TV Interview: A Conversation with "Justified's" Joelle Carter

Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder

I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Joelle Carter who plays Ava Crowder on FX’s critically acclaimed series, Justified. She was very sweet and did an excellent job answering everyone’s questions. I wasn’t as nervous to speak with her because I was completely prepared, and she had a way about her that made me comfortable during the call. It was a total piece of cake. As most viewers of the show probably wanted to know, she did confirm that there is a romance brewing between Ava and Boyd. Although I’m not sure how I feel about that, it’s interesting to know what she thinks about the subject since she portrays the character. The call was short but very informative. First up, my question! I got a great response from her, even making her laugh.

M. Hale Hi, thanks so much for talking with us today.

J. Carter “Oh, my pleasure.”

I wanted to know, with Ava and Boyd being family and pretty much all that the other person has, like they’re each other’s support system, do you think that she’ll be able to keep him out of trouble?

“Have you tried to keep a man out of trouble? I’m not sure. I don’t think Ava can keep herself out of trouble.”

Right, but she has her shotgun just in case.

“She does. You know I kind of see Ava as the— I think, you know, for Ava, she’s had a certain life if you look at Winona and Ava. Winona, she knows kind of what she wants, her picture of her and Raylan in the end and them saying, and him doing a job when he comes home, does the work nine to five. For Ava, I think she’s really just looking for love and someone that’s dedicated to her and for someone that will respect her and won’t hurt her. Boyd is a gentleman and he’s really devoted to her so far, and so that’s all she needs is a little more simple. I think she wishes they could stay out of trouble.”

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When asked if she interacts with Mags Bennett or any of the other characters this season, she says:

“Yes, there are a few scenes where a whole bunch of the gang get together. I don’t get any one-on-one with any of the Bennetts until the very last episode. And that’s about all I can say.”

On how Ava feels about Boyd:

“I think where we left off, the last episode when he offers the money to her, right? And then the cost of coming in— It’s interesting. I think it’s Ava and Boyd. Ava likes to have— She has a big heart and she really loves the idea that everyone can change and in the beginning I think she wanted to take a chance on that with Boyd, and I believe as its progressing, they’re kind of falling for each other a little bit and she wants to help him out because of these feelings she’s having and then he brings this in again, yet another complicated issue. But, I think that for Ava, she had this long, long relationship with Boyd and I believe he’s kind of always been in love with her and she really finds him interesting and she sees him exciting and we’ll see what happens!”

On how she handles the different subtleties of her relationships with Raylan and Boyd:

“Oh, I find it challenging and exciting. It’s wonderful when they write for you such complex situations because it is a challenge, but it’s thrilling. It’s great.”

On what it’s like working with Walt Goggins and if it was smart for Boyd to move in:

“Working with Walton is such a wonderful experience. He’s a dynamic actor and you never worry that there won’t be something on the other side of the table coming at you. So, it’s really exciting and it’s an honor. I think in the end Ava had to do what she had to do to survive and to have Boyd living with her it’s help ends meet and it’s kind of opened her up to really discovering who she is a little bit more. So, I think it was a good idea.”

How she feels her character will grow during season two:

“I think she’s really still trying to discover, to accept and to trust the shrink that’s inside of her. When called out, it’s there. It’s like a second instinct. She’s used to hard living and that’s the way she is, but I think she’s still trying to figure it all out as we all are usually. But, she definitely has developed and come a long way since season one which is nice.”

On what it’s like being one of the few females on the show with so many men:

“It’s a lot of testosterone. There’s a lot of manly stuff out there beneath. I think it’s a challenge as it is and it is business. It’s a very male dominated business, so it’s kind of a real life challenge that’s come into play in the working world. I think that the writers and all of us have developed some really strong female characters that complement the male testosterone that we’re living in. That’s what makes it exciting, because we are the sauce, you know, the sensitive part to their lives, but you don’t mess with them and you see them stick up for themselves and you see them call the shots. I think do us justice.”

On the rarity of the show with regard to the characters’ complexities:

“It’s become more obvious, especially with my character. I’ve talked with the writers and we kind of like that sometimes we don’t even know where it’s going and she doesn’t know where she’s going, but she is so complex that we discover along the journey with her different things and that’s a lovely unveiling. It’s been amazing to watch it unfold and to see us kind of embrace strongly the unknown and go for it.”

