Tricia Helfer – Primitive Cool

Tricia Helfer

Tricia Helfer

Primitive Cool

By Jay S. Jacobs

We’ve been following Tricia Helfer for years now. The popular model-turned-actor has been a staple on TV sets ever since she broke out as seductive killer Cylon Number Six in the classic sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica back in 2004. Since then she has been in such popular series as Lucifer, Van Helsing and Burn Notice. We have previously spoken with her in 2008 about her role in Burn Notice and in 2019 about Van Helsing and Creepshow.

Helfer is not slowing down now. This week she will be starring in the special event film Primitive War, a thriller about a group of soldiers during the Vietnam war who run across an area which is populated by killer dinosaurs. Soon after that, she will be in Hello Beautiful, a heartfelt film about a model dealing with breast cancer. Just the other day, it was announced that she is also joining the cast of a new TV series called Anna Pigeon.

A week before the premiere of Primitive War, it was nice to catch back up with Helfer to find out all the cool new things going on in her life. 

Tell me a little bit about Primitive War. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see it yet, so give me a little bit of background on it.

Yes, well, it is coming out soon, so you'll be able to see it soon. But I know in terms of talking about it, it would have been nice to see it beforehand. Primitive War was a wonderful experience filming, but it's unlike any film that I know or have seen. It's a total mashup of genres. It has horror. It has creatures. It has war movie. It has a little sci-fi element. It's got a grounded military war aspect to it. It's got this Full Metal Jacket meets Jurassic Park vibe to it. It is R-rated. It's a fun summer film. One of the things that I think I'm proudest about is this is an independent film that really has a much bigger, grander scope in terms of the special effects. Just the overall war aspect and everything that you usually don't see in independent films because it's too difficult to film and get put on within a budget. That was one of my concerns, signing on, honestly. How are they going to do this? Then when I got down to Australia and just saw the focus, dedication, and attention to detail that they had, I was really relieved. Having seen some extended clips of it I'm excited to see the whole thing. I haven't even seen the whole thing.

Just from what I can tell from the trailer, it seems like you're pretty much the only woman in the movie. That makes sense, it’s the Vietnam War and they are in country, so there aren't going to be lots of women around. Was it interesting to be the only woman in such a male-dominated storyline?

It was in a way because it's not typical, right? I haven't had that experience before. But I'm a tomboy, so I fit right in. We did film, thankfully, in Australia, so we weren't trying to imagine on a green screen that we were trudging through mud and all that stuff. I think some of the guys initially were like, “It's a girl. Is she going to be all prima donna and not want to get her hands dirty?” No, I was right there with them, trudging through the mud and having a blast doing it. I quickly became one of the team. Similar to in the show. When you meet my character, [she] has been very isolated. She has been living out in the jungle by herself for about a year, trying to survive the dinosaurs and just survive in general. She has gone through some pretty intense trauma. So when she meets the Vulture Squad, there was some trepidation. Which side are you on? That type of thing. But they both need each other, and she becomes part of the squad, similar to me filming and becoming part of the squad with the guys.

Last time that we talked, you acknowledged that purely as a viewer, you're kind of a coward when it comes to horror films. Why do you think that you get cast in so many genre roles and scary roles?

I may be a wimp watching them, but I'm not a wimp filming them. I guess again, maybe that tomboy aspect of myself. I love doing stunts. I love getting in there. But if I had to be realistic about it, I would probably say it has more to do with my history and my background with Battlestar Galactica than it does (laughs) with anything of my own personal nature. Luke Sparke, who directed the movie, produced it, wrote it and edited – he's like the one-man shop. He cast it with people that he knows from shows and films that he liked. This movie is really like a present to himself, in a way. He's like, I made a movie that a teenage me or a young man me wanted to see and still wants to see. He was a fan of Battlestar Galactica, and I think that's honestly how I got the role.

Over the years, as an actor you've either played or dealt with everything from killer robots to spies, devils, vampires and now dinosaurs. Which thing do you think is scariest?

Oh, gosh. Personally, I think what's scariest is stuff that can actually harm you. I think people are the scariest.

Okay.

Killer robots are getting up there now, in this day and age with AI. Battlestar Galactica said all of this happened before, and it will happen again. If there's anything we have learned from Battlestar, it is technology can overtake us. So that is probably going to be the scariest, but otherwise I feel like it’s people. What scares me more is like a real human drama. There's a serial killer project that I've been trying to get going for ages, an IP that I love called Heartsick [based on the novel by Chelsea Cain]. Our show runner, literally in our pitch, says that's one of the scariest things. It's not verbatim. He's much better writer than what I can say. (laughs) What's scary is not the fantastical beasts or whatever of fiction. It is who moves in next door, down the hall, that type of thing. I think us as humans are much scarier than the dinosaurs and things we create on TV. But for this show, I will say the dinosaurs are pretty dang scary. Again, I was assuming there wasn't going to be many dinosaurs, given that it's an indie film and everything. Then I've seen it, there's dinosaurs all over this thing. They have not skimped at all with them. We're not running from trees shaking. You see the T-rexes, you see the deinonychus. You see the Spinosaurus. It's a fun ride.

