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Melissa Benoist: the Marley of Steel

MarkHB

By MarkHB
in Supergirl

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MarkHB

MarkHB

Your Melissa thread!

To start, here's a clip from Melissa in Whiplash, just so those of us who only know her from Glee can see her actually act (language NSFW):

To be fair, I didn't think her acting was bad on Glee, but she certainly wasn't called upon to have the charisma and confidence of a woman who can crush a steel desk into a little ball.

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Kromm

Kromm

I gotta say, from the trailer at least, I think she's nailed this.

 

It's actually a good thing that she's playing a slightly different version than the comics.  While her civilian self has occasionally been a bit "nerdy but beautiful", in the comics that's usually mostly an act.  Melissa is very much playing that aspect as her true self, and we see that carry forward into the Supergirl persona too (at least in that trailer).  She's going for adorkable and seems to be reaching it.

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Actionmage

Actionmage

She's going for adorkable and seems to be reaching it.

 

When she's caught looking at the photo, I was waiting for her to have a snort in that chuckle.  I think that and her initial reason for going public are going to be a nice change. A hero who isn't reluctant.  That will be refreshing.

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Kromm

Kromm

When she's caught looking at the photo, I was waiting for her to have a snort in that chuckle.  I think that and her initial reason for going public are going to be a nice change. A hero who isn't reluctant.  That will be refreshing.

Confused.

 

I thought her entire backstory here is that she's spend a dozen years being reluctant.  

 

I do get however that there's quick action on her becoming enthusiastic about the hero life.  We kind of got that with The Flash though, didn't we?

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Actionmage

Actionmage

I thought her entire backstory here is that she's spend a dozen years being reluctant.

 

I read it not so much as reluctant, but flat-out denying The Call. The ' I just want to be normal' refrain. Yet, when she's faced with a personal enough reason, she not only answers The Call, but she delivers a quite hearty 'Hell yeah!'

 

She was also an orphaned, refugee teen thrust into a new society, so making the choice to be even more singled out as 'not from around here' would be anxiety-generating, I'm sure. As for getting enthusiastic? Well,  getting to know James Olson is a perk of being related to that famous cousin of hers, right? He's easy on the eyes.

 

I am looking forward to seeing how this actually plays out.  ( As long as it's not like MoS's Pa Kent, right?) 

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MarkHB

MarkHB

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An interview with Melissa

 

 

 

Why did you want the part?

Not only because she’s a strong female and a female hero which I think is so important and will speak to so many people at this time right now in the world. I also was so drawn to her humanity, even though she is an extraterrestrial with powers. I was drawn to how flawed and complicated she is. She’s more complicated than you see in superheroes nowadays. Greg breathed that life into her from the get-go. He even said to me in one of the auditions, “She’s like the Annie Hall of superheroes” — and that sealed the deal for me. I was like, yes!

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Kromm

Kromm

 

"You have to hold your entire body weight up with just your abs, sometimes while suspended 30 feet in the air," she says.

As tough as that already seems, if you have to talk, or gob forbid EMOTE while doing so?  

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MarkHB

MarkHB

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Not to mention look like you're actually controlling what you're doing, rather than being a marionette strung up on wires.

 

I can't imagine how it's going to be for Hawkgirl.  Making it look as if you're really flying with wings on your back?

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Kromm

Kromm

Not to mention look like you're actually controlling what you're doing, rather than being a marionette strung up on wires.

 

I can't imagine how it's going to be for Hawkgirl.  Making it look as if you're really flying with wings on your back?

Okay, but doesn't the Hawkgirl traditionally include a kind of leather vest thing?  Seems like it would be much easier to connect a harness to that, whereas the Supergirl harness has gone to be trickier to hide (ergo probably not having as many contact points).  

 

It also occurs to me that the wings might wind up being totally CGI.

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Chris24601

Chris24601

At least she's lighter than Dean Cain. I used to work at a children's science museum that had the 'moon walk' exhibit where you get into a harness and it lets you bounce higher. The comfort involved for the kids was inversely proportial to their weight at the point of contact. Being of much smaller build than Mr. Cain can ONLY help in the comfort department.

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jaytee1812

jaytee1812

I loved Melissa on Glee but she wasn't one of the best dancers on the show (and that's being charitable). I wonder of that might make the flying more difficult. That and she's quite tall, controlling her limbs will be more difficult.

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Kromm

Kromm

I loved Melissa on Glee but she wasn't one of the best dancers on the show (and that's being charitable). I wonder of that might make the flying more difficult. That and she's quite tall, controlling her limbs will be more difficult.

