Talking with Carolyn Hennesy can almost be described as an
invigorating experience. She is so full of sunshine, laughter (and
hilarious cryptic remarks) that you walk away from the experience
feeling almost as empowered as Hennesy's take-no-prisoners character,
Diane. On this day, Hennesy reveals the origins of how she decided to
tweak mythology to create her hugely popular Pandora books, as well as
sharing a few Diane-isms.
The
Pandora series is based on the Greek myth of Pandora's Box, but
Hennesy decided that Pandora may have gotten a bad rap, thus telling
her tale through this book series. "It just goes to show you that no
matter what you are doing in life, often you never know where the next
opportunity will come from, to add to your life or change the
direction of your life," she says, "For most of my adult life, I have
been an actress and if someone said I was also going to be an author,
I would've looked at them like they were crazy! But about six years
ago, I was in a writing workshop, wasn't even really a class - I
wasn't really thinking about being an author but I loved that
particular creative outlet. I was working on a short story about
misunderstood women in fiction and myth, and one of the women that I
was working on and writing about was Pandora. Chapter six of book one
is essentially the short story that I wrote. A visiting author
happened to be sitting in the corner, he heard me read this story, and
he took me aside and said, 'This is not a short story. This is a novel
for young adults. "A" happens, then "B" happens, and then "C" happens.
I want to see an outline by the end of the week, a thousand words a
day and in six weeks, you will have the first draft of your first
novel.' I said okay, and at the end of six weeks, I had the first
draft of book one! It literally took someone else to say that you need
a different perspective on this. You need to think outside the box.
This author also told me that 'I have thrown the gauntlet down many
times... and no one but you has ever picked it up.' Well I thought,
that's interesting. So you never know!"
Hennesy
chose Pandora because "it's always baffled me, in Greek mythology..
the Greeks used mythology to explain the world around them. It
fascinated me that all the evils in the world were heaped on the
shoulders of one woman - really? So I decided to kind of tweak that.
My Pandora is not a full grown woman created by the gods, with all
these incredible gifts, including curiosity, including a box. My
Pandora is a thirteen-year-old girl, who is going through all of the
angst, the wonderful moments - the angst of being a teenager. She's
average and kind of geeky and she doesn't understand how fabulous she
truly is, you know, her own specialness, her own uniqueness. So she's
got this big project due at her school, there are lots of modern
overtones that I have overlaid over the classic Greek myth. But she
has this project due at her school and because of her curiosity, she's
got nothing to show the day before the project. She's literally at her
wits end. And she happens to find the box, which has been kept sealed
and safe by her father, and she happens to find it. She knows not to
touch it, think about it, but wouldn't it be great to take to school?
And that's what she does. And naturally, of course, all hell breaks
loose!"
To
turn the story into a series, Hennesy utilized what is known as the
seven deadly sins, but in "more modern day terms," she notes, "I've
taken out gluttony and I've taken out pride and substituted. The big
one, the big evil and this is not one of the sins, but the big one as
far as I'm concerned, and certainly one that everyone has to deal with
but especially young teens, is fear. I'm not talking about the fear
that keeps you from picking up a rattlesnake, or looking both ways
when you cross the street, or keeps you from sticking your hand over
the stove. I'm talking about the fear that you're not wearing the
right shoes to school, or you are dressed like a geek, that people are
going to look at you funny, that you are not special. The fear that
keeps you from standing out in glorious ways in a crowd, that keeps
you from wanting to be just like everybody else... It's those kinds of
fears, especially the fear of not being good enough." Hennesy herself
was introduced to Greek mythology at age eleven through a summer
school course. "We read the works of Edith Hamilton and she didn't
sugarcoat anything," she says, amazed. "So we were just stunned at the
relationships between the gods, who got turned into what, the
pettiness, and the humor and the incredible love and adventure. It was
wild but we were like, 'What do you mean? She's his wife and his
sister? What? I'm not quite getting that!' We didn't have anything to
kind of soften the blow!"
