Cards’ Sharp to space ace
James Croot learns how 60s show Lost in Space got a makeover.
Canadian actress Molly Parker, best known for supporting roles in arthouse flicks like Hollywoodland and The Good Shepherd, is enjoying a second career as a TV star.
After an Emmy-nominated turn as House Majority Whip Jackie Sharp in House of Cards, the 45-year-old has returned to Netflix for an even more ambitious concept – a reimagination of much-loved 1960s sci-fi series Lost in Space.
Ahead of the 10-part series premiere on global screens on April 13, Stuff caught up with Parker.
Did you ever watch the original series?
I didn’t. For the first 10 years of my life, we didn’t have a TV, or if we did, we had one channel. It looks so hilarious now, in terms of the special effects. Also, it is so funny. I ended up watching the first season, during the course of our shoot, with my son who’s 11. We were laughing at how a guy in a furry suit isn’t actually an alien, but the thing about the original – I was watching my boy – even though he could see it was ‘‘fake’’, he still got scared. He would still get caught up in the story, which is cool.
Were the time and spacetravel elements part of its appeal?
Well, I’ve never done any science fiction before and I do feel that I’m at a time in my life where I’m keen to try all kinds of new things. But honestly . . . I just thought the script was great and I liked the stories the writers were interested in telling.
How much did the writers initially let you know about what was going to happen this season?
When we started, we had seven out of the 10 scripts, which is really rare, and so we sat down all together and read all seven of them out loud over a couple of days. I came up doing independent films and it is such a different experience when you know the beginning, middle and end. It gives you the opportunity to make choices that pay off later.
And how much input did you have in the character of Maureen Robinson?
It’s hard to know. The writers had the story already and certainly had a character who was this aerospace engineer, science woman – brilliant and ambitious and also flawed. The writers certaInly knew that they wanted them (her and husband John) to be estranged at the beginning of the story and in fact on the brink of divorce and they had set it up that John’s character has been away for years and is estranged really from the whole family. Maureen, in many ways, like a single mother who has done it all by herself, has made a decision that she is going to take these kids to a place where they can have a future, because the Earth has become increasingly uninhabitable.
Toby and I tried hard to create a relationship that people would care about and that had layers and felt like an actual broken marriage that a whole lot of people can relate to now. There was no way we could go back and tell the story that was told in the 1960s when all the families on TV were perfect nuclear families. In a way we are doing almost the opposite – trying to tell it like it is.
Likewise, while the 1960s Robinsons were bright-eyed space explorers, in this version it’s part of desperate mission to find humans a new home because we’ve messed this planet up.
Sadly, that change reflects a truth, not just for us overly cynical people, but also kids. My 11-year-old and I can’t go to an aquarium or zoo without seeing an installation telling us about how messed up the environment is. Kids are so aware of the state the world is in. But also, the thing I feel excited about in terms of the show coming out is it is very aspirational and I think there’s a real hopefulness.
Was there anything that the five of you playing the Robinsons did to bond initially?
We sort of started just by talking about the characters and what we all thought about it. But really, what the director (The Descent‘s Neil Marshall) was interested in was whether we could put our helmets on on camera. Because these spacesuits, they look so great, but they are absolute torture devices. The first time we tried them, we realised you couldn’t even raise your arms in them.
And did that bonding work? We sort of all became quite close. We’re really lucky, Toby and I, because these kids are such good human beings and have incredible families with the right values.
Sadly, so often, that isn’t the case with child actors. I have a really hard time working with kids because I’m not sure kids should be working.
Did you take any inspiration from June Lockhart’s original version of Maureen Robinson?
The thing about June Lockhart was that she was really this pretty fiercely intelligent woman and, given what she was allowed to do in that part, she was pretty incredible.
Lost in Space begins streaming on Netflix on April 13.