Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Exclusive: Final Felicia Day Interview

If you’ve been following Dr Horrible you’ll know that Felicia Day has done interview after interview after interview since Dr Horrible started gaining attention. Recently Felicia Twittered that she’d had to decide “No more interviews. That’s it. I could spend all day at mixers and doing interviews, but I gotta make more stuff to interview about!” so the Dr Horrible Fan Site is very thankful to Felicia for granting us one final interview… Thanks Felicia!

If you had written Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, how would Act III have ended?

FD: I see no reason to morning quarterback (yipes, was that a sports term I just used?!?!). It was set up so beautifully that the way it ends is the only way it could have ended in my opinion. It was perfect. Had it been more upbeat, I think it would have not had the impact it did. Art should provoke and not placate. I think all the controversy is a compliment, not a detraction.

Some people have criticized Penny’s character saying she’s not strong enough and doesn’t live up to Joss Whedon’s usual portrayal of strong women characters, do you have an opinion on that issue?

FD: Does every woman character have to be “strong”? What does that mean anyway? To me Penny represented the normal life that Horrible craved, someone who didn’t judge, someone who cared about others before she cared about herself. She wasn’t kicking people in the face, but she was true to herself and brave enough to be “good” in the face of a cynical society. Just because she was naive doesn’t mean she was weak. Personally, I loved playing her.

Last time I spoke to you, I asked if you would be interested in doing a sequel if given the opportunity, you joked that you’d work Craft Services if you had to. Now that we all know what happens in Act III do you think we’ll see Penny return in some way if there’s another episode?

FD: People read waaay too much into that Craft Services remark! I always talk about craft services! Because frankly, it’s one of the great things about filmmaking: An open trough of food to snack on all day featuring thing you’d never buy at home, like processed cheese and crackers. Who wouldn’t want to work in Hollywood with that as a perk! As for a sequel, I can only cross my fingers! Of course I’d love to come back somehow, but only if it served the vision of the Horrible creative collaborative. If they’re reading this, I can also snap a mean clapboard. ;)

Did you have any expectations about how people would respond to Dr Horrible before it went “live”?

FD: I’m so tied to the net I practically have an Ethernet cord plugged directly into my brain, so it was obvious to me that Joss + Whedon Fan Base + Amazing Product would be a phenomenon. That said, the reality of it was more overwhelming than I could have ever envisioned. It’s one thing to say “it’s going to be huge”, but to see an independently produced show in the #1 slot of iTunes and featured in a spread in Entertainment Weekly, that was nothing anyone could have predicted.

Last week was your first visit to Comic Con – what were your thoughts as a visitor?

FD: Uh, wow. Can we say unprepared?! I had no idea they constructed buildings to accomodate that many people! It was insane! When I was rushing from place to place I kept lamenting the fact I was so packed that I couldn’t stop and shop. When we walked on stage for the Dr. Horrible panel and like 3,000 people were cheering, man. I know why Miss America ladies cry now, sorry I made fun of them all my life. It was overwhelming, like the whole weekend.

What was the experience like as a guest?

FD: Crazy!! I literally couldn’t walk sometimes because so many people would recognize me! The thing I’m proudest of is that when I was in the more “corporate” section of the exhibit floor, I didn’t get stopped much, but when I was on the independent vendor side, I wouldn’t make it two feet without a wave. I love that!

Do you have a favourite fan encounter from Comic Con?

FD: When Irrel (http://twitter.com/irrel) gave me the cutest fan art for Dr. Horrible of me, Dr. Horrible and Hammer. She also did fantastic fan art for The Guild that I found online later, you can see it on The Guild site, www.watchtheguild.com. It was so amazing, I will treasure that drawing and meeting her.

Will you ever confess to Twittering in public again?

FD: LOL I love that moment, I turned as pink as my sweater! The only revenge I have is that I’m sure that I’ve created a few thousand Twitterholics like myself after that incident. Take that!

Do you ever worry that being so open with fans will create problems for you, do you think there will come a time when you’ll have to back off a little?

FD: Due to the massive influx of communication, I am finding that I can’t really answer nearly as many emails/msgs etc. which sucks, but I still try to read everything at least. I could spend 9 hours a day just answering Facebook messages, which does no one good if I have no time to write or produce other things :) That said, I’ll never consider it a “problem” until someone shows up on my doorstep (please don’t do that, haha).

As someone who is so involved in the social networking community, what was your reaction to seeing Dr Horrible on the front page of MySpace this week?

FD: I was pretty geeked out (Did you see my Twitter? :) ) I was particularly struck that it was getting so many views. A lot of web people have “theories” about length of videos, what viewers will tolerate, but Dr. Horrible shows that it’s quality that keeps people watching, not arbitrary length.

What impact do you think the success of Dr Horrible will have on your career?

FD: Of course I hope it opens doors for me in mainstream TV and movies, but honestly I’m most excited about the opportunities to keep producing and acting in web content. I love being on the forefront of a media revolution, and Dr. Horrible definitely lends web video more legitimacy and will forge new pathways for creators everywhere.

The second season of The Guild should be out in September, is there anything else you’re working on we can look forward to?

FD: We’ll be shooting The Guild Season 2 in September, so release may be pushed to October. It’s all about getting the funding pushed through at this point. I have a Guest Star on House airing in September that I’m looking forward to, and I’m writing another show with Machinima.com, a sitcom set in a game world. In my “spare time” I’m also developing a few other projects for the web and other media. There are so many opportunities for me right now I just need the time to figure out what direction I want to go and do it!