On June 13 of last year we had the opportunity to have actress Jaimie Alexander on Slice of SciFi #113 as our guest. This year we were fortunate to have our roving reporter Linda Craddock go on assignment and participate in an ‘Invitation Only’ moderated interview with her that was sponsored by our good friends at New Media Strategies and AT&T. We hope you enjoy this time with Jaimie, who stars as Jessie XX on the very popular “Kyle XY” ABC Family television series.
Moderator: Ken Gold from MediaBlvd, please go ahead.
K. Gold: Thanks a lot, Jaimie, for taking the time to talk to us today.
J. Alexander: Sure.
K. Gold: First, I guess I should say congratulations on your character surviving. You kind of gave us a fright there. I just wondered if you could talk about how involved are you going to be in the rest of the season. Are you going to be in most of the shows or have a fairly big part going forward?
J. Alexander: Actually, yes. Jessi is, if I can remember correctly, in every episode in season 2.5. She plays a big role and definitely stirs up things a lot more than she did last season. Still while trying to be a good person, but things don’t always go her way.
Moderator: Our next question comes from Emma Loggins from FanBolt.com.
E. Loggins: Hello. I was wondering what is your favorite episode or favorite storyline been to film this far?
J. Alexander: My favorite storyline is Jessi’s quest to find her mother, her parents, who those people were in the picture. Just her quest to find where she belongs, which is very broad, I guess. My favorite episode so far is 13.
Moderator: Linda Craddock from Slice of SciFi, your line is open.
L. Craddock: Hello, Jaimie.
J. Alexander: Hello.
L. Craddock: Describe the connection between Kyle and Jessi, that mental connection that they have.
J. Alexander: The connection between Kyle and Jessi, it’s a lot different than a normal human being to a normal human being. They are pretty much made of the same mold. They’re the only two that understand each other completely and, even still, they have difficulties.
They’re pretty much each others guardians. I think Kyle would be okay if Jessi wasn’t around. In a sense, he could manage. But I don’t think Jessi would be okay without Kyle because she doesn’t have anybody else. To be honest in the episodes that are coming up, their connection is questioned and it is explored heavily throughout the next nine episodes.
Moderator: Sandy Schoggins from Daemon’s TV.
S. Schoggins: Yes, hello, Jaimie. Actually, it’s sort of a follow-up question. Is the relationship between Jessi and Kyle going to evolve in the next few episodes?
J. Alexander: Just like with any relationship, you have to go through certain highs and lows to see how strong the relationship is and where it’s going to take you. And Jessi and Kyle–I’m trying to think how to word this. Jessi and Kyle kind of duke it out throughout the next few episodes, though not intentially.
Jessi will try and do something that she thinks is beneficial or good for somebody else but, in reality, is a bad thing. Eventually, a heavy strain gets put on their relationship because of the things that Jessi is doing where it makes Kyle kind of shy away from her a little bit because he has so many other things going on. So their relationship becomes very strained, like very heavily strained, throughout the next few episodes.
Moderator: Marie Cunningham for Seat42F.com.
M. Cunningham: Hello, Jaimie, it’s great to talk to you.
J. Alexander: Hello.
M. Cunningham: My question kind of goes along with your favorite storyline and your favorite episode. What’s your favorite thing about Jessi to play?
J. Alexander: There are so many things. I like the fact that she represents–this is going to sound really odd to all you guys. But she represents a normal person in the sense that she has two sides that kind of battle against each other. And that’s fun because I’m telling you, one moment, I’ll be good and sweet and kind and doing the right thing, and then the next few minutes, I’ll be doing something that’s horrendous. And I love that.
I could never get bored. I honestly feel that I have some of the best material on the show and I’m so blessed to play this character because it’s exciting each day. We’ll get the new scripts and I’ll be like, “Whoa, what am I doing in this one?” And it’s always a surprise. I guess my favorite part of her is her dual personalities in a sense.
Moderator: Emma Loggins from FanBolt.com.
E. Loggins: Hello again. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what you thought about the current writer’s strike.
J. Alexander: This could last for awhile. Let’s just narrow it down to I believe it’s something that needed to happen. It’s definitely taking its toll on everyone, but again, it wouldn’t be an effective strike, had it not taken its toll on everyone.
