Ellen Dubin as Giggerota on the set of Lexx. Photo copyright of Wanstrom & Associates.
In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, Ellen Dubin talks about her audition for Lexx and being cast as the show's alien cannibal, Giggerota.
“Everyone at the audition was supposedly reading for the part of the show’s leading lady, Zev,” recalls Dubin. “However, the speech we were given to read was one that Stanley Tweedle [Brian Downey] ultimately gave in the first episode. It talked about a planet where these beautiful women lived. It was very edgy stuff and I think the producers wanted that double entendre kept in to see if we’d embrace the dialogue or run away from it.
“I received the material the night before, read it and thought, ‘What am I going to do with this?’ I hadn’t a clue. I learnt the lines and drove to the audition the next day hoping something would come to me at the last minute. Seconds before I walked into the room I had a brainstorm. The material contained several sexual references so I decided to try something sexy but classy. I pretended that I was dreaming and having a sexual fantasy in front of everyone there. I slowly took off my shoes, laid on the floor and behaved very seductively. I wanted it to seem as if I was alone in the room and the producers were voyeurs.
“It was a long-shot but it worked,” says the actress. “A few months later I was called back to read again. To my surprise, I was told that Zev had already been cast. An actress named Eva Habermann was playing her. However, the show’s creator [and executive producer] Paul Donovan was looking to cast a villainness named Giggerota. All I was told was that this character was really out there and over-the-top. So I just went to town. She had to be overbearing and threatening, so I walked into the room wearing high-heeled shoes to emphasize my height – I’m 5’10” – and dressed all in black to look as long and lean as possible. I did my best preying mantis imitation and two days later found out I had the job.”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photo courtesy and copyright of Wanstrom & Associates, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
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