When the first pictures came out for the Blade Spike TV series, not only did we get to see Sticky as Blade, but we also got a chance to see that girl from the Mercury commercials, Jill Wagner, as Krista Starr. We talked with Jill about the Blade series and more.

TheBigBadWolf: How did you land the role in the Blade Spike TV series?


Jill Wagner: My manager called me, he had heard about this Krista Starr role. Initially I thought was a lot like myself, as I say, initially I thought she was a lot like myself (laughs). He read the character and said it would be perfect for me.

I got the script on Sunday. I auditioned for it on Monday, Tuesday were call backs, Wednesday were call backs, Friday was the network test and Sunday I was moving to Vancouver. They were searching for this girl and I knew they have been trying to cast it forever. I have been trying to get an audition. It is kind of happened so fast.

You go on audition's and you think, "I didn't get that one, or that one." (laughs) It is really cool. Peter O' Fallon, who is the director of the pilot really pulled for me. You know, I don't have hardly any experience. This is my first scripted role. It is a big difference from the Lincoln Mercury commercials.

I hope I am good at it, I am really trying. It has been a big learning experience. I learn more and more each episode. A lot of the other actors have done stuff and I try to learn from them and watch them. I try to take in everything and try to act my character as best as possible.


TheBigBadWolf: Can you tell us about the character you are playing, Krista Starr?


Jill Wagner: It's funny. Krista started out being from Detroit. Then I went to the audition with this accent and they rewrote her being from North Carolina instead of Detroit. Sometimes I can lose it, like in the Mercury commercials. (laughs) I wanted her to kind of be from the South. I wanted her to have those values in her that I could bring to the table. So she is from the south. She is a very strong and stubborn kind of girl. She is very fiery, and she's ex-military. She just returned home from the war, it is set in present day. She returns from the war and finds out her brother has been murdered. The cops don't tell her enough information and she just doesn't buy it.

She then decides she is going to do her own investigation. During that time she stumbles across Blade. She then finds out this whole underworld of vampires exists. She is a really strong girl that is put in a lot of bad situations. For instance, one time I am out in the snow with hardly any clothes on and they are pouring rain on me. I'm like "This is Spike TV right?" (laughs)

It's really fun, my character is a blast. She kicks ass, she can shoot a gun. She was a sniper in the army. It is really cool, she is kind of like an Alias character.

TheBigBadWolf: Did you do any research on vampires when you got the role?

Jill Wagner: Sweetheart, I dated vampires! (laughs) My whole research on vampires is this. When I was really little and up until the present time I have had these recurring vampire dreams. I have probably had six since I moved out to LA. I remember when I was five years old telling my grandmother that I was having these dreams. It was weird though, because in these dreams I was never afraid of these vampires. The vampire presence was never a bad one, just very intriguing.

One of the dreams was that I was in a grocery store and all of these vampires were up on the rafters. They would swoop down on me, but it wasn't scary. I can't even explain it, its just so weird. That is why when I got this audition, I was like "Oh my god". Maybe I was forecasting this was going to happen.

I think because that I have had all these dreams with vampires it has just made me more intrigued with them. I never had a negative view of vampires. I think to be a vampire you are a very passionate creature. You take what you want, you do feel and you do have emotion and guilt even. I am trying to think of vampires in more of that light not just blood suckers that kill and live forever. Maybe to see vampires in a better light. Lots of people forget that Blade is half vampire, not every vampire is evil. Hopefully I can do it justice.

TheBigBadWolf: Speaking of research, have you ever read the Tomb of Dracula comics, which featured the first appearance of Blade?


Jill Wagner: I didn't and I talked to Sticky about that the other day. He has all the Blade comics. He reads comic books 24/7. I sometimes see them posted around, and I will read a page and wonder where the other pages are.

I wasn't a comic book girl growing up, I used to play a lot of video games. I played Tomb Raider every night when my brother went to work. I would usually play it until 3AM. I would have dreams that I was Laura Croft. I would kick ass all night and get up ready for school the next morning. (laughs)

TheBigBadWolf: Look out Angelina Jolie. (laughs)

Jill Wagner: That's right, Krista Starr is coming. Maybe we can have a spin off where she kicks Laura Croft's ass. (laughs)

TheBigBadWolf: Did you watch the three Blade movies, and if so, which stands out as your favorite?

Jill Wagner: I saw all three of them and I think I like the first one the best. When you think about a vampire movie you have a certain image in your head already about what you expect. I think I was so far off when I initially though about Blade, I kind of had in my mind what it was going to be like and I was so far off. When I saw number one I was like "Oh my God". I was really, really impressed. I didn't think it was going to be like that. It was really well done.


TheBigBadWolf: No doubt! The blood bath scene is where it's at! What has been your favorite scene so far in filming the series?

Jill Wagner: I know, that is the best scene ever! It looked like a really cool scene to shoot, I bet the extras loved it. (laughs)

TheBigBadWolf: Speaking of scenes, what has been your favorite scene so far in filming the series?


