Recently, we had a chance to talk to Jane Badler about her acting career, including her role as Diana in the sci-fi cult favorite V and her new horror film The Free Fall, playing at Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2021. (Read our review of the film here.)
Horror Geek Life. So was acting something you always wanted to do or did you discover that later on, like a happy accident?
Jane Badler: It’s interesting where creativity can take you in your life. For me, it was just a wonderful escape as a child; I acted, I sang, it was something I did well and got attention for it. I don’t think I realized what went into acting at that time, but it was just something as a child for fun. I then studied theater at university and I just kind of kept going in that path. It beckoned me, and I guess now, more than ever, I’ve come back to it full force. I took a bit of a break for a while, I wouldn’t say a huge break, but I didn’t really pursue it like I am again now.
HGL: Do you have a favorite medium to work in?
JB: I think right now, I really love film, because there is a beginning and an end. When you do a TV show, for me, I’d love a TV show in Australia, it’s very difficult for me to pursue that in America because my life is here. Right now, it works really well for me to do feature films and I just like the idea that I know it’s going to be one or two months and then it’s finished. But I really think a good role is a good role, regardless of the medium.
HGL: With TV, did it help improve your skills as you play a certain character over a period of time?
JB: Oh yes, totally. I mean, none of the shows except for V really took off, they usually had about two seasons, like The Highwayman or Mission Impossible. I think for something to really impact your career, it has to be a hit show that has some longevity. As far as discipline and working with the same actors or directors, that’s such a useful and interesting experience.
HGL: Can you tell us about how you were cast as Diana for V?
JB: I was on a daytime soap opera at the time, a show called The Doctors, and I was told to fly out. At that time, they used to fly you first class to LA where you’d audition for these pilots, and so it was really just another audition, they wanted to see me for the part of Diana. I really didn’t think a lot about it, but I was excited because I really wanted to get into nighttime television. I did the audition, it was only five scenes so it wasn’t a big role, or at least I didn’t think so. I remember auditioning in a hotel room, there were quite a few people there, among them of course, Kenneth Johnson. I did it, didn’t think much of it and went back to my hotel and someone slipped a little note under my door that said “don’t leave town,” and I think that was the most wonderful note I’d ever received in my life. The next morning, I was in prosthetics, they were making a mold of my face and there you go, it all happened that quickly. It’s amazing, all these years later, not only that V is still popular but really, all the opportunities it gave me, it’s crazy.
HGL: It is pretty amazing how V continued to live on after the original miniseries. Were you surprised by the popularity of the show, and also Diana?
JB: Yeah, I really was. I mean, at the time it was just a job. I knew it was a miniseries and that they were putting a lot of money into it, but never in my life did I think it would be as huge as it was, and it was huge. I was on all the talk shows, I was getting mobbed, I was in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; it was a very pivotal point in my life, the popularity of that show. Sadly, the TV series didn’t live up to the promise of the miniseries which was a shame but still, I have no regrets about doing it, it was so much fun at the time.
HGL: V still has quite a following to this day, which shows just how much of an impact it had on people. How has it impacted your life over the years?
JB: Yesterday, I did an Instagram Live for Mental Health Awareness Month, and the picture the guy put up was me with a gun from V! I was a bit surprised but then I thought okay, this is probably where he knows me from so why fight it? But yeah, who knew at the time, and it was such a big hit without social media. When social media did come around, which was what, fifteen years ago, all of a sudden I realized that wow, I have all these fans! So many fans around the world, which I was really unaware of for about twenty years, it’s crazy. It’s been great, though, I got so much work because of V. A lot of people have reached out to me over the years, some crazy people where things didn’t work out, but I’ve also had some great opportunities.
HGL: When the miniseries and TV shows came to an end, did you find that you were being typecast?
JB: You know, that’s such a good question because I often think about that fork in the road, the choices we make, and where I was at in my life. They offered me North and South, the TV miniseries, but they wouldn’t let me out of my contract so that kind of slipped by. I had a good agent, but I was being headhunted by ICM at the time, and I only had one agent at the time, so I ended up not leaving my agency. I don’t blame that, but they kind of pushed me into another project that, in a way, was exactly the same role. I went and did The Covenant, back then they used to do TV movies of the week, and it was with these amazing actors, but there was no time to prepare. There was nothing very deep about my character. I mean, Diana wasn’t a very deep character, she was a sexy character, of its time a very innovative character, but I wouldn’t say there was a huge depth I had to plummet for that role. For this role, I felt once again like I was repeating myself, and in some ways that was a big mistake because people began to think that was all I could do, and you know, maybe at the time that was really all I could do. A lot of television in the eighties was like Falcon Crest, Dynasty, and they were fun but people don’t act like the way they do now, where TV has become incredible and you need to be strong and deep. In those days, I don’t think they asked actors to do that much.
