With its gripping stress and emotional complexity, Lifetime’s new thriller Woman Taken has viewers buzzing—and one of many standout performances belongs to Canadian-born actor Eric Hicks. Within the movie, Hicks performs Perry, a person whose determined craving for connection pushes him into murky, morally gray territory.
SpoilerTV’s Kim Rogers caught up with Eric to speak about what it took to step into Perry’s emotionally unstable footwear, the real-life experiences that formed his efficiency, and the teachings he’s taking with him from this position—and from life itself.
Discovering Floor in Chaos
When Eric Hicks first learn the script for Woman Taken, he knew straight away he was in for a wild trip.
“Oh man,” he mentioned, laughing. “Once I lastly bought the complete script, I used to be like, ‘Oh… oh!’ It was juicy, but additionally like—how are we gonna do that?”
Even earlier than diving into the complete script, Eric had a way of the emotional stakes from the audition scenes. However as soon as the whole story unfolded, it grew to become clear this wasn’t going to be a light-weight elevate.
“You guide the position, and then you definitely understand—it’s important to go there now. Emotionally. Mentally. Among the locations it’s important to take your self usually are not straightforward. That’s the work.”
Nonetheless, for Eric, there’s consolation within the doing. As an alternative of getting misplaced within the overwhelm, he grounded himself in preparation.
“I simply get to work,” he mentioned. “I learn that script entrance to again as many instances as I can, making an attempt to get the story and the plot in my mind, but additionally being open, figuring out that they are assured going to do script rewrites. The story goes to vary.
And alter it did. A serious rewrite arrived simply at some point earlier than filming a scene: a personality initially written as Perry’s pal, Kyle, was abruptly killed off. That meant Eric needed to fully reframe Perry’s relationships and emotional motivations—in a single day.
“It’s like a knife to the intestine,” he mentioned. “that man that I assumed was my finest pal is now lifeless. However , you’re continually altering the plot in your thoughts and making an attempt to regulate and it is a fast-paced machine, however that is the great thing about it. It’s good to be challenged, it truly is.”
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To know Perry, Eric needed to construct him from the within out. That meant establishing a wealthy backstory—one which, whereas by no means explicitly proven, knowledgeable each line, look, and silence.
“I made it in my thoughts that Perry was missing household roots. He was at all times an impartial sort of cat making an attempt to make stability in his life in a approach that he by no means had rising up,” Eric defined.
It’s this inside void that drives Perry’s each determination—and misstep.
“Perry simply desires household, he actually craves stability, he craves household, he craves neighborhood, however its simply not the bedrock of his basis. He would not know learn how to operate in that world. And so the actions that he takes are all simply, , just a little misguided though properly intentioned” Eric mentioned.
Eric layered Perry’s emotional world with rules from Vipassana meditation retreats, which he’s completed himself—10 days of silence and self-inquiry. One of many key classes he introduced into the position was the idea of “clinging” as the foundation of struggling.
“Perry likes this, he desires extra of it, he’s clinging and craving, he would not wish to let go of this. That is the supply of all of our distress versus accepting issues precisely as they’re simply being within the second, second to second to second, it’s what it’s accepted.”
Channeling Actual Ache
Getting ready for Perry’s intense emotional scenes required Eric to faucet into private experiences—most profoundly, his relationship together with his father.
“My dad is my finest pal on this planet. Now we have these open, trustworthy communication. It’s such a deep, lovely love that I’ve by no means had with one other man earlier than and , my dad bought sick a couple of years go, he had a psychotic break. Psychological sickness is an actual factor and whenever you expertise it firsthand, it is actually troublesome to witness, particularly when its somebody you like most in life. So for me, that is only a properly of emotion, this deep love and to not have my father in my life anymore, is my largest nightmare.” That ache—of loving somebody fiercely and fearing their loss—grew to become the emotional anchor for Perry’s desperation.
“So I simply deliver that vulnerability into Perry. To lose Dani, to lose their baby—it’s one thing I’ll struggle in opposition to to maintain, I’ll do no matter it takes to maintain that and I’ve to open that a part of myself up when doing the precise scene work, in order that I can perceive emotionally what state of desperation he is in. I allowed myself to be accessible and to be prepared to be broken and harm and weak in that sense.”
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A Scene That Broke Him Open
One second particularly pushed Eric exterior of his consolation zone: a pivotal scene when Perry is confronted by Detective Henrique on the farm. Beneath Perry’s calm exterior, panic brews—his world is unraveling.
Hicks explains that Perry needed to placed on a masks in that second.
“It’s a must to act like nothing’s improper, however beneath, it is simply panic. And so to have that calm depth with Henrique, have intense moments performed off informal after which the next scene the place , I are available the home and Dani’s asking me what’s improper.” he mentioned.
That second led into a personal breakdown scene between Perry and his companion Dani, which Eric mentioned was important for displaying Perry’s humanity.
“The viewers wanted to see that second of Perry truly panicking and shedding it. You see all of it come to the floor for the primary time and also you understand how determined he’s. He’s going via his personal struggling. All of us have our personal demons to battle in life. There’s a humanity to even the darkest of instances and the darkest of characters and the brightest of characters that all of them have. We’re all complicated people with a complete array of feelings.”
Classes in Love—and Missed Alternatives
Although happy with the efficiency, Eric was candid a couple of scene he needs he’d approached in a different way—a dinner desk second that, in his eyes, missed the prospect to indicate extra of Perry’s love for Dani.
“I felt Perry was too moody and too judgmental and just a little too harsh. That was a possibility for him to essentially open his coronary heart and join along with her and have a coronary heart to coronary heart and I sort of missed that chance,” he admitted.
It’s a mirrored image that speaks to Eric’s ongoing evolution as an artist—and a human.
“You are at all times sort of studying and navigating as you undergo the filmmaking course of.”
The Takeaway: Three Easy Phrases
Requested to sum up Woman Taken in simply three phrases, Eric didn’t hesitate:
“Have extra understanding.”
He elaborated, “Everybody’s going via one thing. You by no means know what ache somebody’s carrying. And whenever you perceive that—it takes away judgment. It helps you navigate life with extra compassion.”
Whether or not you see Eric Hicks as a rising star or a fully-formed expertise lastly getting his due, one factor is obvious: his portrayal of Perry in Woman Taken is a haunting, human, and deeply nuanced efficiency that may stick with viewers lengthy after the ultimate scene.
Woman Taken is now streaming on Lifetime. Don’t miss it!