THE AIM OF THE ROSE
ruBy rose on playing the first openly gay lead character in a superhero tV series
what’s got you excited about the first few scripts? Every time I get a new episode, I’m shocked! There are a lot of twists, there’s a lot of turns, there’s a lot of Kate finding her way. Obviously, it’s superheroes so there will be villains. There’s the standard mathematical equation of someone is trying to destroy Gotham, or do something bad, so how are we going to stop them? There’s also the family dynamic, as everyone on this show has a secret, including me. How are you finding the suit?
Up until a few weeks ago, we were still making little tweaks depending on fighting, jumping and wire work. You fix one thing and something else is wrong! It’s been a long process to make it comfortable as possible. what’s up with Kate’s choice to wear a bright red wig? I think Kate Kane made a decision that she wanted people to recognise that if there is a bat in the sky, well, they weren’t going to confuse that bat with Batman. is there much about Kate that you identify with personally? Well, I don’t brood as much. I smile more! I feel like I was more like her when I was younger; the hesitation about trusting people, letting people in, feeling like I could do everything on my own, not having a big family – and being gay, obviously. There are a lot of things I experienced in my earlier teens and twenties that now I don’t share with her, but I can see why she feels the way she feels. Also, I don’t live in Gotham! It’s a heavier situation; I feel like my life is pretty well put together, and Kate is figuring it out. were there any comic storylines you particularly wanted to see? I love the “don’t ask, don’t tell” story that is in a lot of the comics. It was important to me that we did that in the right way because of the gravity of it. I believe we did. And her relationship with her dad is interesting, because it varies in so many of the comics. They have chosen how that will play out and it’s all really interesting. alice (rachel skarsten) is Kate’s big nemesis this season. what do the two bring out in one another? Kate thinks Alice is just crazy to begin with, but I’m also intrigued by her. She seems to know things that I don’t know. I’m intrigued and want to know more, but I’m also terrified because she’s so unpredictable. Any confrontation I have with Alice leaves me with more questions than answers. It draws me to try and find out who is this person, what is this person doing, why is she so angry, and what does she want to achieve? Every time I come up with what I think is an answer, it’s another one of her riddles. is she essentially Batwoman’s Joker?
Alice is someone that, due to her upbringing, has adopted this Alice In
Wonderland personality, as per the comics. So it’s not so much the Joker, as she thinks she’s Alice. But if you were going to reference a closest comparison, the unpredictability and the riddles are very Joker-like. was there an lgBtQ show or character that you massively identified with as a kid? The closest I had was Xena: Warrior
Princess – you just had to assume there was something up with [Xena and best friend] Gabrielle. It was up to the imagination and I was convinced! That was the only thing on television that represented how I felt, and empowered me, until maybe The L Word. do you think Batwoman exists because of changes in Hollywood in the wake of #metoo? They are kind of different and the same. #MeToo is talking about things going on in the industry with pay gaps and sexual assault and equality, and this is separate but kind of the same. It’s more about representation and diversity, and acknowledging that there’s more than one type of person that exists in the world that then gets displayed on television or films. I think that’s why GLAAD [Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation] is such a fantastic organisation because they are monitoring where we don’t have representation in areas, and where we need it. So it’s an accumulation of: finally, people are more accepting and more open-minded, and networks as big as The CW and WB are willing to take a risk that maybe they wouldn’t a few years ago. How do you feel knowing you’ll be seen as a hero to many kids watching this series? It means everything. It’s telling a story that I wish was on TV when I was a kid. I believe there are going to be people where this changes their life. And if you don’t find yourself in the show, that’s probably because there are plenty of shows for you already out there.