Deena Dill on Star-Crossed, Suburgatory, & More!

This is for all of you Star-Crossed fans! Deena Dill stars as Mrs. Montrose, Grayson’s mother who made quite an impression at the ball! Mrs. Montrose is just getting started so I’m delighted to have her on the blog today! Check it out:

Photo: Skip Bolen/The CW

At this point, it’s clear that the Montrose family, particularly Grayson’s parents are the villains. What are your favorite qualities of villains?
Oh, they’re so fun to play! This is the first time I’ve gotten to play a villain and it’s interesting because when I auditioned for the show, I auditioned to be a nice, upscale, supportive mother. After I booked the role, they let me know that she was going to become the bad guy. I was so excited! I think a part of playing the bad guy is finding something within that character to like and something that I can connect. Because you have to have a motivation that makes your actions okay with you and justifies it. So kind of digging deep. On Star-Crossed, my (character’s) older son was killed which is clearly what fuels my hatred for the Atrians.

It’s an interesting contrast, Mrs. Montrose has her older son who she’s lost and she has to make sure she doesn’t lose her younger son, Grayson who was involved in a kidnapping incident last week. What can you tell us about what to expect from Mrs. Montrose and Grayson now that we know his parents lied to him?
Grayson is very conflicted about where his loyalties lie and over the next few episodes he’ll restructure his priorities. He feels like he’s been lied to by his parents because we told him that we do not condone violence and now there’s evidence that we not only condone it, we are coordinating it.

Your character is just getting started but what has been your favorite scene to shoot so far?
Well, I have several but it was really fun doing last week’s episode, “Stabbed with a White Wench’s Black Eye” because of the charity ball and seeing everyone dressed up and get to where such stunning clothes. It was really fun prepping for the episode because we got to try on designer gowns so that was really fun. This is also the episode where you get to see a darker side of Mrs. Montrose so there are several reasons why I think this was my favorite scene to shoot. My second favorite scene is coming up in the next episode when Grayson confronts me. That is by far my favorite acting scene I’ve ever gotten to do.

What’s your favorite part about filming in New Orleans?
Oh! The food is so spectacular. The atmosphere is festive. With this particular cast, we’re not from New Orleans so we had a great bonding experience staying at the same hotel and sitting around a fire pit sometimes. So it was enjoyable experience all together from the acting and personal perspectives.

With your experience having co-created and executive produced the competition show, Oh Sit on The CW and if the opportunity presented itself, would you be interested in writing an episode of Star-Crossed?
I would love to write an episode of anything. Certainly Star-Crossed, I’m familiar with the characters. I’ve never written anything in the sci-fi genre so I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have me as a writer but it’s certainly something that would be challenging. I certainly wouldn’t mind writing a spec script of something sci-fi.

Speaking of challenges, as a co-creator and executive producer, what would you say were your greatest challenges or greatest lessons learned with Oh Sit?
The things that go on behind the scenes before the talent arrives was the most startling to me. I learned so much co-creating and executive producing this show. One of the things that was eye opening for me, because I had come from the talent side, was how much work, time, and effort is involved before the talent even auditions. Also, the amount of hours debating what you think is a minimalistic thing but becomes vital to the show. Things like color scheme. You have to care what the color scheme is, it becomes the logo and gives the show the feeling and tone the show will have.

Completely. You also starred on Suburgatory which I think is one of the most underrated shows out there. It’s comedy gold. Can you talk about your favorite experience being on set?
I love doing comedy. Working on Suburgatory…to watch Cheryl Hines and the way she approaches comedy…and Jeremy Sisto…it was so educational for me.

Aside from Star-Crossed, what are your upcoming projects?
On the producing front, I’m about to start pitching a documentary series. On the acting front, right now I’m working on an independent film which is a psychological thriller. I’d called it a cross between The Orphanage and The Sixth Sense. I’m playing a very gritty role of an abusive mother, an alcoholic, and a druggie and I’ve never had to go places like this. I’ve done a lot of comedy so this is quite a stretch and really fun and exciting to explore new acting territory.

Watch Star-Crossed Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.