From showrunner Jeremy Carver, the TV series Doom Patrol (available to stream at www.DCUniverse.com) follows a team of uniquely quirky and downright odd superheroes who have all suffered a horrible accident that’s given them abilities, leaving them more anti hero than anti-hero, as they work together to find their purpose while investigating weird phenomena. After bringing together Robotman, aka Cliff Steele (Brendan Fraser), Negative Man, aka Larry Trainor (Matt Bomer), Elasti-Woman, aka Rita Farr (April Bowlby), and Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero), mad scientist Niles Caulder, aka The Chief (Timothy Dalton), mysteriously disappears and Cyborg (Joivan Wade) presents them with a mission that will force them to face their own fears, if they are to succeed.

While at the Warner Bros. portion of the TCA Press Tour, actress April Bowlby talked about figuring out who Rita Farr is, the first time she saw what she’d look like as a melted blob, her character’s incredible wardrobe, how Rita Farr feels about what’s happened to her, what it’s like to shoot in Doom Manor, how much this cast is like their characters, shooting underwater, and how cool it is to be a part of something so unique.

Collider:  I really enjoyed this show! I had no idea what to expect, and I thought it was hilarious and fun.

APRIL BOWLBY:  Oh, yay! I’m so glad. It’s a very weird and quirky show, but it’s got humor to it. I think they found a really good balance with it. I don’t know how they did, but they did, and it works.

Was that evident from the script? Did you know what sort of weird, wacky tone of humor it was going to have, or were there lots of questions?

BOWLBY:  There were a lot of questions. We all got the Grant Morrison version of the Doom Patrol comic, and we got the first script, which was very off the wall. After the first read, I was very nervous. I was like, “I don’t understand. How do we do this? It’s very dark.” And then, after the second and third reads, the ideas started to come to me. It was all working together in the writing, and I’m so happy that it translates very well to the screen.

How do you get into the head of someone who essentially melts into a big blob?

BOWLBY:  I feel like it’s not that hard. I feel like I possibly do that, emotionally, maybe once every two weeks. I watched Sunset Blvd. with Gloria Swanson, and looked at the strong women from the ‘50s, who were holding themselves together by trying to emanate an energy and quality, but you can’t hold onto that because we’re all just human beings, trying to figure it out. The cracks in the surface start to come apart, and then you just blob out and lose control.

What was it like, the first time you saw what that would look like?

BOWLBY:  I was a little embarrassed of myself. I saw it, and I thought, “Oh, no, somebody get her a jacket! Help her! Hide her! Get her inside!” That’s how I know that they did it right. It felt like a very exposed thing. It was like, “Oh, this poor girl is a mess!” There’s a lot of shame in that. People don’t show their messes, and that’s what we do in this show. You see people’s mess.

How complicated and tricky was it to shoot some of her various stages of melting?

BOWLBY:  Luckily, it’s all CGI. We’ll do a take, and then, after we get everything we need, they come in and put the CGI dots on my face, like make-up, and we’ll do it again. And then, the beautiful people behind the scenes create the melting. I just have to pretend that it’s happening.

Your character certainly has a fabulous wardrobe and is very put together. Is that something that really helps you find her and get into her space?

BOWLBY:  Yes, it’s very Rita Farr. We have an incredible wardrobe department, and part of Rita putting herself together. I wear compression hose, from the ‘50s, that keep everything so tight. And then, on top of that, I put on a bodysuit. And then, on the bodysuit, I do a bra. All of that is holding her together, underneath all of the clothes, which keeps her tight and sitting upright, and creates her behavior. And then, to have these beautiful period piece clothes on her body, you just can’t move like you’re in 2019 when you’re in them. You have to cross your legs a certain way, and you have to sit up. I think it gives her so much charm. Her costumes are part of her character, for sure. It’s really special. These characters are trapped in their own eras, and they have to come together in the current time and work together, throughout the season. Everyone works together in a different way, which is interesting.

How does Rita feel about what’s happened to her, and that she’s now stuck with all of these very odd people, as a result?

BOWLBY:  I feel like she’s over it. The cool thing about Rita is that she’s so narcissistic. Eventually, she warms up to people, but it takes the whole season. She very much likes her own space. She likes things done a certain way. She believes that her way is the proper way, and she’s repelled by anything that goes against it. She just has no time or patience for it. She’s very narcissistic and vain. If you have an issue with her, she just looks the other way, or she’ll walk out of the room. She’s a broken, flawed character, and that’s why it’s so fun to play her.

What do you enjoy about the relationship with Timothy Dalton’s character, The Chief?

BOWLBY:  Gosh, Timothy Dalton is so talented. In this story, The Chief is very much a father figure and a therapist. He’s the one who has brought us all together and who has accepted us, with all of our faults, disfigurements, and whatever issues we have. He’s collected us and takes care of us, beautifully. When you meet him, he’s a warm person, in general, and he brings that into the scenes. He’s just so kind to everyone, in his fatherly way. It’s very magical. And I love how the writers wrote it that he’s the center point. He keeps us all tethered. Without him, everything falls apart. You have no throughline. He’s our person.