Jill Wagner: It's so funny that you mentioned blood bath scene because I actually took a blood bath the other day. It was a huge tank filled with blood. I had to get submerged in it. It was the weirdest thing I had ever done in my life. This stuff was opaque, it wasn't see through and it was think and slippery. They spent so much money on this blood so it wouldn't stain my skin because the next day I had to fly to LA and do the Lincoln Mercury commercial. (laughs) Can you Imagine? I go to the commercial and I am red? (laughs)

I have had so many cool scenes. This one isn't my favorite because I am afraid of heights but I was up on the side of a building over the ledge of it 15 stories up and then 20 feet above that suspended in mid air by two ropes. They dropped me down on the ledge of the building and I had to leap forward. It was terrifying to me because I cant even be up on a ladder and my knees would give out. I felt like I was going to throw up. (laughs)

It was a really cool experience though. I am getting this experience that people pay to do.


TheBigBadWolf: What has been your favorite kill so far?


Jill Wagner: I got to kill this guy the other day. I got to chop off his head with a sign. Wielding it up like an axe and chopping it off. So that was pretty cool. (laughs) My grandmother is going to be like "What? Is this my granddaughter?" (laughs) Chopping off heads and saving lives.


TheBigBadWolf: When the first promo pictures came out it featured you wearing heels and a leather dress, showing some fang. How was the whole experience of shooting the promotional shots?


Jill Wagner: Initially when I read for Krista Starr, I didn't go through the whole script. I read three or four scenes. I had no idea how big of a part of this series she is. She is basically the audiences eyes in every episode. She is the one in the basement searching around. When the audience wonders what is in that room, it is Krista that goes in.

I love Sticky to death and I knew that he would be all over the place, I just didn't know that they would put me with him. I am so glad about it. This is my first show and I will be interested to see how people react to someone who hasn't had a lot of acting experience.

My whole deal is I am a real person and I relate Krista to me. Now Krista is getting kind of far away from where I am. (laughs) I always kind of felt that I could portray a character on screen. I think a lot of people must think that. I think I did okay, I don't watch myself because I think my voice sounds weird on screen. My voice is so low on screen. Most of the time when you hear a girl scream it is like from a B movie where the scream is high pitched. When I scream it is different because my voice can't get that high. (laughs)

I have been so happy that they include me in everything. I hope that help launch me in a bigger audience. I know a lot of people don't really know who I am now but for some odd reason, that is okay with me. (laughs) I'd rather jut kind of be anonymous and do the work, but I know it comes with the territory. That's part of my job though, but I get really nervous especially with the whole red carpet thing. The worst thing about it is just standing there and all these people are taking your picture and I am just thinking "Why are you taking my picture?" (laughs) I'm just Jill Wagner.

TheBigBadWolf: How does it feel to know that many people are Googling you, looking for the Mercury Girl?


Jill Wagner: Its so weird! The whole thing of stardom is kind of weird to me. Before I moved to LA, I don't really know what I did, I must have been outside playing with my dogs or something. (laughs) I didn't really go watch movies, I didn't have a US Weekly, or a Star Magazine, I really didn't care what those people did. Now its like I am in that environment and I know that people have Googled me. It is very flattering. But at the same time I think, "Oh my god, what are they going to find out?" I am trying to think if I had done anything bad, I don't want my dad knowing. (laughs)

It is surreal to a point but on the same token, I don't blow up anything in my head. It is what it is, Its a job to me. Maybe it is because I haven't walked enough red carpets to get to that point. That is the one part of this business that I had to sit myself down and say" Are you going to be okay with this?" I am a real private person. I respect other peoples privacy. I like my friends and my family but I like it closed in. You just have to give and take in this industry, and I am ok with it.

I kind of get offended when the press says mean things about the young people in Hollywood. That is really detrimental. I'm a pretty tough chick and I was raised by my father in North Carolina. He is an ex-marine and he is tough. (laughs) I got a lot of his genes, so that is probably why I don't have a boyfriend right now. (laughs) I consider myself an All American girl, up front, and a very honorable person. That was just instilled in me because of my family, and that is just who I am.

TheBigBadWolf: Some people may remember you from MTV's Punk'd. How fun was that whole experience and do you still keep in touch with Ashton Kutcher?

Jill Wagner: I shot like twelve episodes. I used to talk to Ashton a lot more. He has always been a lot of help to me, like a big brother. He has given me a lot of good advice. He is a really intelligent guy, a good friend and he has helped me a lot.

Punk'd was really my first acting job, but that was improv. It is a totally different from scripted acting.


TheBigBadWolf: "You gotta put Mercury on your list" How did you get pocked to be Mercury's spokesperson?

