People in bureaucratic roles often garner recognition from their peers and the general public for the respectable strides they take in their authoritative roles, as they determinedly work to make their communities a better place for everyone. But when they begin abusing their power for their own personal gain, even if they’re mainly striving to protect the people they swore to serve, society rightfully begins to question if their leaders are working in everyone’s best interest. That important moral question of whether compromising your morals, and taking immoral actions, is the best way to achieve beneficial results for everyone, is powerfully presented in USA’s new drama series, ‘Complications.’ The show, which started its 10-episode run on June 18, and airs on Thursday nights at 9/8c on the cable network, stars Jason O’Mara and Jessica Szohr as caring medical professionals. But the two are jeopardizing their careers as they take drastic measures to not only serve their patients, but also their own needs.
‘Complications’ follows a disillusioned suburban doctor, John Ellison (O’Mara), who’s still contending with the emotional effects of his daughter’s death. But he unexpectedly becomes a vigilante hero when he intervenes in a drive-by shooting, during which he saves a boy’s life. But then John later learns that the boy is still marked for death, he feels compelled to save him at any cost. With the help and support of the women in his life, including Gretchen (Szohr), a reckless but capable nurse; his wife, Samantha (Beth Riesgraf), who’s still struggling with her own issues; and his by-the-book coworker, Dr. Bridget O’Neil (Lauren Stamile), who often deals with the aftermath of his actions, John begins compromising his morals for all the right reasons.
Szohr generously took the time recently to sit down for a roundtable interview to talk about starring in ‘Complications’ during NBCUniversal’s New York Summer Press Day 2015 at the Four Seasons Hotel. Among other things, the actress discussed how she was drawn to the character of Gretchen as soon as she read the pilot episode, which was written by the drama’s creator, Matt Nix, as the story allowed her to continuously reveal the nurse’s complex layers; how she initially created a backstory for Gretchen when the show first began filming, but as she receives each new script, she learns more concrete information about her character that alters the way she approaches playing her; and how she watched several medical television shows and films that helped her better understand the life of a nurse, but she didn’t want to base Gretchen on any other characters that viewers are already familiar with.
Question (Q): Was there anything that surprised you about the show when you first arrived on the set, or different from what you expected from the script?
Jessica Szohr (JS): Almost everything surprised me. When you read the script for a pilot, and you like it and are drawn to the characters, you don’t really know where the story’s going. Not only can you not tell from the script, even if the creators do already know where the plot’s going, they don’t tell us.
So I read the script from (the series’ creator,) Matt Nix, and it was great. Gretchen was someone who I was like, “Finally, this is a character who’s different from (Szohr’s character, Vanessa Abrams, on) ‘Gossip Girl.’ I can play this character and get into the story, which has layers.” But you don’t know where it’s going.
But at the same time, I was like, “Oh, a medical show. I don’t know.” Not that medical shows aren’t great-they are excellent; ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘ER’ were wonderful. But I questioned if I wanted to play a nurse for potentially five or six years.
The pilot was wonderful though, so I booked it. But when we then started shooting it, I had no idea the type of turn the show was going to take. It was like being in the middle of a gang war, and my character has a sister who’s in and out of rehab. She also has a girlfriend, and has to deal with John, who gets on her nerves, but who she loves so much.
So since there was so much going on in the first season, I had no idea it was going to go in the direction it did. While the story is beautiful, so many things surprised me. During every script I read, I was like, “Now she has to take care of this kid, and then her sister’s coming in. Now she has a girlfriend, and is stealing drugs, breaking into things.” I had no idea that any of that was going to happen.
Q: Do you bring the character of Gretchen home with you at all, or are there any aspects of your life that remind you of her?
JS: I don’t really take her home. In some ways, I wish I was more like Gretchen, because she’s braver than I ever am. But overall, I bring the character out on set, and then leave her there. Obviously, I do work at home, as I break things down and go over scenes at night. But I’m not stealing drugs or shooting people.
Q: Like with many television shows, the story and character development on ‘Complications’ is open-ended throughout the season; you aren’t given a complete arc of where the characters are going, and how the plot is going to be resolved, in the initial script, like you do with films. How does that open-ended storyline influence the way you approach playing Gretchen?
JS: That’s what’s interesting about acting on the first season of a show-as the scripts are coming in, I’m learning more about Gretchen. I initially created a backstory, just so that I had something to play off of, and would have layers about her that I could bring to life.
But then as I read each new script, I’m like, okay, this is what happened to her in foster care, which is why her relationship is like this with her sister. This is probably why she didn’t date men in the past. So as this first season was unfolding, I was learning more about her as I was going. Sometimes when I was reading later scripts, I was like, that would have been nice to know about her for the pilot, because then I would have played it this way. But that’s the exciting process, and why I love my job so much.
As we continue the show, I can open up this and that side of her, but not touch certain aspects about her right away. So that’s an exciting process while you’re filming the first season-I’m bringing her to life as I’m learning about her. While that process is scary and challenging, it’s also fun and exciting.
Q: Were there any real people, or fictitious characters, who influenced your portrayal of Gretchen?
JS: I watched a couple medical shows, because for any hospital scene that I was in, I had to act like I had already done the procedure hundreds, or even thousands, of times. We also had amazing nurses and doctors on set, who helped make the procedures second nature to us.
So there were television shows and films that I watched, but I didn’t want to base Gretchen on anyone else. I wanted to show her in her own unique way, like when she’s smoking a cigarette next to a patient who’s passed out on the bed. (laughs) That’s pretty crazy and ridiculous-it’s like, what is she doing?
Q: With Gretchen being so bad sometimes, are there any other characters who are similiar to her personality that you enjoy as a viewer?
JS: I feel like Nurse Jackie is a powerful and strong woman, as are many of the characters on ‘Orange Is the New Black.’ On ‘Breaking Bad,’ the women dealt with a lot, and had a lot of layers.
As ‘Complications’ continues, you see why Gretchen came through to be the person she was. She went through a lot, but she’s trying to be a good person. She’s trying to do things in the right way, but she doesn’t always do the right thing. She’s like, “Let’s just break the window and get the drugs, so that we can sell them.” But things ultimately blow up in her face, because she doesn’t fully think them out.
That’s why her and John’s relationship is so amazing-they need each other and she respects him, but he also annoys her. But they have each other’s backs and they need each other, although they get on each other’s nerves. They do have a good relationship though, so you fight for them to stay together. They try to do the right thing, but they don’t always go about it in the right way.
Written by: Karen Benardello