WandaVision’s Emma Caulfield on Dottie Game



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Emma Caulfield as Dottie Jones.

Emma Caulfield as Dottie Jones.
Screenshot: Disney +

In WandaVisionsecond episode of, “Don’t Touch That Dial,” the series begins to show you more of what Westview looks like, like Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and his neighbor Agnès (Kathryn Hahn) goes to a meeting with other women in the neighborhood to help organize an upcoming talent show.

Although Wanda is excited to perform, her hopes of putting on a show are somewhat soured when she meets Dottie Jones (Emma Caulfield), a woman billed as WandaVisionthe idea of ​​some kind of mid-20th century suburban queen who delights in tormenting her fellow citizens. It was during a one-on-one conversation with Dottie that Wanda witnessed one of the WandaVisionis the first major problems in reality which introduces color to the otherwise black and white world, suggesting that there may be more to Dottie than his sitcom facade suggests.

When we spoke with Caulfield recently (whose other credits include Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Beverly Hills, 90210) about WandaVision, she explained how, although she hadn’t really been given so much information about the character, her faith in the storytelling skills of series creator Jac Schaeffer was all it took to convince her to sign. Upon getting to know Dottie better, however, Caulfield realized that while her character certainly kept secrets, she’s some sort of personality type we’re all more used to.

Charles Pulliam-Moore, io9: When you arrived WandaVision, what enlightened you about Dottie? Because, I imagine, there was so much that you were told about the jump.

Emma Caulfield: Yeah, Jac Schaeffer is just a phenomenal writer. I had the chance to work with her on Timer, and she and I had wanted to work together again for years since that movie, but we just couldn’t find the right project. More than anything, I was really excited to repeat his words. I just still want to do a good job for myself, but I really wanted to do a good job for her with it. And for, you know, our captain, Kevin Feige.

io9: What is Jac’s storytelling, then, that immediately made you believe in WandaVision?

Caulfield: She makes me proud to work now. I don’t know what this magical, intangible thing that she has, but she’s hilarious, so smart, and so quick. Work on Timer has been one of the highlights of my professional career. I desperately wanted this movie, and there was another actor who usually beat me up. In fact, she always has. It was my kryptonite. So when I have Timer, I was like “yes!” because I had beaten my kryptonite and it’s really, really rare to get something that you want so badly.

io9: Of course.

Caulfield: You know, you get a lot of bad scripts and you end up making plans that you don’t want to do because you have a mortgage, or you’ve established a certain lifestyle and you have to keep going. With WandaVision, it was like a chance for something that I love, and someone who turned me on.

Dottie and his neighbor Beverly attend the talent show.

Dottie and his neighbor Beverly attend the talent show.
Screenshot: Disney +

io9: Even though everyone living on “the show” has changed from episode to episode, there have been some commonalities in the types of characters they are. We’re introduced to Dottie as the queen bee character, but as the series progresses, what kind of archetype does she embody?

Caulfield: I’m trying to find a way to answer this without giving anything away, but keeping this conversation interesting. Regardless of what the show does in each episode, I always wanted it to have something relatable or vulnerable about it that isn’t obvious to audiences, but that would be clear to me internally.

io9: What was it here?

Caulfield: With Dottie, I ask “why [is she] threatened by this person? Why [is she] so bothered? And why [doesn’t she] Trust them? ”Dottie is smarter than her general meanness would let you realize, and that general urge to hurt the people around her really keeps her from shining and overshadows everything she has.

There is that brief moment in episode three where she says, “Hey, are these earrings making me look fat?” Funny line. Like. Jac wrote it down. It’s apparently disposable, but it’s not at all. No one is really there at the time, and Dottie wonders, “How am I looking?” I look good, don’t I? When I was shooting this scene with Dottie’s husband, I remember right before I started riding, I leaned in and whispered, “By the way, I never loved you” and then someone yells ” action ”and my stage partner at that brief moment of confusion. But it was just for me. At this point, Dottie is just as trapped within the confines of Wanda’s world in Westview as anyone else. She’s playing a role, but she still needs approval on some level, and she resents him.

io9: Because of the roles you’ve played, you have connections to some of the biggest fandoms in the broader pop cultural landscape. Overall, what kind of bigger changes have you seen in the tone and temperature of the fandoms?

Caulfield: When I started, there was no social media presence at all, and you could really do your job without repercussions, really. The only people you really had to worry about were the network and if they were going to keep you. You haven’t really had that much interaction or support with the fans, and the comments have been delayed much longer. You could actually pick up a magazine and read something weeks later as opposed to that instant love, cancel, and ship feedback loop.

io9: That’s right.

Caulfield: [laughing] I find myself, I think, very fortunate to have done a lot of work without having to make sure I don’t slip. In a way it’s like being around a lot of Dotties all the time, you know, because there’s always this concern of having to do things right because if you don’t, the Dotties might run into me. forever like “get rid of her.” “To have this Marvel fan base built in is amazing, but then again, I really hope I do a good job because I really don’t need fans trying to get me killed.

WandaVision is now broadcast on Disney +.


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