Emilie Ullerup fans have waited patiently for news about the Sanctuary alum’s latest projects. I chatted with Emilie on Sunday and found out what she’s been up to since our January interview. Here are the highlights of our conversation.
The scoop on “Witchslayer”
If you’ve visited Emilie’s Facebook page recently, you’ve probably seen promo pictures for a Syfy film called Witchslayer (working title), one in a series of four movies based on re-imagined fairy tales. This particular film is based on the Hansel and Gretel tale. Paul McGillion (of Stargate Atlantis) plays the grown-up Hansel, who has been searching his whole life for the witch who took away his sister (who had special powers). Hansel’s witchslaying partner is a woman named Lara, played by Sarain Boylan.
Emilie originally thought she was being submitted for the character of Lara, who is the strong, ass-kicking chick, similar to Ashley Magnus. Instead, they asked her to play the other female lead, Ehren, who is much more vulnerable.
“I guess she’s kind of how Will was to the Sanctuary in the beginning,” says Emilie. “She’s the one with the fresh eyes, who comes in and knows nothing about it, and the audience has to kind of follow the story through her and learn with her. At first I was like, ‘But Lara is who I should be playing,’ because that’s what I thought I do. Ehren was offered to me, and I love that I got to play her instead because her journey is just – huge – and her life gets turned around right at the beginning of the movie, and it just continues to do so throughout. It was a really big challenge for me to play this character because she’s very vulnerable and very emotional, but very strong at the same time, and all over the place. I don’t want to give anything away, of course, because you all better watch it! But I think people will get to see a side of me that they haven’t seen before, and that’s exciting.”
Hansel and Lara pick up Emilie’s character, Ehren, early in the movie. “Things have gone very badly in my life, and it turns out that I’m actually a witch. And they take me along on this incredible journey, and we encounter all kinds of ruckus and scary stuff,” Emilie says. “It was really fun … I got to work with Paul McGillion again, who I love. We worked together on Sanctuary in the webisodes. In the webisodes, we didn’t really have any scenes together; we just met in passing from being on the same show. But it was really nice to get to know Paul. We had a lot of fun, a lot of laughs. And I think the film’s gonna be good! It’s gonna be a real fun ride.”
She adds, “What’s lovely was that it was for the Syfy network, and it just felt really good to be back after Sanctuary and not knowing exactly where you stand…. But they were so welcoming and so excited to have me there, and that was just a really, really nice thing to feel. The executive producer, who is an independent producer – she’s the one who suggested me to Syfy (because they all help each other with casting obviously), and right away they were like, ‘We love her, we love her! That would be lovely.’ So I got on. And it was just so good to go back and have a great experience with the Syfy network. And I think it’s going to be a good film!”
Witchslayer wrapped principal photography in Toronto about a month ago and is currently in post-production. Look for it to air on Syfy in 2011.
Clacked by Ruby T.
on Jul 12, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
Basically, I think most of her fans have been waiting for her to return to Sanctuary. Well, I can’t speak for them all, just the important ones. ;o)
A lot of fans went way overboard when she left, a lot of whining and blaming the wrong people. I actually like and prefer Kate more over Ash, the only 2 reasons I wanted her back was for Helen to have her daughter back, and so the fans would stop bashing the show.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t like her, Rocky89. Emilie is a wonderfully talented actress and a wonderful person. I wish you could have seen that.
To leave a comment on an article where NOTHING bad about Sanctuary or Tapping has been said just to insult some of EU’s fans seems very disrespectful. EU continues to say good things about all involved and does not deserve your negativity.
Something you might think about in the future..if you don’t see anyone “bashing” the show, then it might be wise to let it go and move on instead of inspiring more.
I look forward to her new projects that are due to come out. They sound exciting. As an actor she is extremely talented and it will be interesting to see her play such varied characters.
If she comes back as Ashley – great, if not, so be it. Without Ashley and the family dynamic, Sanctuary is just another monster of the week show – old news.
I think it’s great that Sanctuary has, at LEAST, let her further her career by increasing Emilie’s supportive fan-base, and getting her in the public eye. But– sad to say, I think she can do better than Sanctuary, and it sounds like she already IS!
I like this quote, about the Syfy execs who recommended Emilie:
“…They were so welcoming and so excited to have me there, and that was just a really, really nice thing to feel. The executive producer, who is an independent producer – she’s the one who suggested me to Syfy (because they all help each other with casting obviously), and right away they were like, ‘We love her, we love her!…'”
Glad to hear the Syfy execs love you as much as your fans do! If the Sanctuary team didn’t, it’s their loss not yours. Good luck in all your endeavors, Ms Ullerup.
“Glad to hear the Syfy execs love you as much as your fans do! If the Sanctuary team didn’t, it’s their loss not yours.”
Whoa, the team liked EU a lot, AT, CH and RD have talked about how much they liked her, and how much she likes them. You know, EU is showing class by still talking good about the show and people, but you guys seem to still have some sort of grudge against them. EU does not seem to have any hard feelings or show any disrespect to anyone, clearly that can not be said with some of her fans.
