From Grace Toby of Canadian Living:
Link: True Blood star Anna Paquin on her new CBC drama, Bellevue, and her Canadian roots
“The writing and the conception of the show by the two women who wrote are very interesting. It was inspiring to be in an environment where you’re creating and working with other smart, strong women. The stories are out there, waiting to be told. This kind of show was very appealing to me.” Continue reading.Â
From Bill Harris of Postmedia Network:
Link: Anna Paquin goes from one dangerous small town to another in Bellevue
My first question to Anna Paquin regarding her new show Bellevue was straight-forward and slightly accusatory.
I said to her, “The first thing I have to ask is, did you not learn anything about small towns?†Continue reading.Â
From John Doyle of The Globe and Mail:
Link: CBC’s Bellevue is much stranger than advertised
The new CBC drama Bellevue (Monday, CBC, 9 p.m.) is a whodunit with a lot going on. That is, an awful, awful lot going on.
It’s very good, an atmospheric, well-acted drama. In its favour, it has a distinct Canadian gothic sensibility – it’s about decay, a mining town gone to seed, and it’s about hockey, religion, revenge, death, loss, the mystery held by the reservation outside of town, the mystery held by a closed mental-health treatment centre outside of town and the mystery held in the dense woods around town. Also, it’s about transgender teens. Continue reading.
From Victoria Ahearn of The Canadian Press:
Link: Anna Paquin on returning to Canada for ‘Bellevue’ and ‘Alias Grace’
Oscar-winning actress Anna Paquin of “True Blood” fame says she didn’t deliberately set out to work so much in her birth country — Canada — in the past year.
The Winnipeg native, who grew up in New Zealand and became a star in Hollywood, says she just goes where the work is good. And right now that’s here, with the upcoming “Alias Grace” miniseries and the new CBC drama “Bellevue,” which premieres Monday. Continue reading.
From Melita Kuburas of Metro:
Link: No mistaking Paquin’s pursuit of the truth in CBC’s dark drama Bellevue
Anna Paquin likes playing women who are free to make mistakes. Her latest character makes a lot of them.
In CBC’s upcoming serialized thriller Bellevue (debuting Monday, Feb. 20 at 9 p.m.) Paquin portrays Annie Ryder, a woman who approaches her job as a detective without much care for her personal safety. To get closer to a source, she gets drunk and high with him in a hotel room; she has a creepy stalker, yet she follows his clues alone to a dark shed in the woods. Continue reading.
From Sea and be Scene:
Link: Billy MacLellan on duty in ‘Bellevue’
“I was in my truck driving to Los Angeles when I got sent the audition for BELLEVUE. Somewhere west of Winslow, Arizona. I pulled over to a restaurant, read all of my lines into my phone and I had them memorized by the time I hit California.” Continue reading.
From Sea and be Scene:
Link: Shawn Doyle stars in Bellevue
“This was truly one of the overall fave bonding experiences of my career. We all believed in the project from day one. Adrienne said at the first read-through, they made a point of only hiring team players. Billy and I became very close, partly because we could bring our east-coast humour to the party. Often in this business, the heavier it is on screen, the more fun is had on set between takes. It’s a release-valve kind of thing. As a cast, we loved each other. It’s rare.” Continue reading.
From the Cape Breton Post:
Link: Cape Bretoner plays role in new CBC drama
“It’s surprisingly dark. It’s definitely not for kids. At the end of one of the trailers you can see a spray of blood on the CBC logo – I’ve never seen anything like that before.†Continue reading.
From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:
Shawn Doyle says Bellevue is far more than your standard procedural
“I am seeing all these shows on CBC, as well as on Frontier, where we are learning that we don’t have to copy templates, styles or subject matter that is done elsewhere to be successful. I feel that we’re gaining confidence in finding unique stories in this country. The more specific to a place a show can be and more honestly and firmly planted in a location, the more universal appeal it will have because everyone can relate. I’ve never been to Broadchurch but I can certainly identify with what those characters are going through on an emotional level so the show is really compelling because of that. We’re starting to achieve that here in Canada in a big way.” Continue reading.Â
From Alice Horton of CBC News:
Link: Anna Paquin busts TV stereotypes as Bellevue’s flawed female lead
“She makes choices that are a little bit risky and sometimes a bit dangerous, but it all comes from a really deeply, passionately connected place of wanting to do her job and wanting to have justice be served and wanting to take care of her town.” Continue reading.
From Debra Yeo of the Toronto Star:
Link: Script drew Anna Paquin to CBC crime series Bellevue
“Once I read three episodes of the show I knew that regardless of the fact I didn’t necessarily know where my character was going, I just intuitively trusted (Maggs’) writing and the strength of the scripts enough to go, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ . . .  I understood their intention was to create a whole back story with my character, full of regret and secrets and potential guilt . . . and that intrigued me.†Continue reading.
From Melissa Girimonte of The Televixen:
Anna Paquin on Bellevue and double standards for female characters
“There’s a humongous double standard as far as the way fathers versus mothers are depicted, and what’s expected of them. This idea that women have to account for exactly where they are all the time and what their kids was doing. Female characters are held to a much higher standard, and aside from it being completely unfair, it’s also completely dismissive and disrespectful of the role that fathers play in their children’s lives.” Continue reading.
