B.C.-raised Molly Parker on Lost in Space reboot
At the heart of Lost in Space is family and relationships, says B.C.-raised star Molly Parker
Molly Parker has wandered many corners of the human psyche in her expansive acting career, but she wasn’t yearning to explore the universe in a TV series like Lost in Space.
Science-fiction isn’t where she’s gravitated over the years, not that she’s knocking it.
“I wasn’t looking for a sci-fi show to do, that’s for sure,” Parker insisted.
But when she was offered a role on the reboot of the 1960s series, which lands today on Netflix, Parker felt many elements of the scripts resonated with her own life, as the mother of an 11-year-old son.
“At its heart is this family, their relationships, and they’re fairly grounded in some kind of reality we can believe,” the Maple Ridge-raised actress said. “But it’s this massive adventure.”
Parker plays Maureen Robinson, the mother of three children and the glue that holds her intellectually superior family together. Lost in Space takes place 30 years in the future where galactic colonization is a reality, and the Robinsons have been chosen as early space settlers.
As they embark on their journey, the family plunges into danger when their spaceship Jupiter 2 crashes and leaves them stranded.
Starring in an extra-terrestrial feast of special effects was new for Parker, who’s mostly kept her feet on Earth for her biggest roles. She has been a congresswoman in Washington political fire pit drama House of Cards, and a duplicitous heroine on the gritty western Deadwood.
Acting convincingly in the imaginative epic scenes of Lost in Space came with its own comical challenges.
For the show’s opening, the Vancouver crew designed a fullsize spaceship set that was supposed to tilt and pivot as it simulated colliding with a glacier. But the fake turbulence left the actors feeling nauseous.
So instead, they pulled a visual gimmick right out of an old Star Trek episode, exaggerating the crash with their own bodies.
“I sort of had to act on an angle,” she said, swaying back and forth in her seat to demonstrate. “You’re entering scenes at a 30degree angle and holding onto things. You feel like such a goof.”
Parker tapped into the imagination of her younger co-stars when she was trying to forget the absurdity of it all.
She credits 12-year-old actor Maxwell Jenkins, who plays her son Will, as someone who kept her head in the clouds.
Jenkins single-handedly carries many of the show’s most dramatic scenes forming a friendship with Robot, a computer-generated character famous for his line, “Danger, Will Robinson.”
“He’s very bright, very curious, and completely engaged,” Parker said of Jenkins.
“Just being able to work with somebody who is completely 100 per cent believing in the given circumstances of the situation … He’s so much closer to play as part of work.”
Shooting on the enormous sets also gave Parker’s real-life son — who’s coincidentally named Will too — an opportunity to become his own space adventurer. Between takes, he would play inside the ship’s cockpit and pretend he was soaring through the galaxy.
“My boy had the best time,” she said. “It’s any kid’s dream.”
Parker only wished her intergalactic apparel could’ve been more advanced. She said since the space suits were “built to look good” they were “complete torture” to wear.
“We’re hopefully going to make them a bit more comfortable this year,” she added, dropping a hint that Netflix is already making plans for a second season.