You forgot to mention that DK and MW liked her. Oh wait, you can’t, they wanted her gone and the fans be d*mn*d. DK even tried to blame on SciFi execs until his latest interview when he owned up to the fact that it was his idea.
It will be great to see Emilie in other works. Harvey is right, Sanctuary was an important stepping stone for her, but she’s on to better projects, and so good for her. I loved her as Ashley, but I loved her as Kaitlin too on jPod (as did the Leos). So I’m excited she is playing a new character type in Witchslayer.
Good luck Emilie, if you are in it, I’ll be watching.
This sounds very interesting =] It will be great seeing Emilie in other things =] She’s a great actor. =] Good luck to you Emilie!
WOW this is awesome news! Can’t wait to see the talented Emilie in another scifi show :D She was wonderful on Sanctuary, and will be in everything she does.
Just because we’re not privy to every single in and out of every decision that is made, it doesn’t give us the right to moan and complain. These people bleed, sweat and cry to bring us our favourite shows…LET’S GIVE THEM ALL A STANDING OVATION WOOOOOH!!!!
YAY FOR EMILIE!! :D
xoxoxo
I agree it is awesome news.
“Just because we’re not privy to every single in and out of every decision that is made, it doesn’t give us the right to moan and complain. These people bleed, sweat and cry to bring us our favourite shows…”
Not being in on the decisions doesn’t give us the right to complain but supporting actors, sponsors and buying the dvds, does give us the right to complain.
But it will be great to Paul and Emilie on the screen again.
What a great interview!!!! The screenshot from the movie looks amazing!! I can’t wait to see the movie. I love that this new role is very different from Ashley, I think is will be great to see her take on this new challenge. As much as I love the character of Ashley, I am fine with Ms. Ullerup not returning to Sancutary, this does not change my support of her in any way shape or form. I was heart-broken by the changes of season 2 and the behavior from the cast to accept these changes.
I would have only watched season 3 if Ashley was brought back at this point, which is ironic, as I originally supported Sanctuary because of AT, but ended up being so impressed by Ms. Ullerup.
The pictures she took to support “Caleb’s Hope” were very powerful. A talented actress and such a caring and beautiful person, on-screen and off, Ms. Ullerup is just a class act.
If they’re following the same shooting schedule for Sanctuary as last year, they should be wrapping for the season about now, if they didn’t at the end of last week. Well, so much for Sanctuary, then. Emilie definitely can, has, and will do better. :)
Like hsmith I showed up for the Sanctuary webisodes because of Amanda Tapping, but I stayed because of Emilie Ullerup. And after the Sanctuary on the Web experience, I follow Emilie’s career, and not that of any of the other actors from the show.
I greatly enjoyed this interview. It gave me even more to look forward to – new projects, hope for the plot of Witchslayer, and for more exposure for Riese – it’s excellent from every perspective, just like Emilie.
I don’t know what Sanctuary‘s shooting schedule is, but it might be different this year since they are shooting 20 episodes instead of 13. Still, I wouldn’t get my hopes up.
Who cares about Sanctuary anymore…I used to be one of those fans that really wanted her back on that show. But not anymore. I agree with Emilie, it’s time to move on. Besides, with the route Sanctuary took after they killed off Ashley, I wouldn’t want to be part of that. Sanctuary was killed along with Ashley.
Anyhow, I’m soooo looking forward to seeing more work from Emilie. She has already shown how talented she is, so gimme more! :-)
Good luck with anything you do Emilie, you know we stand by you all the way!
Thank you Ruby for another great interview!
I’m so looking forward to seeing all of these projects and I can’t wait to see what is next for Emilie. She is so much more than what she was allowed to be on Sanctuary and I now feel that it was just holding her back. Since Syfy obviously doesn’t and didn’t have any problem with her, the doors have opened that much more.
Good luck to you Emilie and I will indeed be looking forward to the next character you bring to life.
Great to see she is doing some new projects. I first saw her on JPod and thought she was great and she made Sanctuary Season 1 worth watching as well, so I can’t wait to see what she does next!
I love Emilie’s Ashley character and await her return. I never understand why decisions are made to outs charaters especially when they work.
The Sanctuary team now seem to be lost and lack the family feeling with Ashley gone. I really hope she returns.
A lot of times it’s budget considerations mixed with keeping the story fresh. In hopes that new faces will spark interest in new viewers to broaden the base while hiring someone who is willing to work for less. Only my opinion, I know very little of the show but just wanted to point out that many times character changes are initiated for business considerations; be it on the part of the studio or the part of the actor maybe looking to broaden horizons before being typecaste..who knows really. I’m new to the Sanctuary series. I just finished up watching Stargate SG-1 and was interested in this series becuase of Amanda Tapping. Wonderfully talented and beautiful woman. However, I do feel the energy between Amanda and Emilie, I’m sure Emilie will come back from time to time to say hello.