The Knockturnal had the opportunity to sit down with Anne Heche, the star of the new NBC show The Brave.
Over brunch we got to discuss her character’s strength, meeting real life heroes, and romance on the show.
Could you describe who you play?
I play Patricia Campbell, who is is the deputy director of the DIA, (Defense Intelligence Agency). She’s basically Condoleezza Rice, even if you look at the way she dresses! Its an intimidating and exciting role to be asked to perform because it’s such an important job right now in our world, especially with everything that’s going on. The daily war that this team fights, the daily war that all of our Marines, Navy, Army, CIA and DIA face is brutal. So to play the person that dictates that world is a great responsibility. It feels heavy. I met with a man who worked 2 years in the Pentagon under Condoleezza. Last night I asked him, ‘can you tell me one thing that would make this woman smile?’ because I feel like the darker, the deeper, and the more I prepare for it the less I feel like putting on a happy face. I think that’s a huge task that these people are faced with. The devastation of what’s going on in our world is immense. That’s the darkest part and, I mean, I find anything funny. I can pretty much make anything a joke but not this. I feel very responsible. I feel very responsible for the people who are truly doing this, and I think that’s one of the huge things about our show. We need to honor the people who fight the daily war that we never hear about in the headlines. They’re so deep undercover that you don’t even know they’re there. So they don’t get any applause, and they don’t get any parades, but they’re risking their lives everyday to keep us safe.
So no time for romance!
Who me or my character [laughs]? I think it’s going to very interesting to look into Patricia’s life. Obviously they’ve given me an incredible weight. Patricia’s son has just died ten days before you see her and the way in which this woman functions through that is quite extraordinary. I can’t say that I would do the same. She has committed to the country that she serves. To watch the transition of that woman–to handle that moment after we walk out of the DIA with her–I think will be very interesting. That’s why I say, “is it war, is it romance?” What does someone feel after they’ve orchestrated a rescue of an American and killed one of the most evil people in the world in the same day–who is that person? I’m still trying to figure it out. That’s why I’m meeting with people who’ve been through something like that. Its extraordinary. I can only pretend to know how deep that is. When I was talking to the gentleman last night–his name is Peter Murphy–I asked, ‘how do you compartmentalize, is that what it is?’ and he said ‘that’s all it is.’ So you compartmentalize so much of your life and your feelings and your emotions to serve, that there’s very little time for you personal self and thats why so many of our soldiers are so devastated. They have to–in order to survive–cut and shut down their perspective and point of view which I found very interesting. They are given orders and yet they know only about 70% of the information. Intel is about 70%, so Patricia has 70% information, and the navy has intel, the army has intel but they don’t share it in one pod. She gets information from these different sources, and still has to make a decision about ‘live or die.’
Wow…
So I’m really interested to see what her romantic side would be! Like what do you do? You can’t drink, you have to be up 24/7, and available to the mark, what’s the outlet? I mean I asked Peter Murphy what happens if they have sex and he just said, “no it’s forbidden!” And if a lower officer sleeps with a higher officer, the higher officer is fired on the spot, which is difficult for them because often they’re friends. So it’s that too that I think the show is going to explore. The first time the show creator Dean Georgaris, wrote to me about this job, he talked about the humanity of the people who risk their lives everyday for us. Who are they? Who are the people that make those decisions? It’s not just unsung heroes, it’s the people that dedicate their lives everyday and they are not only in our country. One of the other unique things about our show is we’ll be going to six different countries within the first 13 episodes.
Do you think anything’s off limits? It seems like you could go everywhere with this.
I don’t think there are any limits to this show and that’s why it’s so exciting. Our characters are so incredible because this team [of actors] trained for 3 months as SEALS! Its insane! You watch them on screen and they’re a team. They’re all so committed. I think for us it’s a way to say thank you to all of the people we know and don’t know who sacrifice themselves, so we take it really serious. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of people take something so seriously. And because the kids, I call them my kids [the Special Ops team on the show, played by Mike Vogel, Natacha Karam, Demetrius Harmon, and Hadi Tabbal] are so amazing, you want to look at any one of them! What do any one of them go through, what do they explore, whether its romance or anything else. How do they deal? Are they friends? Just that inner relationship with such a tough group of people in is going to be really fun to watch. And we’re going to meet ‘braves’ in every country we go into, so it’s not just this heroic view of ‘Hey, we’re all so patriotic.’ Every country has a Brave, so even though we’re fighting the bad guys, we’re also uniting our consciousness.
Have there been any complications as far as trying to tell the story on a network show?
I think that’s why NBC is blowing people’s minds this season. First of all we’re the only show that was picked up by NBC and they’re airing 13 episodes without interruption. To do that, I think they’re saying ‘we want to be doing something different, we want people to pay attention and look at how this network is changing and growing.’
The Brave premieres Monday, September 25th at 10/9 c on NBC.
