Posted in: HBO, Preview, TV | Tagged: Amber Grappy, comedy, HBO, horror, interview, Michelle De Swarte, the baby

The Baby Interview: Michelle De Swarte & Amber Grappy Chat HBO Series

Michelle De Swarte and Amber Grappy from HBO'S limited series, The Baby, spoke with me recently about the horror-comedy series, including playing sisters and the themes of motherhood tackled in each episode. This is part one of the interview, with the second part up shortly after this with more about how the series' timing might be incredibly relevant.

Bleeding Cool: The first question is for both of you. What is it about the characters that excites you the most? 

Michelle De Swarte: I guess what excited me about playing Natasha was just that it was a really refreshing take on how someone tackles motherhood and it felt like a really unique, transparent sort of lens that we were looking through. How a woman is seen by society versus how she actually feels with the huge, momentous task of having a human inflicted on you.

Amber Grappy: I think for me there's a lot of Bobbi in me and a lot of me in Bobbi. It was really cool to be able to see myself represented in a way that I maybe haven't been able to see before. And I think there are a lot of differences between Bobbi and I, but there's a lot that I kind of get for free in terms of creating a character. I think her relationships were so intriguing to me, like her relationship with her sister, mom, dad, and her girlfriend. And also I got to do magic, which was sick, so that was a big win for me.

BC: Amber, I wanted to ask you more about Bobbi and I wanted to know more about how you felt representing queer adoption and that process with your character?

AG: I think it's a story that's not told nearly enough, especially not in mainstream media. So I feel really honored to be a part of telling that story. And I think especially for a black queer couple, to be taking up their space within this story is a really wonderful thing because there are a lot of biases within the adoption system against queer couples. To be able to sort of portray that struggle for someone who really, really wants a family and feels like she has to create one of her own, feels like she needs to do it for the sake of the relationship she has going on. And it's for some sort of like self-fulfillment as well. But to be able to explore that and its sort of many layers and the complications it can bring into the relationship was a massive honor just to be able to put that up on the screen.

BC: Michelle, about your character, Natasha, she's such a unique character and personality. Is there anything you personally connected to when it came to Natasha and how she handles the situation and the baby?

MDS: There was a fair amount that I related to, but there were things that I just really admired about Natasha, that she's a problem solver and she doesn't pussyfoot around things, nor is she waiting for anyone's approval. Regardless of how ridiculous things get, Natasha never questions her instincts and I think that is such an admirable quality to have, especially in a woman, you know, I mean, just that she's like, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I know that this is some weird shit." There was no point where she let society gaslight her and or make her waver from her opinion or the way she sees things. She's a very rooted, anchored character. She's admittedly flawed, and so she does question herself at times because who wouldn't? But compared to the average person, she's very much like, "Wait? No!", and I love how much Natasha trusts herself.

BC: I loved the interactions between Natasha and Bobbi. How did it go for you both when playing those roles and connecting with each other? 

MDS: Well, we have to do chemistry really right? So I had to do a chemistry read with a few different Bobbis and it was really weird. It was just instinctive the second I met Amber, it was in the lobby of where we were going to do the chemistry read and we just started talking and it was such an easy conversation. And after the chemistry read, Amber left and I was like it's her. All I can say it was just so easy to like look into Amber's eyes. We're playing sisters that are quite close in age, but in reality, I'm old enough to be Amber's mom, I'm 41 and she's 22. We just had such a sisterly dynamic, don't you think so Amber?

AG: Yeah, 100% agree. I think that first day I was obviously sweating because it's HBO and huge. I went in and sat on the side where we were just chatting and I forgot where I was because it was too easy. And then we had to have our little dance and chemistry read. And like you say, Michelle, like just looking into your eyes it always sort of brought me back to where I needed to be, which was such a blessing. And she used to bring me biscuits on set.

MDS: The dynamic helped because like Natasha, I am an older sibling and had to look after my little brother and Amber is a younger sibling, the sort of baby of the family and I'm the older of my family. So I feel like there was something set up where I'd be like taunting, "You're right you can't, you want a treat? You want a chocolate?" like siblings. It was a dream. In a different interview Amber, I was saying I was really gutted when at the screening you brought your big sister.

AG: [laughs] Yes, my actual real-life big sister.

MDS: I was sordid, I was like, "Why would you do this to me?"

BC: That's great to hear that the connection was there and so funny to hear how odd it was to see the other relatives there at the screening. You both had to work with babies on set and that can be very and easier at times. How did you feel about working on camera with a baby and what were the best and more difficult parts of it all?

AG: It was challenging, but the babies were just like amazing. And their parents, Izzy and Ash, are such wonderful people. We had an amazing baby wrangler, which I didn't know was a job, but it is, and it's a bloody hard one and she did an amazing job. I think it's always challenging because you never want to feel like a baby doesn't like you. It was such an interesting experience and something that was so complex in ways I had never even thought about before we started shooting. But like, those babies can work. And by the end of it, I think all of the cast and crew had a relationship with the babies.

MDS: I'll second that. Babies are babies and they don't know that they're acting. You just have to be very patient and compassionate and you have to make sure that you form a decent relationship with them off-camera. For me, I guess some of the hardest scenes were when I was shouting. It's just really hard, like I think instinctively, even though I don't have children, I do love kids and I've got nephews and nieces and whatnot and just instinctively, when you hold a baby, you tend to just speak in a singsong voice. It's really hard not to do that. Natasha is not enamored by the baby at all, so she doesn't have any of those kinds of things that the majority of people do when they're around babies. That was some of the harder moments, trying to stay in character because the baby is so god-damn adorable. It takes for sure a bit of getting used to. We were massively supported by Izzy and Ash, the mum and dad, and the baby wrangler Amber mentioned.

Thanks for reading, to help during this difficult time for the future of reproductive healthcare please consider the resources below for information on local organizations and how to donate:

• Find your local provider and financial resources for abortion access here
• List of organizations by state in need of donations
• Getting involved locally to voice concerns
• Center for Reproductive Rights
• AidAccess 

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