‘Clock’ Star Melora Hardin On Shaping Her Mad Scientist Character
In Alexis Jacknow’s feature film debut Clock stars an incredible Melora Hardin as the enigmatic Dr. Elizabeth Simmons. Dr. Simmons is at the forefront of fertility research, specifically helping “fix” women’s biological clocks so they’ll want to have children. Giving birth is the most beautiful thing a woman can do, at least in her mind. She soothes and comforts our main character Ella (Dianna Agron) as she goes through Dr. Simmon’s experimental, and disturbing, treatment.
Dread Central spoke with Hardin about shaping her maternal yet terrifying character, her all-time favorite horror movie, and how she guided Jacknow through directing her first feature film.
Dread Central: I’m so excited to chat with you about Clock.
Melora Hardin: Thank you. I know, isn’t it cool?
DC: As someone who just got married and who doesn’t want kids and who gets asked the question all the time if I want kids, this movie very much spoke to me on a deep spiritual level. We don’t see this kind of perspective about women who don’t want to get pregnant in horror.
MH: Yeah. I thought it was kind of an interesting kind of weirdly feminist take on the idea that it’s not necessary to have to want that for your life to be full.
DC: How did you get involved in the project?
MH: Alexis Jacknow, the producer, director, and writer, offered it to me. I watched her short film, which was also called Clock, and was just really impressed with her vision. The short was very scary, very spooky. And I thought, “Ooh, that’s really interesting and really different.” I hadn’t seen anything like that before. Then we got on the phone and we had a chat, and I really liked her vision. She really had something to say and really wanted to put it out there in a way that I thought was fresh and different and interesting.
DC: And how did you go about creating your character who has maybe a maternal vibe to her, but also a very strange kind of spooky vibe? You strike this balance very well, so I’m curious about how you went about creating her.
MH: Oh, thanks. Alexis and I talked a lot about how she does have a kind of maternal vibe. She really is very brilliant. I think she really wants to make a statement, she feels she’s helping, she feels she’s doing a good thing. We did a lot of conjuring of what we think may have happened in her life and why she’s sort of taken this on. You know, does she have children or not? And why not if she doesn’t? Just sort of having the fun of developing where we think she came from.
DC: That’s gotta be so cool to make this character. And while you don’t show any of that backstory, it just feels like you had some enriched perspective on the character.
MH: It makes a character a lot richer when you know where she’s coming from and what might be some of the motives behind it. I really think she feels she’s doing a good thing. But I think she’s just turning a blind eye to some of the negative things. She’s also such a presence that, you know, it’s almost like all of the women wanna please her so much that they’re not being honest with her about, about these negative side effects, you know? And I think she really would stop, but I also think she’s so smart. But, you know, you can run into people like that where they’re so smart about one thing and they’re so kinda tunnel vision that they’re just missing a bunch of things that are flying by. I kind of think she’s like that, you know?
DC: So how was this experience different from any other role you’ve played before? Did it feel different than anything you’ve done before?
MH: Every project is unique, you know. I mean, this was Alexis’s first feature, so there was that element. There was a very young crew that was in Austin, Texas where we shot it. That was wonderful, they were all really big fans of mine in The Office and lots of other things I’ve done. So that was really sweet. And just sort of being there, I think, for Alexis on her first journey, down this path, you know, I’ve directed a movie too, and I think that it’s really nice to be able to support someone in that moment. I think she really is really talented, and I think she’s got really interesting things to say. She’s gonna do great things. I think Clock is really a great testament to her talent. It’s always a unique experience when you’re working with someone when it’s their first time. And yeah. And for me, it just feels fun. It feels fun and joyful to be a part of her first foray into a feature film.
DC: That’s amazing. And so you’ve done a lot of TV and film. What, I’m just so curious, like, is there a big difference really in acting between a television show and a film?
MH: Yeah, there’s a difference. I would say that the difference really is just that when you’re doing a TV show and you’re doing it for a long period of time and you’ve got a character that you’ve crafted and you continue to play that character over and over again, it becomes a real family environment. Also, it’s just very fast-paced. I mean, making television is very fast-paced, whereas with film, you know, usually there’s more time. I mean, not with <laugh> Alexis’s film, but you know, with films a lot of times there’s a bigger budget, there’s more time. [TV] is kind of like being shot out of a cannon, you know? You’re diving in, you’re doing it, and then you’re out. <laugh>
DC: So are you a horror movie person?
MH: I don’t really see that many. I do have a few that I love. I’m a really easy audience. I’ve never walked out of any movie. I don’t leave a movie, no matter if I hate it, I just will stick it out because I really enjoy the ride of a movie. But, I’m also very, visually being stimulated that way, you know, it can traumatize me, as far as watching a horror movie. There are certain images I just don’t want in my head. Like, I just don’t want them in my head because it’s really hard for me to forget them. But I do have some that I really like. My favorite is in the world of Clock in the sense that it’s a psychological thriller horror, but it would be The Eyes of Laura Mars.
DC: Oh my god, what a good movie.
MH: That is one of my favorite movies of all time. The Shining, of course, is just an incredible movie.
Clock is available now on Hulu.
Categorized:Interviews News
