These days, a redone fairy tale is not exactly new. But, just because the idea itself isn’t new, doesn’t mean nothing creative gets put in. Once Upon A Time is unusual in that it is a show with two realities – the past, and the present. While we follow the goings-on of characters now, the flashbacks allow us a peek back in time to what made them the way they are.

Once Upon A Time, if it could be known for two things, would be its abundance of diverse female characters, and their absolutely stunning wardrobes. The latter you can thank Eduardo Castro for – he’s the show’s costume designer. But for the characters themselves, it is the actresses that give them life.

Kristin Bauer van Straten, Merrin Dungey and Victoria Smurfit certainly know a thing or two about it, since their respective characters of Maleficent, Ursula and Cruella de Vil flaunt effortless style in both the Enchanted Forest and Maine. We caught up with the three dazzling and diabolical figures currently dominating the latter half of the show’s fourth season. When it came to approaching such iconic roles, they admitted it was a huge responsibility.

"It reminded me of jumping out of a plane," Kristin said. "Everything leading up to jumping out was a lot of thought process and worry. But then on the day, ultimately, you are saying dialogue that has been written for you; you’re just trying to say those lines believably. You take it one step at a time."

For her character, she has not just an animated counterpart, but another live version to match herself up against. Her way of approaching it was to avoid it. "I did not watch the movie Maleficent, purposefully, until I was done filming this year. I just didn’t want to have other colours and thoughts in my head."

Victoria, who is just as roguishly (and vogueishly?) stylish and terrifying as her Disney counterpart, echoed her costar’s sentiments. "I did the same with Glenn Close. I watched the cartoon but I didn’t go close to the movie."

"Before you step over the edge of the black hole when you play an iconic character, it’s quite terrifying and overwhelming. But once you’re in, you’re in, and you get to give it your own spin – and it has been fun."

The show is known not just for its interesting spins on characters, but also for its casting choices, and all three ladies fill very big shoes with grace and style. "I’m clearly not overweight and purple, you know?" Merrin laughed. "It’s a nice take on it. But once you wear the costume and get in the groove of the whole thing, it kind of does the work for you. You can just do your jam. You get to play."

She wouldn’t have been what we first would have expected as a casting choice, but the television veteran brings a sombre seriousness to Ursula that audiences weren’t expecting. Naturally, fans loved her – Merrin’s Ursula is a serious, angry, yet heartbreaking vision from the purple diva we grew up watching on VHS. From the scene of her working in an aquarium in New York to her backstory with Killian Jones, we were, well, hooked. It’s unquestionable that Merrin was a great choice for the part, and the actress enjoyed herself immensely in the role. Her talents are inarguable, since it is practically impossible to see the angry sea queen underneath her adorable bubbly personality.

GC: How is it meeting all of your fans?

MD: It’s amazing. It’s so rewarding because you’re working in this box and you don’t get to interact with other people, and then it’s great to actually hear what people think and have their opinions. We get a lot of young fans, a lot of gay fans; it’s just the coolest thing ever. I had someone today tell me they’re so pumped there are more powerful women of colour – she started crying, and then I started crying, because that’s all I care about doing. That’s my job.

GC: The casting of you as Ursula was so impressive.

MD: It’s bananas. I was like, I am not purple, I am not overweight, but you want me for this part? How awesome for them to think that outside of the box!

GC: The fairy tales belong to everybody, regardless of colour, race, and gender – right?

MD: They’re just gonna make it great for the fans; they just want to make a great story.

GC: It’s a show you can watch with young kids, which is great.

MD: It’s a family show. I go to my kid’s school and they go bananas. They want me to autograph scraps of homework and I’m like, you need to turn this in, I shouldn’t be signing this! It is the coolest thing. I did a career day thing at my daughter’s class to be able to show them stuff from the show, and to have them so excited – it has just been really cool.

GC: We were disappointed when we went into your backstory and there was no romantic connection to Captain Hook.

MD: You were disappointed? I was disappointed! It was very sweet how he helped me and it all turned out beautifully, but it was a wrinkle they didn’t need to add. And the ‘Captain Swan’ fans would have been like, grr!

The shipping on that show is insane. They ship me and Vic [Smurfit]! Sea Devil. The Twitter fans ship the Sea Devil. What’s so cool about that, though, I think it’s because we have such a connection as people and friends, which showed. And they wrote us as Starsky and Hutch-like compatriots, and that chemistry showed. People like that chemistry, so let’s ship it. I ship it in my heart.

GC: It is great, as a romance or a bromance.

MD: Is it a chomance if it’s chicks? A chomance. Let’s make it so. Mic drop.

Kristin Bauer van Straten. You probably know her. And, if you know her, you love her. That was the predominant reaction the minute she was announced as a guest for Calgary Expo. Though some of her most famous roles bring to mind terrifying and impressive women, in person Kristen is joyful, polite, professional and kindly.

GC: What was it like being on a show like True Blood, based on books, which had such longevity to it as well as a rabid fan base?

KB: That’s a wonderful experience, because if you’re having fun doing the character it means that you get to do more of it. Also, that kind of show – the fans are very involved and they really participate, like with cosplay. This [conventions] is a whole new world to me which, if I had gotten on a procedural, I would never have known about. It adds another layer of fun.

GC: Do you think your enjoyment of Pam may have helped further bring her into the show than they might have otherwise?

KB: I always said that I was very lucky because the writing was so amazing and the lines that they wrote for Pam were just gifts. At one point one of the writers that became the showrunner said We have fun playing with you. That’s another thing that was unique to True Blood, that they would enjoy what you were doing and write more of it – it seemed. As an actor you never really know when you get the script.

GC: It was responsive.

KB: Yes, that was what I heard from the writers at one point. I also heard things like, the after the Godric-Eric relationship they realized that, wait, Pam and Eric would have that relationship. So there were many things that were layered.

GC: In Once Upon a Time, you and the other ladies are kind of like Charlie’s Angels in that you’re all really stellar fashionably.

KB: We are the supernatural Charlie’s Angels.

GC: Your current look is like a noir gangster in Once Upon a Time.

KB: It’s a female gangster, which I think is so beautiful. I love the hat. Oh, Eduardo Castro!

GC: When we were talking to Merrin [Dungey] and asked her what storyline she would write if she could, she said she would like a spinoff with all of the Queens of Darkness.

KB: Selfishly, I would love that as well because I just love hanging out with those ladies. They are all so incredibly committed, fierce, playful actors, and that is really fun to work across from.

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Contributor Jason Clevett | Mars Tonic |

Person Kristin Bauer van Straten | Merrin Dungey | Victoria Smurfit |

Topic Calgary Expo | Celebrity Interview | Celebrity Video Interview | Comic Expo | Interview | Once Upon a Time | True Blood |