Elyse Levesque as Chloe Armstrong in Stargate Universe. Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
Being the daughter of a U.S. Senator, Chloe Armstrong experienced a world that was slightly elevated from the one that most people around her lived in. As her father’s assistant, she also gained a rare insight into the political arena that the average citizen typically does not have access to. All that changed, though, when she was suddenly thrust into a world that was totally foreign, or alien, to her. As one of dozens trapped onboard the Ancients spaceship Destiny and traveling through the universe, Chloe has had her life turned upside down. At first she was scared, but over the past year, she has proven herself to be a resourceful and dependable member of the team. Daddy’s little girl has truly grown up, as actress Elyse Levesque, who plays Chloe on Stargate Universe, explains.
“She’s matured a great deal, that’s for sure,” says Levesque, taking a breather in-between shooting scenes for the second season Universe story Deliverance. “The girl that we saw at the beginning of last season wouldn’t be able to cope with the situation that she now finds herself in. Chloe has more or less resigned herself to what’s going on in her life and sort of accepted the fact that everything happens for a reason.
“Coming back to work this season I felt a bit different myself and I think that was great because it lent itself to the character. I noticed a big change in how my character spoke and conducted herself. When I read the script for Pathogen, which is the first episode we shot for this year, and then doing the season opener, Intervention, followed by Aftermath, I saw a little of the old Chloe in there, but she wasn’t as naïve.
“Even though the stakes are higher for her now, I think she’s less scared. It’s like when you lose everything and you have nothing left to lose. What’s there to be afraid of any more? That’s kind of the place that Chloe starts to move towards. We begin to see what people are truly made of when the you-know-what starts to hit the fan. So it’s fun as well as cool to play such a strong, stoic side of a character who, despite all that’s going on with her, is thinking of the greater good.”
Being marooned in deep space has had quite an impact on the Chloe (Levesque) who we first met at the start of Universe's first season. Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
The “situation” that Chloe finds herself in this season on Universe actually began last year in the episodes Space and Divided when she and Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) were taken captive by a race of blue-skinned aliens. Chloe subsequently escapes, thanks to Rush, who rescues her, but not before Levesque had to spend some time floating in an alien water tank onboard one of the enemy ships.
“I was in my element,” says the actress. “I was a water baby; I love the water. I wish I could make it sound like they dropped me in the deep end of the pool and I had to swim to the bottom without any breathing device and do some other bad-ass thing, but that wasn’t the case at all. James Bamford [Universe stunt coordinator] actually took me to the UBC [University of British Columbia] swimming pool and gave me a crash course in scuba diving, which I later ended up actually using when I went diving for real in Mexico during the hiatus.
“So they set me up with the basics in order that I would feel comfortable being underwater. We shot my water tank scenes for Space and the opening of Divided all on the same day. The stuff for Divided was a little trickier because I had to do it a couple of times in different outfits, and then I had to hold onto a bar, which was suspended above the water, drop down into the tank and hold my breath for the whole sequence. However, because they shot it from different angles and the footage was subsequently all cut together, it looks onscreen as if I’m holding my breath for longer than I actually had to.
“Still, I had to fall into the water, look around, see where I was, realize I’m in a water tank, bang on the glass, then, oh, my God, I think I see something. It’s Chloe’s Mom, and she walks towards the tank and says my character’s name. Then I look down, see that I’m in an alien spacesuit, and when I look back up there’s an alien looking into the tank at me and I scream. I had to do that all in one take. How neat is that?”
Eli (David Blue) and Chloe (Levesque) have no idea what awaits them in the season one finale "Incursion." Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
Once Chloe returns to Destiny she suddenly begins to exhibit some odd behavior, including being able to read Ancient and operate a variety of the ship’s systems. Unknown to her or the others, she is mutating into one of the aliens. Chloe’s newfound skills, however, take a back seat to events unfolding onboard ship when, in Universe’s two-part season one finale Incursion, the Lucian Alliance boards Destiny and mount a hostile takeover. Chloe and Eli (David Blue) manage to avoid capture and escape into the lower decks, but not before Chloe is shot, leaving Eli to carry her.
“I made sure I ate an extra helping at lunch, especially of dessert, before we filmed those [carrying] scenes,” teases Levesque. “David would be watching me and [jokingly] say, ‘Hey, put that fork down!’ It was a very odd experience shooting the last episode. We had all been working together for the entire year, and then that last month I only had a couple of days of work because they shot all of our scenes, mine and David’s, on those days.
