[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the Cosmic Cafe, the companion podcast of thecosmiccircus.com. i'm Brian Kitson, and we have an exciting interview for you. Today.
I sat down to talk with Christina Chong, who joins Audible's impact winter for its third season. In this interview, we discussed how she came to join the show, what drew her to the role, what she loves about her character, and the challenges and excitements of recording this project, as well as how well she would fare in the world of impact winter. Thank you so much for listening. Enjoy.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: And thank you so much, Christina, for joining us. I got to check out this project a little bit over the past couple of days, just the first two seasons, obviously, as the new season comes out very soon. But I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about the project and what drew you to it.
[00:00:48] Speaker C: So I was contacted directly and offered the role because I had no I, to be honest with you, I didn't know original audio dramas were a thing. I had no idea. And I loved audiobooks as a kid. Like, I would go to sleep to them. The one that sticks in my brain is the enchanted wood.
I would that over and over again that would get me to sleep. So when I was contacted by Impact winter, I would jumped at the chance because it's something I loved as a kid listening to. I mean, I know this isn't necessarily a children's audio drama, but I thought, oh, my gosh, what an exciting medium to try. I've never done anything like this before.
And the fact that it was about vampires and I haven't, well, I have done a little something with vampires, but I love doing fantasy and Sci-Fi and as you can probably tell by my cv, and I just jumped at it. And especially when I knew my friend was a part of the project as well. Andrew Gower, I've known him since 2010. We were in a show together. We did our first regular roles in a show called british tv show. So when I knew he was a part of it, that made it even more exciting. I also knew Sasha and I'd met Caroline before, so it just felt like a hard yes, of course. When can I come and record?
Yeah. So there was really, it was just a no brainer for me.
[00:02:32] Speaker B: That's awesome. And you're actually one of the newer characters this season, so can you tell us a little bit about her and how she factors into the series for season three?
[00:02:40] Speaker C: So Kirshen, she is part of the council, she's one of the siblings, but she's an outsider.
She's an explorer.
She's traveled the world a lot. And what she's seen and experienced on her travels, which I can't reveal right now, right. Has made her step away from the family.
But when she does ultimately return and when we do meet her, it's very evident there's a huge secret and we, whether we find that out in this series or not, we don't know. But she's extremely mysterious. You kind of don't know what side to put her on. Is she a goodie? Is she a baddie?
And yeah, she ultimately, ultimately ends up being a huge part of, of the story towards the end of the season.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: It's really exciting. I'm excited to see you in this role. You have done so many incredible shows at our outlet. We're fans of strange new worlds. Black Mirror. I'm a big, huge doctor who fan. In fact, I'm rewatching and just watched your episode not that long ago.
So you said this is your first audio drama. How does this really differ for you as an actor compared to being on screen? How does that process for you?
[00:04:03] Speaker C: Well, number one, it's so much easier and more fun in a way because you, you could rock up in your pajamas if you wanted to. I mean, I didn't, but you could. And there's no makeup, less processing time.
Obviously, there's rehearsal needed and prep similar to screen, but it's just less pressure, which is great.
And I had never done anything like this before, as I mentioned. So I was kind of going on instinct. I didn't really know what I was doing. I just got into the booth and it was, it was very, very helpful having all the actors in the same room apart from holiday, who was on a zoom, but we had her face up on, up on the screen and, and so it was just like almost, to be honest, part of me was winging it, I mean, because you just get so immersed in it. And I was just very trusting of Travis, our director, creator, of just knowing when to kind of guide me and how to direct me. And he absolutely did. And so I just kind of just went for it, didn't know what I was doing and, and apparently, yeah, kind of just was guided and pulled it off to some degree. I hope. I'm sure you guys will let me know once you might listen to it.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: But I'm sure you did a fantastic job.
[00:05:31] Speaker C: But, yeah, so it was, it was very different. Less pressure and, and also just things like what they call it, Waller. And it's things that you obviously wouldn't need to think about when on screen, sitting down, the energy of sitting down or standing up or running or walking or walk and talk. I'm just doing it on screen. But with an audio drama, you have to bring the energy of the movement into your voice. So that's something I hadn't done before and found very interesting.
And, yeah, I just, I just had an amazing time in that room. But you still do get the feelings and the energy that you would acting with an actor on set in the recording studios, you still feel.
And that surprised me because I thought, oh, I'm just kind of reading and I'm not looking directly because I didn't learn the lines off book. I was, I had a good knowledge of the dialogue, but I hadn't had learnt it off book like I would for strange new worlds, for example. So I wasn't always looking at the actors. So I didn't think necessarily that I would have the same level of emotional connection, but I definitely did.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: That's awesome. Um, so what did you do to get into character then? So, you know, as you said, this is a kind of a different experience. You're not quite as immersed in, like, you know, costume and makeup and stuff, things.
[00:07:05] Speaker C: So for me, I prep my scripts the same way as I would.
So I do all the inner work and I personalize who Kirshen is to me, things she's been through. What have I been through that's similar?
So I prep it all the same way. Just don't learn the lines off book. And so in the moment, very similar to set, I allow the energy to flow through me and I allow Curshin to come through me and see what happens in that moment. And scene by scene, I was finding her. So it happened slowly, but yeah. And, you know, I think we'd had a conversation with Travis. Travis and I before had a deep conversation about it and from what he'd given me and from what I'd listened to from the previous seasons, I kind of just organically felt where to pitch kirshin in relation to all the other characters. So, yeah, it was more of an instinctual thing.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: I love that becoming one. I guess it's the same as an actor. You're always becoming your character and it's still true.
So for our final question then, I was kind of wondering, with this being this dystopian world with vampires and stuff like that, how would you, as a person, fair in this, in this world?
[00:08:31] Speaker C: Oh, I'd hope pretty well, I think. I probably need some more survival skills, like core survival skills, like learning how to, like, make fire, for example. I'm not sure how to do that, like, without or a lighter, but I used to do parkour, so that could come in handy when getting away or trying to get over obstacles, physical or otherwise.
And I'm quite good at fighting, so protection, absolutely. Me and others. So I reckon I'd be pretty good. I might need to do a course first on how to forage for food, find food, and how to make a shelter.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: But hey, you'd be the strength.
[00:09:33] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. I definitely have something to give to the team.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: Yeah, perfect. Well, thank you so much for your time. I enjoy talking to you, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you in the third season of Impact winter.
[00:09:43] Speaker C: Thank you, Brian. Thanks. Have a lovely day.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Cosmic Cafe. You can find the companion article for this podcast along with all the other news for those who like superheroes, science fiction and fantasy films, tv shows and other
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