Page 19 - MidWeek - Aug 25 2021

Actress Takes Her ‘Shot In The Dark’ With Podcast
FROM PAGE 14
AUGUST 25, 2021 MIDWEEK 19
just off the California coast — which attracts doomsday preppers, indigenous activ- ists and a utopian cult, all of whom arrive in this new locale demanding their piece of the land.
tell stories that I’ ve known my whole life that I haven’t seen very often in pop cul- ture.”
If anything, choosing a mysterious island as the setting for the series was a major selling point for the Honolulu-raised Callies.
ne of the storylines she desperately wanted included
“I remember thinking when this kernel of an idea was first brought to me (by executive producers Ben Haber and Patrick Carman), well, I’ve lived on islands and oceans my whole life. I grew up in Hawai‘i, I live on Vancouver Island right now, and there’s something very specific about living on an island,” explains Callies, who not only has the lead role in the scripted pod- cast, but juggles co-creator, di- rector and executive producer duties as well.
ulous and that’s exactly what happened in Hawai‘i!’”
“It also seemed to me that it would be an opportunity to
“They were like, ‘That’s ridiculous!’ ” Callies recalls. “I said ‘Yeah, I know.’ They were like, ‘That would never happen.’ I said, ‘Oh, no-no- no! It’s simultaneously ridic-
send a microphone via Fed- eral Express to the actors’ homes or wherever they happened to be at the time. (Gabrielle, in fact, finished her recordings from 5,000 miles away in Germany.)
“Rockmond has four young children and they’ re all homeschooling, so he chose to lock himself in the car because it was the only place where he could get peace and quiet,” recalls a chuckling Callies. “When we were done, he said, ‘Now I gotta text my wife and have her pop the trunk!’”
“To be honest, I didn’t re- ally know if anybody would listen. It was kind of a shot in the dark. I think the thing that people seem to be respond- ing to is how immersive it is. Often when you say podcast to people, they think, ‘Oh, it’s going to be a couple of people chatting in my ear and I’m just listening in on a con- versation.’
O
was the plight of indigenous peoples and their fight for control of their lands — and she found no better example of that than right here in Ha- wai‘i. Early on in the writing process, Callies insisted the script include a character that shows up on the new island, plants an unfurled Hawaiian flag in the ground, and de- clares, “I claim this island in the name of the Hawaiian nation!”
The show’s other execu- tive producers immediately balked at the idea.
Ultimately, Callies won the debate and Parrish, a for- mer Kāne‘ohe resident, got the role of Hawaiian activist.
One of the actors who signed on for the project is Austin Amelio, shown here trading lines with Sarah Wayne Callies in a studio. The 10-part series of Aftershock wraps up Sept. 15, and can be listened to on iHeartRadio.
PHOTOS COURTESY SARAH WAYNE CALLIES
“We were the No. 1 drama podcast of all time on Apple for a bit there. I don’t think we still are, but we were for a couple of weeks and that was cool,” gushes Callies.
SEE PAGE 20
To complete the pod- cast’s recordings, sessions were held in New York and LA. Most recordings, however, had to be done remotely due to coronavi- rus restrictions and actors’ schedules. To work around these issues, Callies would
(Inset) Sarah Wayne Callies and another former Hawai‘i resident, Janel Parrish, flash shakas after completing a recording session for Aftershock. (Above) Callies and good friend David Harbour, share leading roles in the scripted podcast.
“It was such a circus and it took us months,” explains Callies of the drawn-out re- cording process. “I’ d send the mic to their house and we’d do a sound check. Then I’d say, ‘OK, you’re going to have to be in some place where the sound isn’t going to bounce around, so go in your closet, but lay all the pillows down and put a comforter over your head.’
Despite the production challenges, Callies is proud that she and her star-stud- ded cast of unpaid actors were able to put out a quality scripted podcast in what she calls “an emerging form of entertainment.” As proof that the team’s efforts have not been in vain, she notes that feedback from Aftershock fans has been “better than I expected.”
“But scripted podcasts are much more of a niche thing ... almost underground,” she continues. “I think the expe- rience is new for a lot of peo- ple. Hopefully, it continues to provide that level of escap- ism and joy for people.”
“It really was the most ri- diculous thing!”
C
lands with her parents (Val- erie Wayne and David Cal- lies, who were English and law professors, respectively, at University of Hawai‘i-Mā- noa) when she was 1. After
Amazingly, some cast members were willing to go to even greater lengths to ensure the job was done right. For example, Rockmond Dunbar (Prison Break, Sons of Anar- chy) chose to do his recordings from the trunk of his car.
allies was born in Il- linois, but relocated to the Hawaiian Is-