“So it was just us two doing those scenes together and for me it felt like some of the strongest work I had done all season. David and I had a great time and we were pleasantly surprised by how it all came out. As for Chloe being shot, that was a hard thing to play, especially the last scene where she’s dying and having this emotional moment with Eli. I remember when I got the script and read that scene for the first time I thought, ‘This is such an important scene and one that you’ve got to do right or it’s not going to come across onscreen.’
“David had been carrying me around all day and it was nearer to the end of the day that we shot this particular scene. We were both just so exhausted and there was nothing left for either of our characters to do but let the other know, in a roundabout way, ‘I love you.’ It was perfect because it was also the end of the first season and it could have been the end of Eli and/or Chloe, so we kind of let them both take heart in a weird way. I love the last five minutes of Incursion, and the final shot of Louie Ferreira’s [Colonel Everett Young] face. It’s just so epic.”
Chloe's (Levesque) life takes some unexpected turns in season two. Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
Just when it looked as if our heroes’ fates were sealed, they turned the tide and got the upper hand on the Lucian Alliance, reclaiming total control of Destiny in Universe’s second season opener Intervention. It was directed by veteran Stargate director/producer Andy Mikita, who also directed, among other episodes, the show’s three-part premiere Air.
“Andy is a lot like the gatekeeper of Stargate,” notes Levesque. “He was our first experience in all of this, which is something we all take great comfort in. Andy is extremely familiar with our characters’ arcs along with the overall story arc, the feel of the show and everything else associated with it because he was part of the team that created that initial image.
“So it’s always incredibly reassuring to work with Andy, and the opening episode of year two ties up loose ends and sets the stage for the rest of the season to unfold. Obviously we’ve got this new team of people – the Lucian Alliance – to deal with, which adds a whole new dynamic to life onboard Destiny.
“Basically we slowly discover that our heroes are going to live another day, which is always good news, and one of the more miraculous things is that Chloe’s gunshot wound is suddenly healed. She goes from being at death’s door to hobbling her way through the ship and finding Eli, Greer [Jamil Walker Smith] and Scott [Brian J. Smith]. Naturally, they’re all like, ‘What the heck? This doesn’t make any sense. You were dying, but now you’re here and your wound has almost stopped bleeding on its own. That’s creepy and weird.’ Of course, it’s just the beginning of an incredibly scary journey for my character.”
Rush (Robert Carlyle) starts to put Chloe's (Levesque) burgeoning new abilites to good use. Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
It is Dr. Rush who, in the aforementioned episode Pathogen, finally puts the pieces of the puzzle together and concludes that Chloe is, in fact, transforming into one of the aliens they first encountered in Space. Did Levesque have any idea what the Universe producers/writers had in store for her?
“I was told a little bit before we started shooting that this was going to be the plotline for my character,” recalls the actress. “When I found out I thought, ‘That’s way cooler than anything I could have come up with.’ With the changes that have taken place in her brain, Chloe can now solve problems beyond even Rush’s knowledge and even read Ancient. Let’s make it known, though, that Chloe can read Ancient, not Elyse. I still have no clue about that,” she says with a chuckle. “However, as I already mentioned, even with everything that’s going on in Chloe’s life, she hasn’t lost sight of the greater good. She knows that she’s a threat and could be dangerous, but she also has this ability to help that other people, including Rush, don’t have.
“At first all the changes with my character are psychological ones and she’s able to solve various problems and issues, but then this genetic transformation starts to manifest itself physically and Chloe develops these alien skin tags all over her body. They’re very iridescent and all different colors of the rainbow. I think they’re really quite beautiful, but apparently Scott doesn’t agree. He thinks they’re freaky and it puts him off Chloe for a while,” jokes Levesque.
Despite the downbeat news her character receives in Pathogen, Levesque thoroughly enjoyed shooting the episode, which was directed by fellow castmate Robert Carlyle. “Oh, my God, what a great way to start off season two for us,” she says. “We shot that episode first, although it aired fourth, and it was a big deal wrapping your brain around being directed by Robert Carlyle, someone who’s has this massive [feature] film career behind him and who we all have so much respect for.
