Starfury are holding a Dollhouse Convention in England this coming April. Guests include former Dollhouse cast members: Amy Acker, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman and Liza Lapira.

The event runs from 1 to 3 April 2011 in Heathrow, England.

For more information or the purchase tickets visit the Starfury Convention website.

Thanks to Jo for the heads-up.

Here are the all-new Dollhouse Season 2 Cast photos. featuring (L-R) Dichen Lachman, Fran Kranz, Enver Gjokaj, Olivia Williams, Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett and Harry Lennix. Click the link below to view all of the photos:

A mixture of in-character and out of character photos there. Not quite as good as the Fringe promotional photos, in my opinion, but thankfully less ‘Echo’ focused than last season’s lot.

[copyright: FOX]

The LA Times continue their ‘Dollhouse Countdown’ with an interview with Olivia Williams, who portrays Adelle DeWitt. Spoilers may follow.

You were in London doing theater when Whedon called you about “Dollhouse.” Where you familiar with his work?
I have to be completely honest: No. And I had no interest in sci-fi whatsoever. What convinced me was literally his charm on the phone. We hit it off immediately. He’s got a very similar sense of humor and just the way he constructed his sentences in conversation was entertaining. I thought if this man writes anything like the way he talks, then I’m in. I’ve learned subsequently what a great, skillful, powerful producer and writer he is, but at the time I was just going off of this bizarre midnight phone conversation.

Do tell.
I was in England so it was mid-afternoon for him but very late for me. I had actually just been out on the town. I had done a play and had had the statutory large drink afterward. So I spoke to him on the phone and suddenly, at the end of it, I had signed my family and I up for eight years in California. It was like: “Um, honey? I’ve got something to tell you.”

What did he say that appealed to you?
When he described the character of Adelle I first thought: “Yeah, yeah, I’ve done that before.” She was supposed to be cold, tough, British. At the time I was quite keen to play American and not be labeled as a Brit. Then he told me about the twist that happens later for her and I was like: “Oh, that’s cool. No that’s really cool.” And the more he explained what pans out with Adelle, the more I was intrigued.

What can you tell us about her.
She runs the Dollhouse. There are the dolls and there are their handlers. The handlers report to her mad scientist, Topher (Fran Kranz), and then he reports to me. I am sort of the face of the business. When someone has decided they want [to rent out someone] who, I don’t know, can play a piano concerto and likes to have rough sex, they have to come and talk to me about it. I tell them how much they have to pay and tell them that they have to behave themselves. So in that sense I am a madam.

Do we find out where she comes from? What her background is?
Oh, yeah! I had to ask Joss myself how Adelle became the head of this extraordinary organization that rents out these fantasies. Did she run a brothel? And he said “No! No, your character was head of a huge multinational medical company that researched neural diseases.” That made for quite a change in my character preparation. I thought maybe I should bring the eye shadow down a little. It’s kept me on my toes as an actor.

What’s the challenge in playing Adele?
It’s the combination of playing someone who’s trying to grasp on to moral explanations for her behavior while dealing with abject loneliness. She’s lonely and has great empathy with people who are prepared to pay a vast amount of money for a date. Which means she’s completely morally corrupt ultimately. It’s just such a great double-edged part and you know we actors love the subtext, darling. Joss got me with the subtext.

Adele is always justifying herself. It’s a slight case of methinks-the-lady-doth-protest-too-much. She says [the Dollhouse] is for the good of mankind, it’s a charitable service, giving people what they need is a public service. And then there’s the terrible sort of pro bono work she tries to pick up. I have a friend who works in the ecological arm of Shell Oil, and it’s kind of like that. So while destroying the personalities of the human race, she’s trying to rebuild, you know, a couple.

When did you know that you were working on something special?
There’s an episode where the writing really began to fly. I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. The more surreal and bizarre it got the more fun it was to act. You’ve got me in a vulnerable moment because it’s been a very happy set and we just wrapped. The camera guys and the ADs and hair and makeup, everyone just really pulled together to make a great atmosphere where the drama can fly. There’s been very good chemistry between everybody.

So you’re finished shooting the last of this season’s 13 episodes. Without giving anything away, how do you feel about how it all ends?
There is no way to describe how this season ends. There isn’t even a collection of words. It’s so surreal. Even if I wanted to tell you a spoiler, I don’t even think I could explain it to you.

