that, it makes us more human." The team's secret base, Sanctuary, has also a little less Spartan. "Sanctuary's more of a place to live now - there's art, and we have our own bedrooms: Shalimar's one is like a little cave, lined with furs…It makes her feel closer to her mum," Pratt laughs.
All the same, the team won't have much time to enjoy the creature comforts, as there are still missions to perform, and that means stuntwork. Fortunately for the cast, there's less of the taxing wire-work which was a little over used during the first season. "They haven't cut mine down as drastically as some of the others, because that's the way Shalimar's power is manifested," the actress explains. "But a lot of the action has been cut down, and that's good, because after months and months of constant fighting and rolling and wiring, your body is going to break down. This year there's less harnessed stuff and more hand-to-hand, and it's been a lot easier on my body. I think hand-to-hand's a little more exciting and my fighting's also more vicious now; when I punch someone it's like I'm going to punch through. You're not used to seeing women do this, but that's something I can do because I do kick-boxing, and I know what it's like to make contact.
"It's fun to let loose," she enthuses, "and this year we've had some great fights which I've really enjoyed. In Sign From Above, [stunt/fight coordinator] Paul Rapovski brought over a British actor called Scott Atkims who's just fantastic! He's so graceful, has the most incredible gymnastic moves and he didn't need wires because it was like he could fly! My jaw dropped watching him, and he also was fun to fight against, because he knows how to handle space and the power of his own body, so you know that you'll never get hurt by someone like this." As for her own approach to action sequences, Pratt admits to a little trick-of-the-trade: the right shoes. "I have to say that a big part of having the confidence is in having the proper footwear," she laughs. "Honest to God, I tried to get through all last season in my costume boots, you know, these stiletto heels with the pointy toes? It's one thing to throw a punch or kick when you're centered and balanced - I do all my kick-boxing in running shoes - but when they put you in a pair of sky-high bots and say, 'Go for it,' it's hard to be confident, because you don't have that balance. It got to the point where I couldn't even stand up because my feet were so sore." She chuckles. "But now they've been good in getting me other stunt boots and it makes a world of difference. You come across a lot more confident because you know you're not going to fall over!"
Footwear isn't the only hazard to emerge from the wardrobe department. "We all loved the previous season's outfits but because they have now taken us out on the streets," Pratt comments, "in order for us to blend in we now wear jeans, funky boots, and cool little jackets, not the long floor-sweeping ones." But that doesn't mean the clothes don't cause the occasional problems. "There's this episode, Crossroads of the Soul, where the whole teams' out to rescue Victor [Webster] and we have to run through fields. It was so funny," she laughs, "because Lauren [Lee Smith] wore platform sandals and a miniskirt and she'd try to run, but her skirt would ride up, so she had to run while pulling her skirt down! She was just laughing, and I'm looking at her, 'Wow Lauren, you run like a girl in that!' and she's like, 'Well I'm a girl and I'm wearing a skirt!' That was funny, and that time I was wearing heels too. Well, you know," she laughs, "a girl's got to look good fighting evil!"
All in all, it sounds easier to fly. "We all get our shot at piloting her Double Helix aircraft," Pratt grins, "and they give us enough gadgets in it to play with." That reminds Pratt of the embarrassment she felt about a gadget from her days as Sarge in Cleopatra 2525. "We had kind of a flying machine once," she recalls. "there was not much money to build it and the props guys on that show were hilarious; they went to a sex shop and our joysticks were double-handed dildos! "So," she laughs, "when we first came onto the set that had been built over the weekend, you looked around and there was sex stuff lighting up and vibrating everywhere! We were killing ourselves laughing at things the audience would never know…Well they do now." So did the gadgetry really deceive the audience? "I think that was clever directing," Pratt's husband offers in a conspiratorial tone. He should know; he directed that episode.
Recovering a more serious composure, Pratt elaborates on the way her character's developing. "I like that they're letting us play our vulnerabilities. We may look like superheroes, but every one of us will have our Achilles' heel." In Shalimar's case, that's liable to be the animal emotions that have been stepped up as her powers have developed. "Shalimar's senses are more acute now, with super-hearing and super vision. She's a faster stronger version of her former self, but along with those powers, her animal nature's been stepped up so she'll 'lose it' a little bit more. Something that was addressed much earlier on was that I didn't want her to 'pin every corner' and not let one get close, because she likes being able to give someone the benefit of the doubt. But," the actress laughs, "Don't cross her! While the animal wouldn't let anyone in, she's not an animal but a human with animal DNA and that's the difference. She's still very feminine, but when she's provoked…We don't do it all the time but there's a few episodes where she just goes ballistic, which is nice." As the upcoming episode Understudy reveals, one thing that's sure to spark Shalimar's feral nature is that old animal rivalry. "She gets a blast from the past when another girl that Adam rescued along with her, Nikki [Jenya Lano], comes back. But whereas they were sisterly teenagers then, they're now grown women and there's only room for one of them."
"It's such an interesting dynamic and fun episode to be played," Pratt enthuses, "because Shalimar has been injured and therefore is at a disadvantage, so on the surface it looks like she's moping around Sanctuary feeling sorry for herself, and it turns that into anger towards Nikki. But something is making the wheels turn and is causing those feelings, and it comes right back to the genetic thing; feral senses and instincts. At least those instincts, problematic though they may be on occasion, give Shalimar a head start in identifying the variety of the new threats facing the team now Mason Eckhart is on ice. "I like the fact that we have threats," Pratt enthuses. "I think the danger of having had one enemy such as Genomex is that the enemy can't win or the story's over, and you also don't want to be left at the end of that episode with a bad guy shaking his fist going 'Get you next time!' Good guys usually win but they don't necessarily win it all. I think that sometimes out characters pay a price for our victories, and that's the way it is in life." http://www.oocities.org/xiphan/int2.html