Then everything kind of stopped, and I was getting offers for S&M roles in the Philippines, all these weird roles, so I kind of struggled for a bit; I couldn’t really find my bearings. I then ended up doing that horrible series called The Highwayman, about a flying truck, then went into Falcon Crest, which also wasn’t very satisfying for me, then did a lot of guest stars. I ended up doing Mission Impossible, which was wonderful, I loved working on that show, and that was where my career began to take off again. I fell in love and moved to Australia, which is a whole different chapter of my life. Now, I have a new chapter, well into my sixties, I’m so excited about what’s happening and I’m really grateful for The Free Fallbecause it’s like a coming back movie for me.
HGL: How did you get involved with The Free Fall?
JB: I have a very close friend and producer that I’ve done a lot of projects with, he sends me scripts, and he sent me that script. I really hadn’t been working a lot and I told him I’d love to play Rose, which obviously happened, and it was great. We got that fantastic cast and it was really an easy shoot for me. I didn’t work a lot, I think I had five or six days on that film.
HGL: Rose is an interesting character with a great poker face, so you never know what’s really going on with her. What was it like playing that character?
JB: You know, that was a really hard character to play because it wasn’t fleshed out in the script. It’s great if you have a script and all the clues are in the script, but there were no clues. I had to somehow create almost of out nothing, like what was motivating this character? I went to my acting coach two days before shooting and I said, I think I’m in love with the devil, that’s why I’m doing this, and she said, no, no, that’s not why you’re doing this. You’re doing this because you are going to save that girl, you love her and you want to save her, and I went wow, so it’s coming from love, that’s kind of creepy. After that, I was off and running. I knew what to do with the role, that kind of put everything into place for me. I think that was where the poker face came in. There is something going on in there, but you don’t know really what it is you’re feeling. It gave the role a lot more depth, which really helped because as I said, it was a challenging role to play.
HGL: When you read the script, were you taken with the story, the character, or both?
JB: I think when I read the script, two things came to mind. One was, I thought this was a way for me to get my foot back in the door. You know, here in Australia I work, I do a lot of theater, but my star had really dimmed. I would be offered parts where I would have four lines, do one scene, and no matter how much I auditioned, it felt like a black hole. I’d been away from Hollywood and America for years, but I thought this is something they could cast me in. I wasn’t carrying the film and I thought the role was really good for me. Second, I thought the script was really good. It was fun, something we could raise the money for, and I could get back into the game again, and it all worked. I think we have a good, solid film, I was not involved in it in a creative way, I just focused on doing the role, and it was an amazing vehicle for the lead, Andrea (Londo). I can’t wait for people to see her in the role, and Shawn (Ashmore) was very good, too, but Andrea has the role that really shines.
HGL: There is obviously a horror element to the film, do you enjoy the genre?
JB: I enjoy the horror genre as both an actor and a fan. You have to go through so many emotions in horror films — fear, loss, grief — you really need to work on your chops, and I think it’s really challenging for actors to pull that off. At this point, that is my favorite genre to act in, it’s really fun and challenging for actors. Also, I love watching horror, I just saw A Quiet Place II, and I thought it was as good as any mainstream film.
HGL: Women have been getting better roles in the film industry, but do you think there is still a long way to go?
JB: I think there has been a real positive shift, absolutely. I mean, there is still a long way to go, but we’ve made huge inroads in diversity. Almost all films now are looking at diversity, and I think it’s very exciting. The film we just did is basically all women — woman director, woman producer, woman stars, diverse cast. Films are now very expansive, especially, I think, in the horror genre where women have always had important roles.
HGL: So, what other projects do you have coming up?
JB: I actually produced a short film that we submitted to Sundance called Sapphire, this was written by my son who, sadly, passed away about a year and a half ago, so I’m producing his short film. I also have two features coming out, one is called The Surrogate, which I filmed here in Australia with an incredible actress named Kestie Morassi, she starred in Wolf Creek, and she has the lead in it. I have a very different role in this one, I play a social worker investigating child abuse, so that will be coming out here, I’m not sure when. I also just finished a film called Trim Season out in Utah, and I was one of the producers on that. These are horror films, so I’m sticking with horror, and I’m excited about both of these films.
I want to thank Jane for taking the time to talk with us.
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