JCap answers fan questions!
Matt Mitovich at TV Line's follow-up interview included asking Jessica the questions the fans want the answer to, and there are some interesting insights into Arizona. No spoilers, just discussion!
I've transcribed the video for easy reading and for those who aren't able to watch the video. If you reproduce the transcription elsewhere, please make sure you credit this community :)
Matt: If your character Arizona had a ‘Mc’ nickname, what would it be? [Ashley]
JCap: You know, on twitter I’ve seen a couple of them. I don’t know! None of the ones that have been thrown out there have resonated for me yet. I think I’ve seen like McDimples?
Matt: Arizona and Amelia Shepherd from Private Practice should have been at Johns Hopkins at the same time. Do you think that they had a thing? [Freeloader]
JCap: Ooh. Who knows? I wonder if they know that.
Matt: Maybe if Amelia crosses over again?
JCap: I like the actress very much, I just met her this summer, she’s very sweet.
Matt: I’m always asking you this one. Are we ever going to meet someone from Arizona’s past? [Christina]
JCap: Wouldn’t that be nice? I think people have been asking that, and I wonder if that’s gotten to the higher-ups. I have been asking for that. You know, I was so excited when Arizona’s mother and father were introduced for the wedding and I was so curious to see what they would be. But it was you know the wedding episode, so nobody really got screentime. I think there’s a ton of good ideas for who could have come from her past. I mean, romantically and not.
Matt: How has being married to Callie changed Arizona? [Kirsten]
JCap: Well I think the biggest one would probably be not just the marriage but the baby. Going from someone who did not want children at all who all of a sudden has a child and a wife. So I think that that is probably incredibly grounding and also makes her incredibly busy. As carefree and fun and sweet and tough as all of those things that Arizona is, I always imagined that in her personal life she was really selfish. You know, I always saw her as the person who slept in really late and went shopping and had fun at the weekends. And you know, being married and having a baby right away? I mean, my husband and I waited a while before having kids so that we could have fun. But now she’s a mom too so I think there’s a lot of responsibility.
Matt: Does Jessica Capshaw like horror films? [Nicole]
JCap: No, I’m kind of a wuss. I’m a wuss. I get scared and then I believe it’s real and then I’m like scared in my own house. It’s silly. I watched the Exorcist and I literally couldn’t sleep for a year.
Matt: How would you feel if either of your children decided to go into acting? [Sandi]
JCap: I mean, I think that I’m very lucky to enjoying the fact that they are toddlers right now and I don’t really have to worry about that. But I would encourage them to do what they love. And I’m so lucky - I got to do what I love and I would never tell someone they love that they couldn’t follow their dreams or their passions. So I guess I would support that. And pray!
Matt: No school plays just yet?
JCap: No school plays just yet.
Matt: Have you ever been to Morocco and can you speak French? [Mia]
JCap: I have never been to Morocco and I used to take French and I used to speak French. And then, much like my Italian, it has all gone out of my head.
Matt: Can you confirm whether or not Callie and Arizona have signed domestic partnership papers? [Gemma]
JCap: I don’t know. That was never established. It was much more about the ceremony. I mean that was what the marriage episode, if I recall correctly, that was sort of the dialogue that Callie had with Bailey, “Why are we getting married, this is stupid,” and her mother dissented about the whole thing, she said “What is this just two girls standing up there?”. And Bailey has the answer of “There’s God everywhere. God’s everywhere so whatever you do is going to be in front of God and it’s going to be in front of your friends and your family and that means something. So I don’t know - I don’t think that papers were ever talked about and my guess is that they didn’t. I think that’s maybe why the paper was so important for her in the episode that just aired. [8x05]
Matt: Do you have any special tricks for crying on camera? [Tabitha]
JCap: Gosh, people ask me that all the time. It’s so funny, I used to be so terrified of it because it was like that speech in the chorus line where you’d get on the stage and you’d feel nothing. That used to be me, I used to go into scenes and you were be meant to be crying and I would feel nothing. I’d be like, throw some methanol in my eye. And now I have to say, I don’t know if it’s having kids, having different life experience to draw upon, or mainly that when there are words or ideas being expressed that are what they’re meant to be, they move you. So last year towards the end, when basically every episode I was crying, that was all real. That was all thinking about the circumstance and being in the character - that's so cheesy, you know, but being in the character’s shoes and looking at what was happening and responding to it. And sometimes tears would come when they weren’t scripted. And sometimes tears wouldn’t come when they were scripted. And you kind of have to feel around for that stuff. And the writers were really great, you know, I think when it’s necessary it’s necessary. But sometimes we can feel things and we say them in a way where tears don’t come and it’s just as powerful as if they had. And again, sometimes you don’t expect them and they come and it’s like “Oh, where did that come from?”
