Recently, we had the chance to talk with Rachel Nichols, who discussed her life as an actor, her starring role on the sci-fi series Continuum, and her new horror film Demigod.
Horror Geek Life: When did you realize you were interested in acting?
Rachel Nichols: Well, it’s kind of an interesting story. I grew up in Augusta, Maine, not the epicenter for fashion, theater, or commercial acting by any stretch, and as my dad says, I was ready for college in kindergarten. My parents promised me wherever I got into school, they would find a way to pay for it. I wanted very badly to go to Columbia University in New York, I got in, so my parents said great and sent me on my merry way. I got a job at Abercrombie & Fitch, and three or four weeks into my stay at Columbia, I told my parents I wanted to go to business school here after I’m done with my undergraduate. They said great, you’re going to pay for it, which I knew I couldn’t on my current salary. But then there was a happy accident where I was in the right place at the right time.
I was meeting a friend for lunch, and I got scouted by a modeling agency, so I started modeling, then I did commercials. They asked if I wanted to act and I said sure, anything to help me pay my bills to get into business school. The first audition I went on was for one episode of Sex in the City, which I ended up booking, the one episode, and I loved it. I had a great time, and I will say Kim Cattrall was so nice and lovely to me. I mean, at 6:30 in the morning I was telling her I’d never acted before, she could have been very rude or ignored me, but she was lovely. I left Silvercup Studios that day after we were done shooting and thought, I like this. I enrolled in acting class in New York City, got my degree from Columbia in Economics and Psychology, then I got an offer for my first movie and my parents said, if you want to try this acting thing now is the time to do it. So, I moved to LA and I’m still here! (Laughs)
HGL: You’ve done a lot of work in both television and film. Do you prefer one medium over the other?
Rachel Nichols: You know, I love them both for different reasons. I’ve been working up in Vancouver recently on a TV show called A Million Little Things, it’s a great show, but I literally just finished shooting two weeks ago and my episodes are already airing, so there’s an instant gratification there. Obviously, if you are doing a pilot, you have to wait to see if it gets picked up and taken to series. But to jump into a show that’s already shooting and my episodes are already airing, it’s crazy fast and so gratifying because it comes out so quickly.
Movies are different, and we shot Demigod in prime pandemic time, which was in the fall of 2020, so you have to wait a little bit longer. I like the fast pace of TV, sometimes you’re doing 10-12 pages a day, it’s very energizing, but I’ve done movies before where we’ve spent an entire day doing one-eighth of a page, and that was also great. In the end, I go to the roles I’m drawn to, then the medium in which it’s going to be on, but I like them both and just want to do good work.
HGL: What lead to you taking on the role of Kiera on Continuum?
Rachel Nichols: This is an interesting story, too. My girlfriend said to me, can I send you a script, right now it’s just a Canadian show, but I said sure so she sent it to me. It was the first episode of Continuum. I read it and forwarded it to my team and said, I love this. They said okay, we’ll let you know when it gets American distribution and I said no, no, I want this role. So, I literally set up my own audition. I was in New York at the time, got the part and my team said, but it’s just a Canadian TV show, and I said but it’s so good, I want to do it. Of course, when you read something that’s sci-fi that’s set in the future, you don’t know if the money will be there to make it look good on the screen, but I was enamored with the whole idea and I really pushed for it. After the first season, my team went well, I’m really glad you did this, it’s great! (laughs) So, I made the right choice and then got to do it for three more seasons, too.
HGL: Continuum was a solid sci-fi TV series, and I don’t think ever got enough recognition. How do you look back at your experience on the show?
Rachel Nichols: Well, I completely agree with you, it didn’t get enough recognition. I’ve been on a lot of filming sets, some were really stressful, others insane, but just to tell you how well we got along, everyone from the cast of Continuum came to my wedding. We were all very close, no egos on set, I mean Victor Webster, Brian Markinson, who I was just working with on A Million Little Things actually, they were such big pranksters, we had a blast shooting that show, it barely felt like work. I’ve only had a couple of other experiences like that, one of them being Alias, but I felt that way about Continuum and I stepped into an Executive Producer role at the end. We just loved each other and believed in the show and had a great time.
The first season, we shot in Vancouver in 2012, and it was in the second season where I met my husband, Michael, so the show literally changed my life, in so many different ways. One of the things I was really happy about with Continuum, and a lot of fellow Vancouverites were happy with as well, was we said it was set in Vancouver. We didn’t lie, pretending it was New York or Boston, we said it was Vancouver, so we got a lot of love from Vancouver for that. Sure, shooting under rain towers for 8 hours, yeah, not ideal, but I have nothing but love for that show, I wish I was still shooting it today. It’s probably the thing I’m the proudest of out of everything I’ve ever done in my career.
HGL: You’ve played strong female roles over the years. Do you think women are getting better jobs in the film industry these days, or is there still a long way to go?
