Written By: Jayme Face
Brittany Curran plays Fen in SYFY’s hit show The Magicians which has already been renewed for season 4! We caught up with her about The Magicians and other projects she’s been working on!
Photo Credit: Annie Shak
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about The Magicians and your character Fen?
Brittany Curran: The Magicians is about college aged kids that find out that the fairytale world they read about as kids is actually real. Then they find out that they are magicians and can really do magic themselves. They go to grad school, but at a magic school which they also had no idea existed. Then they end up traveling to the magic world that they read about which is called Fillory. They go on an adventure and that’s where one of the magicians meets me and my character Fen who lives in Fillory. In order to become the high king of Fillory he has to marry me. My character is obviously part of Fillory and she is an ice makers daughter. She grew up in Fillory which is a bit of an archaic society. She was promised to this man who is king since she was a kid and so she’s always used to falling in line with what she is told to do although she has always had a bit of a rebellious streak. A bunch of tragedies end up be falling her. She gets kidnapped by evil fairies when she’s pregnant and then she loses her child. She dives into a state of psychosis at the beginning of season 3 and she is just now finding her power, finding her independence and has been going through a journey of her own.
upfrontNY: This season is coming to an end what are we left with in the finale and what can we expect from the upcoming season?
Brittany Curran: It’s not going to be what you expect. I know actresses always say that, but it’s true. What happens at the end of season 3, the last episode, it’s a complete paradigm shift for everybody. Honestly, it’s still a mystery to me what’s going to happen in season 4. I’m actually genuinely, really curious, but my character really steps into her own and has an awesome end to the season. I’m extra excited.
upfrontNY: Were you familiar with the books before you booked the role?
Brittany Curran: I knew about them, but I hadn’t read them. So, when I got the offer for the show I was actually on my way into the gym for a training session and I immediately called up Barnes and Noble and put the books on hold. I was like Oh my God! I have to read these books! So, I got out of the gym, ran to Barnes and Noble and picked up the books. I started reading them right away and instantly became a fan.
upfrontNY: There are a lot of fan theories out there, is there one that sticks out to you?
Brittany Curran: Yeah! So, in the beginning of the 2nd to last episode there’s a story that’s told and there is a fan theory that my character is the person in that story. I don’t know if it’s true or not, I really don’t, but I absolutely love that fan theory. She does this podcast and she is a fan of the show and she told me the theory and I was like Oh my God! I don’t know, but I hope that’s true! I never would have guessed it myself, but I like it.
upfrontNY: What is one of your funniest moments on set?
Brittany Curran: I love this cast. We have a lot of funny moments. I fall a lot on set. On every blooper reel there’s always a clip of me falling on my ass in these big princess dresses being very ungraceful; that’s always funny. We always have so many fun moments. I would say all my falling on set. Oh, and Jade Tailor played a joke on one of our crew members Garry Brook. We were on set one day and she found his truck outside of the stage and wrapped it up completely in Saran wrap and blew up a bunch of balloons and then filled the back of his truck with it and his reaction was priceless.
upfrontNY: You have been an actor since you were a child, how were you able to transition as an adult in the acting world?
Brittany Curran: Yeah, it’s a big difference. It’s funny one of the everyday differences I never anticipated happening. I was 11 when I first started. I went to set and all the crew members and producers they were adults and I was the kid. I just felt they were in a different world socially which obviously they were because I was 11. All of a sudden I remember being on set one day in my 20s and looking around and actually being friends outside of the set with crew members. I realized I am the age of the crew members and the producers now I’m an adult. I got so used to being the kid on set that it was this whole shift for me. I’m actually older than a lot of the people now, it’s great though because I love being able to make a bunch of friends on set now that I’m an adult. It’s hard to make that transition as an actor from child to adult. I think you see a lot of actors struggling with their image and feeling like they’re a teeny bopper kid actor feeling like they have to over compensate and have to prove themselves in some way and go completely off the deep end. I don’t think you need to do that. I know it’s hard, but there’s a graceful way to do that. I’ve been fortunate that transitioning for me was a little hard, but I just happen to work with a lot of good people and I was surrounded by good people in my life so that really helped a lot. I like to think I didn’t go off the deep end; I’m pretty chill.
upfrontNY: You are very involved in several charities and you may even start your own foundation, can you tell us more about your involvement?
Brittany Curran: Yeah, definitely. Right now I’m working with a foundation called Donate Life and they basically champion organ transplantation. They raise money and awareness. They raise money for research. They’re having a 5k run/walk on April 28th and I started my own team. I have my team page and people can actually join my team and come walk with me. It’s happening in L.A. and they can donate to my team and it all goes towards Donate Life. I have that coming up and I’m super excited. I also want to start my own foundation for either heart or organ transplantation because my boyfriend got a heart transplant 5 years ago and it really opened my eyes to that world. It showed me how much more we need people to be organ donors because people are dying from needing organ transplants and it’s such an avoidable problem. More people just need to sign up to be organ donors and there’s no reason not to, there’s tons of information online. That’s one of the big things with Donate Life’s foundation is just trying to get more people on the organ donor registry. 22 people die a day because they are waiting for an organ just because an organ didn’t become ready early enough. So, yeah, that’s also what I’ve been focusing on. The one that I am doing is Donate Life California, but Donate Life America is the big one that controls all the other little ones and I know they pop up in other places.
upfrontNY: You have some upcoming projects as well including Captured can you tell us more about them?
Brittany Curran: Yeah, Captured is a horror film I did. I played this punk rock singer and that should be coming out later this year or early next year. I just had a film called The Man from Earth: Holocene. It came out on limited release in theaters in the beginning of the year, but it just got released on DVD and Blu-ray. I have something else I wish I could talk about it but I can’t talk about it yet, but hopefully I can talk about it soon.
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