Hennesy
definitely higher hopes and aspirations for her Pandora. "I think
Pandora could easily be turned into an animated series - it almost
screams to be a cartoon series on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network -
people want to see it animated now," the actress enthuses, "I want to
be the voice of Hera! Oh Hera. God bless her. Petty little Hera...And
after the seven books in the series are done - Pandora is going after
the evils in the box now - but there's no reason why she couldn't have
another series of adventures. Now she knows the ropes of saving the
world, now it's old hat to her!" Next up in the series is the
soon-to-be-released fourth installment, Pandora Gets Heart.
The attention is
turned to Hennesy's role as Diane, and the show's recent penchant for
having it's characters burst into song via karaoke. "I haven't sung in
ages," she laughs, referring to Diane and Max's turn at the
microphone, "You kind of have to know what you're doing, and I didn't!
But
I think I kind of acquitted myself!" What would Hennesy like to see
happen to Diane? "I'm still holding out hope that she will become
Spinelli's mother. That the maze will lead itself around to DNA
testing and learning that she is Spinelli's mother. I think it would
explain so much - and Diane would got on a week-long bender! And yet,
she would totally understand why she's got this incredible love for
this young boy and he also drives her up a tree. I love being in
scenes with Bradford (Anderson) because he is such a genius actor and
he's so generous, it's a sheer joy to be on screen with him. But
Spinelli baffles Diane, yet she finds him incredibly endearing, so
it's really a lot of fun to play. I can hope, I can dream.... I would
love to see more action, I would love to see Diane and Alexis, or
Diane and anybody, really put on their cat suits and trying to save
the day, being very stealthy, going undercover and getting into some
serious danger. I'd like to see Diane and Alexis open their own law
firm!"
"For
all her moral superiority, which falls by the wayside every time she
defends Sonny, Diane has that on her conscience," Hennesy reveals,
referring to the scenes in which Diane confessed to allowing a client
to be killed in prison instead of using a legal loophole that could've
saved him, "She has, very indirectly, a murder on her hands, a death
on her shoulders. But Diane is smart, sexy, and yet at the very core,
she's a bit of a cream puff. The surface is thick, the walls are very
thick - Spinelli, Max, they have found the entrance. But she's a big
old cream puff!" Since I have a captive audience, so to speak, I
reveal my dream scene for Diane: A ladies night out, with Diane,
Alexis and Epiphany. "We're not ladies who lunch, we're ladies who
lounge," Hennesy smiles, quickly warming up to my suggestion. "What do
you think about adding Tracy? You know what we are? We're broads!
We're good old broads because we've been around the block, we know
where everyone lives, and we don't really need to prove ourselves to
anyone. I love that idea, that would be fun!"
"I've always equated
Diane as speaking for the audience," Hennesy points out in her scenes
with Maurice Benard's Sonny. "Diane is saying the things that people
are screaming at their televisions. But when I first came on, I looked
at the character and said, 'I am Sonny's lawyer, I can't be afraid of
him.' So I would raise my voice to Sonny and the voice would come down
from the control booth. 'Carolyn. You can't speak to Sonny like that.'
So I took it down but a few months later, the show had seen that this
character can get away with it and has to get away with it. So then I
was really able to take it to Sonny...The character has really grown
in terms of what she has to get away with" The result is Diane's
hysterical no-nonsense approach to Sonny, that really does,
effectively, speak for the audience.
"I just bless (the
audience) for their support. Not just for Diane but for the Pandora
series because they have really taken it to their heart. My gratitude
knows no bounds!"
Carolyn Hennesy's new website, dedicated to her Pandora series of
books, is now up and running. If you've not seen it yet, please go
by www.pandyinc.com, take a
look and leave a message for her. Book Four, Pandora Gets Heart, I
hear is fantastic! You can order a copy now at
www.YourNumberOneFan.com
and get it personalized to you as soon as they are available,
as well as the first three books. They make great presents for
your friends, your family and for yourself!!
Photos courtesy of JPIStudios, ABCWebpix,
and other various sources.
