Heroes' Newest Heroine: HeroSite Interviews Missy Peregrym
Missy Peregrym made her first appearance on Heroes in the February 26 episode, "Company Man." However, it wasn't until the March 5 show, "Parasite," that we learned what exactly Candice Wilmer was capable of.

Peregrym took some time out of her busy schedule to participate in an interview with us here at HeroSite.net. Here's what she had to say:

"When my agents told me I had an audition for Heroes, I was incredibly excited," she reveals. "Not just because it's a great show, but also because I had worked with some of the same people on Smallville."

However, Missy felt unsure about her success with her first Heroes audition. "I can truly say that my first audition for them was one of my worst performances.... I literally left my sides on the table in the waiting room because I thought I would never need those again. I called my manager and told him I was awful in the room and we were just going to have to move on."

To her surprise, Missy received a call for another reading for Heroes. "I got a call and had another reading on Monday," she explains. "I felt that it had gone a little better this time around and was just grateful for a second chance. After sweating for a week, I received the call that I had gotten the job. I was ecstatic!"

"Greg Beeman and Jeph Loeb have been great to work with again," Peregrym says. "They are always approachable and helpful with questions I may have regarding my character and a lot of fun on set." In addition, Heroes reunites Peregrym with Mark Warshaw, the man responsible for last year's Smallville: Vengeance Chronicles webisodes. "I look forward to doing some more crazy things with him this year," she says.

Candice Wilmer made her first full appearance in "Parasite" and already she has impersonated both Simone Deveaux and Sandra Bennet. However, Missy feels a little bad about some of Candice's actions in that first episode. "It was such a great episode, but I will say I personally felt bad for HRG when Candice set him up. After all he'd been through with his wife, and for them to FINALLY connect and be honest with each other, I take him down."

She also addresses the sexual tension in some of the scenes, where it almost seems like Candice is trying to flirt with Mr. Bennet. "Candice definitely doesn't have a problem using her sexuality to make people feel uncomfortable, but when it comes to HRG, I think the tension lies in the fact that she's not afraid of him," she says.

Peregrym feels it is important for both actors to be around when Candice is morphing, because they both have to simulate the action. When the others are playing their characters while being impersonated by Candice, it adds a new level. "I think they get to have a little fun with these scenes, because they always get to play their character a little more mischevous than usual at some point," she says.

Missy Peregrym has already been seen on the series with Greg Grunberg, Jack Coleman, Eric Roberts, and Ashley Crow; look for scenes with Ali Larter and Hayden Panettiere in her character's future. Even with only a few episodes behind her, she has already had some fun memories on the set. "There was a scene that I had with Jack and Hayden, and I was having a hard time remembering the order of my lines," she reveals. "Sometimes when I'm having issues, I'll make my line into a song and do a little dance move. Again, wish I was kidding. For the rest of the scene, Hayden wouldn't stop singing my line and pulling a dance move right before filming. I had a hard time staying straight and not laughing before I walked into the room."

"I'd seen every episode [of Heroes] before auditioning, and feel honored to be a part of it now," Missy reveals. As with every fan of the show, there are certain characters that particularly jump at her. "I really love watching HRG's scenes because one minute you're sure he's the most evil man on the planet, and the next you're overwhelmed by this great love for his daughter, Claire, and you find yourself pulling for him. Sylar creeps me out, but is so enticing. I still want to believe that he can have good intentions."

As for her own character's intentions, Missy is as in the dark as the fans of the show are. "I don't find anything out, until I read the first draft of the episode," she reveals. "I learn as I go along, which can be difficult sometimes when you want to know more information like background, or explanations for her actions,
but it also makes it exciting. I feel like every character on this show has the ability to do good things with their powers but also have temptations that would encourage them to use them for selfish reasons."

"I hope [Candice] keeps us guessing as to who she is, and what her motives
are," Peregrym says. "The writers do a very good job of this, so I trust that
whatever happens, it will be incredibly interesting!"

The length of Candice Wilmer's Heroes stay is at this point unknown. "I'll be here as long as they'll let me stay," she laughs. After working on several short-lived TV series such as Life As We Know It and Black Sash, doing Heroes was an exciting change. "Of course it feels great to join a successful show, and to work with strong, creative people," she says. "I have to say, I was very excited to join Heroes and not have to worry about getting a pilot, then waiting to see if it got picked up, THEN waiting to see the ratings, THEN wondering if you even have a chance at staying on the air. It's really stressful to be on a new show because you never know what's going to happen."

"On Heroes, I just have to worry about being killed off," she laughs.

As for any final words she has about the Heroes experience, Missy has a message for the cast and crew that she has worked with. "I just want to apologize to the cast and crew because every time we have to film my scenes, it takes FOREVER because of the special effects. If I was better at my power, I would speed things up," she jokes.

HeroSite.net would like to thank Missy Peregrym for taking the time to do this interview. Keep visiting the site for more interviews in the future!

Return Home

 

Heroes and its characters and related images are copyright ©2007 NBC Universal Television. This is a fan site and not authorized by NBC. Page copyright ©2007 KryptonSite, unless the material is noted as coming from someplace else or being by an individual author.

Heroes stars Hayden Panettiere, Jack Coleman, Santiago Cabrera, Masi Oka, Greg Grunberg, Adrian Pasdar, Milo Ventimiglia, Ali Larter, Noah Grey-Cabey, David Anders, Kristen Bell, Dana Davis, Dania Ramirez, Zachary Quinto, James Kyson Lee, and Sendhil Ramamurthy.

PLEASE DO NOT TAKE GRAPHICS, NEWS, SPOILERS, ETC. FROM HEROSITE WITHOUT FIRST ASKING PERMISSION AND PLACING A LINK TO HEROSITE.NET. OR, JUST SEND PEOPLE OVER TO THIS SITE! THANKS!