After six seasons on CALIFORNICATION, Madeleine Martin admits she was hoping to see the rebellious daughter of David Duchovny and Natasha McElhone finally meet her maker.
“I really wanted that,” she tells me. “I thought it would have been really great and dramatic if Becca was hit by a bus or something and Hank [Duchovny] was distraught. That would have been really exciting.”
Instead, producers sent her riding off into the sunset in the passenger seat of a convertible with the kind of unkempt slacker boyfriend that would have most fathers reaching for a shotgun.
So far, Becca has not made an appearance during season seven.
“It came to a time where I had been on the show since I was 14,” Martin says. “I think I was ready to go. I don’t know if I am at liberty to say this, but I do come back. I assume that is not a big surprise.”
In the meantime, the actress, 21, is preparing to (finally) enter college and will appear later this month in the Lifetime Movie Network film MY DAUGHTER MUST LIVE. The story centers around a 16 year-old dancer [Martin] who experiences unexpected liver failure and is certain to die if a transplant can’t be found. As relatives are tested to find a suitable donor, secrets are revealed that threaten to tear her family apart.
Martin told me more about the film, her career and what it was like spending six years on one of TV’s sexiest dramas when we caught up earlier this week.
How did you get in the Lifetime movie business?
They called me up and asked if I was interested. I am a big fan of JUSTIFIED and I relished the opportunity to work with Joelle Carter, to play her daughter. And also to work in Toronto. My parents met there. I am Canadian. They went to the University of Toronto. So it just seemed like the chance to work there and get back to my Canadian roots would be really fun.
I did not know you are Canadian!
I am a dual citizen. I was born here, but I have Canadian citizenship because my mom was born there.
Is this the direction you see your career going in? As opposed to some of the types of roles we have seen you in before?
I am definitely going to still do theatre and do other types of TV and film. But this was an opportunity that I thought would be fun.
It must have been crazy growing up on the set of a show like CALIFORNICATION…
There were a lot of things I didn’t understand and I had to Google… But it was definitely good for me because I got all of the teenage rebellion out on camera, so I didn’t have to do any of that in real life. Which was probably a great thing for my parents.
You obviously saw all of these other young women coming in and out of that show, doing God knows what on camera. Did you ever think “This business is going to be horrible when I get older?”
No. I wasn’t even allowed on set when anyone else was working. It was a closed set. So even though I was on a very racy show, my perception was very different from what everyone saw on TV every week.
So you never had to see David Duchovny naked when you were 13?
No. But I saw Rick Springfield in a Speedo. [laughs]
You have actually done a lot of other great work besides that show. What was JOJO’S CIRCUS like?
That was a big part of my life for a long time. It was probably my favorite thing. It was a cartoon on Disney Channel. I didn’t really consider it a job. I played Jojo, who is a clown that solves problems with her pet lion. I would sing every week. There were a couple of songs on the show. I must have done that show for 5 or 6 years.
Will you be doing anymore theater?
I don’t know. I just finished PICNIC last year, which was really fun. It was at the Roundabout. And I did HARPER REGAN at the Atlantic Theater Company right before that. So I am taking a bit of a theater break right now.
Congratulations on finally turning 21. Was that a big deal for you?
You know, it wasn’t the hugest deal because I lived in Canada when I was 19 so I was able to drink there. I still don’t feel like a complete adult though. I am waiting for that to kick in.
What do you think will make you feel like a complete adult?
I don’t know. Maybe getting a drivers license. I still don’t have one because I just take the subway everywhere in New York. I had a permit and I drove on CALIFORNICATION, but never in real life.
What else would people be surprised to learn about you?
A lot of people are surprised when I tell them I am a hip hop dancer. Which is actually one of the reasons I was excited to do this movie. But [the director] was like “Don’t be good at dancing. She is supposed to be sick!”
Have you been offered more grown up roles now that you are getting older?
I still play children all the time. I don’t know what it is. It works for me because I don’t feel like an adult. But in (MY DAUGHTER MUST LIVE), I was playing 16.
Are you eager to get out of playing kids and having meatier, adult role?
Yeah, but I do love playing teenagers because they are so complex and there is something really fun about playing a teenager. But I am sure eventually I will want to play an adult.
Becca was so dark in the beginning. Was that fun for you to play?
It was! Gosh, I was so young. I think I was the complete opposite of that character, but everyone just assumes you are just like your character.
What do people ask you when you meet them on the street?
It depends what city I am in. In New York, people recognize me from theater which I always enjoy. So maybe we will have a conversation about whatever play it was. In LA, when I am in Venice or Santa Monica it is always for CALIFORNICATION. And most of the time people ask about David (Duchovny) and what he is like. I also get a lot of college guys who will come up to me and be like “Hank Moody is my idol.” And I want to say “I don’t know if that is the best thing!”
What did you learn about men and relationships from your experience on that program?
I don’t think I trust any TV show’s portrayal of relationships. So I don’t think I took anything away from it in that department. I hope I will have better taste in men than did.
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