Dollhouse

The people who made Angel really love Amy Acker. When Joss Whedon hired her for to play Fred Burkle in the show, co-creator/executive producer Joss Whedon declared: “She’s stolen all of our hearts – and now we’re afraid she won’t give them back!” Acker was a regular on Angel for four years, before being hired by erstwhile Angel showrunner Tim Minear to play Nathan Fillion’s wife on the short-lived Drive, and had a recurring gig as a badass spy on Alias in between. Now she’s a regular on Whedon’s new Fox series Dollhouse as “house” doctor Claire Saunders. Words: Abbie Bernstein

So you’re back with Joss Whedon…

Yes, I’m very excited. I roped him into hiring me!

In Dollhouse, the ‘dolls’ are imprinted with a variety of personalities, but your character has a stable identity…

As far as I know! I’m the doctor.

So she’s not a psychiatrist with a troubled past?

I’m more of the general practitioner. I actually help them with their injuries, but I deal with everything.

Did you have to study anything about being a doctor to prepare for the part?

Right now, I’m doing a movie [21 and a Wakeup] where I play a nurse, so I was already kind of engrossed in the medical world. So far in Dollhouse I haven’t had to do any actual ‘doctoring’. I put a Band-Aid on, so I can handle that! But I haven’t seen the scripts coming up to see what happens.

How is filming on that movie affecting the Dollhouse schedule?

Well, actually, it’s going to overlap a little bit, but I think it’s going to work out. The movie’s being really flexible.

Has your Dollhouse character surprised you yet?

Right now, I’m just waiting to see exactly who she is. I feel like I’m going to be surprised. It’s Joss, so no one’s ever who they seem to be.

Since it’s probably going to change, what’s your initial take on it?

Well, I have scars all over my face as Claire, so I’ll be excited to see the history of who I actually am.

Do you think that the Dollhouse premise is sort of a metaphor for being an actor?

I’ve talked to Joss a lot about the premise - he’s never mentioned that, but it’s a good idea. I’d have to think about it, but I’m sure that it is a metaphor, especially with the psychology of Angel and Buffy.

During the last season of Angel, your character, Fred, died and the blue-faced god Illyria took over her body. In terms of application, is your Dollhouse make-up longer or shorter than the Illyria make-up?

Well, we have some things to work out, so I’ve had to redo it and do it twice, so it ended up being longer. But I think it’s going to end up being 30 minutes shorter, a couple of hours.

Have you seen the Angel comic books, with the images of you as Illyria?

I just saw one the other day. It looks great. My sister’s boyfriend is an avid comic book guy, so he’s been showing me all the latest stuff.

Do you sort of feel like working with Joss is being ‘back to normal’?

Doing the Dollhouse pilot, I felt like I was just so happy to be with him. And actually, a lot of the crew is from Angel [including line producer Kelly Manners, director of photography Ross Berryman and stunt coordinator Mike Massa]. So it felt like, ‘Where’s Alexis Denisof?’ [laughs]

What do you think of the overall Dollhouse premise?

I think it’s going to be really cool. You can do anything with these people – they can be anyone, and you’ve got all these really good actors getting to play these different parts. I’m just excited to see where they go with it.

Dollhouse begins airing on Fox on February 13 2009.