Matt: What do you and Sara do for fun in between crazy long takes? [Shadee]
JCap: Sara’s always really good at bringing her laptop or her iPad and she loves music and she's looking up interesting things so she’ll be doing that. I’m a bit more of a restless spirit. I’ll go visit craft services or I’ll go make myself a cappuccino, or I’ll go call home and see how the kids are.
Matt: Lastly, because of Grey’s Anatomy you’ve become an icon in the lesbian community and even helped some fans with coming out. How does that feel for you? [Jessica]
JCap: Yeah. It feels very profound. It’s not lost on me at all that I’m lucky enough to play a character and the writers are smart enough and intuitive enough to write a character that resonates with people and that helps people. You know, I think that’s the profound part, that we are at the end of the day making a television show and it’s meant to be fun and it’s not real. But when there is a character that people can invest in as though it were life and let it really be a mirror that’s held up to life, and they can glean an understanding about themselves or the world or the community, then that’s beautiful. You know, it’s as good as it gets. You know, I get letters and I get stories from friends and a friend of mine’s a schoolteacher and there’s kids in his school that are so impacted by these stories and I just think that it’s wonderful. I think it’s really wonderful. I’m very proud to be a part of something that does so much.
Source
Click to viewI've transcribed the video for easy reading and for those who aren't able to watch the video. If you reproduce the transcription elsewhere, please make sure you credit this community :)
Matt: If your character Arizona had a ‘Mc’ nickname, what would it be? [Ashley]
JCap: You know, on twitter I’ve seen a couple of them. I don’t know! None of the ones that have been thrown out there have resonated for me yet. I think I’ve seen like McDimples?
Matt: Arizona and Amelia Shepherd from Private Practice should have been at Johns Hopkins at the same time. Do you think that they had a thing? [Freeloader]
JCap: Ooh. Who knows? I wonder if they know that.
Matt: Maybe if Amelia crosses over again?
JCap: I like the actress very much, I just met her this summer, she’s very sweet.
Matt: I’m always asking you this one. Are we ever going to meet someone from Arizona’s past? [Christina]
JCap: Wouldn’t that be nice? I think people have been asking that, and I wonder if that’s gotten to the higher-ups. I have been asking for that. You know, I was so excited when Arizona’s mother and father were introduced for the wedding and I was so curious to see what they would be. But it was you know the wedding episode, so nobody really got screentime. I think there’s a ton of good ideas for who could have come from her past. I mean, romantically and not.
Matt: How has being married to Callie changed Arizona? [Kirsten]
JCap: Well I think the biggest one would probably be not just the marriage but the baby. Going from someone who did not want children at all who all of a sudden has a child and a wife. So I think that that is probably incredibly grounding and also makes her incredibly busy. As carefree and fun and sweet and tough as all of those things that Arizona is, I always imagined that in her personal life she was really selfish. You know, I always saw her as the person who slept in really late and went shopping and had fun at the weekends. And you know, being married and having a baby right away? I mean, my husband and I waited a while before having kids so that we could have fun. But now she’s a mom too so I think there’s a lot of responsibility.
