Actress Diane Guerrero’s performance — or should that be performances? — as Crazy Jane is certainly one of the highlights of the DC Universe series Doom Patrol. The actress sat down with Entertainment Weekly to talk about the series and the challenges built into her character.
On keeping Jane’s multiple personalities straight:
“Right from the beginning, I started working with my acting coach on breaking every personality down… I have a notebook, and I have basically every personality there. Whenever one pops up in the script, I can reference my notes, and I reference music. I like to think I have a lot of sides to myself that I can easily access at any given moment, like if I feel threatened or if I want something to go a certain way.”
On playing one of her favorites, Baby Doll:
“It’s interesting when people access their inner little girl or little boy. I remember doing tons of those exercises when I was in school, where you’re trying to dig into your vulnerability. There’s no mask for a child, so all those feelings are real. But also for Baby Doll, it’s scary because it’s a 30-year-old woman acting like a 7-year-old.”
On Jane’s underlying trauma:
“I find it interesting to play a character like that because I also deal with mental health issues and suffer from depression and have been there where you’re just so tired of not knowing how to deal with all these emotions at once, so you find little alternatives.”
On where the show fits in to our current real world situation:
“Doom Patrol is doing the most, and the wackiest things, but when you’ve been alive in this time, you know it’s actually not so wacky. Awful, strange, and inexplicable things do happen. I think that’s why this show is so centered in reality, even though you’re being teleported from here to Paraguay in a matter of seconds. It’s mirroring what is going on presently.”
You can read the entire interview here. Although not all of Jane’s 64 comic book personalities have appeared in the series, it sounds like Guerrero is ready for the challenge.
