Emmy Rossum: Fiona Could Turn Into Frank
Season one of Showtime's Shameless introduced America to The Gallagher's -- a clan that not only includes the blood relatives, but also their extended family which ranges from the naughty neighbors to the shut-in down the street and her nympho daughter.
This year their world not only gets hotter -- both literally (it's summer) and figuratively (Lone Star's James Wolk joins the cast) but also bigger as new faces (Jenna Elfman, Louise Fletcher & Taylor Kinney) come to town.
But for star Emmy Rossum, the second season is most notable because it gives her the chance to dig deeper into Fiona -- The Gallagher's dutiful, damaged eldest daughter. A process she recently chatted with TheInsider.com all about!
Insider.com: Aesthetically, this season is very different for you guys. What did you think about bringing the family into summer?
Emmy Rossum: The seasonal shift does help us strike a different tone for the show as well. It's warm and hot and sticky and really fun. I like the energy of being in the summer. I think our wardrobe team was a little thrown for a second because they're so used to doing fingerless gloves and layers and sweaters with holes in them that wse had to figure out Fiona's trashy summer look. Although, there hasn't been a real heatwave like we're depciting in some time, so it we ended up having to slather ourselves in babyoil to look sweaty - that part was miserable.
Insider: Well, Fiona's love l ife doesn't seem to be negatively affected by that trashy look. If anything, she's getting more action this year.
Emmy: Oh, she's fantastic this year. She's a hussy. Total hussy.
Insider: Quickly, let's play Kill, Marry, Screw with your three leading men: Justin Chatwin, Taylor Kinney and James Wolk.
Emmy: I would probably bang them all. Well, I would bang one, marry him, divorce him and move on to the next [laughs].
Insider: Well played. But while I joke, Steve obviously broke her heart. How does that affect Fiona this season?
Emmy: When we pick up, it's been a couple months -- she got over the initial grieving peroid and now she's doing the crazy rebound thing. I think girls will be able to relate to it because everybody makes mistakes after they get their heart broken and we're seeing Fiona make a bunch of mistakes. And that will continue for the first few episodes. There's lots of weirdness with the guys in her life. I love the Adam character that James plays because he's really Steve 2.0 - he's more grounded which makes him less interesting to her. She's not as turned on because he's not stealing cars. He's just a nice guy.
Insider: We also get to see more of Jasmine, played by Amy Smart. That is a very odd relationship.
Emmy: She's really , really fun. She's such a coked up mess and a mother - it's such a weird character. That storyline does come to a head this year and we find out later this season what she really wants from Fiona.
Insider: What else are you excited about with season two?
Emmy: I'm excited about this big reveal we have at the end of episode 4 that will be a huge plotpoint for the season. Summer lasts until the midpoint of the season and then we get into fall and through thanksgiving and we'll see that Fiona will have to figure out, as the kids grow up, who she is. The kids are very capable of taking care of themselves by now. They're running a daycare service; they're way more competent than they were last year, so Fiona tries to get a job and no one will hire her because she doesn't have a college degree. Every time she gets a little taste of success or hope, something comes crashing down on her. It's a difficult thing.
Insider: Sounds like she might get a little more reckless this season?
Emmy: In the first few episodes, I really wanted to embrace the sense of fun she was having - and that she was almost pushing it too far. She has Gallagher in her. She may be the captain of the ship, but if she gets down on herself, she could become Frank very easily. That's in her and she gets burned a few times this season that make her feel worthless and trashy, so she embraces her bad side. But when it turns out to be a bit of a disaster, she realizes that she's quite lost. There's no guidance and no one's taught her how to be a woman. This season is about her figuring that out.
Shameless premieres tonight at 9 p.m. on Showtime.