Continue reading

Joss Whedon, Olivia Williams and Fran Kranz help us to understand the Dollhouse in this nice preview video. Click below to watch clip:

Fox source have interviews with four of the Dollhouse cast taken at the Eco-Casino Party. Watch below (may contain very minor spoilers – character roles/interactions, etc):

 Dichen Lachman – “Sierra”

Fran Kranz – “Topher Brink”

Tahmoh Penikett – Agent “Paul Ballard” (formerly Paul Smith formerly Paul Ballard 1.0)

Olivia WIlliams – “Adelle DeWitt”

An interesting array of interviews there – for me the most engaging (yet again) was Tahmoh Penikett, who had a few interesting things to say, including the revelation that the name of his character has been changed back to Paul Ballard! It was originally Paul Ballard before it was changed to Paul Smith, now it’s Paul Ballard again – as I mentioned a while back, Paul Ballard sounds better. Olivia Williams was also fairly interesting – looking forward to that English accent – sexy..evil? You decide. She also gave an interesting perspective on her character, calling Adelle a “Pimp” who mind-wipes teenagers. As they say ”pimpin’ ain’t easy”, especially with Paul Ballard hot on your trail! Another interesting aspect is this ‘teenager’ thing – does this mean that Echo and her friends are teenagers? I thought they were mid to late 20′s.

Good to see the other actors having a bit of screen-time, so to speak. These interviews have reminded me that I simply cannot decide which character I’m most looking forward to seeing – it’s basically a toss of a coin between Adelle, Ballard, Echo, Brink and whatever rogue character Mark Sheppard portrays!

Thanks to TruEcho in the forums for this one (and Fox, of course)!

E! Online’s Kristin has taken a look inside the Dollhouse and what she found was a cast all too willing to reveal details about their characters. Needless to say, SPOILERS AHEAD:

Proprietress of the Establishment: Olivia Williams said: “I’m playing a character called Adelle DeWitt, who runs the Dollhouse. If you need a date, you come to me and tell me what you need, and then I can imprint a beautiful young person with the personality of your dreams. She is ruthless, but she also has a level of understanding that a madam really needs in modern society.”

Uh, so, is Adelle evil? “I’m English, of course I’m evil!”

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy? Fran Kranz said: “I play Topher Brink, who is the computer programmer in the Dollhouse. Topher designs the personalities that people want for the dolls. I’m the guy who uses all these different amalgams of different personalities to create the person that you want to do whatever you want.

“I don’t know if he’s really a bad guy, but he might have a God complex that’s lasted a little long. I’m told I have no moral compass. In fact, there might be a little piece of wardrobe on its way of a compass dangling from my pocket…sort of as a reminder.”

Soiler Alert! Wicked-hot Enver Gjokaj explained, “I play Victor, who is a doll. Victor and Dichen Lachman’s character Sierra become friends with Echo, Eliza Dushku’s character.” And Enver has a pretty good secret to keep about Victor: Who he was before he entered the Dollhouse. Said Enver: “I do know who I was before, and it’s awesome—unbelievably awesome. I was excited to hear about that, too. I was just standing on the set and Joss said, ‘Hey, did I ever tell you what your background is?’ and I was like, ‘Uh, no, you have not told me what my background is, and I would love to know that,’ and he was like, ‘Oh, it’s this and this,’ and I just about crapped my pants.”

Dichen Lachman agrees that when you are on a Joss show there is no shortage of excitement: “We get to play so many different people. We’ve done three episodes, and so far I’ve been like a Navy SEAL, a bank robber and a doll. It’s awesome.”

I getting a bit of weary of DH spoilers, I mean the show is ages away. Should the cast be telling us exactly what kind of characters they will play!? Especially for a show which is all about the identity merry-go-round. Although at least we’re actually hearing from Dollhouse people other than Joss, Eliza and Tahmoh. Although I could listen to Tahmoh talk for quite a while. Anyway, Topher still interests me, his “God complex” still interests me. Should a man with a “God complex” be in charge of other peoples memories? Perhaps it takes this type of person to get the job done? I can’t wait to see Adelle in action, she can’t be as fearsome as she seems..she’s got a heart I tells ya! As for Victor, I’m interested to see just how ‘pant crapping’ his back-story is..the proof will be in the pudding. So to speak.

Read more over at E!

Thanks to TruEcho for posting this over on our forums!

Fox have released an assortment of photos starring the “hottest faces of the season”, including Dollhouse’s very own: Eliza Dushku, Olivia Williams, Tahmoh Penikett, Fran Kranz, Harry Lennix, Enver Gjokaj and Dichen Lachman. Click on the photos below to enlarge:

I think they’re very well done, I like how each of them are themed with a ‘Dollhouse backdrop’ or a specific tone, perhaps giving us some insight into to the personas we’ll be getting to know come January. It’s especially good to see Enver Gjokaj and Dichen Lachman, whom most of us know very little about!

Thanks to Dale for the heads-up!

Source: Fox Fresh

Olivia Williams is Adelle DeWitt – Iron Fist, Doll Heart?

Olivia Williams – IMDB | Wikipedia | Adelle DeWitt Forum

Snippet:

“40-something, beautiful, sophisticated, cold as an Alp. Runs the Dollhouse with an efficiency that is both ruthless and protective. Would die before she showed anyone how lonely she is.” – Televisionary