What’s it like to be in Doom Manor?

BOWLBY:  It’s awesome. We actually shoot in a manor, and there’s something really cool and haunting about it. It sets a mood, for sure. It’s haunting but grounded, and warm but disconnected. There’s almost a quietness that comes because the ceilings are so tall. Where we shoot was owned by the man who made Coca-Cola. It has quite a history, and you can feel it. We’re lucky that it’s layered with all of that energy.

This cast is great, and it’s so much fun to watch all of you together. When did you first all get together, and what’s it been like to have this group to tell this story with?

BOWLBY:  We’re so lucky. We all met in August in Atlanta, at the table read, when we got to hear how it all sounded, for the first time. From there, we just created our own family and would hang out. We went to a Prince tribute concert together, and we all went to karaoke one night, and just immediately bonded. It’s so interesting, everyone is slightly like their character, and it shows. I’m very put together. Diane [Guerrero], who plays Jane, is very spontaneous, full of life, and wants to do everything. And then, Joivan [Wade], who plays Cyborg, is so calm, collected, very focused, and thinks before he speaks. It’s hilarious that we were cast so perfectly. There’s really not any difference between ourselves and our characters, except that television is the extreme version, and we’re just the quirky, fun, normal versions of ourselves. The greatest thing about working with these people is that I can make different choices for myself in the scenes, and it builds and changes because [my scene partner] is giving me something completely different than what I thought would happen. It becomes this moving, breathing, real situation, which is so special. I feel really lucky to have that.

In the first couple of episodes, we only just start to see where the threats and danger will be coming from. What can you say about that, and how is that going to affect this team?

BOWLBY:  In every episode, there’s more and more danger. I feel like it’s like an onion, where you unwrap one layer, and then there’s another layer and another layer. I don’t even know where the heart of the danger is coming from. I know that we’re looking for The Chief. Mr. Nobody (Alan Tudyk) stole him, and we’re tracking him down. Through that, we’re learning about ourselves, our fears and what’s holding us back, and we’re growing, as a unit, to be full functioning superheroes, which is what we absolutely don’t want to do. It’s not going so well, right now. They’ve got a lot of things to go and figure out. So far, every time we try, there’s something that pulls us down, but that’s part of the journey. That’s the fun, and that’s where the funny comes in. It’s a constant evolution.

What do you feel Rita’s biggest strength is?

BOWLBY:  If you were able to get inside of Rita and actually penetrate her vain-ness, I think that she will fight for you, like nobody’s business. She’ll kill for you, but people just haven’t been able to get in. If you can get in, then she’ll kill other people for you. Once you break that center, she’s gonna be your biggest ally.

What’s been the weirdest, most surreal thing that’s happened on set?

BOWLBY:  Oh, my gosh, every day is surreal. Every day, I’m like, “I can’t believe this is my job.” We’ve had a puppet show. We have a donkey. I’ve gotten to shoot underwater. We have the best stunt team. We have so many stunts and beautiful choreography. Every day is surreal.

How did you find the experience of shooting in water?

BOWLBY:  In the beginning, it was terrifying. They built this beautiful tank for me and had scuba divers in the tank, and I had to learn how to breathe with the respirator, but no mask. You put the mask on and just stay under to get comfortable breathing underwater, which is surprisingly difficult. Once I was comfortable with that, then we shot. It actually turned out that I didn’t need the respirator because I wasn’t underwater so long. It was just magical, and everyone is looking out for you. There’s someone in the water who’s just watching you, and who knows when to pull you out. It was warm water that was the perfect PH balance for us. They really took good care of us. It was amazing! I’ll do it again, anytime.

Are there ever stunts or physical things that they won’t let you do, that you’re bummed the stunt people step in to do?

BOWLBY:  For the other characters, probably. For me, Rita doesn’t really do that much stuff. My first stunt was literally stepping and throwing my arm out to nothing. There was someone who told me how to do that, but I was in no danger of hurting myself or others.

There’s such a huge popularity that comes with comic book and superhero movies and TV shows. Was it something that you had been a fan of before this, and had you tried to get involved with this genre before?

BOWLBY:  I tried to get involved. I wanted to know what this magical thing was, that everyone was talking about, but I couldn’t quite break through. This job is such a gift because it opens the door to something that I couldn’t quite get into on my own, and now I feel very blessed that I get to participate in such a cool, dysfunctional superhero story. These characters are really unique. I feel like we’ve never seen anything like this before. I love that they have to work together, even though they hate working together. There’s a dysfunctional camaraderie with it, while they’re dragging their heels. It’s like watching children play.

Doom Patrol is available to stream at www.DCUniverse.com.