Bates Motel’s Freddie Highmore and Kerry Ehrin Talk What to Expect in Season 3
Debi Moore
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Q: Given that we know a lot of things about where Norman ends up in Psycho, would you say things like learning taxidermy were very significant to establish Norman’s character?
Freddie Highmore: Yes, taxidermy becomes more important as the season goes on, and we’ll have to see what he ends up [stuffing] by the end. But I don’t know… the trick I think, as Kerry’s spoken about in the past, is in not making those moments that are present in Psycho seem overt or really noticeable when you’re watching it. And of course part of the joy, like when we see Norman as Norma, is knowing, “Oh, this has an extra creepy value because it will reappear in Psycho the film.” But at the same time it should never be sort of gratuitous or simply put in, in order to cause that, to cause that little wink to the audience; and so I think what Kerry balances so well is never making those moments in Norman’s progression seem out of place within our show but at the same time allowing them to have the power that comes from referencing Psycho.
Q: Norman’s spying on Annika was one of the more “normal” things that he’s done so far. Can you talk a bit about how their friendship, or whatever it is, might evolve?
Freddie Highmore: Yes, it is interesting that Norman’s action of looking at Annika through the window isn’t necessarily a trait unique to a serial killer. It wasn’t that he sought her out or aimed to do it. He merely kind of stumbled upon the open window and peered in and was slightly transfixed. And I guess we slightly have to ask ourselves what would have happened had Norma not come down and caught him in the act, as it were. Would Norman have just sort of realized that he was being slightly pervy and gone upstairs back to the house, or would he have gone around and tried to break into her motel room?
Q: There are a couple of new characters coming into the show this season. How are they going to stir things up? The show seems to be really about relationships, and it starts with Norman and his mom and kind of works its way up from there.
Kerry Ehrin: Well, one of the really interesting things in structuring this show that Carlton and I have faced since day one is weaving together two worlds that you wouldn’t think go together. And part of that is these dark secrets that exist in White Pine Bay and are told through various peculiar characters that emerge from the society. This year we have some amazing actors. Ryan Hurst plays such a cool character who’s this kind of bent mountain man; he does such a brilliant performance. You don’t quite know [about him]. He feels threatening… but at the same time … Dylan does not know what to make of him. He definitely brings some mystery and trouble with him.
And then another really wonderful character is played by Kevin Rahm, and this is a very prominent head of a very exclusive, elite hunting club. Very old school, high buy-in. He’s just such a great antagonist. He’s a really fun character. He is a bad guy that really likes himself, that enjoys his life and his senses and his body and dresses great. And Kevin Rahm just is so amusing in this role and so great. And then it also takes a darker turn because he’s someone who grew up with [Sheriff] Alex Romero, and the storyline reveals a lot about their own history growing up together but also Alex Romero’s history, and he’s this great stoic character who we know nothing about. So we get to peel back some layers and look inside, which is really fascinating.
Freddie Highmore: We need to say, though, you called him [Nestor Carbonell] “Alex Romero” because I don’t think any of us have really referred to him as that on set. Nestor’s “Sheriff Romero,” or we just call him “The Sheriff,” especially in the fifth episode of the season [which Nestor] directed for the first time. It’s absolutely amazing. And so it certainly amused us just to see him in his sheriff’s outfit, directing away. He was very much the sheriff/director.
And then the other relationship to tease in this season is the one between Norman and his fictional version of his mother that he conjures up… [it] entices him and repels him various times into or from doing things. And that’s a really interesting dynamic, the way that Norman … starts to struggle with knowing whether he is talking to and whether he’s interacting with this fictional version of his mother or the reality.
Q: In the movie we really didn’t know Norman’s mother; she was already dead. With the series you have kind of a wider latitude as far as both of those characters. You might be boxed in, in some ways, but you also have a lot of freedom in other ways.
Freddie Highmore: Yes, Carlton and I from the very beginning wanted to tell a story about Norman’s mom that was different than what you hear in the movie because what you hear in the movie is from Norman when he’s completely gone crazy. People carry many different versions of their parents inside of them from different memories and different times that you went through with them. And we definitely wanted to broaden out the scope of who this woman was and then [do] the same thing with Norman. He’s really in many ways such an endearing person, and the concept that someone who had a good heart was trapped in this situation and in this body and in this circumstance was so compelling… It opens up so much storytelling that we were always excited about and continue to be excited about.
Q: In the first episode you touched on Norman’s grandmother, and she was literally crazy. Will we learn any more about that in terms of how maybe it’s all hereditary?
Kerry Ehrin: That’s an evolution, but… I can’t really say more than that. I’m sorry.
Q: Norman’s relationship with his mother has changed quite a bit, but they’re still very close at this point. How will that relationship be tested as we continue into the third season?
Kerry Ehrin: What’s emerging between them is an awareness on Norma’s side that he is more controlling in a way, and on Norman’s side [there] is an awareness that she has chinks in her emotional armor. And so we get to kind of spin that in emotion and see how that plays out. Sometimes Norman and Norma remind me of those paint things at a carnival where you pour paint in them and then they spin around and the colors fly out. Then they make like these amazing abstract art things. And I feel that’s sort of [like] Norma and Norman… you get them in a specific psychological place and then you let them go and you see what happens. And there’s a lot of spinning out this season between them.
Freddie Highmore: I think that maybe one other interesting thing is though there will be this increasing separation between the real Norman and the real Norma, there will also be, by the end of the season, almost a complete convergence of the two at one moment where you’re almost not entirely sure which person it is…
Q: Freddie, is it any different for you to act with the imaginary Norma as opposed to the actual character?
Freddie Highmore: I think it’s interesting. We’ve experimented in many ways this season with how Norman himself is behaving – which comes a lot from the writing – how he’s behaving in those moments with this vision of her and whether he’s purely imagining her there in front of him, whether he is imaging himself as her, whether he’s talking out loud using her words, or whether he’s merely listening and hearing them. And from what perspective do we see those scenes? Is it purely from Norman’s perspective, or is it from the kind of third person storytelling that we’re used to in most television shows? So they all sort of play a part … when we’re doing those scenes between Norman and this vision, this mother, this Norma character. But there’s also a new sense of freedom to be found in them because it isn’t … the reality, and so that opens up exciting new possibilities for how both Norman and Norma can behave.
Kerry Ehrin: And also the hallucinations to him are incredibly real, and I think that the big goal is to get people to go on a journey with Norman. If you’re crazy … [or] imagining… I guess I shouldn’t use the word “crazy.” If you are imagining something that isn’t there, to you it is incredibly real, and that’s what you want people to be inside of, that part of it. And it’s actually really exciting to get to develop the fictional, the hallucinatory version or versions of Norma… that’s a pretty exciting thing to get to do.
Our thanks to Freddie and Kerry for their time and to A&E and NBCUniversal for coordinating the interview.
“Bates Motel” Episode 3.02 – “The Arcanum Club” (airs 3/16/15)
Norman (Freddie Highmore) and Norma (Vera Farmiga) fixate on Annika’s disappearance. Norma learns about what The Arcanum Club really is. Dylan (Max Thieriot) and Caleb (Kenny Johnson) encounter a new neighbor (Ryan Hurst).
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