Leverage: Redemption season 1B set the bar high! We love this show and to finish our coverage with a flourish, we bring you our exclusive interview with Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf in which they review the best of this second part of the season and they tell us some secrets behind the scenes. Ready?
Here we go!
Parker and Eliot have incredible action scenes! I mean, how the hell do they do all that? I can barely lift a weight and I feel like Wonder Woman. We were curious if they used double stunts all the time or performed some dangerous stunts themselves.
“You know, there’s a physicalness about it. I’m getting a little older, so get tougher to get out of bed. But but the action is one of the things that this show works so well with because we do drama, comedy, we do action. We’re never going to be up for an award because they don’t have place to put us, you know, as soon as they come up with drum action comedy, that will probably win a couple of them to be honest with you. But it’s the action really, really drives the show, when it needs to. And then you have the other dramatic moments and the comedy moments,” they share with us.
And we love that they brought up the subject of the awards. We feel that they are very unfair in some aspects because they catalog a show in a totally wrong way and don’t take it into account for the awards, even if the show deserves it, as Leverage: Redemption, Lucifer or Outlander, among many other shows. It is very comforting to know that people within the industry see these incorrect stigmas as well.
“Beth hangs off of buildings, I fight and we probably do that once. It does take its toll on the body. But I love it. And I’m a Steve McQueen fan. And so, you know, as long as they keep letting me do my own stunts, I’m going to try and do,” Christian added.
“Yeah, I’ve had to learn how to do some pretty crazy things on the show. Hanging from a rope in a harness was not something I had ever done before. And learning how to be upside down was quite a trip actually on the Leverage’s pilot. I hung upside down and burst blood vessels all in my face. And it was the last thing we shot,” Beth shared.
Our next question was about Leverage: Redemption season 1B. We wanted to know how Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf would define Eliot and Parker’s journey in this second part of the season, what they learned and what they grew up with.
“Oh, I love The Bucket Job episode in witch we see where Elliot came from, and what’s going on in his head and stuff like that. And Beth did a fantastic job of directing that, and she really helped me bring up the emotional side. And I think it helped too, because we had this great person of LeVar [Burton] come in, he was just unbelievable, the bounce stuff. It was easy. For me, it was easy to be able to be emotional in front of LeVar. So Beth really brought that out of me and it was fun to see a little more of an emotional side of Elliot come out in the head and then you know, things happen and he’s gonna seal right back up. He just went once things happen and life is not that great. He got drugged in his dad and he’s gonna bottle it all up again. I can already see where this is gonna go which I grew so I got these tools to play with because a bottled up Elliot is very fun to play, because he’s keeping everything inside angst and anger and he wants to get it out and he lets it out,” Christian Kane comments.
And we totally agree with him! As we discussed in our review, Eliot took a step forward in trying to get closer to his family and fix things with his father but he ends up hurt and closing that door again, with all the anger and pain that that entails. This emotional development from Eliot was incredible, even though it broke our hearts.
“Yeah, absolutely I think there’s more action, there’s more character development, some amazing and beautiful windows were created by the the writers that we could go in to Eliot’s backstory in a way that we haven’t been able to before. And then directing Christian was such a gift as well as with the other cast, you know, and not one but two episodes that I got to direct this season. And there was some pretty heavy topics that we talk about, and the balancing between the levity, the action and the character developments at the same time. This second part it’s have more action and more fun than the first part. One of my favorite parts are the moments between Parker and Elliot because we have a great episode together, The Hurricane Job episode, where we’re on the go together and we dive into Eliot’s love life a little bit and you know, it’s a lot of action as well for Parker and that one which was a lot of fun because you could really see how Eliot skill set has rubbed off on and what he’s been able to teach her. It was a lot of fun,” Beth Riesgraf added.
That episode is one of our favorites precisely because of that! Eliot and Parker together with emotional moments and stunts is perfect! So Beth nailed her answer.
As the culmination of our interview, we wanted to take the opportunity and asked Beth Riesgraf and Christian Kane to send a message to the entire fandom, especially UK fans, to celebrate the Leverage: Redemption premiere.
“Since Leverage, our fans are amazing and we love sharing the show and all our love with them because they’ve been so supportive of us. It’s long overdue and we’re so grabbed glad that it’s going to get over there now. They’ve been waiting on it and patiently waiting so we’re excited for them to enjoy Leverage: Redemption. When we premiered in UK again it was a whole nother beautiful day for us because we’ve got so many friends and many are there so we’re really excited for them to see everything. And definitely the Brits are gonna be happy especially because we got some [Gina] Bellman fans over there and we got a couple other Brits on the show this season as well. We’re so happy because we want to share this with everybody,” they shared.
And if we already loved them, after this response we love them more and want to hug them very strongly. You can tell that they are grateful to the fandom and just… they love us because they know that the fandom loves them too and that we fight for this show. We were always there, from the beginning. And we always will be.
Beth Riesgraf and Christian Kane are a ray of sunshine with huge smiles that make you smile without realizing it. They are kind, funny and incredibly patient because I had connection problems and they made me laugh all the time in the middle of all the mess. You can tell that they have a really special friendship and they make your day when you talk to them. They were sincere, open and passionate, they put all their hearts into Leverage: Redemption and it shows on the show. We want more of them! We would be talking to them all day because they are so lovely and sweet.
This is one of the interviews where everything that could go wrong in terms of logistics, go wrong but I ended up smiling thanks to them and I love them so much more for that.
We want more Eliot and Parker but, most of all, we want more Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf, please and thank you!
And here ends our coverage of Leverage: Redemption season 1B. Thank you so much for being there! Hopefully you enjoyed our crazy theories and comments on this amazing show, it was a pleasure to share this with you. Fingers crossed so we can do it again!
Do you like the interview? Feel free to share with us in the comments below!
Leverage: Redemption season 1B is streaming now on IMDbTV.
