Dianna Agron & Kevin McHale Interview

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

With Glee's third season just around the corner, who better to speak to than the show's stars? First up are the lovely Dianna Agron and Kevin McHale, who you might know better as Quinn and Artie. 

Read on to find out what the duo had to say to reporters about their hopes for season three, those graduation rumors and what it was like for Dianna to film a slap with Lea Michele...

Are you glad to be out of the wheelchair, Kevin?
Kevin: "You know, I'm not Artie right now, so yeah!"

Are fans surprised when they see you and you're not in the wheelchair?
Kevin: "It's gotten better. At the beginning, obviously like every day I got it - 'Oh my God, you can walk!' 'Yes, yes, it's a miracle, isn't it?' But now, not really so much."

Are you hoping for a pioneering treatment for Artie to come out in season three?
Kevin: "No. I think that from the beginning it was always that Artie would be in the wheelchair, because that's the character. He represents I think a whole section of people and that needs to be represented, so I'm happy to play him just as he is."

Dianna, Quinn hasn't always been the nicest of characters - what's the public's reaction to you been like?
Dianna: "I mean, I wondered about that when we first started going out with the show but luckily we experienced what any fan of the show feels towards any character, which is there's this overwhelming love and affection which is very clearly showcased through and through. And I think more than most casts of a TV show or a movie would feel, because the underdog theme that is showcased on our show has been so effective with hitting the youth that watch the show. 

"We get to hear and have heard some of the most beautiful stories of perseverance or overcoming something than I think many casts would, because their product isn't touching on those subjects. So we're really lucky. I know many of us have been moved to tears. It's good to be a part of something like that because I would have loved to have a show like this demonstrate that for me when I was a kid with all my insecurities and battles."

Did you enjoy exploring the Lucy Caboosie side of Quinn?
Dianna: "Oh, I was so excited. I was secretly hoping there would be flashbacks and recreations and stuff like that. It was just fun and I think very realistic. I think that made her kind of determination with that popularity and things like that even more realistic, because, I mean, I was incredibly awkward growing up and have the pictures to prove it. 

"I think that's more realistic, that that's fuelling her, because she's trying to be more like her mom or more accepted than just always has been prim and perfect and been on that quest - I don't think that is completely realistic. I liked that you're seeing it's from - it's still not validated, it still shouldn't have been such - but it's coming from a real place."

Now that Quinn's broken up with Finn, what are your hopes for the next season?
Dianna: "Well, I don't know."
Kevin: "To date Artie."
Dianna: "Well, duh. Since day one."
Kevin: "I'm really going for that now. I'm on the Artie-Quinn thing. Quartie."
Dianna: "Somehow I picture a duck."
Kevin: "I do too! Quacking Quartie."

Artie's been a bit unlucky in love in the past...
Kevin: "I think it's his own doing! I mean, he's gotten beautiful girls but it's high school, so I think figuring out how to be in a relationship and overcome your own insecurities to be with other people and dealing with the other person's personality - like Brittany, which can be challenging because she didn't realize she was kind of cheating on him. But I mean it's so fun to play because I had no idea what his whole story would be with girls and whatnot, so it's been fun to actually get to have two relationships that are completely different. 

"It was funny because with Tina it was so dramatic - 'I'm faking a stutter!' 'I want to walk and have surgery!' We never got to do stupid high school kind of joke stuff. And then it was the complete opposite with Brittany and the magic comb and all that kind of stuff. So it was really fun for me to get to play both of those."

Do you think he'll start to resolve his issues with women?
Kevin: "I don't think he has issues with women - I think sometimes you don't filter what comes out! I think he might have just spoken in the heat of the moment, which happens to everybody. It is really fun to get to do because half the stuff you say I would never have the gall to say. I just hope they keep him active in terms of relationships for season three!"

What has been your favorite musical number so far?
Kevin: "For me it was one of my favorites and least favorites - doing the Kiss number was really fun because we got to have those ridiculous outfits. Actually performing that was fun because it was just nuts and you don't feel like you're yourself and you get to be this big character. But actually being in all that hair and makeup - it's not the most comfortable experience. But it was nothing compared to the girls in their Lady GaGa outfits."
Dianna: "Rocky Horror was my favorite. I loved that kind of stuff and fun makeup, extreme makeup, because usually it's just light and natural and simple. We kind of got to completely transform. I know the guys have really got a taste of what girls can have sitting in a makeup chair - not getting in and out in five or ten minutes."
Kevin: "Oh, 'Thriller'!"
Dianna: "The prosthetics they had to go through... they were actually there double the time we were."
Kevin: "It would take me three and a half hours to get the full prosthetic face and hair and all that."
Dianna: "Remember that one time you went through the whole process and we didn't get to you! It's not funny..."
Kevin: "No! We needed one shot which was literally a second in the actual episode. We had to come back and do the whole three and a half hour process for one second."
Dianna: "Everyone was waiting to find out which one of us it was - 'All the girls... and Kevin."
Kevin: "Argh!"

What do you make of the rumors that your characters could be graduating?
Kevin: "The show, as much as it's exaggerated, there's also a lot of it that's very real. I think it's that realistic aspect of high school. We started as sophomores so we're not going to be 40 or 50 being like, 'I wanna be prom king!'"
Dianna: "Hobbling around!"
Kevin: "So I think it's nice that they're keeping it realistic."
Dianna: "There was a debate for a while of where we started out. Chris did have an Escalade for a second in the first season, so that would probably make us sophomores then. There was nothing official until the end of the second season when we started talking about the seniors. But I think also too there'll be some new people coming along this year and that'll be realistic as well because a school changes every year. Year to year people stay and people go so I think bringing some younger people into the mix will be really real, and maybe they'll be the ones dating each other! I just remember our senior year, everybody was over each other. So we were like, 'Ehh'. It's more just about being great friends and having some of the best times ever. But if you'd said, 'Who do you want to date this year?' people would have been like, 'Umm...'"
Kevin: "Been there, done that!"

One of the really interesting relationships on the show is Quinn and Rachel - where do you think that will go?


Did you enjoy filming the slap scene in the second season?
Dianna: "Yeah! Lea wanted me to actually hit her and I'm like, 'No way, no way, no way!' So yeah, no contact was made, but through a great stunt co-ordinator and trying with all our might we pulled it off, I think."
Kevin: "We have a really good stunt co-ordinator. I think all of our fights look pretty real. I'm really happy with those!"
Dianna: "No-one was hurt in the making of this scene."

Is there anyone you'd love to appear in the show?
Kevin: "You always have a good answer."
Dianna: "I always say Christopher Walken. Always."
Kevin: "I'll second that. And Gwyneth I think is always welcome, because she's brilliant, as you all know."

Where do you see Quinn and Artie in five years' time?
Kevin: "Married [to each other] with lots of children!"
Dianna: "And lots of ducks. On a duck farm actually."

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