So it’s tough but, again, being on Kyle XY, we’re in a position to have this happen at the moment it did. We got through season 2.5 and whatever’s going to happen in the future is going to happen. I think it’ll be okay for Kyle XY, but I have lots of friends that are in some heavy positions and bad positions with their families. This is really taking a toll on them. But again, it wouldn’t be a strike if that wasn’t happening. It needs to happen, yes.
Moderator: April MacIntyre from Monsters and Critics, please go ahead.
A. MacIntyre: Hello, Jaimie. Thanks for your time this morning.
J. Alexander: Oh, sure.
A. MacIntyre: My son is a big fan of the show. He’s 16 and he’s a wrestler at Calabasas High School and he wanted to know if it was true that you were a high school wrestler.
J. Alexander: Yes. I actually did wrestle in my high school. My weight class was 128 and I did pretty well. The training was brutal, but my little brother actually wrestles at Oklahoma University. So he got into it after I got into it.
It kind of started off as a bet, a joking bet like, “Hey, are you actually going to do this?” Once I got the team started, I realized I had to be on the team and I was like, â”Great.” So yes, I ended up doing it, but I’ve got to tell you, it gave me a really good background to learn stunts, fighting and all the stunts that I have to do as Jessi. So it’s a bonus.
Moderator: Sandy Schoggins from Daemon’s TV.
S. Schoggins: Hello again. I had a question about how, as an actor, you prepare for such a part as Jessi?
J. Alexander: That is just so loaded, because I’m probably one of the worst actors as far as preparation goes, because I actually don’t prepare. I find it easier to read the script and whatever hits me in my stomach, like deep down, I just go with it. And the director kind of molds me whether to go right or left with it.
So there is really no preparing, because the thing is, she’s so unpredictable that if I kind of, in my head, make up my own story for her, it’s never the same. It’s never the same as what the writers had planned. So I just kind of fly by the seat of my pants and whatever happens, happens. And I’ve been lucky so far.
Moderator: We have a follow-up from Ken Gold from MediaBlvd.
J. Alexander: Okay.
K. Gold: Thanks again. Jaimie, I was wondering before Kyle XY, were you a sci-fi fan at all or enjoyed the genre?
J. Alexander: Yes, actually I got most of my start in sci-fi/horror films. And I’ve always liked it because it’s kind of like reality, but with a little spice. There’s always things that you’re like, “Man, sometimes that could happen, but I’m not sure,” and it makes you think. I love the genre. I’m a huge fan of sci-fi.
K. Gold: Alright. Thank you.
Moderator: Rae Hansen from Ramblings of a TV Whore, your line is open.
R. Hansen: Hello. Thanks for doing this.
J. Alexander: Sure.
R. Hansen: I have a question about what we learned last night on the show. Can Jessi actually trust what Brian told her and does she know if she can trust him or not?
J. Alexander: I think, at this point, anything could happen. But, right now, I’ve got to tell you, Jessi’s so desperate to find somebody that loves her — a piece of her past so to speak — that I think it makes her more willing to trust people that maybe she shouldn’t trust. But, as of right now, she has her guard up. If it’s one thing she’s learned, she can’t trust everybody.
Moderator: Linda Craddock from Slice of SciFi.
L. Craddock: Hello again, Jaimie.
J. Alexander: Hello.
L. Craddock: What effect will Emily have on Nicole or Jessi in their effort to help Jessi adjust?
J. Alexander: As far as Emily goes–I’m not quite sure how to answer this question without giving away too much, but I’ll do my best. I think Emily doesn’t play as big of a role as most people think. She kind of takes a backseat to the storyline this season. That is pretty broad, but I can’t really say much else or I might get in trouble.
Moderator: Wendy Moore from KyleXY.net.
W. Moore: We got a lot of great feedback on the site for the show last night, but one of the complaints and probably the only one that I’ve heard was that Jessi jumps off the ledge glancing back at Madacorp and nothing is explained. Will we see more of that later on in the season or can you explain how that happened? Did it get cut for timing or what went on there?
J. Alexander: Here’s the thing. They never really explained it. The things about our show — and it becomes a little bit more this way in a good way — is that they don’t like to spoon feed the audience that much, which is very good. Because I think, with sci-fi, if you do that, it’s just a piece of crap.
But with her jumping off, it’s assumed — and you can, of course, make up your own story with this — it’s assumed that Madacorp got her. Tom Foss was there to pull Kyle back off the cliff, and you’ve got to know Madacorp was around somewhere watching this happen, watching this go down. Pretty much, she did what they wanted her to do, so they obviously were looking out for this.
