FELICIA DAY'S "HORRIBLE" EXPERIENCE

Multitalented actress Felicia Day was already recognizable for her work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer before she created the smash hit Internet series, "The Guild". Now, she's teamed up with Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) to present another Internet event, Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog She's costarring along with Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Desperate Housewives and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Harold & Kumar, Starship Troopers) in this Whedon family project that will be premiering exclusively on the Internet beginng Tuesday, July 15th. Felicia took some time out of her very busy schedule to answer a few questions about Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog

UberSciFiGeek (USFG) How did you get involved in the "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long-Blog" prject?

Felicia Day (FD) I had seen Joss on the strike lines a few times and he had mentioned the idea of a supervillian musical to me, perhaps made fr the internet. I thought that was the coolest idea I'd ever heard. A few months later he emailed me and it said, "Can you sing?" You can imagine I was a little taken aback, it's not a question you hear everyday!

USFG) With a name like "Dr.Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog", one of the first questions that come to mind is, "Does Felicia sing?"

(FD) Yes! I did musical theatre all my life, mostly as a dancer but I had singing parts as well. I moved around a lot so theatre kind of kept my childhood together. Throughout college I took lessons from a professor at UT Austin, Jess Walters.

(USFG) Did you enjoy singing in "Dr. Horrible"? Have you been in any sort of musicl production before, and would you like to be in more of them?

(FD) OMG, singing in "Dr. Horrible" was fun and intimidating! Neil's voice is amazing, so singing opposite him ws nerve-wracking, but as soon as we were done, I wanted to do more! I did a LOT of musicals as a teen and again during college, like "Into the Woods" and "Fantasticks", "Oklahoma", you name it. Since moving to LA I've had a few jobs singing, a part in "Warm Springs", a few plays. It's not my career but I do enjoy it and would love to do more if it in the future!

(USFG) Was "Dr. Horrible" always conceived of as a musical, or did that come about only when Joss Whedon learned that you, Neil Patrick Harris, and Nathan Fillion have singing voices?

(FD) I can't speak for him, but I know when he floated the idea on the strike line to me, it was always connected to the word "musical". Joss has an amazing passion for music and musicals. His knowledge in the area blows me away. I love the idea of Joss, Jed, Zack and Maurissa getting together and writing this amazing script together and creating songs together, what a cool process!

(USFG) Having worked with Joss Whedon on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", what was it like working with him again? How was it different and how was it similar?

(FD) The "Dr. Horrible" set was a lot more informal than being on a professional TV set. There was a sense from everyone this was driven by passion and enthusiasm rather than being a "job". It felt way more like indie productions I've done. Of course the quality of production and the expertise of the cast and crew was equal to being on "Buffy", because Joss attracts the best at what they do. There were stunt people on both sets :)

(USFG) Captain Hammer as an online comic - will Penny also have an online exclusive? With your background as a gamer perhaps a mini online game?

(FD) I don't know anything about that end of it, but that would be cool! Float that idea out there! To be honest I don't know if Penny is a gamer. I would think she's more of a knitter or a baker.

(USFG) You've produced a lot of Internet content now. How is it different as an actor and/or producer for the Internet than it is for television or film?

(FD) It's night and day. When you have a huge professional set and 50 people working on it, everyone does only their job, and they do it at the height of their expertise. Internet content is much more blurry as far as those lines go. One day you'll be a producer, the next and actor, the next craft service. It's necessary because there's no money to pay people with most the time. But the great thing is you don't have layers of people to interfere with your vision as a creator, and I think more and more, professionals will discover that to be an attractive area to play in.

(USFG) If "Dr. Horrible" does well, is another film or related project planned?

(FD) You would have to ask Joss. I would love to play Penny again, in whatever capacity!

(USFG) Your character, Penny, isn't a superhero or a supervillain like Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible, but if you had to choose a superpower to have in your real life, what would it be and why?

(FD) Gosh, that's hard. I think invisibility. I like to eavesdrop. I used to only play rogues in games so I couldsneal in and steal things from the NPCs :) I don't do that in real life, btw.

USFG) Penny falls for Captain Hammer, at least initially. Who would you, as yourself, get a crush on - Dr. Horrible or Captain Hammer?

(FD) I'd have to say Dr. Horrible. He's definitely the wounded type, and I would love to try to heal that in him. Hammer is hot, but I don't go for guys who like to look at themselves in the mirror a lot ;)

Raven Kai, writer