Rachel Nichols: I really think it’s two-fold. I think women are getting better roles, especially behind the camera now, but I think it’s that way because women are finally being allowed, you know what I mean? Women have the confidence to say, I want to direct, and now that’s acceptable. I, myself, have acquired the rights to a book I love. I’ve written the first pass at the script, I want to direct it…I don’t know if I thought that was achievable five or ten years ago, but I believe in it now. I’ve worked with some incredible female directors, I did a pilot years ago with Kathryn Bigelow, and I just remember being in awe of her, I loved her, she was such a force to be reckoned with and I was really inspired by her. I also worked with Amanda Tapping, who directed the two most difficult episodes of Continuum, and she was phenomenal. She said, anytime you want to shadow me, just ask, and even though that was years ago, I know if I phoned her up to today to take her up on her offer, she’d say yes. However, it was only in the past couple of years where I thought I could actually acquire the rights to a book, write the script, and direct it, so I think there are a lot of opportunities being opened up to women. But I think that’s also because women now have the confidence and believe they can do these things.
HGL: Let’s talk about your newest film Demigod, and how you got involved with the film. And, earlier you mentioned it was shot during COVID, so I was curious if you had some trepidation in accepting the part?
Rachel Nichols: I love that you asked that. I got the offer for it, and this was prime COVID time before there was any vaccine available. I thought okay, I want to get back to work, not that I don’t love my house, my dog, and my husband, but I wanted to get back to work. (Laughs) So, I got the offer, read the script, and was totally intrigued by it and I had a conversation with Miles (Doleac), the director, and he instilled such faith in me I just thought, if I’m going to put my foot back in the water, and this guy is going to direct it, I’m pretty sure we’re going to be okay. We had our own cabins, got tested three times a week, and my husband and I talked about it and we thought Miles was trying his best to keep us all safe so I said, okay, let’s go. I got there, met Miles face-to-face, and it immediately felt like we were all family. I felt totally safe and thought, this was the way to go back to work. Nobody tested positive for COVID, that’s the entire cast and crew, during the five weeks we were shooting on campus. It was kind of creepy, but also kind of cool, having my own cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere. Initially, it was all about being attracted to the script and getting back to work, but Miles is so genuine and lovely, it was the perfect way to go back to work.
HGL: The character you play, Robin, is vulnerable, yet also strong. Is that tough to balance, and is it something you look forward to?
Rachel Nichols: It’s something you look forward to doing, or I do, anyways. I like to play the strong character that can be vulnerable and I joke now by saying, I don’t have to wear the skin-tight suit and look hot and sexy anymore, that time for me is done. Now, I want to play the broken-down people, I want to get into the really juicy roles but still be strong, so Robin really was the perfect combination. She might have had an inkling of what she was getting into, her husband Leo obviously did not, going to this house she inherited, but if she knew exactly what was going to happen, she wouldn’t have gone. Just put that house on the market and give it to a realtor! (laughs) Playing her was really fun, the dual personalities essentially is a huge challenge, requires a lot of work, and that’s what I like to do.
HGL: Miles Doleac, the director, has a role in the film as well. Was it distracting acting alongside him, or is it more helpful for you?
Rachel Nichols: I love that you asked that. Just having a director in general who is an actor, is very beneficial for me as an actor. Sometimes, you can have a director who doesn’t really understand acting and I worked with a couple of them. Not that they were bad directors, but you get notes from them and you think, what does this mean, I have no idea what they are asking for right now. It wasn’t distracting at all. It was the first time I had a director take on a sizable role in a film, and I found it very helpful, not to mention he’s a very good actor. I think it was a help, and really lent itself to the movie because it was a small crew. It was a pandemic, and you had a lot of people wearing a lot of different hats. I really liked working with him in both capacities, and I don’t think his acting in it took anything away from his directing at all.
HGL: Do you enjoy the horror genre, as a fan and/or actor?
Rachel Nichols: Yes to both. I’m from the great state of Maine, the land of Stephen King. I’ve read every book he’s ever written, plus watched all his movies, so yeah, I grew up a huge horror fan, thriller fan. The Silence of the Lambs is my favorite movie of all time, I’ve seen it more than any other movie. I don’t know what that says about me mentally, but I’m totally in support of it. I just loved to be scared and to be able to work in the genre, which I think has taken on so many different looks over the years. They are advertised as horror/thrillers, and then you get into them and they offer some deeper levels of thought, such as Get Out. I remember the first time I ever saw Carrie, the original Carrie, I went to a friend’s house to watch it because I wasn’t allowed to watch R-rated movies, and I loved the feeling of being thrilled and scared. Having the opportunity to act in them, The Amityville Horror, P2, Demigod, and I’ve done a lot of them, I find them so enjoyable, both to watch and to shoot. I loved to be scared and the thought of me being able to scare other people, that’s pretty great.
HGL: Lastly, what other projects do you have coming up?
Rachel Nichols: So, speaking of thrillers…after I did Demigod and before I did A Million Little Things, season four is currently airing on ABC, I did a Netflix movie called The Last Will and Testament of Charles Abernathy, it’s very much like HBO’s Succession with a family/thriller twist, and we shot that on Vancouver Island and in Victoria. Again, I get to play a dual personality, a character with a vulnerable side and also is a bitchy, older daughter, and I’m very excited for it. A great cast and group of people. I have a couple of projects coming in the New Year that keep shuffling around, COVID moves it here, funding moves it there, and a couple of things that aren’t greenlit yet, so I can’t talk about them. I’m superstitious about things that haven’t been greenlit. I feel if I talk about them, they’ll disappear! (laughs) So let’s stick with A Million Little Things and The Last Will and Testament of Charles Abernathy, as those two I’ve already shot.
I want to thank Rachel for taking the time to talk with us.
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