Obviously, she can survive a lot of things. If you saw episode nine, how I got out of the facility and yet I had no burn marks, it’s kind of weird. I think what happened is that Jessi is much physically stronger than Kyle and I think, when she jumped off, Madacorp was there to drag her out real fast.
You will learn to see–how do I want to phrase this without giving much away? Throughout the rest of the season, you’re going to see what Jessi is really capable of concerning her health. That’s where I’ve got to stop because I was about to say something else. But just know that Madacorp had a huge part in how Jessi survives.
Moderator: Nadine Rajabi from TVgasm.com.
N. Rajabi: I know you already touched on waiting to see what your role is going to be and all that stuff, but is it kind of a guilty pleasure playing to your evil side? Is it kind of exciting?
J. Alexander: Oh, for me personally?
N. Rajabi: Yes, as an actress.
J. Alexander: Yes. I’m still very new to the acting world, but I’ve always played the hero and the good person, even though she’s an ass kicker, pardon my French. But, with Jessi, I kind of get to indulge in that little bit of–for a lack of a better phrase, a bitch. It’s great because you get to indulge in what it would be like to really stand up to somebody in that sense. But, then, when the director says, “Cut,” you’re like, “Okay, I’ll go get you a cookie,– or you know whatever. But yes, it’s fun. After work a lot of days, I would go home and I wanted to watch comedies. It almost made me happier in my life because I was getting all the drama and all the craziness at work. I was like, “Man, I don’t need any extra of this.”
I thought it was going to be kind of weird or kind of difficult to do and then I realized I was actually good at it. Then I was like, “Oh, geez, what does that say about me?†But I like it. I do like it and it does have a slight effect on my real life in a positive way.
Moderator: Sandy Schoggins — Daemon’s TV, a follow-up.
J. Alexander: Okay.
S. Schoggins: Hello. I had a question. Do you have any upcoming movie projects or is that something you’d like to do in the future?
J. Alexander: Right now, I’m in talks for a few things I can’t mention yet because they haven’t gone through all the way. But yes, I love movies–there’s a certain magic that goes into filmmaking that you can’t necessarily find on a television set. Yes, I would love that. Of course, the right parts would have to come along. I wouldn’t take just anything, but that’s something I definitely want to pursue in the future.
Moderator: Emma Loggins with FanBolt.com.
E. Loggins: Hello, again. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what the atmosphere was like on the set. Are there any funny moments or inside jokes that you can share?
J. Alexander: It feels like a huge dorm or something on our set. No matter what age you are, everybody gets along pretty well and, at the same time, we all help each other. If somebody has something going on in their life, we talk about it or we joke about it or whatever it may be.
One time, aside from the goosings, which is a whole other story, I was on set and I went to this really great place in Vancouver to live because that’s where we shoot and I didn’t realize in their summer months, they have a mice infestation problem. So I get home one day after being in L.A. for some press thing and there’s a bunch of mice in my apartment and I freak out because I have a huge phobia of mice, which is kind of strange because I’m not scared of snakes or anything. I had told Matt about it– and I get to set and I walk in my trailer and there’s a bunch of mouse traps with cheese. And I was like, “That’s not funny.” And I found out April and Bruce did it and I was like, “You guys stink.” So we kind of make bad situations funny, I guess. But that was a good one because everybody was kind of waiting to see what I would do and they all know I hate mice and I have a phobia of mice. So witty they are.
Moderator: Rae Hansen with Ramblings of a TV Whore.
R. Hansen: Hello there. This is like a follow-up to your answer about the strain between Kyle and Jessi. Can you kind of give us a hint at what some of the things Jessi does just to kind of cause that, how she will intersect with other people’s storylines?
J. Alexander: Sure. After all this goes down and the Tragers kind of know about what Kyle is and where he came from, she starts to realize she’s capable of lot of things physically and mentally that maybe she knew about last season, but didn’t really explore because she was afraid or she wasn’t sure about. Now she’s very sure about it and she, while exploring these things, gets — I don’t know if it’s power hungry. That maybe too much to say. She realizes some of her abilities can help people, although what she thinks is helping somebody is not actually helping someone. Say she helps one person, she might hurt four other people doing it. But just thinks she’s doing a good thing. And she finds out she has these abilities that nobody else has and, even if Kyle has them, he’s not going to use them. So she’s like “why should they go to waste?” It’s kind of this showdown for the rest of the season.