Rather than having a normal run in the cinemas or going straight to streaming, this film is being released via Fathom Events as a limited event. How do you think that that kind of marketing can make a film seem like more of a happening and get people to go out specifically for it?

Because of the limited run… hopefully, if it does well in theaters, it might get an even more extended run, which would be wonderful and give more people the opportunity to see it. Because people have lives, and they may not be available on the five days that it's out. It is one of those films that if you can, see it in a theater. Because, yes, it will be on streaming. You'll be able to see it in your home, but you can watch it a second time at home. It is the type of movie that you do gain from and have an exciting time seeing it on the 30-foot screen. I mean, I know people have great sound systems and TVs at home, but it doesn't compare to going to the movie theater. I think with the limited time frame, that brings an allure to it as well. I'm hoping that gets butts in the seats over next weekend – the 21st to the 25th, I think.

Also later this month, you have a Hallmark Channel film called Sun, Sand and Romance airing. What can you tell us about that one?

Oh gosh, that's probably a rerun.

Oh, okay,

Yeah, I shot that in 2017, down in Mexico with one of my Battlestar Galactica alums, Paul Campbell. So we shot that, but that's a rerun. It's a variation of their romance Christmas movies that Hallmark viewers love, and so they did one in in the sun and the sand. We certainly had fun filming it.

You had also recently done, Hello Beautiful, where you play a woman dealing with cancer. As an actor, how difficult was it to get into that kind of dark space?

That was one that I really wanted to make sure I got right. I mean, you always do, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Of course, I always want to do every job as well as I can. Hello Beautiful is having a run in theaters in October. I think the week of October 10, it's going to be in theaters in New York and Los Angeles, and then it will be on streaming at some point, but I'm not sure when. It's doing the festival circuit right now. That one was challenging in the way that I was playing a real woman, Christine Handy. Of course, the film version is altered slightly. I'm playing Willow Boutrous. There are obviously variations from her own story and her book, Walk Beside Me. But Christine is a producer on it, and she was on set.

Oh, nice.

To play somebody's life story – especially something so important to her, this is her own breast cancer survival story – there's more of a weight on your shoulders to make sure you do justice to this woman and to her story. She's a formidable woman. She's a wonderful, wonderful woman. She's doing a lot for breast cancer and surviving it. When she was going through her treatment, she said that she was longing for a story about survival. So many of these types of stories end in… unfortunately… not survival. She was looking for hope. That's ultimately what that movie was about. About hope. And about your support group, and how important that is. She was fortunate that she had the means, and she had the insurance, and she had the support. But it wasn't lost on me how much harder it would be for somebody that doesn't have all that. I had recently, a year or two before, lost my mother to colon cancer.

I’m so sorry about that.

Thank you. So it hit home. That was an independent film as well. One of the things with the cast and crew, everybody brought their A game. The story hit everybody. Everybody has been touched, with a family member or a friend or themselves, dealing with cancer in some way, shape or form. Our camera department had recently lost one of their own a few months before, to prostate cancer. So every day on set there was a there was, at one point, somebody that sat down and had to take a minute. Everybody wanted to make sure we told the story right. Found that sense of hope and found the right tone. So yeah, those were my two films last year. A very heavy and true story and then a fantastical story. Also heavy in some ways, is Primitive War. We deal with addiction. My character deals with addiction. We deal with PTSD. So there were some heavy aspects as well. Then the dinosaurs come in and raise hell. Those were my two films that I did last year. Drastically different but it's fun as an actor to get to play different parts.

It was just announced yesterday that you will be in a new series called Anna Pigeon. I know it's very early on in that process, but what can you tell us about that?

Anna Pigeon is based off a series of books by Nevada Barr, and I am playing a supporting role in it. They are actually filming already. I don't start filming until about two weeks from now. It is a story of a woman that has gone through some trauma. Her husband gets murdered. A New Yorker that is running from her demons in that way, running from her trauma. [She] becomes a park ranger and has a lot of interest in getting answers. She doesn't like things being left open ended. Her husband's murder was never solved. So she, of course, takes that into her work. [She’s] a strong woman who says what's on her mind and keeps needling even when she's told not to. It's a fun role. I play her older sister. I play Anna's older sister Molly, who is a New York psychologist. I haven't read all the episodes yet, so I don't know exactly what all I get up to, but I'm playing a psychologist in this one and an older sister. More the older sister role than the psychologist, probably, but I think they merge most of the time.

You've been a part of lots of TV series with really enthusiastic fan bases. Obviously, Battlestar Galactica. Also things like Lucifer, Van Helsing, even Burn Notice. How cool is it to you that you've been able to be a part of such beloved projects?

I feel very fortunate to have continued to work in this business. The business is going through a lot of tough times right now, and so resilience is key. But yeah, I feel very fortunate to have been part of a few really good franchises and series. More importantly, for me personally, also fun series to work on with good people. My Battlestar family and my Lucifer family are still extremely close. My Battlestar team, the crew, the cast, are my family. I just feel very fortunate.

