There’s a moment in the Christmas-themed two-part “Ghosts” diptych where the body of Rose McIver’s character Sam is suddenly inhabited by the brutal cholera ghost Nancy (Betsy Sodaro). ‘Ghosts’ requires its stars to take part in all kinds of pranks every week – and in this case, McIver was tasked with imitating Sodaro as Nancy.
“I love Betsy so much,” McIver tells Variety. “I adore her as a person, as a performer. I’m a big fan. So I felt very honored to be able to channel a little bit of Nancy, and she was predictably so generous to work with.
McIver says Sodaro helped her prepare by sharing videos of her learning how to play Nancy as a loud, inappropriate, over-the-top ghost. “She would put down these videos of her saying her dialogue and showing me how she would act,” McIver says. She said, ‘I feel like I’m auditioning to play myself. This doesn’t feel quite right.’ And then she was able to get behind the monitors on set and throw out some ideas as well. It was a great character to get into. She built something so funny and so specific that there were beautiful tangible things to hang my work on.”
In parts 1 and 2 of “A Very Arondekar Christmas”, Jay’s parents Mahesh (Bernard White) and Champa (Sakina Jaffrey) visit the B&B for the first time, and they are not impressed. Sam has always been desperate to gain Champa’s respect by at least being added to the family group’s text. When Nancy enters Sam’s body, it seems like a complete disaster, but to everyone’s surprise, Champa begins to bond with her.
“Of all the characters you can be obsessed with, having Nancy is definitely a die-cast when you’re trying to make a good impression on your in-laws,” says McIver.
And indeed, Nancy-as-Sam doesn’t win over Champa for long, as her obnoxious actions are still, well, obnoxious. But by the end of the episodes, the real Sam has managed to earn some new respect from Champa, and a place in the text chain.
Sakina Jaffrey as Champa, Rebecca Wisocky as Hetty, Bernard White as Mahesh, Brandon Scott Jones as Isaac and Danielle Pinnock as Alberta, in “Ghosts” (Bertrand Calmeau/CBS)
CBS
“That’s the best Christmas present she could ever ask for,” McIver says. “I mean, Sakina is incredible. She’s so funny and so effortless and easy and just the perfect choice for Champa. You can totally understand why Sam wants to be liked by her so badly. There was a bit of life imitating art on set as I am also a big fan of Sakina.
“A Very Arondekar Christmas” is also a milestone for Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar), who has his own out-of-body experience when Pete (Richie Moriarty) takes over. Jay is thrown completely out of his body, temporarily leaving him in ghostland, where he comes into contact with all the ghosts of the show for the first time.
“It’s huge,” McIver says. “I’m so happy we got to this place, and it was a really imaginative way for them to find it. And it was a technical tour de force. Utkarsh and Richie Keen, who directed us, really did a fantastic job, and Richie Moriarty in navigating the three different versions of Jay, and the practicalities of shooting them on set. Where you have all these stand-ins and VFX, it was really impressive.
“And as far as the story goes, to have these people that Jay has built a relationship with over the years with sight unseen finally culminate in this incredibly exciting moment where he can see how similar they are to what he expected, where the differences and hug them,” she adds. “Now he’s one step ahead of Sam, in that he’s been able to have physical contact with the spirits and they haven’t. It feels like a real milestone for us as a series.”
Speaking of milestone moments, McIver just directed her first-ever television episode, coming this season on “Ghosts.” Her episode (the 13th of season 4) will air sometime later this winter and will focus on Pete’s backstory.
“I will always be eternally grateful that this show has now given me my first opportunity to direct on television,” she says. “It’s something that I really wanted to do and that I’m very proud of. I’ve been bitten by the bug, so to speak. It’s all I want to do and it’s hard to get out of the director’s chair. I had a great time.”
McIver says it helped that “Ghosts” is now a well-oiled machine, and that she is so familiar with the show, its tone and its characters. “It’s an incredible privilege to have spent four years with people with whom you’ve developed a shorthand, and you really understand people’s strengths and weaknesses,” she says. “It allows you to quickly get past some pleasantries, and I was able to cut to the chase. Everyone was very patient and supportive, and more or less surrendered to my creative choices. I hope it wasn’t that bad.”
McIver says she has been laying the groundwork for directing for a while; when she starred in The CW’s “iZombie,” she even attended Warner Bros.’ directing workshop.
“And now that I’ve been given that opportunity like a dog with a bone, I don’t want to let it go,” she says. “We’ll see how easy or difficult that path will continue, but I definitely had a big jumping point. And I’m very grateful to CBS and the showrunners, everyone, for letting me do this.