Heating up Arctic Air
B.C.’s Pascale Hutton shares some of the sizzling storylines for the new season.
Arctic Air is heating up for its third season.
“There’s some pretty steamy relationships,” actress Pascale Hutton told The Sun. “I’ve seen some of the cuts of the early episodes and they’re pretty sexy.”
Hutton, who plays pilot Krista Ivarson in the CBC hit drama about the behind- the- scenes action at a small Northern airline, has been at the centre of some of the show’s steamier relationships.
“My character went away to Bali for three months and then she came back and she had a very spiritual time there,” said Hutton.
When Krista returns from Bali at the start of Season 3, she has a new mission — creating a search and rescue division for Arctic Air.
“As we delve into the world of search and rescue we’re getting into these really raw life and death situations,” said Hutton. “You know, good TV.”
In real life, Hutton knows what it’s like to live in a small town. Hutton was born in Creston, B. C. where she was raised by hippies.
“My parents still live there and so I make it back to the Kootenays at least once a year. It’s everything a small town should be: warm and supportive and the whole community feels like home. I definitely had two very loving, supportive hippie parents, so it was an ideal childhood living there.”
As a small town kid, it never occurred to Hutton that acting was a job option, never mind a potential career.
“I just didn’t even know that anyone actually did it who didn’t live in Hollywood, so it never occurred to me until I was in high school and this new drama teacher said, ‘ I really think you should go to university and do a BFA ( Bachelor of Fine Arts) acting program,’” she said.
Hutton enrolled in the BFA program at the University of Alberta in Calgary — her goal, a life in the theatre.
“I didn’t think about film and TV,” she said. “It still just didn’t occur to me that that was something that people in Canada ( could do); I really always associated it with the United States.”
Then an agent spotted Hutton in a university production and, “one thing kind of tumbled into another and my career just kind of steered itself.”
As she began leaning toward TV and film — including a role in the sequel to the werewolf movie Ginger Snaps 2 — it led Hutton and her husband ( then in theatre, now a police officer) toward Vancouver. Three years ago it led to Arctic Air, playing opposite Adam Beach.
Arctic Air’s studio is in Aldergrove but the series also shoots in Yellowknife. “We try to shoot as much as we can up there because you can’t simulate that, you can’t fake that anywhere else, it’s so unique.”
Occasionally the actors also hit the road and, of course, the air.
“This season we’ve done lots of stuff with helicopters which has been amazing. We actually took a helicopter up to the top of the ( Stawamus) Chief up in Squamish and Adam Beach and I were jumping off the top of the helicopter to the top of the Chief. It was pretty exhilarating,” said Hutton.
“We also shot some stuff on this glacier up in Whistler that you can only get to with a helicopter so there was a very, very small crew and a very, very small cast that took three helicopters up there and shot up for the day,” she continued.
“It was truly awe- inspiring being on the top of this glacier that most people can’t get to. It was amazing … One of the great perks of acting is that you get to do all this crazy stuff in a totally controlled, safe environment and I love that. I think it’s one of the best bonuses of being an actor — the fact that you get to do all these unique and unusual things.”
Let’s not forget those sizzling scenes, for a snowbound series.
“You wouldn’t think a show that takes place up in the north, that you might associate with parkas, would have some sex in it but it’s a sexy show this season … you’re seeing more than just bare shoulder this season, that’s what I’ll say.”
Arctic Air Season 3 kicks off at Jan. 7 on CBC TV. For more details and bonus scenes, visit cbc. ca/ arcticair/