Yeah, but she's right that it probably comes down to core strength.  Flailing limbs is a likely side effect of not harnessing that core, because once the muscles there "go", the ones in the legs and arms will follow.  But if you hold the core, then I bet it's not as hard.  Under other circumstances we hold our arms and legs at straight angles, so it's not as foreign an activity as harnessing all that power in our middles.

 

Besides a harness point on the arms and legs supporting them won't hurt as much as the ones on the torso.  They weight less, so holding them up by single points each isn't as big a deal.

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BkWurm1

BkWurm1

Not to mention look like you're actually controlling what you're doing, rather than being a marionette strung up on wires.

 

I can't imagine how it's going to be for Hawkgirl.  Making it look as if you're really flying with wings on your back?

Technically the comic lore behind the Nth metal that allowed Hawkman and Girl to fly wouldn't require natural looking flapping of the wings.  Hovering is supposed to be normal, but they'd have to sell that to the audience or there will be pointing and laughing. 

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MarkHB

MarkHB

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Technically the comic lore behind the Nth metal that allowed Hawkman and Girl to fly wouldn't require natural looking flapping of the wings.  Hovering is supposed to be normal, but they'd have to sell that to the audience or there will be pointing and laughing. 

 

True, but somewhere along the line (at least in the Justice League animated series) the wings became organic.... and from what we could see in the LoT trailer they looked like that was the intent (no reason for Nth metal wings to flap, after all).  Of course, given the even-for-DC heinously convoluted history of the Hawks, they could go pretty much anywhere with the TV version.

 

And to bring this back somewhere near Melissa, she visited a theme park with her family this weekend.

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BkWurm1

BkWurm1

I'm sure she got recognized after joing the cast of Glee but viewer exposure on Supergirl is going to be at least double if not triple the numbers on Glee.  Best get those visits to massive public settings out of the way now and then let any interest level off . 

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wingster55

wingster55

Double or triple? I know it's an exaggeration but..Glee was a hugely popular show and her casting was anticipated (in a "who's gonna be in the new club now?" way)

 

Then again it is the lead of a CBS show (for some reason I was briefly thinking it was on CW)

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Kromm

Kromm

For some reason, she physically reminds me of Blake Lively... maybe her smile.

You know, for some reason, I see someone saying something about some actress reminding them of Blake Lively every few months somewhere. It's like a constant refrain, with a different name filled in each time I see it.

 

Is it really that much of a compliment?  Nothing against Lively, but I don't see her as any kind of overwhelmingly great actress. 

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penelope79

penelope79

You know, for some reason, I see someone saying something about some actress reminding them of Blake Lively every few months somewhere. It's like a constant refrain, with a different name filled in each time I see it.

 

Is it really that much of a compliment?  Nothing against Lively, but I don't see her as any kind of overwhelmingly great actress.

I don't know about the other comparisons, but I was only talking about a physical resemblance, to the point I thought they were relatives (I didn't remember Melissa Benoist was in Whiplash and Supergirl is basically the first thing I watch/will watch with her). So, as far as I'm concerned, I don't think being physically compared to Blake Lively could be an offense whatsoever, in my opinion she is beautiful, as well as Melissa. Now, in the acting department... that's a totally different thing! :)

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Kromm

Kromm

(edited)

Melissa is fourth billed but this is an interesting (weird) project. 

 

I'm still trying to figure out why most of the characters have Tom Sawyer based names (Melissa, for example, is "Becky Thatcher").  Someone more clever needs to explain it to me!

 

EDIT - Okay, I found a review that says that they actually are supposed to BE Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher, Injun Joe, etc. but transposed to the late 20th century. Comedy (and weirdness) ensues.

 

Edited by Kromm
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emarasmoak

emarasmoak

(edited)
2 hours ago, LolaRuns said:

Have they really confirmed it though, or just echoed the pre-existing rumors? Reads more than the latter to me. 

There are photos of them doing things together (not a kiss or something like that) as in the ET Online article but if they have a relationship it has not been confirmed by Melissa/ Chris or anyone else. They haven't said anything at all.

Edited by emarasmoak
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Bruinsfan

Bruinsfan

It cracks me up that I'd heard none of this, yet from watching a couple of episodes in which I saw how much the Mon-el character was being spotlighted and how treacly the chemistry between the two was I knew that Benoist was involved with Wood.

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regularlyleaded

regularlyleaded

(edited)
4 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

It cracks me up that I'd heard none of this, yet from watching a couple of episodes in which I saw how much the Mon-el character was being spotlighted and how treacly the chemistry between the two was I knew that Benoist was involved with Wood.

