Pellerin goes undercover on Republic of Doyle
Actress to show constable’s darker side on fourth season of CBC detective drama
ST. JOHN’S, N.L.— For three seasons, Krystin Pellerin has been the good cop to Allan Hawco’s bad-boy ex-cop on Republic of Doyle.
Hawco, the very hands-on writer, producer and star of Doyle, wanted to give the blond, blue-eyed actress a chance to show a darker side on the fourth season of the CBC detective drama.
“She’s an incredible actor, man,” said Hawco. “I just love the simplicity with which she approaches things, with such truthfulness and honesty.”
As has Hawco’s character, Jake Doyle, fans may have been wondering where Pellerin’s Const. Leslie Bennett had disappeared to when they tuned back into the series, now airing Sundays at 9 p.m.
It wasn’t until last week’s second episode of the season that Bennett was discovered, decidedly out of uniform and deep undercover, in what appears to be a crack den. Sunday’s third episode will shed more light on her dangerous assignment.
“It was so liberating,” said Pellerin, who came in on a day off for an interview as the cast and crew gathered to shoot scenes at a deactivated St. John’s school house. On this late November day, production on the fourth season was nearing an end.
This is a much darker side of Leslie that hasn’t been seen before, she said.
“I didn’t want it to end. I never had a chance to play anything like that before.
“It’s like being given a brand- new character to play.”
The 29-year-old actress said she met with real life undercover cops, addicts and addiction counsellors in doing research for the gritty story line. They told her that things can get “really tangle-y” trying to go undercover in St. John’s. “Everybody knows everybody,” she was told. “It’s a small town.”
The wardrobe department helped the Newfoundland native get tarted up with “short shorts” and other trashy fashion choices for the role. “I’m all Value Village,” she said. Her hair was teased and extended into some sort of nightmarish Christina Aguilera ’do. “I felt like a bit of a canvas,” she said of the transformation. “The scripts and the makeup and everything: it all felt like a collaborative effort.” Pellerin has played to extremes before. Last spring, during her hiatus from the series, she performed in two plays at Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre: the intense Eugene O’Neill drama Long Day’s Journey Into Night and the screwball comedy You Can’t Take it With You.
“That’s the best workout you can have as an actor,” Pellerin noted.
The National Theatre School grad appeared opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the second season of The Tudors before landing the role of Const. Bennett in Republic of Doyle. Her film credits include Warriors of Terra with Edward Furlong and Killing Zelda Sparks with Vincent Kartheiser ( Mad Men).