Amelia Jackson Gray
Amelia Jackson Gray has enjoyed a career that has seen her split her time between working between TV and movies. She has worked on the likes of Entourage, taking on the role of Amy, as well as movies The 13th Alley and Last Exit.
Deep Gold is the latest movie role for the actress and I caught up with her to talk about her new role, working with filmmaker Michael Gleissner and what lies ahead.
- You are about to star in Deep Gold so can you tell me a little bit about the movie?
I play British journalist from the National Geographic Claire Simpson but she is exactly who she says she is - and we find that out later in the film.
On the surface she is very charismatic and charming but later, she has this crazy underwater action scene with Bebe Pham and this is when it’s revealed that my character is nice. She’s a bad girl.
- You take on the role of Claire Simpson in the film so what was it about the character and the script that drew you to the project?
I really liked that it was action adventure; it’s a really good action adventure movie. The fact that it was shot in Asia had huge appeal to me because I had never been to Asia before.
The initial thing that struck me was that they were looking for a British actress who could scuba-dive and learning to scuba-dive for a role was very exciting to me - that was the main thing that appealed to me as it seemed really interesting.
- The movie was shot in the Philippines - so how did you find the shoot, did you get to explore the islands?
I really wanted to explore because I am a huge explorer myself but I didn’t want to venture out on my own because it wasn’t exactly safe for somebody who sticks out like a sore thumb. So I did explore a little of the area, but not too much.
It was also typhoon season so there was a lot of sitting around because the weather was horrific at points. I had a great time over there because very close by to where we were filming was the diving facilities so I was able to dive a lot and do a lot of underwater exploring - which was the main exploring that I got to do.
- And you had to learn to scuba dive - so how much do you enjoy taking on these challenges for your roles?
I love it, I think it’s one of the blessings of being an actor to take on different skills that people do. I just love the outdoors and I love nature and scuba-diving brings you so close to that - and it was a whole new world that I hadn’t discovered before; I love swimming and I grew up as a water baby so scuba-diving came very naturally to me. It was just the biggest thrill of my life.
- So how much of the scuba diving in the movie is you?
Because it was typhoon season they had to keep on calling us back to Asia from Los Angeles, I learnt to scuba-dive for the role and I did as much as I could but they did have someone who was a stunt double. Because I had to keep going back and forth there was a limited amount of stuff that could do.
- And Claire is a journalist in the movie so did you do any research into that profession before the shooting?
Quite a lot, but she is not a journalist she uses that to get on the boat and learn their story she says to them that that is how she is going to help them by sharing their story with the world.
My character uses an SLR camera so I spent a lot of time with professional photographers learning how to hold a camera properly and how to use that camera.
I also looked into national Geographic and learnt about that - because she is not a real journalist anyway I spent more time looking at the character and the scenes.
- Deep Gold is directed by Michael Gleissner - so how was he as a filmmaker?
The character Claire Simpson is posing as Benny Simpson’s wife, and Michael plays Benny Simpson, so Michael and I got along great because we were working alongside each other as actors so it was important that we had a good relationship.
Michael is very courageous as a filmmaker, he is a relatively new filmmaker, but he is courageous with his decisions to try and pull off a multi-million dollar action movie for one of his first movies that he has ever done.
He was fun to work with because he would watch a James Bond movie the night before and then come to set with all these amazing ideas - sometimes they were a little too much to pull off - but he definitely had a lot of ideas and was exciting to work with, so much so that I will be working with him on his next project.
- And how did you find stepping into the action genre?
Very easy. I love the outdoors I’m always hiking, camping, backpacking and climbing mountains when I’m not working so, for me, that was one of the things that drew me to the project.
- And you really made your name as Amy in in season 6 of Entourage - so how did you find going into the show in season 6 when there were already well developed relationships between the cast?
They were so great to work with, obviously they work with a lot of different actors so they are use to people coming and making them feel comfortable immediately - and that is what they did.
It wasn’t intimidating working with them at all they were very nice and down to earth and I felt very relaxed so I could get on and work.
- Throughout your career you have moved between TV and movie roles so how to the two mediums compare and differ? Do you have a favourite?
I like both of them - I like all aspects of being an actress whether that be TV, film or theatre as well as radio and voiceovers; they are all totally different but they all have a similarity in that it’s the same craft.