Same. I’m actually in the minority around here and like the on-screen relationship between Kara and Mon-El, but yes, at some point early mid-season I started thinking “Okay, this seems like 10% acting and 90% something going on IRL between Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood.” I assumed it was just me seeing things, but now that it’s confirmed real I feel a little awkward about the whole thing. Not so much because they are dating IRL, but well, because...

...I generally live under a rock when it comes to celebrities, gossip about their lives and their social media shenanigans (True story: I didn’t know who the Kardashians were for the longest time. That’s how uninterested I am in this sort of thing). And honestly, that’s the way I like it. Their private lives are their business. But I’ll be damned if the timing of Benoist’s divorce and this news of her dating Chris Wood didn’t tweak my curiosity big time. And, of course, like an IDIOT I went to Google to satisfy my curiosity about how long Melissa and Chris had been together and - as it tends to happen with google excursions - I fell down an internet rabbit hole where I saw pictures that can’t be unseen. It’s burned into my brain.

I stumbled across a gossip website with an article regarding Melissa Benoist, Blake Jenner and Chris Wood, and apparently the site comments are rather poorly moderated, and well, someone posted pictures in the comments section of said article which I think may have ruined this show for me. <sarcasm> Thank you, Internet! </sarcasm>.

That’s what I get for A) coming out from under my rock and B) reading the comments section of a gossip site. And I’m not judging the content of the pics (or maybe I am??? I’m honestly still in shock here because the pics are legit, really explicit and came out of nowhere, so I don’t know what to think TBH) but the problem is now I can’t see pics of or watch Supergirl without my inner snark cranked to 1,000,000,000 (and admittedly, some amount of cringing). At best, absolutely everything is a double entendre now, lol! It’s like watching a whole different show that the producers never intended. I honestly feel terrible about it, but apparently I’m incapable of turning off this running inner monologue of snark and then lmao and then wishing for brain bleach.  I just can’t. I’m trying to decide if maybe I just need some show immersion therapy and do a whole Supergirl rewatch to get all the snark out my system, or maybe take advantage of the three week hiatus and make an exerted effort to forget all about it (....seriously, my kingdom for some brain bleach).

*SMH* *sigh* That’s what I get for coming out from under my rock. Never. Again. Lesson: learned!

ETA:

serious questions:

On 3/21/2017 at 11:11 AM, Stuffy said:

The most important question about the pictures is not if they are dating, but where's Millie?  

Who's Millie? (I'd google it, but, you know...that might not end well for me. ;-)

So Joey Tribbiani was right about how to tell whether two actors are dating in real life?

What did he say about it? (I don't feel like binging 10 seasons of Friends to find out )

Edited by regularlyleaded
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Stuffy

Stuffy

(edited)
Quote

Who's Millie? (I'd google it, but, you know...that might not end well for me. ;-)

Melissa's tiny white dog she often takes to set. Chyler and Floriana "dog napped" her last fall.  

Edited by Stuffy
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JustaPerson

JustaPerson

4 hours ago, regularlyleaded said:

What did he say about it? (I don't feel like binging 10 seasons of Friends to find out )

Joey told Chandler that when 2 actors have no chemistry, they've hooked up. The sexual tension is gone.

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regularlyleaded

regularlyleaded

2 hours ago, Stuffy said:

Melissa's tiny white dog she often takes to set. Chyler and Floriana "dog napped" her last fall.  

Oh, ya, that's right. I remember seeing pictures of Melissa with a cute little white dog in LA set pics during season 1. Maybe Blake Jenner kept Millie when they split up?? *shrug* ....Oooor maybe she's been "dog napped" again by Chyler and Floriana because that's a seriously cute little dog. :D

44 minutes ago, JustaPerson said:

Joey told Chandler that when 2 actors have no chemistry, they've hooked up. The sexual tension is gone.

LOL! nice....

Thanks for the answers :)

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emarasmoak

emarasmoak

6 hours ago, JustaPerson said:

Joey told Chandler that when 2 actors have no chemistry, they've hooked up. The sexual tension is gone.

Then I would say that Joey was wrong. I see a lot of sexual chemistry.

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johnar

johnar

On 9/3/2017 at 6:43 AM, Wishing Well said:

I know I'm WAY late, but as far as dog custody goes, Blake has Millie and Otis, and Melissa has Farley.  Millie and Farley were owned by their respective owners prior to the relationship. 

Too bad for Millie. She was always at MB's side.

Dogs (animals) are real. Never pretentious.

Divorce is not in their vocabulary or their purview.

So sad. 

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