At the same time, how well written Jessi is, they explore that–look, it’s not just her showing off, she’s doing it for a purpose. So you can’t really hate her in a way. As I was reading the script, I realized like in a sense, you can’t really blame her. She’s only trying to do something to either get attention or to help somebody, but she always ends up doing the opposite of what she intended it to do.
That puts a heavy strain because Kyle can’t just walk away from her, because he realizes she trying to do something good or trying to help somebody. It’s almost like dealing with a baby. Like, “Okay, I don’t want to punish her too much because it’s going to make her go in the wrong direction, but I can’t let this just go because this was bad.”
If you don’t like somebody, it’s easy just to walk away. But if they’re doing something that you don’t like, but it’s really not their fault, you can’t just walk away. That becomes the internal battle for both Kyle and Jessi.
Moderator: Ken Gold with MediaBlvd, please go ahead.
K. Gold: Thanks. Is Jessi going to get her own family or is she going to get people that love her that you mentioned earlier, and are we going to see that?
J. Alexander: I canâ’t answer that like completely, because that would give away a lot of what ends up happening throughout the season. I guess with Brian Taylor coming into the picture last night, there is a little bit of this, “Hey, I’m your father. What can everybody else do about it? If we match blood tests and everything, you’re going to have to be with me.”
Jessi’s so desperate to have a family that she does end up sort of going with the wrong people. She just wants the label “family.” She’s just wants somebody to love her, so it doesn’t matter if they’re good or bad. She wouldn’t know.
In a way, she does have a family. She ends up having a family, but it’s not what you think and it’s not who you think either. That’s the best I can do on this one because… you know.
Moderator: Sandy Schoggins with Daemon’s TV has a follow-up.
S. Schoggins: Is there a love interest friend for Jessi for the future?
J. Alexander: They’ve kind of toyed with the notion of that and nothing has really come full force. As of right now, I can say like there are some moments she has with certain people that it could take off in a certain direction, but it doesn’t necessarily go there this season.
Trust me, I’m like, “I need a make-out scene. Let’s do this.” But nobody listens to me. I’m just teasing. It’s kind of weird to make a joke and not hear any of you laugh because you’re all in the silent thing.
Moderator: Linda Craddock from Slice of SciFi. Please go ahead.
L. Craddock: Jaimie, Stephen stumbles onto the secret research taking place at Madacorp. How much will that part of the story unfold in the new season?
J. Alexander: In the next few episodes, they kind of explore what’s happening to Madacorp or what’s going to happen to Madacorp. The fact that he found all that information, it’s really his battle, like he either he’s going to stay there or he’s going to go away from that company. You’ll be surprised how much Madacorp has to do with Kyle and Jessi in this season.
Moderator: Wendy Moore with KyleXY.net.
W. Moore: Coming from a fan site, one of the questions I get most often is there a way that fans can contact you through MySpace Web site or mailing address? Or how can fans get a hold of you if they just want to tell you thank you for doing what you do?
J. Alexander: It’s www.myspace.com / batinthesungirl.com that sounds really weird. And don’t ask me how I came up with that one.
Moderator: Sandy Schoggins with Daemon’s TV.
S. Schoggins: Yes, I was wondering how you would like the character of Jessi to evolve?
J. Alexander: That’s open for so much. I really, really want her to be just evil. I don’t know if you guys watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but between Angel and Buffy. Angel in a sense is a little like my character. He had dueling sides. It’s something that he couldn’t help. He would try and be good. I just for some reason loved it when he was really bad.
I was like, “You know, I really wish Jessi would just”… Like I did in the beginning where I kill a hunter without really knowing and all this stuff? There were scenes that we had filmed throughout last season that had to be cut because they were too brutal for ABC Family. I just wish that my character could go back to being that kind of evil bad ass type of character, but it wouldn’t necessarily fit into the storyline that is taking place right now.
Moderator: Linda Craddock from Slice of SciFi. Please go ahead.
L. Craddock: Jaimie, talk a little bit about your role in Watch Over Me.
J. Alexander: Oh, Watch Over Me. Nobody has asked me about that in awhile. This is the only time I’ve ever played a character like this. I was the younger sister, kind of troubled… well, I guess I always do play troubled people. Never mind. But I was kind of the troubled promiscuous younger sister of the lead and I caused a lot of people to die.