Matt: Does Jessica Capshaw like horror films? [Nicole]
JCap: No, I’m kind of a wuss. I’m a wuss. I get scared and then I believe it’s real and then I’m like scared in my own house. It’s silly. I watched the Exorcist and I literally couldn’t sleep for a year.
Matt: How would you feel if either of your children decided to go into acting? [Sandi]
JCap: I mean, I think that I’m very lucky to enjoying the fact that they are toddlers right now and I don’t really have to worry about that. But I would encourage them to do what they love. And I’m so lucky - I got to do what I love and I would never tell someone they love that they couldn’t follow their dreams or their passions. So I guess I would support that. And pray!
Matt: No school plays just yet?
JCap: No school plays just yet.
Matt: Have you ever been to Morocco and can you speak French? [Mia]
JCap: I have never been to Morocco and I used to take French and I used to speak French. And then, much like my Italian, it has all gone out of my head.
Matt: Can you confirm whether or not Callie and Arizona have signed domestic partnership papers? [Gemma]
JCap: I don’t know. That was never established. It was much more about the ceremony. I mean that was what the marriage episode, if I recall correctly, that was sort of the dialogue that Callie had with Bailey, “Why are we getting married, this is stupid,” and her mother dissented about the whole thing, she said “What is this just two girls standing up there?”. And Bailey has the answer of “There’s God everywhere. God’s everywhere so whatever you do is going to be in front of God and it’s going to be in front of your friends and your family and that means something. So I don’t know - I don’t think that papers were ever talked about and my guess is that they didn’t. I think that’s maybe why the paper was so important for her in the episode that just aired. [8x05]
Matt: Do you have any special tricks for crying on camera? [Tabitha]
JCap: Gosh, people ask me that all the time. It’s so funny, I used to be so terrified of it because it was like that speech in the chorus line where you’d get on the stage and you’d feel nothing. That used to be me, I used to go into scenes and you were be meant to be crying and I would feel nothing. I’d be like, throw some methanol in my eye. And now I have to say, I don’t know if it’s having kids, having different life experience to draw upon, or mainly that when there are words or ideas being expressed that are what they’re meant to be, they move you. So last year towards the end, when basically every episode I was crying, that was all real. That was all thinking about the circumstance and being in the character - that's so cheesy, you know, but being in the character’s shoes and looking at what was happening and responding to it. And sometimes tears would come when they weren’t scripted. And sometimes tears wouldn’t come when they were scripted. And you kind of have to feel around for that stuff. And the writers were really great, you know, I think when it’s necessary it’s necessary. But sometimes we can feel things and we say them in a way where tears don’t come and it’s just as powerful as if they had. And again, sometimes you don’t expect them and they come and it’s like “Oh, where did that come from?”
Matt: What do you and Sara do for fun in between crazy long takes? [Shadee]
JCap: Sara’s always really good at bringing her laptop or her iPad and she loves music and she's looking up interesting things so she’ll be doing that. I’m a bit more of a restless spirit. I’ll go visit craft services or I’ll go make myself a cappuccino, or I’ll go call home and see how the kids are.
Matt: Lastly, because of Grey’s Anatomy you’ve become an icon in the lesbian community and even helped some fans with coming out. How does that feel for you? [Jessica]
JCap: Yeah. It feels very profound. It’s not lost on me at all that I’m lucky enough to play a character and the writers are smart enough and intuitive enough to write a character that resonates with people and that helps people. You know, I think that’s the profound part, that we are at the end of the day making a television show and it’s meant to be fun and it’s not real. But when there is a character that people can invest in as though it were life and let it really be a mirror that’s held up to life, and they can glean an understanding about themselves or the world or the community, then that’s beautiful. You know, it’s as good as it gets. You know, I get letters and I get stories from friends and a friend of mine’s a schoolteacher and there’s kids in his school that are so impacted by these stories and I just think that it’s wonderful. I think it’s really wonderful. I’m very proud to be a part of something that does so much.
Source