'Mr. Robot' Star Carly Chaikin on Big Reveals, Keeping Secrets
Call her Sister Robot.
Ever since the big reveal of "Mr. Robot's" first season -- that titular hacker anarchist/mental delusion was the embodiment of Elliot's father and loyal fsociety footsoldier Darlene is Elliot's flesh-and-blood sister -- actress Carly Chaikin got to tackle her role from a whole new perspective. And she's enjoyed the dramatic switch-up immensely.
"Last week's episode of the opening of that was probably one of my favorite scenes in the series," Chaikin revealed, "which is funny because Rami [Malek] and I, when we first saw the opening scene, we were kind of like, 'Eh.' Then once we really started to work on it together, became our favorite. It was really one of the only scenes in the show where it's just two people being together and having this brother/sister relationship with no drama and no agenda. You just got to see them be."
Chaikin joined Moviefone and a handful of journalists to chat about, among other things, how that big surprise has been playing out from her point of view.
How did Season 2 change things up for you, in the way that you thought about her, once you had some more information about who she was and where the season was going to go?
Carly Chaikin: Darlene is definitely very different this season, and it's been so much fun to play that difference. And to really be able to let her come out after keeping her so hidden last season for the whole reveal of them being brother and sister, and just having this new militant approach and role of really having the world on her shoulders and having to kind of take the reigns, and take the lead, and take control. So to be able to play that with also her vulnerability and fear underneath has been so much fun as an actor.
What was that wave like for you as this show got to be such a huge thing? When did you start feeling it and sensing that this isn't just another show?
I mean, it's still almost hard, it's so crazy to absorb and to actually really see the impact that it's had even today. I think almost from the beginning, starting with SXSW, the feedback that we got from that, and then going to Tribeca and being the first TV show there. We kind of slowly started, all these things were kind of happening that were really cool and different and kind of hasn't happened before.
With all the fan feedback, and then, of course, getting nominated for the Golden Globe was just mind-blowing and so unexpected. So I think it's still kind of sinking in, for me, personally. It's really hard to wrap your head around that you get to be a part of something as big as this and as cool as this.
Has it changed your life a lot?
Not ... I mean, I'm such a loser! [Laughs] I don't really go out. None of my friends are really actors. So, in that regard, I still have all the same friends and do all the same things. But it's definitely, it's changed my life as an actor and the way I approach acting and Sam has just challenged me as an actor, and it's of course helped my career. But yeah, I mean, in a way it has changed my life for the better, and I couldn't be more grateful.
Is Darlene inconvenienced unexpectedly by any changes she's spearheaded?
Yeah, of course. I mean, we see her in the beginning on the floor crying, seeing the consequences of what happened. I don't think, a lot of the times when you impulsively do something like that, you don't think of the consequences, or think that, "Oh, I could have just destroyed the world."
I think seeing the legitimate aftermath of that has really shaken her, and I think that's a real battle this season, of "If I don't see this through and we don't follow through, then I'm the monster." Last week's episode when, we see Elliot telling her the follow through is the most important, the aftermath dealing with that is what's most important. We can't let up. And she really took all of that to heart, and that's what she's holding on to, is finishing what she started.
Of the issues that the show deals with, what's fascinated you to the point that you've actually done research or looked into, not just for your character, but just for your own education?
It's made me think a lot about how technology has changed our human relationships. So I don't know as much of like research and issues as it has just in general it has made me think so much more about how we operate and our relationship to technology and how isolating it can be when we think it's really connecting us more, but in actuality isn't.
And, also, just hackers and what they can do and what they have done in the past, with Anonymous and with all these other groups, it's definitely made me really interested in that, and I've watched a lot of documentaries.
Are you more cautious now about anything that's online?
I think I've always been good at not posting pictures or doing anything like that, but it's made me paranoid of what the possibilities are.
I was out at this club, and this girl tried to grab my purse, and I like pushed her away, but then after she left, I was like, "She dropped a chip in my bag, and now she's going to monitor me, and now she's going to steal my information, and know where I am," and all this stuff. And my best friend was like, 'That is not going to happen. Calm down."
Did you and Rami have a conversation about your characters being related, and where to take that?
Yeah, last season before he gave, in episode 2 ["Eps1.1ones-and-zer0es.mpeg"], the whole speech to Christian [Slater] about the story with his dad, Rami and I work on a lot of our stuff together, and we sat down for like an hour and we really talked about what that looked like and what our relationship was like, and how it was growing up together, and what we think of our mom and what we think of our dad. And we've really kind of built this backstory and talk a lot about what it was like.
Do you like not knowing some of the secrets that are embedded in the show and finding out later? Or would you rather know as much as you possibly can up front?
It depends. There are some things that I would need to know. Like this season, if we didn't get all 10 scripts ahead of time, I don't even know how I would have been able to play this. But overall, there are still so many things that I don't know that we'll ask Sam [Esmail, the series creator], and I'll be like, "Why ... ?" And he's like, "Don't worry about it."
And so in a way, it's fun, because we all sit around and try and figure it out, and think about what it could be. I know Portia [Doubleday] wants to know everything. I also don't want to hold on to all that information and not be able to tell anyone. So it's like I'd rather not know, in a way.
Does Sam do that with everybody who comes on the show?
Yeah, we're all just convinced that he's going to kill all of us. And we're like, "Are we all going to die? Please tell me you're not going to kill me."
Do your friends try to get you to give little reveals? Do they bug you to give up some kind of insider info?
Well, what's funny is everybody goes, "Don't tell me anything!" And I'm like, "I wasn't going to." I go, "Oh, because you said 'Don't tell me,' I'm not going to -- as if I'm not sworn to secrecy and like there's nothing you could say to get me to tell you!" And so people really, actually don't want to know because it's so fun watching it and not knowing.
Have you had the experience where, because you're so different in this show, that people don't realize you were Dalia in "Suburgatory"?
Yeah, a lot of people online and stuff I saw, like on Twitter, will be like, "Oh my God, I just realized that!" But I love it. It's exciting for people to not be able to know that.
"Mr. Robot" airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on USA.