Blair Redford stars in “The Lying Game”
Blair Redford Knows All There Is To Know About The Lying Game
by Jackie Speiss
Bad boy Blair may not be so “bad” after all. Recently we got to sit down with Blair Redford, who plays Ethan on ABC Family’s original series The Lying Game. Redford may have that daring, sultry stare that brings out the daredevil in all of us, but you will be surprised when you come to find that Redford’s character is actually the good guy who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Lying Game is about twin girls Emma and Sutton, both played by Alexandra Chando. As teenagers, come to find that they were separated at birth. Sutton was adopted by the wealthy Mercer family and Emma was placed into the foster system. When reunited, Sutton goes on a search for the truth about their lives, and Emma takes Sutton’s identity for the time being. Redford gets stuck between the two girls. He comes to find that his own existence is much more complicated than he expected.
It seems like Ethan’s kind of a mess when the show returns. How would you describe Ethan’s relationship with Sutton this season as compared to Emma?
The season opens up and Ethan’s in a little bit of a darker, more depressed place given how the last season ended. Anyone who watches the show knows how Sutton operates. That definitely leaves it open for Ethan and her to get closer, because anytime that Emma won’t entertain Ethan, Sutton’s there to step in. So you’ll definitely see, compared to last year, it’s different. I think he’s pretty certain of what kind of girl she is after she’s repeatedly lied to him so many times, but he still can’t really shake either one of those twins. So it’ll still be there.
Alexandra Chando plays both Sutton and Emma. Does it ever get weird when you have to act differently with the different characters? Do you look at her as the same person?
You know, I don’t. It’s funny; that comes up a lot. I didn’t think it was going to happen this way. When the show was first created I didn’t expect this, but she has a difference in the characters, so finely polished that you show up on set and she doesn’t even have to say anything to me. I just know who she’s playing. I don’t have to look at a script to see which twin I’m with, which makes it really easy on me and the rest of the cast. But it is kind of a shock because just her mannerisms. Things she does with her eyes. The two girls have different smiles. In a way I do feel like there are two of them. She’s very convincing with it. It kind of freaks me out occasionally, but props to her for pulling it off.
Do you guys have a great relationship? Are you friends off set? Do you hang out and stuff?
Yes we do. We are. We’re very close. She’s a good girl.
If you had to choose, do you think Ethan is crazier about Emma than Sutton?
I’d say given what we’ve seen, I think the healthier relationship would be with Emma. That’s more of the real relationship. Then I think with Sutton it’s a bad habit.
Is that why you think he kissed Sutton at the end the last season?
Yes, I think it is. But he’s drawn to girls that really have a good heart. So he kissed Sutton when she had put on that face. She was on the farm with him and she had put on this kind and caring side of herself, which is there. That’s the times that he’s attracted to her. They are limited, but when they pop up he likes it.
I just wanted to say for the record there are a few of us who think that Ethan should just forget about the twins and hook up with Mads.
That’s an interesting idea. I do think the boy needs to examine his priorities with the twins, but where it goes from there is up to the writers I suppose.
Which character do you most relate to?
I just thought about saying something random like Sutton’s dad, like a plastic surgeon, but that’s not true. I guess there are different aspects of different characters. I can see myself in a few different ones, but if I had to say the one I relate to the most I would say Ethan. So I guess that’s fortunate for me, and a good fit, because that’s the character I was cast to play.
Would you say that you’re a bad boy like Ethan in real life then?
It kind of sounds bad. That’s a title you can’t really give yourself, describing yourself. But no, I would just say that the qualities I have in common with Ethan are we both like some extreme sports. He’s always on his motorcycle. I like riding bikes. I like doing a lot of off-roading. He’s very protective of his friends and loved ones. He’s quick to throw a punch if he feels you’ve wronged someone close to him, whether or not that’s too hasty. That’s probably similar to myself as well. I have more in common with him than the others, I suppose.
Out of everything you’ve done, what is your favorite type of role to play? It seems like you do like the bad boys. Is that what you like to do the most?
I don’t know if it’s what I like to do most as much as that’s what Hollywood likes me to do. You get hired where you get hired. I guess I have a little bit of a niche in the bad-boy-brooding market. I’d really like to do more comedy. I do a lot of it in my off time and I think it’d be fun. We’ll see where that goes.
With scenes that you film, I’m guessing you like the funnier scenes rather than the more serious scenes then? What do you like to do scene wise?
It all depends on the scenes. Dramatic scenes are fun too, but I will tell you that I always try to find in my scenes with Ethan an opportunity to bring some comedy into it. Pretty often it doesn’t make the final cut. Maybe I got away with it a little bit more this year. It’s second season. Maybe he’s opening up a little bit more personality wise.
Could give us a little bit of insight into what it’s like to be on set? Is there a behind-the-scenes moment that you think our fans or readers might enjoy or just something that would give them a little insight to what it’s like to be on the set of The Lying Game?
It’s like summer camp when you’re 13 years old. Like I said, a big part of it is that we’re on location in Texas. It’s just a different feel than being in Hollywood at a normal studio shooting, but we love it out there. All of us young [actors] on the show and even the adults, the actors that play the parents, we’re all really close. We’re just running around in our trailers playing pranks, eating food, obviously.
Is there someone on the show that you don’t get to work with as much as you would like to?
