Marathon of hope

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This article was published 19/09/2017 (3220 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — In the film Stronger, Tatiana Maslany plays Erin Hurley, the runner Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal) was awaiting near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon before terrorist bombs forever altered both their lives.

If Saskatchewan-born actress Maslany, 31, came to the role as a familiar face, some credit must be given to a sci-fi-infused TV series that gave her a chance to show off her thespian skills.

We are speaking, of course, about the YTV series 2030 CE, which ran from 2002 to 2003.

Shot in Winnipeg, the series was a kind of spin on Logan’s Run, in which a generation of young people struggle to survive in a world where no one lives past the age of 30. Maslany played a 12-year-old computer whiz aiding the show’s hero in defeating the corrupt government network conspiring to maintain control of the post-apocalyptic world.

The show was cancelled after two seasons, but it did introduce Maslany to the demands of a television series, experience that would serve her especially well through five seasons of the critically acclaimed series Orphan Black, in which Maslany played a young woman who discovers she is one of many clones, all threatened by agents of a secret scientific conspiracy.

Maslany has fond recollections of working on 2030 CE, despite the fact the dystopian location occasionally necessitated shooting in a sewage treatment plant, employed to convey an industrial setting in the future.

“We did night shoots in, like, the poop factory,” she says with a laugh. “But I loved it. It was like summer camp. We were, like, 15 and working on a kids show, and it was the coolest thing that’s ever happened.”

As Maslany grew, of course, the multiple roles she played in Orphan Black, which earned her an Emmy Award in 2015, proved to be a more important calling card, given the actress’s facility with different personalities and accents. But none of that prepared her for the task of playing a real person in Stronger, in which she got the chance to consult with Hurley, the woman represented by her character.

“I met Erin quite early on in the process,” Maslany says during press interviews at the Toronto International Film Festival. “She was an amazing support to me and also, in this process, generous in giving me this story and her answers to my questions, and just her energy and time. She was amazing in terms of that.”

Maslany said she likewise felt support from the city of Boston in telling the story of Bauman’s dramatic recovery from the bombing, which left him facing the challenge of living as a double amputee obliged to learn how to walk again on two prosthetic legs.

“The trust that they gave us in telling the story and the commitment that even the extras had in those marathon scenes — full commitment to these performances as extras as runners — it was just so moving,” she says. “I really think that’s a Boston thing. The authenticity was important to them, of telling the story right.”

As for Maslany’s Regina roots, the actress says she is grateful for the work ethic her birthplace instilled in her.

“I’ve always auditioned and worked and trained not knowing if I was going to have a job, and I really loved the process of training,” she says. “I feel like because I came from a small town, where there were very few opportunities, I’m very grateful for every opportunity I get.

“Also, I think Saskatchewan has this immense space to it, this wide-openness that your imagination has to fill up or else you’d go nuts,” she says. “A lot of my friends are very creative and are actors or improvisers or comedians or visual artists or dancers.

So I think there’s a real culture of creation in this space because it’s so… “

Maslany’s voice falls to a whisper.

“… empty.”

randall.king@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @FreepKing