By Kenn Gold
Gina Holden is an amazingly talented actress who has exploded onto the scene of the horror and Sci Fi genres in the last five years. With roles in Final Destination 3, Butterfly Effect 2, and the upcoming Aliens Vs. Predator 2 she has become somewhat of a veteran in the role of the action oriented strong woman. Gina is also currently starring as a lead in two on-going television series, playing Coreen, the Goth assistant of Christina Cox’s Vicki on Lifetime’s Blood Ties, and she landed the female lead in SCI FI’s re-imaged classic, Flash Gordon, playing Dale Arden. But Gina's version of Dale is a far cry from the iconic damsel in distress.
Gina recently took time out from her busy filming schedule on Flash Gordon to talk to The Two Doctors Internet Radio Show. She addressed the criticisms that Flash Gordon has been receiving, and talks about her hopes that the show will find it’s audience. She also talked about Blood Ties and her role there, and her experiences as a teen age model in Japan.
Why do you think there are some people out there who have such negativity towards the new Flash Gordon show?
Gina Holden>Well we’re a great show, and I think it’s really just normal and natural, we’re remaking something, we’re modernizing something that is dear to a lot of people’s hearts. So we have a lot of work to do. It’s something that happens. If it didn’t happen, I’d be surprised as well, because it’s sort of a part of the way the world works. We get both the yin and the yang, the good and the bad, and just take it and move forward. I think it’s great that people are talking, and we just take it and move forward. I think it’s all good, and I just look forward to winning people over. Because we’ve got so many great shows coming up, and that’s how I see it. As far as people not wanting to give it a chance, I kind of expect that unfortunately. When you are an optimistic person and just excited to do something new and give it a chance, it’s hard to understand sometimes, but I think they’ll come around and love us too. It’s just a little more work to do, and a little more hearts to win over. But hopefully we can.
Can we talk about your other show that’s on the air now, Blood Ties? Are you going to be involved in a second season?
Gina>Well I sure hope that I would be a part of a second season. Obviously, I’m committed to Flash, I love this series, I believe in it, and I’m behind it 110%. However, I don’t know if Blood Ties is even going to go a second season at this point, but I did finish a full first season. And I’m really close with the producers and all the cast. In a perfect world, I could come in and guest star as Coreen. And keep that relationship there with everyone because it was such a phenomenal experience. But with not knowing what was going to go on in the future, they couldn’t hold on to cast. So we all had to go and spread our wings. Then Flash came to me, and it was just the role of a lifetime. So I had to take it, and I’m so thrilled that I did. But to be a part of Blood Ties in the future would just be a dream come true. So I hope and keep my fingers crossed that that might work out, because I know we have a huge fan base and everyone would love to see us all come back together. I’m in love with Coreen, and I miss her dearly- I miss playing her.
It’s funny to see the comparison and contrast between the roles of Dale and Coreen..
Gina> Yes, and how much do I love that, as an actor and a human. To play such different roles all the time, is what I absolutely love. People might take one look at me in my normal everyday, and go ‘Oh you’d never play Goth,’ or ‘Why would you want to do that?’ I’m like A) yeah, I would because they’re cool, and B) I love to change physically. I’ve changed for other roles in the past. In Reunion, I was blond haired, so I’ve played all sorts of stuff, but that’s what I love is the contrast between all the different characters you can play. I don’t always want to play the same character, how boring! I even had to win production over on Blood Ties. When I first came in, the wardrobe girls were like, ‘No way, she’s too pretty, she can’t play Goth.’ I was like, ‘Ok, I’ll prove this to you. I know who Coreen is and who I want her to be.’ A few shows in they said, ‘You know what, we’ve got to apologize. You are this character, you come in the morning, and leave a totally different person.’ That’s the fun for me to surprise a few people and change it up.
Can you give us any spoilers for the rest of season 1 of Blood Ties?
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Gina Holden (Dale Arden) and Eric Johnson (Flash Gordon) star in SCI FI's Flash Gordon. Photo SCI FI Channel.
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Gina> Sure, basically my character just keeps bigger. By the end of the show in the season finale, it’s a whole lot of Coreen and a whole lot of demons. It’s a beautiful mix. And if I’ve got fans out there, they are going to love this, and it’s for them. It’s for the Coreen fans, and it’s really neat. I keep forgetting it aired a certain way. I’m even confused as to what episodes have been aired. It’s a really, really phenomenal season finale.
You’ve got The Christmas Cottage, this December, and you’re paired again with Jared Padalecki?
Gina> Yes, my boy Jared, my boy from Texas. We were reunited again, and I love him! It was phenomenal to work with him again.
Do you feel an affinity towards the horror and fantasy genre?
Gina> Yeah, I just love it. My older brother was so into comic books and sci fi, and I just wanted to do everything he did because he was cool. So I just fell in love with all that. Now it just sort of seems that I kept getting cast in these roles. And I couldn’t be happier, because it’s what I love to do. I think its way more exciting than just a walk and talk down the hallway. I’d rather throw up a green screen and a few aliens chasing me, and fly out of a roller coaster. That stuff is just so interesting to me, and I couldn’t be happier that I’m in this genre, because it just keeps getting better and better. The fans are the best, and I’m a fan of it too. It seems to work really well, and I hope it continues, because I sure love it.
