Though Vanessa Hudgens has had great success in TV movie musicals – including High School Musical and Grease Live – she’s never been a regular on an ongoing series until now, as she takes on the lead role in NBC’s Powerless. A comedic take on the world of DC Comics, Powerless, debuting Thursday night, stars Hudgens as Emily Locke, a new employee at Charm City’s Wayne Securities - a company that creates devices meant to protect people in a world filled with superhero/supervillain battles.
I sat down with Hudgens to discuss Powerless -- which also stars Alan Tudyk, Danny Pudi, Christina Kirk and Ron Funches -- the unusual situation of the show filming an entirely new pilot episodes after original showrunner Ben Queen departed the project, Emily’s upbeat attitude and more.
IGN: I've seen both versions of the first episode and they’re really quite different. Was it fascinating for you to be working with the same cast, but have that opportunity to approach it from a different perspective?
Vanessa Hudgens: Yeah. It was really interesting. TV is very new for me. I've never been a series regular on a show before. As soon as I found out we were scrapping the pilot and doing another one I was like, “Does this happen often?” Kind of at a loss, like, well, I don't know how this all works! But it was kind of also normal for me because I didn't have anything to compare it to. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoy playing my character. I get to tap into side of myself that I haven't been able to express that much in front of the camera before. It's really nice to know that like a big chunk of this character truly is who I am.
IGN: When they started over again, they now knew who they’d casted. Was it interesting that perhaps they could tailor it for each of you specifically in a way?
Hudgens: I feel like as we go on the episodes keep getting better and better because we start figuring out, “Oh, this kind of comedy works for this person. These kind of lines work great for this person” It feels it's just finding its groove right now. I feel like the episodes keep getting funnier.
IGN: Your character is this optimistic presence in a room full of cynics. Is that constantly a battle for her because everyone seems pretty jaded?
Hudgens: Yeah, totally. It's especially a battle for her because she's the director of research and development. She's their boss so she needs to try to get their respect and win them over so that they can work harder and in her mind, the way she think she's going to do it is through inspiring them and being extremely encouraging but they want no part of it. If anything, it is almost her downfall because they push her away because of her optimism.
IGN: Are you excited when they give you some of the crazier things to do and crazier situations to get into?
Hudgens: It's so much fun when you get to do even more insane things. I feel like with comedy, the crazy things that happen are never serious you know? Like, rubble being poured onto you in drama would be something that's absolutely terrible, but in a comedy it's absolutely terrible but so funny. The perspective on it is so different but I love it. I'm always so game to be hit in the head. [Laughs] Whatever it takes to get the laugh.
IGN: This is a show that's going to have some deep dive references and callouts to comic book characters and situations. Are you learning a lot more than you ever have before about this?
Hudgens: Oh yeah, there are so many comic book characters in the DC Universe and really odd ones too. I think Alan [Tudyk] or Danny [Pudi] found one called the Dogwelder, which is like one guy supervillain that welds dogs to people. That's terrifying! It's just nice to know that the possibilities are endless when it comes to our show.
IGN: A few years ago this show would have probably sounded like a pretty strange idea. Now that there's been so many TV shows and movies about comic book characters a lot more people are immersed in this world and understand approaching it from this humorous side. Do you feel like Powerless is debuting at the right time?
Hudgens: I feel like we're all so associated with superheroes and supervillains and their stories and their hardships and just everything that entails with superheroes that it's definitely the right time for us to explore the flipside of what is it like for normal people living in that world? I just think it's so original because it has not been explored on much. It's so funny because there's so much funny to dive into with it that it's honestly, the possibilities are endless.
IGN: We live in a world where the musical episode of a TV show is a staple and even the Flash and Supergirl are getting in on that. Would you love if they could figure out a musical episode for it?
Hudgens: I'm always singing so it's a very musical set to begin with so if we could put that in front of the camera I think that it would be gold. Danny [Pudi] and Christina [Kirk] were singing Moana on the set yesterday.
IGN: Given all of these superhero adaptations, would you be interested in one day actually suiting up in one of them?
Hudgens: Oh my gosh, yeah. I think that would be so much fun. Especially Catwoman, I would not mind doing. But it's fun. It's always great to play parts that are larger than life. It's the only time you get to be a superhero so why not? I want to do everything.
IGN: You and I were talking earlier about our mutual love of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman. What is it about her that you really responded to?
Hudgens: She had so many sides. She's a very complex human being and you really got that from her performance. She was truly tormented and through her torment there's this sense of sensuality, which is really hard to put on. It's like you either have it or you don't. She had it in a way that I haven't seen on camera in a long time.
IGN: What's been your weirdest or funniest day on set of Powerless?
Hudgens: Yesterday was quite interesting. I was tied up to Christina for a couple of hours. That was not comfortable at all. Never been tied up like that before, especially to another person. It was very... it was an interesting day!
IGN: Is this the inevitable result of superheroes and supervillains in your midst?
Hudgens: Yeah, s**t goes down. The day never goes as you expect in Charm City!
Powerless premieres Thursday, February 2nd on NBC.
Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @TheEricGoldman, IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at http://ift.tt/LQFqjj.
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