That was a fun role, but I’ve got to say it’s more like a crash course. Learning how to memorize lines fast to shoot 66 episodes out of order was the hardest thing I’ve ever done because I didn’t know what had happened before and what was going to happen next. We had to make charts and that kind of stuff. So that was really hard but again, it was like great prepping and practice for getting the role of Jessi on Kyle XY.
Pretty much my character was just like young, naíve, cute girl who would get herself into these horrible situations and her older brother who is an ex-marine would have to save her. And she would unintentionally get herself into these situations and then, even if she knew something bad was going on, she couldn’t pull herself away from whoever she was in love with or whatever was happening. She caused lots of harm and hurt to her family and to her friends, even death. So it was like a soap opera version of 24 pretty much.
Moderator: Wendy Moore with KyleXY.net.
W. Moore: I’m like you. I kind of like the good side of Jessi. I like her goodness because there is some of that in there. Is she going to be any happier in the rest of the season because, while she does do some good things in the last episode, she’s still very traumatized? It was very sad for me and a lot of the fans. So is she going to have that happier time and even glimmers of actual happiness coming up?
J. Alexander: She ends up having some glimmers of happiness, but again, that’s her internal battle to find like what would make her happy. When she figures out what that is, she goes to find it. Now whether or not she finds it, that’s up to you guys to see.
But yes, there are a few moments throughout the season where you get these real happy moments that you’re like, “Wow, this girl is finally getting something that shows her what good and happiness is.” But again, as quickly as it comes, it’s taken away. But through Kyle’s help, she’ll find kind of where she fits, I guess would be the proper thing to say.
Moderator: Rae Hansen with Ramblings of a TV Whore.
R. Hansen: Hello. I have a follow-up actually to that one. Do we get to see Jessi kind of experience some of the typical or normal teenage life in the last half of the season?
J. Alexander: That is something that they explore a lot more. When we would get the scripts, we were like, “Wow, I didn’t know they were going to go this route.” So it was actually kind of a pleasant surprise.
You’ll get to see that she gets to experience a lot of what like high school is like. For the viewers, its going to be like watching these kids go through high school. They have the same issues as most of the kids that are in high school right now. And that’s what I think I like the most about it and they don’t sugarcoat anything.
But Jessi is an outcast and she will go through certain things like normal kids go through everyday in high school, but you’ll get to see how she deals with it. There’s a lot of shows that are so Afterschool Special and they’ll show, “Oh, this is how you get away from this.” No, not with her. You see the worst of it and the best of it. But yes, she gets to experience high school life and what it’s like to be a high school kid and a normal teenager. I like that they did that this season.
Moderator: And Wendy Moore from KyleXY.net.
W. Moore: I know it’s different coming into a new show that already has a season. You came in in the second season. How did that transition go for you, as far as coming into a cast that was already made? Did you come in and fit in right away, or was it a little bit harder to take and how was that transition?
J. Alexander: I’ve heard horror stories of people who are joining casts after their first season or second season and how it was really difficult. But when I got up there, everybody was pretty nice and pretty warm and welcoming. And I think they knew this girl is going to be here for awhile. We’ve got to sort of try. When I realized I was like, “Look, Iâ’m easy.”
We all kind of have the same sense of humor. There are times that some of us would sort of butt head on set, but that’s normal. You have that in school, if you’re in class or at work, and it’s really on a small scale, that we’d ever have a disagreement and whatever. And sometimes it’s just in the heat of the moment in a scene. If I’m doing something really horrible to somebody that cannon might linger in the air just a tiny bit and then it goes away, but because your emotions get high and things get crazy.
But it’s seriously the best group of people I’ve ever been around and they’re so easy going. The best thing about them is that they’re very genuine. They’re not superficial and Hollywood at all. That’s something I was worried about. I was like, “Look I don’t want to have to be around a bunch of Hollywood jerks for 10 months.”
But when I got up there, it’s just like being at home in Texas. We get together and have dinner parties and stuff where we’d bake like homemade macaroni and cheese. It wasn’t like tea and crumpets or whatever. I love those guys up there and, actually, I miss them a lot when I don’t get to see them that much. They’re good people.
C. Feskhins (New Media Strategies): Okay, if there are no additional questions, I’ll go ahead and thank Jaimie again for being with us today. And also just remind everybody to tune in Mondays at 8:00/7:00 central on ABC Family. Thanks a lot, everyone.
J. Alexander: Thank you.