Perdita Weeks, our beloved Juliet Higgins from Magnum PI, gave an exclusive interview to TV Guide where she talked about the opportunity to show a different side of her character in the series, in this 5th season. It’s a very comprehensive and interesting interview where we can learn more about Perdita’s perspective on Juliet and the character’s development.
This week’s episode is really fun because Higgins chooses to go undercover and you get a chance to play out some different kinds of scenes that you wouldn’t normally associate with a procedural. What was your reaction to this episode when you first read it, and what were some of the biggest challenges of shooting it?
Perdita Weeks: I was looking forward to seeing how Jay was going to bring to life the whole internal mind situation of Higgins when she’s on these drugs, and playing all of that weird stuff was very fun, because I was sort of acting with myself. They built a set of the abandoned room where I was being kept, so that we were able to control the lighting and move out the walls and stuff. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it was — Jay, who directed this episode, would know — but I had to stay incredibly still on one side of the screen [to shoot the scene where Higgins talks to herself]. And then, my double was reading the lines with me, so that I could have someone to read with, and then I swapped over and she went into my other costume. We’ve never really done anything like that on this show, so it was new territory.
What’s it like working with Jay as a director, after having worked with him for so many years as an actor?
Weeks: It’s great because we have a shorthand. That is always the challenge when new directors come in. You have to learn their nuances and how to communicate well, whereas with Jay and I, we’ve worked together almost every day for the last five years, so we communicate very easily. I’d like to think that I know what he wants, or what he might want, and it’s just good fun. It’s not really work when you are hanging around with a friend.
You also shot part of this episode using an American accent. Why do you think British actors are so good at mastering that accent?
Weeks: It’s very easy for us. It’s the same, I think, with Australians, because most of our entertainment comes out of America or Canada, and we grow up hearing the accent. So if you hear it long enough, it’s far easier to copy. I think if the average American spends all day every day watching BBC dramas, or like Downton Abbey, they’d find it a lot easier to do that. We’re used to listening to American music; American culture is so embedded in everyday English culture. It’s not the first time we’ve done it on the show, but I like doing an American accent.
Dream sequences are often a way for writers to explore a character’s hidden desires or greatest fears. How does Higgins feel about potentially marrying Magnum one day, or are they still so early in their courtship that the thought hasn’t really crossed her mind?
Weeks: Oh, I definitely think it’s too early to be thinking about that. They literally just got together at the beginning of the season; they’ve only officially been a couple to others since episode 5, so I think that’s a lot further down the road.
At the start of the episode, Higgins isn’t happy with Magnum because he is actively looking for the person who killed Captain Greene instead of laying low. How does being in a romantic relationship change the dynamic between them?
Weeks: They’ve always cared about each other, and if ever he was in danger, I think she would be incredibly worried, whether or not they are “a couple.” But now that it feels like the walls have come down — at least on Higgins’ side — and he’s really deeply in her heart, I think the stakes are so much higher for her. It makes her actually quite difficult when it comes to him, because she’s furiously protective of him and of herself. It’s like, “Well, I’ve let you in now, so you better stay alive and take good care of yourself because you belong to me.” And she’s lost a loved one before. She lost her fiancé before we ever met the character of Higgins, so she’s very fearful of allowing that to happen again, which influences the way she is in Episodes 9 and 10.
Higgins even takes the case because the couple reminded her of her and Magnum — there was this idea of working together for a long time and being unable to deny their feelings for each other. She is still able to be a badass at her job while having moments of quiet vulnerability with the other characters.
Weeks: That, in and of itself, is great. It’s always nice to play a character that isn’t totally two-dimensional. There’s good and bad in all of us, and I think she perceives these things as weaknesses, but they’re actually great strengths. She’s very unwilling to show her vulnerabilities, but we obviously all have them, and it just makes her more of a well-rounded human being and more interesting to play than if she was just killing bad guys and being tough as nails all the time.
This season, we got more insight into Higgins’ relationship with her mother, as well as how Higgins handled her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Has there been a particular reveal from this season or past seasons that has changed how you understand her as a person?
