Exclusive: Nicole Muñoz on her Last Days on Defiance

Nicole MuñozLast week, Syfy premiered season three of its hit series, Defiance, and within it were quite a few big shocks, including the death of Christie McCawley, played by the talented actress, Nicole Muñoz, who recently talked to Jamie Ruby of SciFi Vision in an exclusive interview.

In the season premiere, after hiding her baby in the closet, Christie watched tragedy unfold as she witnessed both her brother, Quentin (Justin Rain), and her father, Rafe (Graham Greene), get murdered right in front of her. Soon after, her stepmother, Stahma Tarr (Jaime Murray), slit her throat.

The actress found out about her character’s death months in advance, and she understood it. "It was a couple months prior. I don't remember exactly when, but I had a lot of notice. Kevin Murphy called me and was really nice about it. He related the message really clearly and talked about why and what Christie's storyline is, and how she's dying for the baby, and that it's a very important story to tell, and it helps propel Stahma's story forward.

Nicole Muñoz"That's when I found out, and I was very much okay with it, because I understood, and I know it strengthens the show. So I was very much okay with going out like that."

It took two days to film her final scenes. "It was two days on set that sequence took, and it was a weird two days for me, because I wanted badly to stay in that mindset of Christie, because it was a very emotional scene: watching her brother die, watching her dad die, being scared for her life, trying to save the baby, and then finally deciding that she isn't afraid of dying herself.

"It was two days, but thankfully, Michael Nankin was there on set, and he kept me in a safe, emotional place, and also just made everything work quickly. Everyone was on point, and everyone knew what they were doing.

"We had blocked the whole sequence out a couple days prior, which was extremely helpful, to be honest, because there was a lot of blocking, especially in Rafe's scene, because it was a tracking shot. He comes in, and he's shooting, and then he's standing on his mark. And there's like ten people in the room, and everybody's shooting at him. And there's also the stunts, and that took a long time to rehearse. And the bullets were going - well not real bullets (laughs) - and they're going and hitting him, and smoke's going off. And that was an intense sequence to A: block and B: film, and it took a couple takes.

"And for me and for everyone else in the room, you have to be just as shocked every time it happens. So I wanted to really stay in that mindset. So actually, I found myself in the closet a lot during those last two days, just getting away from the crew and the cast. Instead of thinking, 'This is my last two days; how sad is this?' I had to stay in character and go, 'Okay, you're Christie; your dad's about to die. Think about that and get in that mindset.' I had to do that. So I stayed in the closet where it was dark and quiet, and then I would come out when it was time to film. (laughs)"

Nicole MuñozThe difficult part about filming the moments leading up to Christie's death, was actually about Muñoz's lines in Castithan. "That was intense. First, the Casti that I had to speak in there was "joyous." (laughs) I wouldn't say nervous is the right word, but it was a sad day, my final day on set on a show I've been on for years. I knew my lines; I got it, and everything was fine. They were coming out, but they were coming out kind of robotic.

"And I looked at Jaime, and I'm like, "I need your help." And she's like, "Sure. Come sit beside me." And she said, "Just say them out loud. Don't even care; these people are just setting up. Just say your lines and say them loud. Just be proud that you're running them."

"She completely understood where I was mentally, and she was like my saving grace that day on set, so I have to thank her for that.

"It was a tough scene to do, but it wasn't hard to be Christie and to be brave and to be willing to die for the baby, because in a sense, I was willing to die to move the show forward, so that's the parallel that I drew to get in that headspace. I was like, 'Go ahead and kill me. I'm ready for you guys to move on' kind of thing.

"It's definitely really sad, but everyone was so respectful of everyone on that set that day, and everything went really smoothly."

Nicole MuñozShe talked about Stahma killing Christie, and the motivation behind it. "That came up during blocking; we wanted to portray how Stahma wasn't doing it super selfishly. She was doing it to save the baby. What we were trying to get across, was that she had to pick someone and kill someone quick, because that baby was about to wake up and start crying, and then Rahm Tak (Lee Tergesen) would have gone and killed the baby too.

"So there was like that silent contract between me and Stahma that was like 'Kill me; save my child.' And she had to make that choice.

