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Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger Roundtable Interview Clips

June 29, 2018 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
Cloak & Dagger Marvel's "Cloak & Dagger" - Trailer #1 (screen grab) CR: Marvel Entertainment

411mania recently took part in the press day for Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger ahead of the show’s launch on Freeform. Here are some of select quotes from the media roundtable interviews with the show’s cast and crew.

Stars Olivia Holt (Tandy Bowen/Dagger) and Aubrey Joseph (Tyrone Johnson/Cloak)

Olivia Holt has previously starred in such Disney sitcoms as Kickin’ It and I Didn’t Do It. For another Marvel Universe connection, she previously voiced Petra Parker/Spider-Girl in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series. She joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the superhero Dagger/Tandy Bowen. In the new Freeform TV series, Tandy Bowen is a troubled teen who is trying to survive on the streets after a tragic and traumatic incident in her past that also happens to involve Tyrone Johnson. Joseph previously appeared in the film Run All Night. Here is what both actors had to say about working on this new Marvel TV series.

Jeffrey Harris: From the first episode onto the fourth, the show gets really intense. It doesn’t shy away from going to dark spaces. From a performing standpoint, what is it like to get to work with that material?

Olivia Holt: There was some really heavy material. I mean, I think I speak for both Aubrey and I, that we were both physically and emotionally drained at the end of this season, but all for good reason. This is a progressive show. We wanted to move people, but we also want to entertain. We want to make an impact. We want to inspire. Specifically with Tandy’s situation, she’s living in survival mode. The only way she knows how to survive is by you know — this chip off the old block is going to do exactly what her mom does. And I think there’s a little bit of truth to that. I think a lot of kids, teenagers, young adults go through that situation. I think being authentic as possible and not glamorizing it or sugar-coating it any way was the most important part about shooting this show. As hard as it was for me sometimes to be in that headspace, or as difficult as it was to shoot those scenes, there was a very mutual respect — not just between the actors — but between the crew, between all of production. We made it a set that felt safe and an environment to tell a story that is so real and raw and heartbreakingly honest. I think that’s the goal. I know you [Aubrey Joseph] had some intense scenes as well. But I think it just all comes down to believing in it and really believing that this is what happens in society and wanting to make it a reality and wanting to make the audience feel for these kids. It was tough. It was really tough. There were some really challenging days. But I think at the end of the day, ultimately, what we wanted was to create something that felt honest and powerful. Hopefully, we captured that.

Jeffrey Harris: For Aubrey, Tyrone’s parents are in the show, and he gets to have a great relationship with them. In the fourth episode, there’s also a very moving scene between Tyron and his father. How great is it for you to get to show that aspect of Tyron’s life?

Aubrey Joseph: That was one of my favorite scenes to shoot, definitely. To me, the beauty of that relationship is how it gets better and better because it’s been tarnished. It’s been ruined. So just kind of finding that love again, and I think that’s the beauty of it. And I think that’s what makes the scene so youthful with them because there’s so many years that they haven’t said anything to each other. There’s so many things that have gone on said. Just being able to still connect and still be a family is perfect. So, I love those scenes as well.

Jeffrey Harris: For Aubrey Joseph, after finishing his brother’s regalia, do you think Tyrone will wear the regalia?

Aubrey Joseph: That’s for you to see. That’s to find out. There will definitely be some stuff to look forward to.

Andrea Roth (Melissa Bowen) and Miles Mussenden (Otis Johnson)

Andrea Roth (13 Reasons Why, Rescue Me, Rogue) portrays Tandy Bowen’s struggling mother, Melissa Bowen, in Cloak and Dagger. After Melissa lost her husband, her life fell in a downward spiral, and she self-medicates with pills and alcohol. This has caused her to start neglecting her relationship with her daughter. Miles Mussenden (Army Wives, Stranger Things) is Otis Johnson in the show, the father of Tyrone Johnson (Cloak). The tragic loss of his older son tarnished his family, but Otis remains a strong presence in his family’s life. He’s a working class father who is there for his family. Here’s what both actors had to say about their characters in the show.

Jeffrey Harris: For Miles, I really enjoy how the relationship between Tyrone and Otis evolved over the course of the first four episodes and seeing that relationship grows. I especially enjoyed a sequence in the fourth episode, where Otis takes Tyron to meet a group of Mardi Gras Indians. It was a surprising scene where I didn’t quite understand what was going on at first. As an actor, how do you like getting to explore this relationship?