You've played many roles over the years, but of the roles that you've played, which one did you feel was the most like you?

I think there's two that were probably the most like me. You may not even know them. One you wouldn't know because it never made it to air. It was actually very similar to the Anna Pigeon show. It was like 15 years ago. It was called Scent of the Missing. I played a canine search-and-rescue trainer and volunteer. [It was] also based off of a real woman, Susannah Charleston, who is an incredible woman and has written a few books, Scent of the Missing, being one of them. That was probably closest to me. Another one called Killer Women, where I played a Texas Ranger. That was on ABC for a limited season. I'm not a canine search-and-rescue volunteer and I'm not a Texas Ranger, but those two were probably the closest to me in terms of… I grew up on a farm. I grew up a tomboy. But also very career oriented and so forth. So those were probably the closest to me. They were a lot of fun to do.

Which one was the most difficult for you to get a grasp on as an actor?

The most difficult, gosh. One that was very difficult… The character wasn't necessarily very difficult, but I did a show called The Firm, based off of the movie [and the book by John Grisham]. It was an NBC show that went for 22 episodes, and that was just a difficult production. It was difficult filming. The character was a hard edged, tough attorney, which was good and fun to play. But the production was plagued with some problems and infighting and that type of thing. Not to do with me but being around that can make things a little more difficult than they need to be sometimes.

You've done a lot of charitable work over the years; a lot of animal causes and different things. How important is it for you to use your recognition as an actor to help to give back to different causes?

I think that's one of the benefits of being somewhat in the public eye; being able to maybe raise awareness or bring awareness to a cause that is close to your heart, that maybe isn't as well known. For example, I've worked with Humane Society of the United States, which is now called Humane World. I've worked closely with them trying to raise awareness and change legislation for testing on animals for cosmetics, which most people agree that it shouldn't be done. A lot of people don't even know that it happens anymore, or that it happened in the first place. They're not aware of computer modeling and all. They don't need to do it anymore. They have much more reliable methods now, but a lot of people just aren't aware. So [it is important] to be able to use any type of public platform that I have to help raise awareness and get those signatures on the petitions and get it in front of legislators to make changes. We passed legislation in Canada, in Mexico, in Brazil, and most of the EU. The States Is a holdout yet. It's a responsibility that isn't a necessary responsibility. You don't have to do it, but I think it's an honor to be able to help raise awareness or help with charities or raising money or that type of thing. If I can help that way, then I would definitely. I find it an honor to be able to use my platform to do that.

I don't want to get overly political here, but as someone who's from Canada, who spent a lot of time in the US, are you surprised or disappointed by the sudden friction that's going on between the two countries?

I'm disappointed in everything right now. I'm a dual citizen. We're neighbors. We've always gotten along, and I think we will continue to. Again, without getting political, I just think we're too polarized. I'm not talking necessarily between Canada and the United States. In general. My grandmother always used to say, “Find the happy medium.” It works in so many things. Politics, especially if you have two sides and they are polar opposites, nobody's meeting in the middle. Nobody's compromising. Neither side can have everything they want, but there seems to be no compromising, and no common sense. I think we just need to come back more to the middle and listen to each other and compromise. That would help between nations as well.

In your social media bio, you refer to yourself as actor, mother of cats and goats and farmer's daughter. Which role was most important to you, or are they just equal parts of you?

They're all parts of me. The farmer's daughter probably doesn't necessarily need to be on there. I thought it was kind of funny. But I put it on there at a time, probably shortly after my mother passed away, and my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and declining rapidly. I think I was changing, editing stuff around that time, and that got put in as a little heart thing for me and for my family. Not that my family looks at it. More for me. But I'm proud to be a farmer's daughter, and that's why I put that up there. It might not stay, but I am a farmer's daughter. Maybe it will stay. I am an animal lover, an animal advocate. I am a mother of cats and goats. That's important to me. And actor is my job and my passion. So, yeah, I think they're all probably equally important.

Okay, just one last question, other than Anna Pigeon and the serial killer idea that you're trying to get off the ground, do you have anything else coming up?

I do have something. I can't give specifics about it because of those tricky NDAs [non-disclosure agreements] that I signed, but I have been filming periodically throughout the year. I've got a few sessions left this fall of a performance-capture videogame off of a very well-known brand. That will be coming out. It was supposed to be coming out first or second quarter of 2026, but it might be now second or third quarter. I'm not quite sure. I'll know more when I go back up to Montreal to finish my last performance capture session this fall. So that's going to be coming out next year, and I'm playing the lead in that game. I've done a lot of video game voices, but this is my first performance capture video game. It's been a great experience, a great team of people, great group of people. I have been really enjoying it, and I think it's going to be a kick ass game. Watch for that next year. I will say what it is as soon as I can, but I will get in trouble if I say what it is now, because it is definitely a known brand.

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