This is why it’s great to be a journalist. I can see a movie one night, relate to one of the characters and the next day book an interview with the actor who played her. Caroline Dhavernas plays Becky in Goodbye World, the story of a group of estranged friends riding out the end of the world together. James (Adrian Grenier) is proud of his self-sufficient farm, Benji (Marc Webber) is a political revolutionary and everyone judges Becky from their college days. I was on Becky’s side as she offered community solutions to the crisis and looked out for others. The morning after the season finale of "Hannibal,” in which she plays Will Graham’s confidante Alana Bloom, I spoke with Dhavernas by phone. Spoiler warning for "Hannibal” if you’re not caught up to the season finale yet.
 

CraveOnline: Poor Becky, everyone was just judging her.

Caroline Dhavernas: I know. She’s just misunderstood because she’s an awesome chick. She just didn’t get to know them as much back then and she’s a little different. Yeah, she’s the outsider in the movie which I thought was interesting.
 

She was my favorite character.

Was she? Yay.
 

Was she all on the page?

Yeah, I guess. Sometimes people ask: do you do research? How do you prepare? I didn’t really do anything. I just instinctually did what I had to do and I guess that’s what came up. There wasn’t a bible describing her or anything. Whatever scenes you saw were written that way and that’s it.
 

It seems to me she’s the least judgmental of the group. Everyone might preach their ideals, but does Becky know the reality of what’s underneath their ideals?

I mean, she seems to be a little judging because at the table when she says, "You really should know the constitution better. It’s the bedrock of our freedoms.” At the same time, it’s not really judgmental. It is kind of a fact. Just the fact that she’s a libertarian could be seen as a little rigid, but I think she’s been through a lot of injustice in her life. She became a really solid woman and decided to get out of it so maybe she doesn’t have as much patience for people who, in her mind… She’s a little judgmental when you think about it though because when the crisis happens in the street, she says, "These people have nothing better to do than to cause havoc.” I don’t know if she completely gets the social problem that’s going on, the social issue. She links it to laziness more than something a little more profound. She’s had to pull herself out of the dirt so she doesn’t have as much patience for people who are still there.
 

I think that’s a good point, lacking patience. Maybe I sort of respect that. Cut through the crap and get to it.

Yeah.
 

And I think when I say less judgmental, it’s to the extent that everyone has opinions and judgments. I was more responding to Adrian’s character is very proud of his self-sufficiency and Marc’s character is very revolutionary. They’re basically saying she’s less than for not being like them.

Right, they’re big egos. She’s more about love. Underneath it all, she’s I think very religious and very about love and understanding and helping each other out and living in a society where there’s a real community happening. So yeah, you’re right.
 

Whether it comes from religion or her general attitude, I agree with Becky that it’s better to help others than only be self-sufficient or only be revolutionary.

Completely. I think that’s James’s journey in the film. He has to accept that you can only exist if you’re in relationships with others. You have to accept to be vulnerable that way. That’s what he has to go through during the movie.
 

I think it comes out early on. I think she’s looking out for her husband’s best interests even more than her own. So it’s not her own agenda in that dynamic.

Right, in what way do you see that?
 

In the beginning, before we even know the extent of what happened with the company, I think Becky would be happy to abandon this altogether and move on with their lives, which might be reasonable.

Yeah, she’s very protective of him. I think she’s very protective of the people she loves. She would never backstab anybody or lack respect, which is a little confronting the way that they greet her. They used to hate her and she’s still there. She’s kind of amazing. I don’t know if anyone would want to go through a whole weekend, what was supposed to be a weekend, of being around people who used to hate you.
 

That is very selfless of her. So Becky was my favorite character, I loved her, but even if you don’t like every character, do you think the drama of how true they represent themselves is what makes the film work?

Yeah, well the movie reminded me a little bit of The Big Chill, the Lawrence Kasdan film. It’s just a bunch of people who’ve moved on with their lives since they were all a gang together when they were younger. Now how do these people fit together now that they’re not in a school context? It was everything that had happened in their own lives, the frustrations that have built and the end of the world pressure makes the pot kind of explode with all these feelings that have been hidden or these desires. I think all the characters have a very clear note, different notes. You almost wonder how these people could ever be friends because they’re all so different.
 

Do you always need to know the worldview of the character you’re playing?

No. Not necessarily. Now that you ask that question, I think it’s interesting to have it. No, I’ve never thought about that actually.
 