On what Ava is thinking when she and Boyd have their “quiet moments at home”:

“You don’t see a lot of the relationship building and growing and that was a big challenge for me because then I would have these short scenes to do to show the audience, well this is where these people are now, and you can imagine maybe with us that they’ve been cohabitating together and learning more about each other. Just the idea of her going up to his bedroom because maybe she’s a little bored and she knows he’s there and she starts to enjoy his company a little bit more and she calls him out to be like, it’s okay if we get to know each other a little better. I want to know more about you. And then even on the porch, he shares some stuff with her. I found that for Ava to be a bit more intriguing. And it’s just that they’re starting to get a little more comfortable and these bad guys come. Then trouble comes up the way. And she’s like, “Well, I thought you told me you were—” I think for her Boyd is like the audience, someone that you think you know and then maybe you don’t know completely. And I believe what we’ll see as it goes along in them really coming to realize that they know each other a lot better than they thought they did and maybe these are the only people that can really know each other the way they do.”

What attracted her to the character of Ava Crowder:

“I think it was the contradiction of her being this victim and yet being so bold and strong to seduce a man right after she shot her husband who had put her in a very trying and confined relationship for so long. I felt like they’re giving me the freedom by the way this is written to be this soft, vulnerable character, but to have a lot of strength to decide to live and go out and also try to figure out who she really is. So she has to be able to discover that. It’s really loaded.”

When asked if it was difficult for her to lose her Georgian accent:

“Because we travelled so much, it wasn’t as hard as you would think, but the problem is we always lived in Georgia throughout our travels, so if I hear it, it comes back really fast and if I go back or if I’m around people, it’s really, if you partake in a beverage of the alcoholic types, it definitely will come out, the twang, yes. So, a little bit of a challenge but not as hard as maybe if I’d only lived in the south my whole life.”

On Ava’s survival instincts and the role they play in the show:

“I’ve always had to do background work for Ava because there’s so much of her that hasn’t been revealed yet. And I think Baumann, her husband was the only man she ever really loved and their relationship in the beginning was like that young true love and, unfortunately, things didn’t turn out the way they thought they were. They were the couple, you know, that were going to leave town and make it and he just deteriorated, deteriorated, deteriorated until alcohol and abusive and yes, it really didn’t turn out the way they thought. And there’s a scene in the first season where she says she did try to leave, I think because she did love him and those relationships are really complicated, abusive relationships, where you think you’re strong enough to do it and then you don’t and then you come back and then they won’t let you go and it’s just— it was a lot that she went through in that one relationship and that’s why I feel like when she finds Raylan, she is like, “Oh this is a ticket out. And I’ve always had kind of these feelings for this guy and maybe I can go back to all of these dreams that I thought I wanted.” And I believe in the first season we kind of see she realizes, ‘Maybe I have to figure out what my new dreams are because those old dreams aren’t going to work.’ ”

On talking to Elmore about Ava and where she wants to see the character go:

“Have I talked to Elmore to see where he would like to see Ava go as the season goes on? No, I haven’t. I have gotten messages through other —Tim …for season one and he said he adored the character of Ava and what we were doing with her, so that’s a big, big compliment. I’m sure that other people that have been writing and I know that Tim gets to talk with him some, I’m not sure if they’ve talked about Ava. I know originally the short story was just a short story. So, I’m not sure if he ever wrote any other episodes or any other short stories with Ava in them. But he seems very happy with the way we’re going.”

The difference in Ava’s relationship with Raylan from the first season to the second:

“You know what’s interesting about the first two scenes that we had together when he comes to the porch and he’s actually looking for Boyd, his character could have gone anywhere to find Boyd, but I believe he wanted to see if I was okay and he wanted to kind of warn me, he wanted me to not like do that, not let him live with me and he was wanting to make sure it wasn’t because I was trying to punish him. I think a little bit she was, she knew that that he wouldn’t like that but it comes down to the end is that he would was making a choice not to be a part of her life. So, this is a woman that lives in the moment and she has to go on.

In some of the other scenes, we were interested in a way that kind of interacts. I think it’s more of the circumstance of what’s happening and how they feel about what’s happening in the circumstance and maybe they feel the other person should be doing something different. I don’t think these two people hate each other. He might be disappointed in some of the choices that she’s making. She’s still disappointed.

I think Ava really fell hard for Raylan. She’s still got some scars there that she has to deal with it. Sometimes love and hate are really close together.”

On Ava and Winona coming together:

“There won’t be any Winona-Ava, well, yes we are in one scene together of unspoken words. So, yes you will see one.”

To see more of the fabulous Joelle Carter, be sure to tune into Justified on FX every Wednesday at 10 PM E/P.

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Elle

Writer, mother, realist, cloud lover, daydreamer, dessert enthusiast, sweet tea addict, perfectionist, and lover of life and Christ, but not in that order. http://www.fanfiction.net/~vikingloverelle