Disclosure: This post was sponsored by the Role Mommy Writer’s Network. All opinions are 100% my own
The Season 1 finale left the Time Team dangling on many game-changing cliffhangers. Lucy (Abigail Spencer) thought she successfully took down the mysterious organization Rittenhouse, but was floored to find out that her own mother Carol (Susanna Thompson) was in on the secret the whole time. The conspiracy ran even deeper than our heroic historian thought, when she discovered that Emma (Annie Wersching) was secretly a Rittenhouse sleeper agent, ending the season by stealing the Mothership to change history as we know it.
Meanwhile, Wyatt (Matt Lanter) and Rufus (Malcolm Barrett), not realizing that Lucy’s entire world was shattering around her at home, were waiting on her to return to the Lifeboat for one last mission to save her sister. On top of that, Rufus and Jiya (Claudia Doumit) had no idea what was going on with her seizures and visions of a potentially catastrophic future, and Garcia Flynn (Goran Visnjic), arrested by Agent Christopher (Sakina Jaffrey), vowed to get revenge on Lucy for what he saw as a betrayal.
Now we are set for Season 2
Q&A – TIMELESS STAR ABIGAIL SPENCER & COSTUME DESIGNER MARI-AN CEO
Q: Do you outsource or make all the costumes on the show?
Mari-An Ceo: For our principal actors, because they have to have multiple outfits – it’s hard enough to make one but it’s really hard to make three in a couple of days. For background players we go to costume houses and sometimes we’ll buy things depending upon what we need but with principals we pretty much make everything.
Abigail: They make it in front of my eyes, there’s this guy named Carlos who pretty makes Ihem in front of our eyes.
How has it been like being back shooting the show?:
Abigail: I don’t feel more pressure, I feel very grateful. I mean we got cancelled, I don’t know if you guys know about it and then three days later we got picked up, We moved the production from Vancouver to Los Angeles, so we’re all home. I have a nine year old, Mari An has a 13 year old. We’re all parents so it’s nice to be home so our kids now come and see us at work. I feel grateful for being given another go at it and we are so grateful to the fans it was really their love and their rabid appetite for the show that brought us back. So when you come at it with that attitude, it’s nice. You see that this is the real test of the show.
Q What are your feelings on gender issues and gender equality?
Abigail: I will say that Frances McDormand, dovetailing what she said in her speech let’s talk about an inclusion rider. If we just level the playing field across the board, because there are so many talented women in every department that are just not getting the opportunities because they haven’t been able to have enough stuff to be hired. So I am very curious about that statement, the inclusion rider. If we just reset the standard, reset the tone as actors, as artists and make those requests, I think things could really change. We have to over correct in order to achieve balance.
WHAT TIME PERIOD IS YOUR FAVORITE?
Mari-an Ceo: All of them! I have this amazing experience where I go in read a script and have to quicky learn about that era. We have to do it very quickly – I may know that part of history but then when you get into these scripts you really have to know. You really have to know where the hemline is. During certain time periods, women held onto their clothes for 15 years – you have to make sure that you know what they were truly wearing during that time or you aren’t staying true to the clothing worn during that period.
Abigail: If I had my druthers the whole show would be about why the costumes are they way they are. It would be one long runway show!
Abigail: The best day of production is when we are in a brand new time period. We are dressed to the nines our hair and makeup department are just so great this year.
It’s really funny. We shoot right next to “This is Us” and they’re all with their jeans and t-shirts and we all look like we’re really doing something. And they’re like “Oh look at them, the “Timeless” crew they always look like they’re working so hard.” We take over the whole lot, the New York streets, Milo sees me in a different outfit every time. I actually visited their set in my suffragettes outfit and Chrissy Metz was doing her scene and they were rolling and I almost accidentally walked into the frame. And I thought how funny would it be if I was sneaking behind her in the scene. It’s so nice to be right next to them because they are so lovely.
ABIGAIL: WHAT CHARACTER WOULD YOU WANT TO PLAY?
I want to play Katherine Hepburn before it’s too late. As an actor, I’m really not super into playing real people but she’s someone I would love to play. I can definitely sound like her and I can look just like her and Mari An made one of my dreams come true this year because she actually made the Philadelphia Story dress for Lucy to wear in our Hollywood 1940’s episode and it was my dream. I’d like to play her while she was making “Philadelphia Story.” Here’s a little history on her. She was box office poison before this movie was made. She actually could not get hired – every movie she made was a total bomb and she was a total diva. She ended up doing Philadelphia Story on Broadway and her boyfriend was Howard Hughes at the time and he bought the rights to the play and gave it to her as a gift and told her, this is how you’re going to make money. So she became the producer of the movie. She made that movie happen and then the movie was so successful and that movie turned the tide for her and she became one of the most famous actresses of all time.
ABIGAIL ON THE TIMES UP MOVEMENT
I’ve always said no to a lot of stuff. I always protect my characters and how I represent women. Especially as a mother I was more conscious of it when my son was born. I now have a community behind me where that’s not even a conversation. I think we are really intentional with Lucy on Timeless in how she looks and we are careful not to sexualize her. She’s beautiful but she’s brillant. The producers pitched it to me that way – her superpower is her brain. I wanted her to start out that way. I wanted her to feel very normal so when she’s having to do these extraordinary things.
MARI-AN CEO QUESTION: HOW DID YOU WIND UP PURSUING A CAREER AS A COSTUME DESIGNER?
I grew up always wanting to be involved in film. I had an Italian grandmother who was a dressmaker and I think the great thing is, my parents moved us to Florida and they told me they were going to make me leave my toys behind but I smuggled two Barbies with me. And I made clothes for the Barbies all the time. My mom would say you’re too old for that but I still did it.
Both of my brothers were at RISD and both went on to Harvard and my parents were like, no, you need to slow it down. I really wanted to go into film. I went to University of Miami and became a professional wind surfer and created my own swimsuit line and moved to Hawaii. Then in my early twenties, I went to Colorado and broke my leg so I was there for a while. I found out that the University of Boulder had a great film program and I started taking classes there. Dave Taylor who invented the 3D camera became my friend and the guys who created South Park went there too. So one of the guys was directing a film and asked me to do the costumes. I had this design company but I knew nothing about created costumes for films, but I figured it out and I loved it. I’ve been doing it for over 20 years now. I came up through the ranks and I love what I do.
Premiere Info:
Timeless airs Sundays at 10pm/9pm c on NBC