CSI Files
Captain
<font color=yellow>Jorja Fox</font> has seen her character Sara Sidle go through a lot over the five and a half years CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has been on the air, but the 6th season has been less tumultuous for Sara, even allowing her to help Nick Stokes (<font color=yellow>George Eads</font>) as he grapples with the fallout from his ordeal in "Grave Danger". Fox took the time to sit down with CSI Files to discuss the reunited CSI team, her complicated reactions to the team split in the previous season and Sara's relationships with the other characters on the show.
CSI Files: Sara had quite a traumatic year last season. What do you think the fallout will be from that?
Jorja Fox: One thing that's been really wonderful for me this season is that it's the first year that I haven’t come into the season with some sort of impending disaster or something really heavy going on in Sara’s personal life. So it's been nice to sit back a little bit and sort of pass the torch to George and also to <font color=yellow>Paul Guilfoyle</font> (Jim Brass), who did "A Bullet Runs Through It" (Parts One and Two) and <font color=yellow>Louise Lombard</font> (Sofia Curtis)--they had a very rollercoaster, emotional event in their lives happen. I don't think any of those stories are over and done. I do think the writers have left me with something of a reprieve for a little while. And it's been kind of nice! I had at least one episode with George where Sara got to be the person on the sidelines. She could relate to what [Nick] had gone through, though it's not exactly her own experience, but she could be there for him and watch him come to terms with his own trauma. That was a really nice arc for me to get to play for Sara, instead of being in the middle of all the tragedy, to be the person on the sidelines, saying it's going to be okay. That was really, really fun. But yeah that stuff [about Sara's past] will be back for sure. There's a lot of cool stuff, especially about Sara's mom. It's out there in the ether somewhere and we'll see when the writers decide to bring it into the show.
CSI Files: Are you enjoying playing Sara as being someone to lean on as opposed to needing to lean on others?
Fox: Absolutely. I think interestingly enough Sara's incapable of leaning on anybody. It happened very early in the series--there were actually one or two moments where she was able to lean on Nick Stokes. So it was kind of cool that when this came back for him, she got to be somebody that was standing there. And though the character of Warrick Brown (<font color=yellow>Gary Dourdan</font>) has saved her butt a couple of times, the character of Nick Stokes has been that guy to check in and be like, "Hey, are you okay?" I think Sara's definitely been an island for most of the length of the series. It's really nice feeling I came into season six and I still am [an island]. I'm always looking for moments in the script where at least my character can be a little lighter and have a little bit more of a smile. I think that those two episodes in season five, they were very cathartic for the character in the sense that there was some stuff she got to move through. And although there're elements of that that probably still haunt her, I think that she does feel a little bit more empowered and a little freer from her past than she had for the length of the show.
It was getting close to painting her into a corner of no return I think. I'm always so excited to play these things, and they're always a surprise. Either you hear a few days before the script comes out or you hear when the script comes out--you're just reading and you’re like, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to be in a mental institution! What? And my mom was there?" It's scary to play that stuff. It's so fun because it's like, "oh, surprise!" but the truth is there’s always a part of me that hopes the audience actually can take this journey with this character. I hope it's not something that's just going to put my character in a place where less people end up relating to her than before. Between the drunk driving thing and chasing Grissom for over a year and a half and the lab almost blowing up on her, she's had a lot of stuff [happen to her]! So it’s almost like, "Whew! Thank God the audience is still with me." It's a sigh of relief that people aren't like, "Oh, Sara's crazy! I don't like her anymore."
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To read the full interviews, please click here.<center></center>
CSI Files: Sara had quite a traumatic year last season. What do you think the fallout will be from that?
Jorja Fox: One thing that's been really wonderful for me this season is that it's the first year that I haven’t come into the season with some sort of impending disaster or something really heavy going on in Sara’s personal life. So it's been nice to sit back a little bit and sort of pass the torch to George and also to <font color=yellow>Paul Guilfoyle</font> (Jim Brass), who did "A Bullet Runs Through It" (Parts One and Two) and <font color=yellow>Louise Lombard</font> (Sofia Curtis)--they had a very rollercoaster, emotional event in their lives happen. I don't think any of those stories are over and done. I do think the writers have left me with something of a reprieve for a little while. And it's been kind of nice! I had at least one episode with George where Sara got to be the person on the sidelines. She could relate to what [Nick] had gone through, though it's not exactly her own experience, but she could be there for him and watch him come to terms with his own trauma. That was a really nice arc for me to get to play for Sara, instead of being in the middle of all the tragedy, to be the person on the sidelines, saying it's going to be okay. That was really, really fun. But yeah that stuff [about Sara's past] will be back for sure. There's a lot of cool stuff, especially about Sara's mom. It's out there in the ether somewhere and we'll see when the writers decide to bring it into the show.
CSI Files: Are you enjoying playing Sara as being someone to lean on as opposed to needing to lean on others?
Fox: Absolutely. I think interestingly enough Sara's incapable of leaning on anybody. It happened very early in the series--there were actually one or two moments where she was able to lean on Nick Stokes. So it was kind of cool that when this came back for him, she got to be somebody that was standing there. And though the character of Warrick Brown (<font color=yellow>Gary Dourdan</font>) has saved her butt a couple of times, the character of Nick Stokes has been that guy to check in and be like, "Hey, are you okay?" I think Sara's definitely been an island for most of the length of the series. It's really nice feeling I came into season six and I still am [an island]. I'm always looking for moments in the script where at least my character can be a little lighter and have a little bit more of a smile. I think that those two episodes in season five, they were very cathartic for the character in the sense that there was some stuff she got to move through. And although there're elements of that that probably still haunt her, I think that she does feel a little bit more empowered and a little freer from her past than she had for the length of the show.
It was getting close to painting her into a corner of no return I think. I'm always so excited to play these things, and they're always a surprise. Either you hear a few days before the script comes out or you hear when the script comes out--you're just reading and you’re like, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to be in a mental institution! What? And my mom was there?" It's scary to play that stuff. It's so fun because it's like, "oh, surprise!" but the truth is there’s always a part of me that hopes the audience actually can take this journey with this character. I hope it's not something that's just going to put my character in a place where less people end up relating to her than before. Between the drunk driving thing and chasing Grissom for over a year and a half and the lab almost blowing up on her, she's had a lot of stuff [happen to her]! So it’s almost like, "Whew! Thank God the audience is still with me." It's a sigh of relief that people aren't like, "Oh, Sara's crazy! I don't like her anymore."
<HR ALIGN="CENTER" SIZE="1" WIDTH="45%" COLOR="#007BB5">
To read the full interviews, please click here.<center></center>
