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HBO
You've said that the character of Jamie was written for you – in what way?
MB
Initially when I read the script, the issues Jamie has and the problems she goes through were parallel to things I had experienced in my personal life. I kinda felt like there was someone following me around writing about my life.
HBO
What issues in particular do you share with Jamie?
MB
Primarily the commitment issues. Her jealousy and the problems of fidelity were things that I'd experienced in my past relationships that ultimately damaged them and made me go through a whole emotional roller coaster – trying to find out what I really wanted and issues I needed to deal with within myself. Similar to what Jamie's going through.
HBO
Did you find this role difficult or painful?
MB
Absolutely. What was difficult was I had to kind of deal with all of the baggage in my life that I had put away. I had to pull it out and live in all of those issues I'd already dealt with – the pain and the hurt and the fear. I had to open up that can of worms and re-live it for six months. I was kind of in a depressing place for awhile while shooting the show. Jamie's not in a great place right now. She's heartbroken and confused and trying to change. That was hard for me because it was something I had already dealt with. But it's all for the sake of art!
HBO
Hugo asks Jamie..."Do you really think you're never going to be attracted to anyone else for the rest of your life?" On the surface, it doesn't seem to be such an unreasonable question. What is it about that question that triggers such a crisis for Jamie?
MB
The truth of the matter is, he's being absolutely realistic. Hugo's character is an idealistic man. And in the back of her mind, I think every woman, and Jamie specifically, knows that, but doesn't want to hear that, especially right before getting married. No one wants to hear the possibility that your man might be attracted to someone else, or stray from the relationship especially when she already has these insecurities and jealousy problems.
HBO
Jamie starts to admit that she might have those issues herself as the show progresses.
MB
It's almost a denial that she's in. Throughout the show we see her on this journey and she starts to figure things out. Especially in the therapy scenes with May Foster (Jane Alexander). That starts to kind of unravel the problems that were not necessarily with Hugo, but are within herself.
HBO
The word "chemistry" is used a lot in referring to each couples' work together on the show. What does 'chemistry' mean to you as an actor and how do you create it? How did you create it in this case?
MB
I think chemistry is imperative for this show, in order to do it justice. I think it's something you can strive for. I was lucky with Luke that we just hit it off immediately, especially when we screen tested together. That chemistry was just there. And then we have a great relationship off screen that we developed. We had a lot of time to get to know each other while we were shooting. It gave us time to earn trust with one another. So when we do any of the scenes, we go into them with a certain amount of trust. So the chemistry is there. There's nothing blocking it. Sometimes it's just luck. Which is why they test people together -- because sometimes the chemistry just isn't there.
HBO
People think that always means a physical attraction but it's not necessarily just that.
MB
I don't know if it's so much a physical attraction. There are people you meet who you automatically connect with, they get you and you get them. And there are people you meet and you have nothing in common with. We had a connection. I enjoyed spending time with him. It made our job a lot easier. It made it fun to work with someone who I enjoyed outside of work. And I think it shows on screen.
HBO
In a lot of ways, your character faces the most scrutiny in the morality debate about the sexually explicit nature of the show, because your character is having the most acting-out sex – sex for sex's sake. Were you prepared for that?
MB
Yeah. I knew it was going to be probably a little controversial and provoking and I wanted to be a part of something that's new and ground breaking. But the sex wasn't an issue for me, to be quite honest. There wasn't a point where I felt any of the scenes were gratuitous. Especially with Jamie and Hugo, sex is an actual form of language. We haven't developed any communication skills to deal with any of our problems so we deal with it through sex. Which I think a lot of couples in their 20s do. Which is why you probably go through a couple relationships in your 20s because you eventually learn how to communicate with another person. And Hugo and I are maybe just trying to figure that out right now.
HBO
You had perhaps the most reprinted quote from the TCAs [press conference for the Television Critics Association] "We're not porn stars, we're actors..."
MB
The quote heard around the world! My God! Here's the thing about that: This is all trial by fire for me. What's interesting about it is there's a lot more to the answer...it was a throwaway at the end of what I thought was an articulate response and I didn't mean it defensively. But it certainly got picked up by every single journalist in that room. Right before we went on the panel I read a New York Times article about whether the show was porn or art...so the word was just in my head. So I was a loose cannon ready to go off. I'll be honest, beforehand I called Cynthia, I called a few people from HBO and said this is all new to me. I don't know what to expect. I don't have a significant other to bounce off of on the panel. Any pointers? Anything I shouldn't say? And they said: "No! Be honest and say whatever you want or feel." And so I did!
I don't regret it, but in hindsight I wish that I didn't use the word "porn" because I think it did the opposite of what I was really intending to do by just saying the word. I wish I'd just phrased it differently.
HBO
I read that you're an avid fan of skydiving. What's the allure?
MB
I love it. I love everything about it. It's something I do by myself. It's an escape from Hollywood for me. There's a certain amount of freedom in jumping out of a plane -- you feel like you have control. Your whole life is in your own hands. There's no one there to help you. You have to take care of everything yourself. There's a fix for every malfunction and you have to know how to do it. There's something really exciting about that to me, that my own life is in my own hands. I really like pushing boundaries and whether it's this show or jumping out of airplanes, I get a thrill out of it. And it's pretty amazing to fall free in the sky. You feel like you're flying. Sometimes in Hollywood you feel so claustrophobic...sometimes I feel trapped. It's a huge release for me.
HBO
How often do you go?
MB
Actually it was when we were shooting this show that I really started to become an avid skydiver. HBO would kill me if they knew that! But I had so many emotions and feelings I didn't want to have come up again in my personal life. It's hard. You need to bring all of that to the job and sometimes its hard to leave it at the door when you come home. So I do think that the skydiving was a big part of me trying to deal with it and not going crazy!
I haven't gone as much lately, I usually go every weekend. I got my license...so it's a lot cheaper. I go up north, try to do 4 to 5 jumps in a day. When I come back I feel refreshed. Some people do yoga. I go to sky diving and it clears my head.
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