THE STRAIN — “Fort Defiance” — Episode 203 (Airs July 26, 10:00 pm e/p) Pictured: (l-r) Samantha Mathis as Justine Feraldo, Ron Canada as Mayor George Lyle.
CR: Michael Gibson/FX
For a television series based on already-existing source material, introducing new characters is usually a crap shoot. Fans of the original books can be brutal, and so, you had better be damn sure the character is well-developed, serves a real purpose, and isn’t being used just as filler. For The Strain, which is based upon a book trilogy by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, the first character created solely for television, Dutch Velders (Ruta Gedmintas), was introduced last season with a moderately good reception. Perfect example of that crap shoot. A lot of fans love her, but some, not so much. However, with the introduction of Staten Island Councilwoman Justine Feraldo in episode 2.02, whew! I think the writers of the show picked a winner with this one. That introductory scene with her barging in the room and sitting all those political pricks on their asses, hot damn! I have read countless fan responses to the new character, and so far, not a single negative one. High five, writers! You did good.
Last week, I was fortunate enough to participate in a press conference call with actress Samantha Mathis to get all the deets on her inspiration for the role, fun times on the set, and a few teasers on what we can expect from this Staten Island spit-fire later in the season. Check out what she had to say.
QUESTION: Justine is a very take-no-prisoners heartless kind of gal and I love that. With her 9/11 background, is this, in her mind, kind of another terrorist threat, or does she really have any kind of handle on exactly what she’s dealing with?
Samantha Mathis: “I don’t think she really has a handle on what she’s dealing with, but once again, she’s seen the mayor’s office bungling the situation, not coming at it and taking care of its citizens in the way certainly that she sees fit. I love that first scene as her introduction; sort of coming in guns-a-blazing, but not without good reason.”
“After the hurricane that wiped out large regions of Staten Island, the mayor continued with the New York City Marathon just a few days later. That was in an original monologue when I was approached about the part, and I thought that was so exemplary of who she is that the mayor doesn’t have everyone’s back, and certainly not Staten Island’s.”
“And, she’s very dedicated to the people. You know, my own personal experience is my boyfriend is a firefighter, and there’s a tribe. When you’re in a tribe of people that are civil servants, that work in the fire department and the police department, there’s a great deal of pride and a great deal of family.”
“You have each other’s back. Justine lost two firefighters, and her nephew is a policeman, so she’s got a great deal of pride, and Staten Island is home to a tremendous amount of first responders that work in New York City and that died during 9/11. So she’s protecting her people.She’s being a good politician.”
THE STRAIN — Pictured: Samantha Mathis as Justine Feraldo. CR: Michael Gibson/FX
QUESTION: How did you get enrolled in the project? Were you already a fan of the show?
Samantha Mathis: “I had seen the posters for the show. Living in New York City, I had seen them all over the city last summer. I was thoroughly freaked out and disgusted by them – as I think most people were.”
“The worm in the eyeball was an incredible ad campaign. I have to say just a mad shout out to the FX people. I think that the people who were doing the advertising campaigns for the show are phenomenal. I love the art that they’re coming up with.”
“They really captured my attention in that regard. Then, obviously, I’ve known Guillermo’s work for a long time. I hadn’t seen the show, but I was a huge fan of his work. He’s such an artist. He’s such a visionary.”
“And, then Carlton obviously has a tremendous track record in television and creating really compelling television. Then, on top of that, I am a huge fan of Corey Stoll’s work. So all of those things combined immediately drew me in, and then I got the role the same way that anyone else gets a role. You audition. So, I just went in, and I went on tape, and they responded to what I did.”
QUESTION: You know, we don’t know much Justine so far. How much of what goes on within her is driven by her lust for power or need for power, and how much is just keeping her people safe?
Samantha Mathis: “Well, I think that that’s a really excellent question. I mean, this is a woman who certainly has a past, as exemplified from the episode just this last Sunday night. She lost a brother and a husband in 9/11.”
“Certainly, Staten Island has received sometimes less than stellar treatment from New York City. So, I think that she is very protective of her people, and she’s very dedicated to her people, but there’s always a potential, when you’re in a position of power, to be corrupted by it. I think that her intentions are really true to protect her people, but that was one of the aspects that intrigued me about playing this character.”
“It’s never black-and-white. I love that in a character, that it’s not black-and-white because human beings aren’t black-and-white. Certainly, when it comes to being given a certain amount of power, the question is what do you do with that power? With power comes great responsibility and we’re getting to see that Justine’s getting a little more power, and what will she do with it.”
QUESTION: Your character, did you take any inspiration from any real-life politicians?
Samantha Mathis: “I had a very brief conversation when I was brought on to play Justine. I mean, I watched some footage of Geraldine Ferraro. I really tried to draw from what Staten Island is like today and looked at footage from some council people from Staten Island. I live in New York City, so there’s no shortage of access to that. In fact, our NY1 news station on Time Warner is incredible in terms of covering Staten Island news.”
“I was striving to really create someone who felt authentically Staten Island and what that entails. I think that there, in my experience, is an element for Staten Island natives, that they haven’t always been done right by New York City. There’s a healthy level of skepticism in terms of how the mayor deals with Staten Island. I think that was really the most important thing to me.”
TV GEEK TALK: “Do you have a favorite moment or favorite episode you can tease that’s coming up later in the season without, of course, given away any spoilers?
Samantha Mathis: “Well, there will be a point where a gun ends up in Justine’s hands, and while I’m very much a, let me put it this way, it’ll be a lot of fun to be that character and getting a gun into her hands and getting into protecting herself. That was a lot of fun.”
TV GEEK TALK: Great. I really look forward to that. She’s a spitfire. We saw that in the first scene. I’m looking forward to see what she can do when she gets a gun in her hands.
Samantha Mathis: “Yes, me too, me too.”
And, perhaps the big question is when or if will Justine finally converge with our heros? Well, Reggie Fitzwilliams (Roger Cross) ending up on Staten Island I think is a really good sign, because that guy knows a lot of what is really going on and of course, has all the goods on Palmer and his dealings with the Master and Eichhorst.
However, tonight, pay particular attention to the episode because I think we’re getting another big hint that Justine may be colliding with our ragtag team of heroes very soon.
The Strain airs on Sundays at 10/9c on FX.