In TV it’s a very fast pace and you really do have to think on your toes and you don’t have a lot of times to make decisions as well a working a lot of time under pressure.
In film you have a lot more time to develop a character, learn new skills, to really let the character sink in and read the script a hundred times - that really is a luxury to have so much time on a role.
Then the theatre is completely different having the audience there and having the immediate feedback from them - it really teaches you timing and discipline - and that’s wonderful too.
I really enjoy and embrace all of it, I have always wanted to be an actress, for me it’s all wonderful and exciting.
- As a British born actress how have you found the movie to America?
I moved here eight years ago so now it is second nature to me, it’s where I am based and it’s where I consider home now. I miss a lot of things about England and I love England, my family are all there and so are my friends from school, so I do go back a lot.
I very much like being a part of both places and I really would like to work some more in England but in terms of my live here I am very happy.
- Finally what's next for you?
Probably this dance movie, if something comes up before then I would love that, but the dance film comes up in July so that’s next on my agenda for now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Amelia Jackson Gray has enjoyed a career that has seen her split her time between working between TV and movies. She has worked on the likes of Entourage, taking on the role of Amy, as well as movies The 13th Alley and Last Exit.
Deep Gold is the latest movie role for the actress and I caught up with her to talk about her new role, working with filmmaker Michael Gleissner and what lies ahead.
- You are about to star in Deep Gold so can you tell me a little bit about the movie?
I play British journalist from the National Geographic Claire Simpson but she is exactly who she says she is - and we find that out later in the film.
On the surface she is very charismatic and charming but later, she has this crazy underwater action scene with Bebe Pham and this is when it’s revealed that my character is nice. She’s a bad girl.
- You take on the role of Claire Simpson in the film so what was it about the character and the script that drew you to the project?
I really liked that it was action adventure; it’s a really good action adventure movie. The fact that it was shot in Asia had huge appeal to me because I had never been to Asia before.
The initial thing that struck me was that they were looking for a British actress who could scuba-dive and learning to scuba-dive for a role was very exciting to me - that was the main thing that appealed to me as it seemed really interesting.
- The movie was shot in the Philippines - so how did you find the shoot, did you get to explore the islands?
I really wanted to explore because I am a huge explorer myself but I didn’t want to venture out on my own because it wasn’t exactly safe for somebody who sticks out like a sore thumb. So I did explore a little of the area, but not too much.
It was also typhoon season so there was a lot of sitting around because the weather was horrific at points. I had a great time over there because very close by to where we were filming was the diving facilities so I was able to dive a lot and do a lot of underwater exploring - which was the main exploring that I got to do.
- And you had to learn to scuba dive - so how much do you enjoy taking on these challenges for your roles?
I love it, I think it’s one of the blessings of being an actor to take on different skills that people do. I just love the outdoors and I love nature and scuba-diving brings you so close to that - and it was a whole new world that I hadn’t discovered before; I love swimming and I grew up as a water baby so scuba-diving came very naturally to me. It was just the biggest thrill of my life.
- So how much of the scuba diving in the movie is you?
Because it was typhoon season they had to keep on calling us back to Asia from Los Angeles, I learnt to scuba-dive for the role and I did as much as I could but they did have someone who was a stunt double. Because I had to keep going back and forth there was a limited amount of stuff that could do.
- And Claire is a journalist in the movie so did you do any research into that profession before the shooting?
Quite a lot, but she is not a journalist she uses that to get on the boat and learn their story she says to them that that is how she is going to help them by sharing their story with the world.
My character uses an SLR camera so I spent a lot of time with professional photographers learning how to hold a camera properly and how to use that camera.
I also looked into national Geographic and learnt about that - because she is not a real journalist anyway I spent more time looking at the character and the scenes.
- Deep Gold is directed by Michael Gleissner - so how was he as a filmmaker?
The character Claire Simpson is posing as Benny Simpson’s wife, and Michael plays Benny Simpson, so Michael and I got along great because we were working alongside each other as actors so it was important that we had a good relationship.
Michael is very courageous as a filmmaker, he is a relatively new filmmaker, but he is courageous with his decisions to try and pull off a multi-million dollar action movie for one of his first movies that he has ever done.