You must not always get that with every character either.

Very rarely do you.
 

And it might not always be relevant to the writer to include.

Most of the time there’s no space for that but it’s interesting, even if it doesn’t come out in the series or the movie that you’re working on, to build that for your character even though it’ll never be seen.
 

I imagine you don’t always get to choose the scripts you’re offered or get to do. Was Goodbye World a favorable situation for you?

It was absolutely fabulous because I was going to L.A. for a screen test for another film that didn’t turn out, and since I was there I was available to go to a meeting with Denis Hennelly and Sarah [Adina Smith], one of the producers. So we all got to sit down and talk about the film, and a few days later they offered it. So it was really nice because there was no audition, just talking, getting along and all trusting each other and trusting the script because it was really good. That’s how it all happened.

 When in your schedule did it fall in relation to "Hannibal?”

We shot Goodbye World last July. It was so lovely, the location. We were in wine country, Mendocino. We were just surrounded, the hotels or houses that they had rented for us were all in the middle of the vineyards and it was really beautiful. So we shot that in July and then a month later, even three weeks later, I went to Toronto to start shooting "Hannibal.”
 

Has a lot been happening for you in just the last few months since "Hannibal” came on?

Well, we shot "Hannibal” until mid-March and I did a lot of promotion after that, but no, there hasn’t been as many auditions. I’ve had great meetings this week and last week, so things are kind of picking up again, but things were a little slower for a minute. I didn’t know if the series was coming back so I couldn’t exactly make plans but now we know we’re renewed for a second season so I’m going to go back to Toronto probably at the end of August or September.
 

What do you hear about where the second season is going to go?

They just heard about three weeks ago. Now they have to start writing it so we have no idea what’s going to happen. I don’t know where they’re going to take all of us in the next season so I’m really eager actually to know. I can’t wait to know.
 

It certainly ends on an interesting twist on what we all thought we knew about Hannibal.

Absolutely. It’ll be fun to see what happens with Will incarcerated, what he knows, what we all still ignore. He knows we’re seeing the lion every day and he knows, but he’s the one who’s caged so it’ll be really interesting.
 

We’ll see how long they make that last.

Yeah, exactly.
 

How was your experience on the first season of "Hannibal?”

It was wonderful. The scripts are so good and the visuals are amazing. It looks so slick and I think we’re kind of making a cable show for network, which is kind of interesting.
 

It’s been a while since I read the book or even saw the last Red Dragon movie, so how different was your character in the series?

She is very briefly in the books and she’s a man. Her name is Alan Bloom. Same with Freddie Lounds. So Bryan I guess knew that he didn’t have many ladies in his story so he needed a bit more femininity I suppose. I don’t know. So he made Alana into a woman, but she in the book has a very small [role]. Someone names her at some point. I remember in Manhunter, Alan Bloom has one scene as well. The role that he plays in Will’s life is the same that Alana plays in the series. He’s the only one who asks about him personally, who says, "Are you all right. Be careful with what you do.” That’s what Alana’s purpose was, at least at the beginning of the show and then it carried on, was to say he’s a human being, you’re sending him into very dark waters, be careful. He could lose himself. She’s been ringing that alarm bell since the beginning and she was right all along because look where he ends up.
 

Were you happy with the way they dealt with the romantic tension, and do you think that might come back later next year?

Absolutely. I think we have to pay attention to it again because it was so beautifully sad in the last episode. I think for sure there will be more tension. You can’t end a series like that and not pay some of it again. I don’t know what’s going to happen but I like that it was always underneath and I really hope we get to play a bit more of that for sure.
 

What were the TV shows or movies you grew up watching that might have made you think, "Oh yeah, I could be an actor?”

Well, both my parents are actors so that’s how I started. When I was eight years old I started dubbing American movies into French. A lot of the television that I watched as a kid was all French-Canadian so you probably wouldn’t know the shows. I started watching American television when I was a teenager, "Full House” and "Growing Pains” and all those shows that were on after school. But since I started being an actor so young, I never thought, "Hmm, one day I’ll be an actor.” I was already doing it. I don’t really remember a moment where I thought, "Oh, one day I’ll do this” because it was already happening. I remember the moment when I was 11 when I did my first film where I thought, "Oh my God, this is amazing. This is what I want to do.” I felt the power of it but I was already shooting.
 

What film was that?

It’s a French-Canadian film called Comme un Voleur.  craveonline.com