Lt. Scott (Brian J. Smith) has to come to grips with what is happening to Chloe (Levesque). Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
“Bobby is very much in-tune with and respectful of your [creative] process as an actor and he just approached things in a fresh way. It was terrific for me because I got to see how he works as an actor through the way he directs. By that I mean I was able to observe Bobby’s thought process when he goes through a scene. Before we began filming, he sat down with each of us and asked us questions, very important questions, and it helped set the tone, I feel, for the entire episode. Bobby even had specific music in mind and that he gave me to listen to. So he fills you with these gifts and then just trusts you to go off and ‘play.’”
Along with Pathogen, the actress also especially enjoyed shooting the season two Universe episode Cloverdale. “That story is such a trip, and was so much fun for us to do, too, because we got to go on-location and weren’t stuck in the studio,” enthuses Levesque.
“When I first read the script it reminded me very much of [the film] The Stepford Wives in that much of it takes place in this cookie cutter-like, very pristine town where life is kind of perfect. These are the things that happen and this is the way people live their lives, etc. And it was such an interesting contrast between the fantasy, which is created by Scott, who has been infected by this alien organism, and the reality of him being on this planet and us trying to save him.
“I just think the story is so brilliant. We see this entire world created through Scott’s eyes and how every person onboard Destiny fits in to that world. Colonel Young is Scott’s dad, Chloe is his fiancée, Greer is the best man at his wedding, Eli is Chloe’s brother, TJ [Alaina Huffman] is the local medic, Lou Diamond Phillips [Colonel Telford] is the town sheriff, Brody [Peter Kelamis] runs the bar, etc. It’s clever as well as jarring, because as I said it’s this perfect happy little world, but there’s something not quite right about it, and then there’s this insane reality of these people fighting for their lives. The metaphors that happen in this episode are so beautiful and there’s a weight that then puts on the relationship between Chloe and Scott. Some of what happens at the end of the episode is very significant to their relationship.”
Father and daughter - Chloe (Levesque) and her dad, Senator Alan Armstrong (Christopher McDonald). Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
Although Chloe and her dad, Senator Alan Armstrong (Christopher McDonald) both made it safely onboard Destiny after the attack on Icarus Base, the senator did not survive long after their arrival. Already ill, Armstrong sacrificed his life to save everyone else onboard the ship from an atmospheric leak. Grieving her father’s death, Chloe found comfort in her friendships with Eli Wallace and Lt. Matthew Scott, the latter of which has turned into a full-blown romance.
“This season, things with Chloe and Matt continue down the path that they were already heading down last year,” explains Levesque. “It’s more serious with the two of them this season, and it’s also a huge milestone of sorts for Chloe and Matt as well, because for the two of them this is, I think, their first serious, mature, functioning relationship.
“As for Eli and Chloe, they’re still very much friends, but he meets somebody new and start to go off down that path. There are some very interesting scenes where Chloe finds out about this. There’s always that sort of fear of having someone else come in and take someone away from you, even though you want nothing more than for that person to be happy and have all these great things, including love. But it’s not as easy for Chloe as she would like to think it is, to see Eli move on, but she had her chance,” says the actress with a laugh. “Who knows, though, if that ship has entirely sailed. It’s something that David and I have talked about, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
At the time of this interview (early July 2010), Levesque and the rest of the Universe cast and crew were filming the mid-season’s Deliverance, which finds Chloe at a crossroads when it comes to her unexpected alien mutation.
Chloe (Levesque) and Scott (Brian J. Smith) face an uncertain future together. Photo by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
“This is a very pivotal episode for my character and an emotionally charged one too,” says Levesque. “It’s almost as if Chloe is walking to her own execution and having to place her trust in someone – or something – that she fears the most. And my character does so with, I believe, a great deal of bravery, whereas if it were me, I’d be a babbling brook.
“I filmed a scene earlier today with Brian Smith, who, as Scott, has sort of been Chloe’s touchstone since season one. The two of them are having a very serious conversation and Chloe tells him, ‘If it weren’t for you, I don’t know if I’d still be standing here today.’ And, of course, this season, Matt has seen her in very much a different light and at one point pushed her away, so Chloe has had to deal with that as well.
“So this has been a gut-wrenching episode and a challenging one to shoot as well. Luckily it’s being directed by Peter DeLuise, and being an actor himself and having family in the business, it’s given him a good head for how actors think and work, so I feel like I’m in good hands with him.”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photos by Carole Segal and copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
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