Cherise Boothe Talks About "Dispatches From Elsewhere"

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Yes, André plays his flute on set too. We spoke with Cherise Boothe who acts alongside Benjamin on “Dispatches From Elsewhere” about acting on the most whimsical show on television.

For those of you who haven’t seen an episode, the AMC series was created by and stars Jason Segel, and is centered around four ordinary people who feel there’s something missing in their lives, but they can’t quite put their finger on what it is. This diverse foursome is brought together by chance – or perhaps it’s by design – when they stumble onto a puzzle hiding just behind the veil of everyday life. As they begin to accept the mysterious ‘Dispatches from Elsewhere’ challenges, they come to find that the mystery winds deeper than they imagined, and their eyes are opened to a world of possibility and magic. Starring alongside Segel are Academy® and Emmy® Award-winner Sally Field, Academy Award®-nominee Richard E. Grant, multi-GRAMMY Award®-winner André Benjamin and rising star Eve Lindley. Boothe plays a mysterious figure named Lee — who offers a very different perspective than the foursome. Check out our Q&A with her below:

BOSSIP: This show is very different from anything we’ve ever seen on television before.

Cherise Boothe: Yeah it is, it’s different than anything I’ve ever seen on television before, it’s also different from anything I’ve ever been a part of on TV. I appreciate the mystery in the show and the willingness and daring to venture through different genres and not determine that ‘oh this show is this specific thing.’ It really does allow itself to be mercurial in a way and that I think adds to the mystery and adventure of it and the enjoyment and the ride that the audience goes on while they are watching.

BOSSIP: Seeing the scenes from different perspectives is really interesting, we’ve seen some of the events from Monday’s episode before, just from another point of view.

Cherise Boothe: In this episode you actually get to see my character Lee’s perspective on scenes you’ve already been exposed to. You get a little more wholistic view of all of the things that were occurring during those moments. That’s actually another part of the show that’s fun, when you revisit moments and you see ‘Oh wow this was also what was going on.’ Within those reveals you get more clues, so it’s like what are these characters going after, what are they finding? are they close? are they far? did they miss the ball? wait a minute, there’s another layer to the story? It’s really cleverly layered in that way.

BOSSIP: You’re working with some amazing actors on this show, Jason Segel, Sally Field, André Benjamin. All of the characters were very different and everyone brings something different table. How was it working with the rest of the cast?

Cherise Boothe: I have to say that I enjoyed working with every single actor that I got to engage with.

Richard E. Grant who plays Octavio is so dynamic and energetic and just deliciously, mischievously fun on set and he also find such an amazing opportunities in his work on camera because he’s so free and very improvisational so I loved working with him.

I got to work with Sally Field a little bit. There’s such a warmth and generosity in her and she’s also someone who is really in the moment and very nuanced in the way she plays with her scene partners so that was a delight and a lesson to work with her.

Eve Lindley has such a beautiful generosity and a such a witty playfulness about her and she can WEAR those clothes that our brilliant costume designer Keri Langerman designed for her so beautifully. Man Eve Lindley can wear some clothes with those long legs. She’s always looking amazing.

André Benjamin, André 3000. I was so nervous when I had scenes with him. I was like ‘You’re André 3000 Oh my gosh’ He is wonderful and Fredwynn his character is so uniquely, how do I say it? He’s sort of in this sort of vein of a particular way and how he sees the world and he’s very much in his head and analytical and very intense in how he goes after things and to see André embody that character and then offscreen, he’s playing his wooden flute and calming the entire set down with this beautiful wooden flute playing in the background and then he’ll step right in front of the camera and then jump right into this character. It was such a dynamic experience working with him as well.

I really loved working with Jason [Segel]. I think the thing that was very true about everybody that I was able to work with was their ability to work in the moment and to be fresh and playful and Jason was that all the way and considering he was also directing and writing and producing, I don’t know how he was able to do that and he was very available also for me to talk to as well and help me figure out some aspects of Lee as we were starting the episodes that I was coming in on.

The other actor that I wanted to mention, Cecilia Balagot who plays Clara, she’s just a phenomenal woman 1), wickedly smart, so dynamic on and off screen and a joy to play with. We have a scene in an episode earlier where we did a little stunt work and that was just so much fun and yeah, she’s terrific in this role.

BOSSIP: What kind of stunt? Did you have to prepare?

Cherise Boothe: Well I tell ya, TV moves quickly so — the preparation was very abbreviated but we definitely did have a stunt coordinator on set who helped us with how to do the stunt and things to watch out for and make sure that we were keeping in mind to look out for and also coordinating with, actually it was Alethea Jones who directed the episode that you saw where we had the animation come in, so my character flies into the window and pulls Clara out and then we go into an animated sequence. All of that was carefully choreographed by he stunt coordinator and then we just had to kind of do it.

In theater you’ve got the fight director may come in tech week and you may have a week of working on the fight and then you rehearse them before performing in the show. And then TV you have a few minutes to get it going but Cecilia was so game and I was so game and we always checked in with each other to make sure that we were both feeling safe and we were hitting the marks that were choreographed for us between Alethea and the stunt coordinator.

BOSSIP: There’s a line that resonated for us in Monday’s episode (Episode 108), “Do you ever feel that you’re not the hero of your own story?” Did it do the same for you?

Cherise Boothe: In regards to that line, I felt it was revealing to me of where my character Lee is, in the show, that she is questioning that. Questioning the validity of her own choices that she’s made in life. What has she accomplished? What has it amounted to? And where does that place her in an objective light? ‘Wow this is my story and I’m the lead in it and I don’t even know if what I’ve done is WORTHY or is of value or if it has any virtue.’ I feel like that’s a tough place to be in life and I feel that you know myself and I feel that myself and I think others can relate to that feeling of not quite feeling that you are all that you could be in your own life.

BOSSIP: She’s not the only one feeling that way though. It seems like the whole cast is looking for something outside of their own world.

Cherise Boothe: Yeah, it’s that — what is that piece or that part of you where there is something that feels like it’s missing or it feels like it’s not what it could be, or it feels wrong in some way and I feel like the characters are on a journey to seek something meaningful, and redeeming and exciting and uplifting in this journey and it speaks to them and it speaks to whatever that piece of them doesn’t quite fulfilled within so I do feel that is a unifying theme and it also goes back to what Clara talks about when Lee is listening to the tape of Clara speaking that she finds in Clara’s basement about this falsehood that we are all alone and that our fears and our pain and our doubts are our own and we are the only ones who feel those things. In fact, everybody feels those things. And it expresses itself differently in everybody, but it’s such a unifying thing. Those elements are so unifying.

I think one of the beautiful things about this show is its unifying factor. The ability to take these individuals who probably never be friends otherwise or cross each other’s paths and if they did they wouldn’t really be paying attention to the other to really even be able notice that person. Then to even go even further, you’d have to strike up a conversation and develop a friendship. If it weren’t for this game they just would not have found each other. I think it’s one of the things that is beautiful about this show to see these characters who are diverse coming together and I think it’s also wonderful that in that moment when Lee is questioning if she’s the hero of her own story, one of the things she has been able to do is bring a lot of people together into an exciting adventure and into an experience that really lifts them up and into a place of possibility and opportunity that they would not have been able to have without this game. I think it’s interesting that even as these things are occurring she is still having that question.

We loved talking to Cherise! “Dispatches From Elsewhere” airs every Monday at 10pm EST on AMC Networks.

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