“I think she trusts herself more than she trusts anyone else,” Breeds tells Parade.com in this exclusive interview when asked why she isn’t a team player. “I think she knows that if she can read a situation, she can do what’s necessary. She doesn’t necessarily know what other people are going to do and how that may interfere with the situation.” Of course, it isn’t as simple as Clarice thinking she knows best. Her father was a sheriff, who worked the night shift on his own, so he set an example that she’s following. And then she gets all tied up in making sure she isn’t responsible for anyone else being put in jeopardy. “There’s this martyrdom, this homage to her father that she’s definitely feeling,” Breeds continues. “You know, ‘My dad did it, and did it alone, and my dad was strong enough.’ Even though he got shot, he took it upon himself to do everything he could to make the world a safe place. So, I think that’s a big part of it, but also, what if you put other people in harm’s way? So, I think, also, she’s trying to take it all on herself because she doesn’t want anyone else to be compromised.” Even though Clarice is set in 1993, one year after the events of horror franchiseThe Silence of the Lambs, Clarice is very much a role model that women can be empowered by in 2021, a woman with strength and smarts, but not without some glaring flaws. “She’s a woman that’s highly skilled, that wants to be taken seriously, and given her fair shot in this world,” Breeds says. “But she’s also carrying her various traumas at the same time, and navigating those at the same time, while trying to make the world a better place, while trying to make herself a better person. We can all very much relate to her narrative.” Breeds was headed to the set for a day of filming when we caught up on her character, her relationship with her boss Paul Krendler (Michael Cudlitz) and whether going into the dark to track down monsters–even as an actress–gives her nightmares.
Were you a fan of the Thomas Harris books or movies? Did you look at what Jodie Foster did with the role before you started?
The film came out when I was pretty much a baby, so I didn’t watch it straight away, but once I grew up and was old enough, I finally watched it in my early 20s. I got the courage to watch it and I absolutely loved it. I didn’t actually read the book until I got the role and was like, “Oh, my gosh, I see why this is such a big deal.” It is. I got through the book in like a week because it was just so good. It was so, so good. The work is legendary for a reason, that’s for sure.
We aren’t that far into the series and Krendler seems like he isn’t quite as begrudging of her as he was originally. How do you think the relationship will evolve?
Look, I think Krendler is a by-the-books guy and she’s not, and so, she goes rogue. She goes off-book. She thinks outside of the FBI playbook into how are we going to get into this person’s psychology? Or how are we going to solve this? Or how are we going to deescalate the situation? And she’s willing to put her neck on the line for it every single time. She’s willing to put her money where her mouth is. I think the thing with Krendler is, he’s like, “Who is this little upstart?” First of all, she just got out of Quantico and she’s got the audacity to start calling these shots. Part of it is that she challenges him a lot in the way he works. But another part of what he’s coming around to is he has a duty of care. She is an agent under his care that doesn’t always know how to receive…she plays to authority, but sometimes her belief in what is right and what must be done for the greater good can supersede the orders of people above her. If they won’t listen to her, or if they can’t work collectively, she’s going to do it anyway, because it’s what she thinks is the right thing. And that is more on her. So, I think it’s something that they’re not understanding; something that gets lost between them. He’s actually trying to protect her from herself. He knows that she goes rogue. She knows that in his eyes, she’s incredibly inexperienced. Could these be flukes? Is she just lucky? When is that luck going to run out? And what is that consequence? What about her life? So, I think, there is a certain level of care there that comes out, or is misinterpreted that he’s just trying to shut her down all the time, and that’s incredibly frustrating. So, the two wind up there, different styles grinding up against each other and creating sparks, creating a lot of tension. And they’re still just understanding where each other are coming from, and we develop that throughout the series. We explore that throughout the series, and both their points of view on that.
You’ve had the role for a while now. Have you learned something new about Clarice that’s different than when you started?
The relationships are unfolding, so she can allow herself to show different colors. Apart from, obviously, her preexisting relationship with Ardelia (Devyn Tyler), these are very much different worlds. She can let her guard down and be herself with her best friend, and show her joy, show her weaknesses and show her femininity. She couldn’t do that with the ViCAP team. And as the show goes on, obviously, her rapport develops with the ViCAP team in different ways. Some good, some bad. So, that’s been fun for me to be able to expand her into new territory that we hadn’t been able to do before because the pilot is very much coming off the back of the Clarice that we know in the films, plus trauma. And now we’re moving forward beyond that. And so, for me, she’s unfolding, she’s blossoming. I’m getting into, “So, who is she in joy? Who is she on a weekend? Does she go to a dinner party? Does she crack jokes?” I’m really getting to explore that and unfold her and play with new realms within her as a character. And that is my greatest joy going, “Who is this incredible woman as just a person? What is her personality?” There’s a lot of that set up in the Thomas Harris books, but we now get to live that, we get to experience that, we get to extrapolate on it. So, that’s been really fun to me.
The first couple of episodes were standalone, but now it looks like an ongoing arc. Is that going to take us through the rest of the season? Or will that wrap up, leading to more standalone stories?
You’ll get both.
Clarice is a woman who goes down into the dark to find the monsters. Is that hard to leave at work? Does it give you nightmares?
It doesn’t carry through with me in a visual sense, but I think the exhaustion…It takes a lot. I’m experiencing this with Clarice. My body doesn’t know that I’m tricking it into doing this, and then you do multiple takes. So, I think it’s just an extra level of emotional and physical exhaustion you feel from it. But in terms of dreaming, having horror dreams and things like that, not necessarily. My worst nightmare is about work and that I missed my call time and my alarm didn’t go off. That’s the depth of my dream anxiety with this job. I think that’s a good thing and maybe I’m well-built for this in that I don’t take it home with me. I just need to go into recovery mode. I just need a lot of downtime to recuperate after the emotional and physical energy expenditure that her life brings my life, and that my life really brings to life for her life. Clarice airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Next, find out if Grey’s Anatomy is going to end after Season 17.
