Betty Gilpin has played a lot of different roles in her career but maybe not one quite like in Mrs. Davis, which debuted this week on Peacock. The new series finds her starring as Simone, a nun who is brought on to fight the title character, actually an algorithm, and find the “Holy Grail.” It is a wild action show from Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof, and one in which Gilpin meets a lot of physical challenges along the way.
As she tells me in this week’s edition of my Deadline video series The Actor’s Side, this is a show she is genuinely excited to talk about and one she hopes audiences find. Of course she is no stranger to physically challenging acting turns. Remember those three consecutive Supporting Actress Emmy nominations she received for her role as a wrestler in GLOW? Other recent projects also gave Gilpin the chance to stretch including Hunt, The Tomorrow War and American Gods among many others.
But Mrs. Davis is especially timely, and as Gilpin tells me the emergence of AI in our lives has only increased since the series was shot, and is now making headlines on a frequent basis. She finds the infinite possibilities fascinating and a bit frightening, especially for actors who could find their jobs replaced by advanced robots. Mrs. Davis even went so far as to use AI technology to write the titles of each episode’s scripts.
We also talk about her Zoom sessions with actual nuns in order to prep for the role, how faith versus science figures so heavily in the storyline, the groundbreaking costume she gets to wear, her father’s influence, and much more. To watch our conversation, click on the video above.
Join me every Wednesday during Emmy season for a new edition of The Actor’s Side.
