Ezra Franky brought life to her character in Untamed, and that’s not a play on words. After all, she plays a character who turns out to be the victim of the story, but we get to see a full look into who she was up to the time of her death.
Untamed is one of those twisty thrillers that leaves you guessing all the way to the end. It starts with a body being found, only for the authorities to realize that this could belong to a girl who went missing when she was seven, 10 years ago!
Sure enough, there is a little bit of closure about that seven-year-old girl, but now we have a new mystery to solve. What happened to her in the last 10 years, and how did she end up back in town and dead?
Ezra Franky talks about the production team behind Untamed
Precinct TV: How do you feel now that Untamed is out?
Ezra Franky: I feel good. I feel really excited. It’s been a pretty smooth release. It’s gone, I think, as well as it could, and I feel good about the reception. So far, everybody’s very excited and very warm and very welcoming.
PTV: What was it about Lucy and about Untamed that drew you in to audition?
EF: The team is the biggest standout in the entire production. It was right on the forefront of it; the team is spectacular. There are some really notable names on there that have done some really cool projects on the production side, as well as the cast. A lot of the producers have done really cool stuff in my area and just in the industry in general.
It was a super compelling script, and then once you read the script, you’re intrigued. It feels grounded, and you resonate with the character. It all just pulls you in.
PTV: How much of Lucy did you get to know beforehand, and how much did you learn as you were reading the scripts?
EF: I think the entire production was a learning curve with Lucy from beginning to end. Every day I was learning more about her. It was particularly rough spending time on location in the forest and the trees. I feel like this inner Lucy was kind of rising up out of me into the character, which was really cool to witness.
PTV: What did you learn about yourself while filming and bringing this character to life?
EF: I think I learned a lot about myself as an actor and a collaborator. It was really unique in a very unpredictable environment, being in the trees and being exposed to the elements. I think I learned a lot about my confidence as an actor and about my curiosity in the entire industry, the world that I’m pursuing.
PTV: You’ve mentioned it a bit, but what was it like to really get stuck into the location and have the elements around you? So many shows now are moving to studios as much as possible.
EF: I felt really lucky that we were outdoors and on location. I’m from Vancouver, and we were shooting all the scenes up in Canada, so I kind of felt like a tourist in my own environment, which was really, really cool. We explored a lot of places that I hadn’t seen before and hadn’t spent a lot of time in. What a cool way to see the surrounding areas of my home. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to explore it safely.
PTV: You’ve done a couple of projects already, but this is your first big thing. What was that like for you, especially having these big names to look up to and follow?
EF: I felt so lucky. It was great, a young actor’s dream, to come into a space and have so much to observe. But then, also, it was such a safe and warm environment. The writers, the showrunners Mark [L. Smith] & Elle [Smith], were so wonderful and so invested in the story that it felt very welcoming. I just feel really lucky as somebody new in my career.
PTV: You had to do a lot of work where you already knew the outcome for Lucy. What was it like having to hold back your emotions so you didn’t give too much away?
EF: I definitely had to put together a timeline, like a physical one, while I was doing my character prep. Being script-to-script, you only get a little slice of her story per episode. You kind of get a puzzle piece before you build a bigger picture, and the climax at the end, so it was really necessary to get the beginning and the end and then place it all in a physical timeline for my own character development.
PTV: And then you’re not allowed to show any sign that you know what happens in the end, so how did you go about making sure you had no idea about that?
EF: It’s really just living in the moment. I think for somebody like Lucy, who has spent 10 years in this unpredictable wilderness and paving her own path through the forest and not having to rely on people, she’s had to live very presently, and I think just remembering that she really only has the moment she’s currently existing in and kind of bringing that into the performance.
PTV: Is there anything you have coming up that you can talk about yet?
EF: At the moment, I’m just riding the wave of Untamed. Me and my team are reading scripts, and I’ve had some music come out recently.
PTV: Yeah, you’re a singer-songwriter as well. How do you balance the two creative elements?
EF: It’s definitely a balance, really nice to be able to do both. They definitely feed each other, and it’s a wonderful creative outlet. The acting industry can be very unpredictable, and you’re never guaranteed to be working or actively working on a project, so it’s nice to be able to have music as a follow-through between projects. That continues to feed that creative impulse that I have.
PTV: As my last question, what would your dream role be?
EF: I would love to do a biopic of somebody who sings. I’m not sure exactly who that would be, but I would love to be able to marry those two passions, singing and acting.
They’re such fun stories to tell, and they’re inspiring. It’s usually somebody that I’ve looked up to for a decade.
Untamed is now available to stream on Netflix.
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