Weeks: I think the huge amount of guilt that she felt about her mother was quite telling. That was a real harpoon to her heart, and you can only imagine what that would do to somebody and the blame that you would carry. Magnum is genuinely trying to make her feel better about it, and [that is] just underpinning why she loves him as much as she does and how much she cares for him and how much she needs him. She’s getting to the point where he’s a necessary part of her existence as opposed to just a desirable part.
Do you have a favorite Magnum and Higgins scene from the first half of the season?
Weeks: There are loads of scenes, but really, I couldn’t even tell you the episodes. I have no idea what we’ve done [laughs], in terms of what episodes we were shooting at what time, because we were sometimes doing three at once. What I like is outside in the world, they are professional, they are business partners, and they try to carry on as normal. But it’s the little moments back at the guest house or in Robin’s Nest when they can kind of relax and be together, and there are just moments of real, deep intimacy [where] you get a little window into what it might be like behind closed doors and just how sweet they are together and how happy they make each other. So all of that has been very fun to play.
You play a character for that long, and it sort of weasels your way into your regard, and I’m so very happy for Higgins that she’s found a little bit of peace and a little island of happiness with this dude that she originally thought was a bit of a buffoon. [Laughs.]
You recently directed your first episode of this show. What inspired your interest in working behind the camera, and what have you learned from working with so many directors, including some of your own co-stars, that you’ve been able to apply to your own style?
Weeks: Oh my gosh, I learned so much this season. I shadowed a lot of our directors — Bryan Spicer, Eagle Egilsson, Marcus Stokes, and many others — and they were very kind and let me sit in. They were very helpful and gave me advice, and they all have very different directing styles, so it was great to get a buffet of directing tidbits to pick and choose [from]. Obviously, with it being my first, I knew I was gonna make mistakes, and as I’m doing my director’s cut, I’m thinking, “Oh, God, I wish I got that shot.” The thing to know is that you can’t go back, and there’s no point regretting anything that you’ve got because you just gotta keep moving forward.
I love working with actors, obviously. It’s probably my forte. [Laughs.] I know what’s annoying to hear from the director. You already know your main cast really knows what they’re doing, and they’ve been playing with characters for a very long time, so there’s a sense of ownership about the characters.
I love staging; I love figuring out the best way of moving around a certain area for the cameras. I actually have an interesting stunt sequence in my episode. We’ve got some motorbikes in, and I went and designed this whole crazy sequence. I definitely learned that it’s an incredibly tiring job but incredibly rewarding, and I was just very lucky to be able to do it. It was because Jay directed last year, actually, and it’s something that, honestly, I never thought I could do. I’m of an age when I thought, “If you’re not doing something that slightly scares you, or is in some way challenging, then you’re not really growing.” I would hope they’d allow me to do it again.
The episode ends with T.C. (Stephen Hill) getting shot point blank in the side, and Detective Childs (Michael Rady) getting caught in a house that goes up in flames while trying to figure out who is targeting Magnum, T.C. and Rick (Zachary Knighton). What can you preview about how Juliet will factor into the action in the midseason finale?
Weeks: Magnum and Higgins are on a very high-stakes rescue, and I’ll just leave it at that. [Laughs.]
What can you tease about what’s to come in the second half of the season?
Weeks: We’re gonna see a really interesting story arc for T.C. For Higgins, there will be an emotional leap that I think will be fun for the fans. We go a little into Higgins’ psyche. We meet a new adversary. And at one point, Higgins goes in a helicopter after some bad guys, which is pretty cool.
Are there any parts of Juliet’s life that you’re still looking to explore or hoping to explore further, if you get more seasons to tell her story?
Weeks: Yes, I would love some of her family to pop up. Her mother is no longer with her, but perhaps her father. We did talk about it in Season 3, but I think it’s such a large character, and there are always other things to get through [first]. So if we did have another season, I think that would be really interesting.
Do you know how she came to meet Robin Masters, or are you as much in the dark as all of the viewers?
Weeks: Sadly, I am as much in the dark as everyone else! I have no doubt one day it will be revealed, but it’s above my pay grade. [Laughs.]