Batwoman star Camrus Johnson talks directing THAT pivotal Wildmoore scene
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Warning: This article contains spoilers from Wednesday's episode of Batwoman, titled "Broken Toys."
Javicia Leslie's Ryan Wilder and Meagan Tandy's Sophie Moore took a major step toward figuring out their complicated relationship status in Batwoman's latest episode.
Two weeks after sharing their first kiss, the two characters had sex in the final moments of Wednesday's episode, which was directed by star Camrus Johnson. It's a moment that's been a long time coming, especially for Sophie, who admitted to Luke (Johnson) that she started crushing on Ryan long before before she became Batwoman.
Before reaching that steamy ending, though, Ryan, Sophie, and the Bat team had their hands full with the newly reanimated Marquis (Nick Creegan), who hired hitman Victor Zsasz (Alex Morf) to kill his and Ryan's mom Jada (Robin Givens). Meanwhile, Alice (Rachel Skarsten) and Mary (Nicole Kang) tracked down the Joker's toymaker Kiki Roulette (Judy Reyes) because they needed her to fix the Joker's buzzer, which they hoped would cure Marquis. Unfortunately, Kiki betrayed the team and handed the repaired toy over to Marquis, who plans on using it to create another sociopath.
Below, EW chats with Johnson about his TV directorial debut, from his approach to Ryan and Sophie's love scene to working with Reyes, and more.
The CW
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was the first thing that jumped out to you when you read the script?
CAMRUS JOHNSON: Victor Zsasz. Victor Zsasz coming back made me so happy because he's one of the best villains in the season, Alex Morf is one of the best actors I've ever worked with, and Alex is a good friend of mine because he came on the show last season. We talk all the time. When I saw he was in my episode, I freaked out. The second big thing was just the Joker lore. I really just got to play and it was fun.
What did you think would be the most challenging scene to shoot after that initial read?
Obviously, the final scene. The intimacy scenes can always scare actors because there are so many stories of them going wrong, going too long, and things like that. So I just wanted to make sure it was as fun and comfortable as possible. Thank the lord, we did have a good time. But we also did have intimacy coordinators come to set and oversee everything, which I think every set should have anyway just to make sure everyone is comfortable and no one is doing anything they don't want to do. I was — not worried about that scene, but I was extra prepared to make sure everything went smoothly.
That's definitely a challenging scene to be handed on your first episode of TV. What did you do to prepare for it?
I did talk to some actor friends who have done it before. I have been in a couple myself. I also just talked to Javicia and Meagan as much as possible and asked if there was anything they needed. I actually got a storyboard artist to storyboard the scene so everyone was on the same page about what it was going to look like, what it was going to feel like. I made sure to also add as much fun as I could because the trap that a lot of directors and actors kind of fall into is they think they have to add all of this extra romance. The thing about romantic scenes is they're already romantic. When two people's lips touch on camera, it's automatically romantic.
What people [also] don't realize is that when you're getting romantic with your partner, it's not always perfect. It's not always the most beautiful thing in the world. Sometimes it's clumsy, sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's silly, and sometimes those are the best moments when you're laughing and giggling and figuring each other out. So that's something I made very clear early on: I want you two to have fun with this because this should be fun. This is new for both of you. Man, it just made both them and the characters clearly enjoy it more, and I think it just works so much better that way.
How will the rest of the Bat Team react to this development?
I think this is going to make them very happy. They love Sophie and Ryan so much that they just want to see them happy, and the fact that they make each other happy will make the whole dynamic stronger. Of course, there's going to be some fear in there deep down, especially in Luke, [about how] when a superhero falls for someone, then that puts a target on that person's back. I think Luke has warned her about this kind of stuff before, but this is different. Sophie is part of the team. If they've found some love for each other, they're going to be very supportive of that.
Colin Bentley/The CW Actor-director Camrus Johnson with Rachel Skarsten as Alice on 'Batwoman'
Before the episode, Rachel said you were responsible for some of Alice's best moments in the episode on Instagram. Can you share what she was talking about specifically?
Ah man! There was the scene with Rachel and Nicole in the car [discussing how Mary should handle the guilt over killing someone as Poison Ivy]. Basically, when I read the script I was like, "Okay, I know how they're going to play this because I know them as people and as actors." So they did the take and it went great. I walked up to them and said, "Cool, let's try it like this," and it was just completely different.
Basically, Rachel was being her very funny Alice self and I said, "Cool, try this one where instead of just cracking jokes, you don't think these are jokes. Like you think this is a good advice." She was like, "Oh, that's an interesting take!" So she did it that way. So I said, "Cool, now this time do the exact same thing, but it's really impacting you because you think this isn't funny at all." So, it was three completely different takes of the same scene and they all worked so completely differently. Rachel actually said, "Wow, I never thought about that scene that way." So, she had all this fun because she was doing the same scene, but it felt like three different scenes. And Nicole not only reacted to those different takes, but I gave Nicole the exact same thing. So, that's what she meant, and it was really sweet because she kept complimenting how much she liked my take on the direction.
What was your favorite day on set?
My favorite set was the Joker bunker. Dude, I freaked out when I read that in the script. I went to my props team and said, "I want everything. Give me the bloody crowbar. Give me the fish with the lipstick on it from the comics. Give me the freakin' Harley Quinn hammer if you can. Give the pencil from The Dark Knight movie." [Laughs]. I asked for so many props, and Chance? They gave me all of them! So when I walked in that day, I was freaking out! Even though that day was pretty hard and we were shooting on location in this abandoned asylum hospital place and had some technical difficulties because of the wiring in the building, it was just so freakin' fun.
When we shot at the theme park, that was also incredible! Judy Reyes is one of the best actors ever. I knew the character of Kiki Roulette had to be played by somebody that was seasoned and legendary and amazing, because I knew that character was going to be hard to play, and I knew that if that character fell through, the episode would just be less interesting. So the original character was not Judy at all. It was someone like 30 years younger and blah blah blah. I was like, "No, I think having someone who has been doing it for a long time would be an interesting take on the character." Oh my gosh, Judy, talk about an actor who can do anything!
There was one scene that Rachel and Nicole used to love talking about where the camera was looking past Judy's shoulder and she's holding up a phone with Marquis [on the line]. What you don't see a lot of because we didn't have time for it [in the final cut of the episode] is that every time Marquis is talking and Ryan isn't, Judy turns back to Alice and Mary and doing all this stuff on camera, like making these funny faces. Then, she turns back right as it's Javicia's line again. She made the camera hers wherever it was. She was a scene-stealer. So, anytime I got to direct Judy, I was like, "This is great!" The fact that it was my idea to go for her and push for her — I wrote her a letter asking her to please be in this episode — it made me so happy to see how much fun she was having and how freaking great she was.
Dean Buscher/The CW Camrus Johnson directing 'Batwoman'
When Luke got his father's A.I. back from Marquis, I was immediately concerned that Marquis may have tampered with it. Should the audience be worried about that at all?
I think it's go to go. I don't think Marquis is smart enough to alter something like that. I think it was just something she took to spite Luke in a way. And I don't think Luke was even worried about it because his main thing was, "That's my dad. I need to find him. I need to talk to him."
But Luke's A.I. is interesting because we love hearing his voice, we love having him connected with his father, but it's not the healthiest relationship. Luke's dad passed away years ago and although he was mourning and slowly getting the point where he was over it, this A.I. is now in his life. It needs to get to a point where Luke learns to grow and be a hero on his own. In a strange way, I think having his dad's A.I. is holding him back, so I'm interested for the audience to see how that relationship grows in the near future.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Batwoman airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
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