"I thought it was a brave move to kill Christie, because she was putting the baby first. I think Stahma might have been able to find a way out of it, and if not, I mean, she could have tried, but I'm glad she didn't. She was brave and she listened to Christie, and Christie gave her permission to kill her. She did what was best for the family, and I think that shows a lot for Stahma. She didn't think of herself; she thought of the big picture."

The actress's favorite moment of the show was actually part of her last day working on the series. "The final moment on Defiance, when everyone's saying good bye to each other, getting flowers, and thanking each other, it was just like I felt very very sad, because I was leaving the family I created years ago, and it was really kind of sad to lose them, but then everyone was so nice and made me remember that just because I'm done on Defiance, doesn't mean I'm done with them. And since then, since I've stopped filming, we have all stayed in touch, and I am keeping up with them, and it's just really nice to see that not only were we a family on set, but we were also like truly a family off set."

Graham Greene and Nicole MuñozMuñoz also took a moment to reminisce about her favorite scene she filmed in the series, which took place last season. "[My favorite scene] I think, just selfishly, because I really loved getting in Casti makeup finally, was that club scene with Christie. And just seeing Alak (Jesse Rath) coming in, and just finally Christie being able to get mad at him in public, and kind of setting her foot on the ground. And I think that was a really big turning point for her character. So that's why that scene really meant a lot to me.

"And then also that was the first time I really got to try being Casti and try being Christie trying to be Casti, because she wasn't exactly the best at it. (laughs)

"But it was really fun, and it was a new set, and the music was really cool. I just remember that being one of the best days I've ever had on that set."

The actress will miss working on her character the most. "I'm going to miss working on her character. I've put so much time and energy into her, and it's going to be really hard to sort of put her to rest. I have notebooks and notebooks about Christie and what I thought her headspace was, and how I thought that she would react to things, and her emotions, and some journal entries as Christie. So many things that I just wish I could have written more. I just wish she lived, but unfortunately that's not the way it went down, and now I have to put her to rest. So I'm going to miss her the most I think."

Even so, she is okay with Christie's death. "[The show] was a great experience; I'm going to miss it. I'm happy with the way Christie died. I think she died for a really good reason; she died for her family. The thing she's been wanting the last two seasons was a family, and she finally got one, and then she died for it. I don't see a better way how Christie would have died, to be honest."

Still, Muñoz has thought of how she would have liked her character's storyline to end. "I would have liked her to have actually seen her happy ending. A family is what she's wanted her whole life, and she got it, but she was kind of still being chained to a table (laughs), so she didn't really get the house and the crib and the loving husband. She was stuck in a cold mansion and then died, unfortunately. I would have liked to have seen her finally get what she wanted to the fullest extent."

Jesse Rath and Nicole MuñozEven though she is no longer on the show, the actress will continue to watch Defiance. "I'll definitely be watching. I get the Canadian time, so I'm a little behind when everyone is live tweeting, but I'll definitely continue watching. I mean, it's my family on screen; I can't not watch."

Muñoz was not big into science fiction before Defiance, but now she would like to try watching some more now. "I don't normally watch sci-fi, to be honest, but then again, I don't normally watch that much TV at all, but this show is kind of what introduced me to sci-fi, and so I mean I can't just leave the genre. I'm going to start watching more, and I obviously will stay with Defiance. I really want to watch Dark Matter; those trailers look really cool."

The actress has a couple more roles coming up, this time in film. "There's a movie - I don't know where it's going to come out or if it's going to go to DVD or what, but it's called Sorority Murders. The title is the plot (laughs), so it's a sorority, and there's a murder. So that was fun; I filmed that in October.

"But I'm actually flying out to location to do another movie on Wednesday, but unfortunately I can't say much about that, but at least I am still working, so that's good."

Muñoz had a hard time choosing her ultimate dream role. "It's hard to pick [one] dream role, just because I am so all over the place and want to try everything. I think a really cool action movie would be amazing. I think a really well detailed sci-fi movie would be incredible. I would love to try comedy one day, if I ever do that. You know, I feel like every actor has their one rom-com on the shelf somewhere. But, you know, I don't have any specific dream roles, just that I really want to be doing different roles and different characters for as long as I possibly can, as long as [people] are interested."


*Photos courtesy Nicole Muñoz*

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