Can you talk a bit about Comic-Con and your experiences there?
Gina> You’re probably going to think I’m the biggest nerd, but I went home there. I was at home on the floor, wandering around getting autographs, and taking pictures. I was blown away; I was so excited about it. I think I walked off the plane and on to the floor and stayed all day, even though we had a big SCI FI Channel event that night. I was like ‘I’m going to check this out!’ It was so cool! I couldn’t believe it. Eric and I were just so thrilled and grateful to everyone that came out. It was just such a great experience to be able to sit there with the fans, and hear what they had to say. It was humbling and really cool, because they’d played the trailer, and up to that point we’d seen nothing. So for us, it was just as exciting, and we were along for the ride.
Since the show isn’t airing in Canada, have you seen any of the episodes yet?
Gina> I was in Los Angeles and was able to see the pilot at the executive producer’s house. But to be honest, I’m filming 15 hours a day so I wouldn’t even make it home in time. I’m having a friend TIVO it and I can watch it that way. I kind of have to just get it taped and watch it that way.
Do you see the character of Dale emulating some of the comic book characters like Lois Lane in Smallvile?
Gina> I think I draw inspiration for my character from a lot of strong female characters in general. I think that when they first started the Dale character, her big role was passenger on a plane. Now she’s a modern woman and they’ve given her this important position. But it’s not about her career, and I think my choices from her just come from a modern woman. I think she’s a modern woman, but not modeled after those characters. I’m trying to just keep it Dale and Flash, and their relationship. It’s great though, he’s not a super hero, he doesn’t have super powers, and he’s just a normal guy. He’s a regular, great guy but in extraordinary circumstances. Dale’s also just a regular, real, down to Earth woman whose got herself a real situation. So it’s just kind of a balance of what I’ve brought to it, and what the writers sort of wanted to see her become. As well as honoring the historic, iconic character of what Dale was and what she’d become for Flash. She’s just a little tougher now. It’s sort of a fresh new character, but a classic character too.
So what’s going to happen with her fiancé, and the triangles? (Flash, Dale and Joe, and Flash, Dale and Baylin?)
Gina> Oh my goodness, sparks are flying everywhere! We’re all trying to figure stuff out, and I’m kind of along for the ride too. Dale’s so confused. She’s trying to be level headed and focused on her career, and her fiancé Joe, who’s a great guy. And then Flash comes into her life and turns everything upside down, and she’s confronted with all of these feelings that she kind of forgot she had, or maybe she just put them away. But they’re back again, so it’s a tough situation. And of course, Joe doesn’t want to let her go. So there’s that triangle. And with Baylin in the mix, that’s just sort of another thing that she has to juggle. I’m kind of along for the ride too, but boy does she have feelings for Flash.
Do you think they’ll ever let the two of you get together?
Gina> I sure hope they let us get together, because these characters are so drawn together. I think they might. I don’t see how they couldn’t. But we have so many things to deal with; it’s sort of like real life. We’re trying to save the universe and we’ve got a whole lot of business to take care of. But there’s a lot of potential for things to happen given the feelings we have for each other, and the chemistry we have. But I hope they do. That’s a real outcome of these people being together- they’re just meant to be together.
Have you read the Blood Books that Blood Ties is based on?
Gina> I do have the novels. I’ve gotten thru the first one and I’m on to the 2nd one. My brother actually had the novels, and I got them when I first got the role. So I’m reading them so I can dig into the history. And I’d like to finish them. They’re great.
In an interview that Tanya Huff did, she said if she could change one thing about her books, it would be to go back and make Coreen Vicki’s assistant in the books. How does that make you feel?Gina> That really makes me happy. I’m thrilled to hear that and honored, and I’m so glad I could be a part of the series. She came to set a few times, and she’s just so wonderful, and so intelligent. She’s just so full of energy and life and ideas, and I’m so excited to hear that. For the author of these books to say that about my character is just thrilling.
Have you taken any aspects of Japanese culture into your life since your visits there?
Gina> Absolutely! I love the Japanese culture and history. And the work ethic is so phenomenal in Japan, and I carry that with me thru my whole life. And the creativeness-- there are so many things about the culture, I feel like I’m Japanese. I do carry it with me everywhere. I was in Japan my first time at 15 years old, and spent many, many years there, so it shaped a lot of who I am. And that’s why it’s so important to me to talk about Japan, because it had such a huge influence on my life and my beliefs.
Where you there with a parent or by yourself?
Gina> I was there by myself. I’m an independent and adventurous spirit and always have been and it was the best experience of my life. The people, and the country, and the welcome you receive as a foreigner are just so wonderful. It’s just inspiring. Tokyo is one of the biggest cities in the world, and you wouldn’t know it. People will take you and walk you if you are lost, and it doesn’t have to be scary or overwhelming. It was so natural for me, I loved it. I miss it. With my job I got to travel all through the country side and see the beautiful rural areas, and I just loved it.
