Terminator's Manson Reveals All

Shirley Manson--the newest cast member of Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles--can't fight the machine.

That is, Manson--previously known as the Scottish-born lead singer of the 1990s pop band Garbage--can't manage the vocal part of her own band's song, "I Think I'm Paranoid," as it appears in the video game Rock Band.

Seriously?

"Oh, no," she says with a laugh. "I score horribly."

She adds in her distinctive Scottish burr: "Machine vs. human. Who will win?"

It's a question she might ask about her new TV show. (Massive spoiler ahead!!)

Anyone who watched the Sept. 8 season-two premiere of the cult-hit Sarah Connor Chronicles learned the well-kept secret that Manson's corporate chief character, Catherine Weaver, is actually a liquid-metal T-1001 Terminator cyborg from the future.

Manson, co-stars Leven Rambin, Garett Dillahunt and Brian Austin Green joined some of the show's writers and producers to have breakfast with SCI FI Wire and other Web journalists during a visit to the show's set at the Warner Brothers studio lot in Burbank, Calif., on Sept. 9. We lounged beneath a canopy set up in the town-square set on the lot (perhaps best known as "Stars Hollow" from The WB's Gilmore Girls).

Manson--sans costume and makeup, dressed in a dark blue blouse over black leggings and buckled black boots, her red hair pulled back in a bun--talked about playing the new cyborg and about performing a song in the show's season debut.

The T-1001's number seems significant: Robert Patrick's T-1000 cyborg from the feature film Terminator 2: Judgment Day could only do so many things. Can Weaver's plus-one cyborg do more?

"You know, we have to switch all the numbers on them," said series creator Josh Friedman. "We like to have our own numbers. I wouldn't read more into the numbering system than is necessary."

Oh, so she doesn't have more abilities? Manson whispers in my ear: "Of course I do."

Manson also allowed that it muddies things up to sing and act on the same show. (Terminator marks Manson's debut as an actress.) It's like the time a publicist primed her for her first appearance at last summer's Comic-Con International by saying, "You'll feel like a rock star!"--forgetting, of course, that Manson really was a rock star.

Below is an edited version of a conversation with Manson, Green and Friedman. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

It must have been difficult to keep the secret that you're a killer cyborg from the future.

Manson: It wasn't the easiest of things, because I'm known for my big mouth, so for me to keep quiet about anything is a challenge.

When they talked to you about taking on this role, they pretty much knew from the beginning that you were going to be one of these robots from the future?

Manson: I believe so. I was having lunch with Josh's wife, and she said to me, "Josh is interested in having you on the show. Would you be interested?" And I laughed and said, "Oh, yeah, sure." I had no idea at this point what he wanted me for, so I was just like, "Yeah, OK, I'll be on a TV show, why not?" And then the writers' strike happened. But over the course of the writers' strike, his wife kept saying to me, "You know, Josh is serious about this. Are you serious about auditioning?" And I was like, "Yeah, yeah," thinking, you know, it'll never come to anything. And then I was in Scotland, and I got an e-mail from Josh saying, "Are you interested in auditioning?" I said, "Yeah, OK," and he went, "Well, I need you to be here on Friday to audition." And this was, like, two days before. And I was like, "Oh, my God." So I came home. I auditioned the next day, and then they liked my audition, so I had to go through another series of, I think, three auditions, and I got the part, much to my surprise.

They were pretty secretive about the whole thing. I mean, I knew, to be honest, that it was a Terminator, but I didn't know the extent of the role. I didn't know if it was a wee role or a big role.

Are you playing it as a person or as a robot?

Manson: As a robot. Yeah. I felt like she shouldn't be particularly natural, so, yeah, there was a deliberate choice to make her very stiff, because I knew that ... she's at the top of the league in terms of robot series, so I knew she had to be quite sophisticated. She couldn't be like Cameron [Summer Glau], and she couldn't be like Cromartie [Dillahunt]. She had to be, you know, more sophisticated than that. But, at the same time, I didn't want her to be complete 100 percent human either. ... So I deliberately tried to make her as stiff as possible, within reason. And then, as we discovered, as we talked over the shooting, her steps between the first and second, you also wanted to be compelling on screen, so you have to give and take to a certain degree, because that would be very dull otherwise. ...

I think it was surprising for everyone to learn that you actually sang in the episode. [Manson's version of the gospel spiritual "Samson and Delilah" opens the episode.] Is that going to happen again?

Manson: Well, I did it as a favor to Josh. He practically pleaded on bended knee. ... [To Friedman] You got me drunk, and then you asked if I would do it. And I decided I would do it, even though it was really not where I was at. I just sort of wanted to be doing this from an actor's standpoint. Because I thought I would be setting myself up. Because when people look at musicians who are acting, they just really don't like it very much. So I knew I was setting myself up for a little bit of trouble. ... When you switch the TV on, 99 percent of the time, you just accept what you're seeing. When a musician comes to the scene, they don't accept that you are who you're saying you are, because they know you're something else. Which is totally fair. So I was a little reluctant to do it. But because Josh asked me so nicely, I felt I ought, and I trusted him that we could take that gamble.

Brian Austin Green, did you give Shirley any advice about jumping into a series like this?

Green, who plays Derek Reese: Shirley and I kind of met in the beginning, but we haven't worked together yet, so we haven't really had too much of an opportunity to talk. We did a little bit at Comic-Con at the panel, but no. I haven't helped her at all. I've given her nothing.

Manson: Well, first of all, Brian was very, very kind and welcoming and friendly, which ... actually does help. And then, also, I was telling him how nervous I was, and ... he shared some of his own feelings about acting. ... It actually meant a lot to me that he took time to explain to me that some of the things I was going through were normal and I shouldn't get too freaked out by feeling freaked out. And that is helpful when you're hearing it from someone who's seasoned. I'm coming at this completely as a novice.

How are you working through the process; how are you doing this?

Manson: I have no f--king clue. I mean, obviously it helps, you get more comfortable with the other actors, you become more comfortable with the process, you start to learn. I mean, I'm learning a lot as I go that I think people like Brian would just take for granted. ... You come on set and you do a scene, and what I didn't realize day one was that you have to remember exactly what you've done physically. Because I was just coming and doing something, and then they'd say, "OK, you have to do it again." And I would think, "F--k, where do I put the phone? Where did I set the computer down?" So there's physical memory that's involved in it. Just a random example.

You don't have any formal training as a singer or as an actor?

Manson: No. Which I think is actually beneficial. Because a lot of people said to me, when I got this opportunity, ... "You're insane. You've got to go to acting class, you need to, what are you thinking of? You're arrogant, you're crazy." And I thought, "That's what everyone said to me when I started out as a singer, so I don't believe I need to listen to that."

In a way it's performing, right? You've been performing your whole life.

Manson: Right, of course. Also, I think as a singer you are channeling human emotions, to a certain degree. Yes, there's the technical aspect of writing music and bringing it to the stage, but it's also about emotion, and it's also about thought and experience.

How does working with a TV show compare with working in a band?

Manson: It's very similar in some ways. I mean, in this I keep joking to friends that I'm the bass player in this band. My new fun band.

Friedman: She's transferred [the] burden [to me] from Garbage. [In the band, her nickname] was Queen. She's taken the crown off, and she's given it to me. So she calls me Queenie all the time. I'm like, "Why do you call me Queenie?" She's like, "It's your band, man." So now I'm Queenie.

Manson: [I've] relinquished all control, which actually feels really good.

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