Miles Mussenden: As an actor, I find it very rewarding because this is not just your surface story. It kind of goes a little bit deeper than that, dealing with issues and real-life issues. And also, I love that we get to bring the Mardi Gras Indians into it. I knew nothing about that. I never knew this existed, but I think like in our community, we almost need like a rites of passage. I feel like the Mardi Gras Indians gives a young man like him a rites of passage, so you can learn how to be a man. We do these things together, and it takes time because it doesn’t happen overnight when you’re making your suit. I was shocked too. I read the scripts. I saw this whole Mardi Gras Indian thing. I had to go out and do research. I had to go meet these folks and see who they were. I had never heard of it. As an actor, I feel great that we get to introduce the world to something that people have never seen.

Jeffrey Harris: At first I thought wrongly that Otis might’ve been trying to a “scared straight” strategy with Tyrone and take him to maybe see some old gang members. But instead, Otis was trying to bond with Tyrone and show him about making Mardi Gras regalia, and it became a very moving scene. And perhaps maybe I learned something about myself by judging things too quickly, but I found the scene very rewarding to watch unfold.

Miles Mussenden: Wow. Thank you so much. Thank you for telling us this. I haven’t seen it yet, so I have no idea. It’s fascinating actually hearing your perspective of it because I didn’t know what people were going to take from it. It’s interesting that you said taking to see his old gang members or your first thought because the Mardi Gras Indians, these guys — they are tough guys too. You know what I’m saying. These guys are — you can get beat down is what I was told. So, if you’re in the wrong area with the Spy Boys, you have to run. There is an element of people who are no nonsense as well as the element of rites of passage.

Jeffrey Harris: For Andrea, my heart started breaking later in the show when it came to a pivotal scene for Melissa later in the show where’s desperately trying to make a phone call to her boyfriend. And it’s a pretty devastating scene because Olivia Holt is also there as Tandy, and it’s a pretty heartbreaking scene. So, what was it like to play that moment?

Andrea Roth: Playing that moment, that’s actually some stuff as an actor, that’s the fun stuff. Because playing a nice mom, that’s kind of [boring?]…So that [her emotional scene] — It’s awesome, and it’s so exciting. And I love it. It’s challenging, and I’m grateful for it.

Jeffrey Harris: So, how much liquor is she going to put down when she doesn’t get her phone call back?

Andrea Roth: Yes. I was in shock. I also became buddy friends with Gary Weeks as Greg, who is the sweetest guy. We had such good fun working together, and we all hung out after as well. He didn’t know. We didn’t know. So reading the script, all of the sudden, he was dead. I kept going, “No, no. There must be a mistake here.” We were actually all in denial because he assimilated so well. But yes, Melissa Bowen is in a very precarious place indulging too much in pills, in booze, but it doesn’t seem like constant [habit]. She has her moments where is able to pull it together, but when she starts drinking, she doesn’t stop. It is frightening wondering what is going to happen next. It definitely seems like this is going to be her bottom point. I’m either going down the rabbit hole, or I’m going to climb up a little.

Jeffrey Harris: You’re doing a good job because I’m very concerned for her right now.

Andrea Roth: Oh, you are? Thank you. I get worried because my character is innately unlikable. Because as a mother, she’s like — I kept going, “Seriously. Can’t there be something a little more redeeming about my character?” But OK, there is a little something. And there are more things to come.

Showrunner Joe Pokaski

Joe Pokaski currently serves as the creator and main showrunner for Cloak and Dagger. His other TV credits include such hit shows as Marvel’s Daredevil, Heroes, Underground and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Jeffrey Harris: New Orleans is a great setting for this series. It feels different and far removed from anything else Marvel Entertainment has done before. I was wondering if you could talk about the impetus for bringing in New Orleans as the main setting for the show?

Joe Pokaski: It’s something that Jeph [Loeb] and I talked about from Day 1. I felt like New York was properly secured, and there was enough superheroes. And New Orleans came up early. The more we looked into it and learned about it, the more special it became. It’s a city that refuses to die. It’s had hurricanes thrown at it. It’s had oil rig explosions. There’s something just special and magical and kind of European about the city. It felt very right for that “almost magic” — even though it’s science we don’t understand — of Tandy and Tyrone. They felt like the right heroes for the city.

Thank you to the cast and crew for taking the time to speak with us. Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger is currently airing on Freeform on Thursday.