Yes, absolutely. I wanted to do a lot more work with Adrian Pasdar. There are only so many minutes in an episode and so many story lines. So nothing real juicy has popped up yet for us to have any work together, but we talked about it before. I think we both approached Chuck Pratt, our creator of the show, to talk about the story line because we want to work together. We’re spinning ideas around our head. But yes, I think that would be some interesting scenes to see, because it’s an unlikely match up. You don’t really expect to see those characters together and sometimes I think that’s what’s most interesting.
I read in an interview that you enjoyed having scenes with Tyler Christopher the most. Can you tell us anything about the season coming up with the two brothers?
I’m really looking forward to what happens with the brothers in this season. In a lot of moments in our show where they’re combative, especially in the first season, obviously a large part of it is because Ethan’s lying to his older brother a lot. I think this second season opens up a little bit more and shows how they need each other to lean on, to count on, because they are the only family they have. So there’s just a lot there where they’re helping each other out with different challenges they’re both going to face this season and that was really fun to play.
Switched at Birth is another one of my favorite shows. I was wondering how you manage to do both of these shows at pretty much the same time?
That was only last year and it was fortunate that it worked out. What happened was I shot both those pilots around the same month and I believe the network thought that they wouldn’t pick up both of the shows. I don’t know if they thought there was similarity or something. I think the idea was that I would only do one of them, but then they both got picked up from their pilots. The producers on each individual show were great working out a schedule where I could do the start of the season of Switched at Birth and then I would move on to The Lying Game where I would make it my home. I just did the first pilot episodes of Switched at Birth and it has been a really good turnout.
So are you going to be back on Switched at Birth or are you on this one permanently now?
The Lying Game is definitely my permanent seat. We shoot in Austin and I’m there the majority of the year, but there haven’t been any discussions to bring my character back to Switched at Birth.
That was a good segue into my next question. I was curious if you had any other projects going on right now besides the show? I know it keeps you pretty busy.
We do stay pretty busy. At the moment, as I said earlier, we shoot on location and often so we’re kind of in our own little bubble out there. I’m back in LA now and looking through scripts, reading for projects, but I haven’t signed on for anything yet.
How does the arrival of Jordan impact Ethan’s state of mind?
I think it has a couple of different twists and turns for Ethan. He’s not very trusting of anyone new as it is, so he has one opinion of Jordan when he first arrives, but it doesn’t stay on level. It’s nice to see. They definitely start out as a bit of a rivalry, as you might expect, but it definitely grows and changes. It’s something interesting to watch, and honestly I think there are more places for it to go. I’d like it if Ethan had a friend at some point, you know? Just a guy that he can knock a beer back with or something and watch a game, but he spends all of his time with the twins, I think.
I wanted to know if you have a favorite episode of the shows so far, either one we’ve seen or one we have yet to see in season two?
I definitely have some favorites. I can’t elaborate too much on the new season, especially on my favorite episode because it’s the last one we shot. It’s episode ten of season two. I just think our writers are so talented at having all these story lines stem out in different areas and then they come to a crescendo on some of our finale episodes. To me, ten is just brilliant. It’s really fun to watch. A bunch of questions will be answered. If I could pick one from the previous season, I would say I think it was 17. It would be two episodes. They were the ones where we got to shoot out on this really beautiful farm. We got to learn how to ride a horse bareback and all kinds of stuff. That was a good time.
Can you talk a little bit about the overarching scenes for this year? What are some of the new themes that are going to be going on this season?
I guess some of the major ones they put out there so you’ll have to keep your eye out on different couples and try to figure out who they think is going to tie the knot. Another big one that has also been put out there is one of our main characters will bite the dust. Everybody needs to try to figure this out now. I think that will be fun to watch and worry about. Then we’ve got this new guy, Jordan, who’s going to form different relationships. That’s another one to watch. So those are some of the new ones.
For your long ride on this show, what has been your most memorable moment, on set or off, either dealing with things or just dealing with cast members? Favorite moment and even bad moment?
There are a lot. I had a fun time this season. There’s a lot of friction going on between Ethan and Thayer this season. That was brewing and boiling last season and it comes to a head this year. They might have a little bit of an altercation. On our show, Ethan has a lot of those, but anytime there’s a chance to do any kind of action sequence it’s fun. All of us guys on the show; we eat it up. We have a really good time. Christian, who plays Thayer, is a good buddy of mine. So that was a real fun time this year. We had a little bit of a tussle that we had to shoot. We both went for it. We probably went at it — good match, it was fun.
Do you think that there’s anything that will surprise or shock the viewers this season?
Yes. That’s the name of the game for our show. That’s what our writers are good at. What exactly will surprise them, certain things I’ve already mentioned. There’s a death coming up, a wedding coming up. There’s going to be a 180 Alex story line. It starts off where he was arrested last season. He’s in jail. It’ll be really fun to see him [find a] way out of that situation. Then you have all the stuff, the twins again. They hope to get along but really they love the turmoil that happens between the two sisters.
What is the nicest thing a fan has ever said or done to you?
That’s a tough one. Something that comes to mind is at least on two occasions I’ve had a couple fans — obviously they’re talented artists and they’ve drawn a portrait. They found a picture of me online. I think one found a still shot of me from a film that I did and they did a really nice drawing of me. I think one was actually charcoal. One was mailed to my fan mail. That’s really cool and nice of someone to take the time to do that.
Copyright ©2013 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: January 10, 2013.
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