When Movieline spoke to the mild-mannered actress last week, Benz recalled her career falls, how it felt to submerge herself into a bathtub full of blood twice for Dexter and her favorite traumatic film scene of all time.
Even though you've played a variety of characters -- from a vampire to a loving wife to a bisexual stripper with a masters degree in education -- do you find that you are still called in to audition mostly for one type of role?
I don't think I could ever be pigeonholed. There were a lot of scripts out there with stock characters and I definitely try to shy away from characters that were too similar to Rita coming off of Dexter which is why I was very lucky to find Stephanie Powell and No Ordinary Family.
How much did your character's superpower play into your decision to take the role?
Well, the whole script was just a fun read and it married all of the things I like to do as an actor. It had comedy, it had drama, it had action. I like to call this show a dramactionomedy. And of course, working with Michael Chiklis was a big appeal to me too. Having worked with Michael C. Hall for four years, I had a little trepidation about whether I would be able to find another co-star of that caliber and I found it with Michael Chiklis.
Michael C. Hall and Michael Chiklis are such different kinds of actors yet you have great chemistry with both. Why do you think you gelled so easily with them?
Well, I worked with Michael Chiklis about ten years ago so I met him and his family then. And I would see him occasionally out and about in Hollywood. We kind of knew the same people. But that sense was there the first time we worked together. And with Michael C. Hall, I had never met him prior to the audition but [the chemistry] was just there. I guess I just work really well with Michaels.
That could be the common thread. What have you learned from both actors?
Well, Michael C. Hall has a very intellectual approach and a very internal approach. Just watching him working was like watching a master violinist play in concert. He could just do amazing things effortlessly. You just knew that every moment of his acting had been planned beforehand. And Chiklis works the way I work, which I love. It's about being really present and we're able to have a lot more fun on set. But that's also because the material is different.
The sets have totally different energies. I am lucky, I was never really involved in the crime scenes on Dexter -- except for the final scene. But the show was so dark. I would get scared just reading the script each week because the writers had a way of tapping into the dark regions of your psyche. I would be terrified and with No Ordinary Family, it is just different and playful. We have a lot of young kids on set so that helps keep things light too.
Let's talk about Rita's final scene on Dexter. As a viewer, the scene was traumatic but if you take emotion out of it, seeing Rita in that bathtub full of blood -- while her baby cried on the floor beside her -- was one of the most visually stunning television images of late.
Oh, it was traumatic. I mean, I only found out the day before we shot [that Rita was being killed off]. They had kept it a secret from everybody including me. It was, you know, it was emotional for me because here I was, saying goodbye to an entire family I had known for four years -- and having to do it so quickly. Meanwhile, I was just trying to wrap my head around the fact that I had just lost my job which is every actor's nightmare. I mean, I tried to have fun with the scene as much as I could. I knew it was a visually shocking scene with the baby nearby in Rita's blood.
What kind of response did you get from fans?
There were some fans that were so turned off by that image that they stopped watching the show while others were fascinated by it. A lot of people told me that that image disturbed them for weeks. I would walk into a restaurant and have people just gasp that I was still alive. It was a brutal image and I don't think people are used to seeing those images on television, especially involving characters that they have grown emotionally attached to. It happens in the movies but not on TV.
But then you had to get back into that bathtub full of blood this season!
I did, I did. They asked me to come back this season to help move the story forward. I had to get back into the bathtub but it was a different experience because the second time wasn't as traumatic. The first time was traumatic. The second time was more of a nice epilogue.
I read that you were an accomplished ice skater growing up. How does that athleticism and competitiveness affect your stunt work on the show?
I'm a workout junkie and I love to be challenged physically. The running and the level of grace that goes into Stephanie's running form, I understand. I had to learn how to run using the form that would be used at super speed and I think that because of my grace and my skating I am able to emulate that.
How did you learn what it would look like to run that fast?
Well, special effects guys and the producers figured that out. We tried a couple different variations -- of me running with very long strides but that didn't seem to translate as well. It was a lot of experimenting on the treadmill with a harness and seeing what looks best. They did a lot of specific studies about what it would be like to run that fast and the force fields that would be created around you at such a high speed. And how you would have to avoid creating so much friction that your clothes would burn off. My trainer helped me a lot. We watched a lot of the Matrix movies to get ideas.
How has your background as an athlete informed you as an actor mentally?
It has a ton. I have so much discipline just from getting up at 4 in the morning every day just to go ice skate. I think I also understand that it takes a lot of work to do what you love. You have to put in a lot of hours and you won't always succeed. My mom always said that "every time you fall, it's a new opportunity to learn something new." So that definitely has applied to my career. I've taken a lot of falls along the way.
What do you think about the new show Skating with the Stars?
You know, I haven't really paid attention to it. I know that it's coming out because it is actually preempting No Ordinary Family for a little bit of time. But I know that they tried to do the same show on Fox awhile ago and they actually offered it to me back then. I turned it down and then a week later I got Dexter so that worked out.
Why did you turn down Skating at the time?
First of all, I thought it would be cheating. I was a national competitor and spent years training on the ice. That would have not been fair to be put me on the ice, with 16 years of training, and have me compete against someone who had never spent time on the ice. At the same time, reality television wasn't completely something that you could do then and recover from as an actor. It's different now though.
Well, I'm glad for Rita's sake that you turned that down. Finally, Movieline plays a game called "My Favorite Scene." Is there one film scene that sticks out to you as being your all-time favorite?
The end of Seven when Brad Pitt's character is standing in the middle of this big open plain and you know, in the audience, that Gwyneth Paltrow's head is in that box. It is a bone-chilling scene. It is just a horrific moment and Brad Pitt did such an amazing job of portraying all of the emotions you would feel if you were to find out that your loved one's head was in a box in front of you. It's just a well-crafted, well-acted scene and it is just so shocking. And to me, that is always what Dexter had -- these shocking scenes that you could not believe were actually unfolding in front of you. And I think that that scene is similarly traumatic as Rita's final scene was.