Jill Wagner: My commercial agent called me. I hardly ever go on any commercial auditions. Every time you go in you have to dance or sing or something stupid like that. I just don't get it. It is hard for me to sit in a room and dance to Brittany Spears. (laughs) If you are trying to hire me off that, don't hire me. So my agent called me and told me it was within walking distance of my house and they always have to say it is within walking distance or they know I won't go. (laughs)

They wanted a latin person. I have Cherokee Indian in me so my skin color is olive. I was on my way to the airport so I decided to stop by on the way in. I went towards the end of auditioning and there was one girl there and she was leaving. Normally if there is a line, I walk in and walk out. (laughs) I went in and auditioned and I left thinking "That was horrible I will never get it." They asked me what was my first car and I told them "A Trans-Am that I wrecked when I was sixteen, when I hit a tree." (laughs) Then I kept getting call backs and call backs and I was thinking "Wait a minute, is this actually going to happen?" (laughs)

When I went back for call backs, you know its like walking into a room full fifty of girls exactly like you.

TheBigBadWolf: Wow, really?

Jill Wagner: (laughs) Yeah. You are like "Where was I when that room was going on?" (laughs) It is a very odd situation to be in a room with about fifty people that resemble you. It makes you think "What am I going to do to stand out?" The one thing they told me that they say at Lincoln Mercury was a tape of me laughing. When they shot it, the director had his dogs there and they kept doing some funny stuff, so I couldn't stop laughing. So that was my audition, me laughing. (laughs) I thought "That was easy, let me go on more auditions." (laughs)

It was a long process though, because it was a big campaign. It is working for them, so I hope they sell more cars.

TheBigBadWolf: Tell us about your singing and songwriting hobbies, do you plan on releasing an album in the future?

Jill Wagner: My whole life my friends have told me that I need to get into singing. My last boyfriend was a musician. He had a studio in his house. I always wanted to mess around and record something but singing to me is very personal. The things that I write, I don't think that I would want to publish it because it is very personal. It is more therapy for me. I kind of just like to keep that under my bed. If there was ever a time that it was brought to the table that I could do it, I would think about it. I love music. Music is probably my number one love. I love all kinds. I don't even have a TV, I sit around and listen to music. It is like therapy to my soul, I love it. I even talked to Sticky saying "C' mon Sticky, lets do it," but I said "Jill ain 't rappin'". (laughs)

When things calm down a bit, I would do it. I have a list of things to do before I die and doing a CD is one of them. Not releasing it but just to have it. I love being in the studio. Maybe I should have been a rock star, I don't know. (laughs)

TheBigBadWolf: How can fans find out more about you? You do have a MySpace account correct?

Jill Wagner: My friend told me about MySpace. I did create it but one of my friends runs it. I do check it often though. It is one of the best ways of promotion. I had no idea that it was so huge. I have the Blade trailer on the myspace account now.

TheBigBadWolf: Yes, I saw you strolling through with the nice dress on.

Jill Wagner: (laughs) That is the dress that gets so sipped up that you won't even recognize it. The pilot was fun. The most interesting part of my life has been when I was shooting this. It is like nothing I have ever experienced. I am like a sponge right now, trying to take everything in and just get better at it.

I know right off the bat that I won't win any awards for my acting, (laughs) but I definitely want it to get better and I want to keep on working with coaches. You have to learn and practice, practice, practice. Hopefully people will give me a chance, but I have to say that I held my own in the pilot.

TheBigBadWolf: Let's talk about the subject of Sticky replacing Wesley Snipes as Blade.

Jill Wagner: Someone asked me if I had one wish for the show, what would it be? My wish would be that people give Sticky the benefit of the doubt. Try not to put him with Wesley Snipes. Wesley is a different actor. Sticky is trying to give it his own flair. He knows that people will say "No, that's not how Wesley did it." He is trying to do it his own way. He is bringing a lot of his own flair to the table. He is really into it. He had to fight for the role and I am glad it is him. He is an amazing guy to talk to and be around, he is really cool.

When Sticky is all up in his garb and has all his weapons on he is intimidating as hell! The other day during filming, Sticky was standing in front of this older man and the man turned to me and said "He is really scary looking right now." (laughs)

When I first saw Sticky in the network tests he looked really intimidating. He is really approachable though. He is down to earth and cool. I have learned a lot from him. I love the days when we work together.

TheBigBadWolf: Does the main cast hang out at all after filming?

Jill Wagner: Our schedules are really kind of different. By the time I get done filming I want to go home and crawl into bed. I get up at 5:30 AM and get home at 9:30 PM. On the weekend I am going to go hiking with Jessica Gower. She has a beautiful baby girl and is here with her husband. Sometimes they cook dinner and the cast will go over there. The whole cast is so different from each other.

Jessica is from Australia, Neil is from Britain, Sticky is from New York Nelson is from Canada. We all mesh well together and it has a really great vibe.

TheBigBadWolf: In closing, do you want to say anything else about the Blade TV series?


Jill Wagner: I just hope everyone gives it a chance. The story lines get really really good. It shows a lot of back stories on the characters. Especially Blade. It shows more about his childhood. It is a really well done show. It is a lot of fun to make and I hope that comes across on the screen.

Sticky has a lot of good things to bring to the table. He is just as entertaining as Wesley. So if people love him, they will love Sticky.

TheBigBadWolf: Thanks for taking the time to do an interview Jill, it was a pleasure to speak with you. We look forward to your upcoming Blade Series on Spike TV.

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