When I saw Bitsie Tulloch and Claire Coffee sitting down at the Television Critics Association party for NBC, they looked so comfortable I couldn’t ask them to stand up. So I kneeled down between them and interviewed them for as long as my knees could hold up.
It was fun to party with the “Grimm” girls and talk about magic and creatures. On the show, Tulloch plays Juliette Silverton, Nick’s girlfriend while Coffee portrays Adalind Schade, a Hexenbiest with dubious intentions.
CraveOnline: A lot of people are asking if Adalind will get her powers back. I’m wondering is she still a lawyer?
Claire Coffee: That’s a really good question. She is because when she was working for Eric, it was under the guise of doing legal duty, so I think she’s a lawyer for passport and legitimacy purposes. But I don’t know how many cases she’s busting wide open these days.
Because that’s how we first met her.
Coffee: Yeah, yeah, working at the law firm where all of her friends died.
What cool stuff is coming up for you?
Coffee: There’s a lot of cool stuff. James Frain who plays Eric is coming back, so more royal activity.
Do you still have monster makeup to deal with or is that gone with the powers?
Coffee: No, all gone. I never had to do the makeup. It was all CGI but no, the only evils I have now are human based.
Do you ever have scenes together?
Coffee: We do.
Tulloch: Yeah, one in 12 and hopefully more.
Coffee: A big long one.
Tulloch: I’ve been saying, drunkenly, everybody’s like, “Oh, I love the love triangle.” I was like, if I had my druthers, I’d make out with everyone on the show including the women.
Coffee: The women on our show are pretty hot.
Did the spell that Juliette is under give you a whole new character to play?
Tulloch: Well, listen, it changes everything because there’s a gaping hole in my memory where my love used to be. So of course it changes everything. It’s definitely been fun for me to play with the whole memory loss aspect. Juliette is basically slowly losing her mind and she thinks she’s going crazy. She doesn’t understand the spells and potions.
Coffee: The pacing of the mind losing is really good.
Tulloch: I hope so, thank you.
She had just found out about the Wesen.
Tulloch: She found out about the Wesen at the very end of season one and that was a cliffhanger, and then Adalind poisoned me. So now I can’t remember.
I thought the only thing you couldn’t remember was Nick but you could remember everything else.
Coffee: He’s associated. She found out about it, remember, because [Nick] told her.
So the knowledge of Grimms and Wesen go away with him.
Tulloch: Yeah, totally.
Were you excited for the possibility to be let in on this world, and then had the rug pulled out from under you?
Tulloch: Yes, completely, but I also understand why it’s compelling to have the rug pulled out from underneath you and I think eventually they’ll probably deal with it or not. I’m not quite sure and I can’t tell any secrets.
You did a movie with David Giuntoli before you started “Grimm” together?
Tulloch: Yeah, I co-produced a film with David, who played my boyfriend in the movie that premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, 2012. That was prior to “Grimm.”
So what did you think when you got “Grimm?” I don’t know who was cast first.
Tulloch: Giuntoli was cast first. I was in the middle of testing for a pilot for another show. We’d done this movie and he knew that I’d been working in TV in the past. Giuntoli texted me and was like, “There’s an amazing role in this pilot I was just cast in, as my girlfriend. Have you gone in on it yet? Because I’m reading opposite women and I haven’t seen you in the room yet.”
Coffee: That’s so awesome.
Tulloch: So Giuntoli, it was kind of his idea, but literally five minutes later I got a call from my Agency saying, “You have a last minute audition for this pilot tomorrow.” This was on a Tuesday night. I auditioned on a Wednesday, tested on a Thursday and booked it by Friday.
Do you have some nice moments coming up where you get to reconnect with Nick?
Tulloch: You just have to wait and see. Don’t try to take advantage of us.
I just mean tonally, everything must be tumultuous right now. Are there some nice, sweet moments coming up?
Tulloch: Listen, I think there’s a reason and I think it’s very sweet. There’s a reason that they fell in love in the first place.
It reminds me of a supernatural version of The Vow.
Tulloch: I watched The Vow. It’s a sweet movie.
What are some of your favorite Wesens?
Tulloch: I like the Mauvais Dentes, the saber tooth tiger from the first two episodes of season two, and I am obsessed with the Eisbibers, the little beaver creatures. They’re adorable and wonderful.
Coffee: I like the turtle too. The Genio Innocuo. That was only one episode but I thought that was cool.
Have you seen the insect one yet?
Coffee: No, that’s going to be the grossest though. I heard all about it but I haven’t seen it yet.
Tulloch: It’s so disgusting. I have Thanksgiving at our producer’s house and after we eat dinner, he pulls up his iPad, he’s like, “You’ve got to watch this scene. It’s so cool.” And he pulls up this scene from the fly episode. It’s gross.
Coffee: It’s disgusting.
Do you get a summer vacation this year? Because you didn’t for season two.
Coffee: I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Tulloch: We don’t know. Right now we have a job ‘til mid-April. Hopefully we’ll get picked up for season three and four and five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Coffee: We had a nice winter vacation but we don’t know.
