Ransom Canyon star Minka Kelly juggles a lot of layers and dynamics for her character Quinn O’Grady in April Blair’s 10-episode Netflix series, based loosely on the book by Jodi Thomas.
At the start of the show, a history between Quinn and widower Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel) who has lost both his wife and his son, becomes clear, but Quinn also fields courtship from Staten’s late wife’s brother Davis Collins (Eoin Macken) as well as her growing businesses — Gracie’s Dance Hall which she runs with her righthand woman Ellie Estevez (Marianly Tejada) and her lavender farm. Her feelings for Staten have not dimmed despite giving it a go with Davis and putting everything she has into Gracie’s. Oh, and if that weren’t enough, Quinn also had a past life studying piano in New York City, and a significant figure from that past resurfaces in Ransom Canyon to recruit Quinn for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
In the below interview, Kelly dives deep with Deadline about establishing Quinn’s independence while maintaining her love for Staten, how she balanced the energy Meta Golding brought to set as Davis’ ex-wife Paula Jo, piano lessons and more.
DEADLINE: From the start of the series, it’s very clear that Quinn is fiercely independent. She doesn’t need anybody, especially Staten, but there’s also this, “Will they/ Won’t they” connection with him. How you balance that for her character in the show?
MINKA KELLY: That’s a great question. I was able to really relate it to a lot of experiences I’ve had, especially when you think of Quinn has loved him her whole life since high school. So you think you want to really believe in someone. I can relate to falling in love with someone’s potential, which is a really dangerous thing. I’ve done that a few times, and I’m sure someone’s done it in reverse with me, like fall in love with my potential and I let them down.
That’s the problem with putting anyone on a pedestal. You’re falling in love with a fantasy of what they could be and, and it’s a hard lesson to learn to go “If they never changed, if they just stayed exactly who they are right now, is that okay with you for forever?” Sometimes you have to learn that the hard way, and you think falling in love with someone’s potential is romantic, but it’s not because you’re not falling in love with who’s right in front of you.
DEADLINE: I’m also curious about how the added backstory of Amala, and Staten having been married to her, and then she was Davis’ sister, if that added anything to how you wanted to portray Quinn as well?
KELLY: There is the guilt of, “Is it okay for me to love him when someone so close to me, she was his person?” You can have every intention of thinking this is your friend, but to deny a love that you had for them since high school makes that a really complex thing. And I think that’s why she had to move to New York for such a long time so that she could just get away from from from that ever becoming messy, to just save herself from that.
KELLY: That’s kind of the beauty of this job. It’s one of my favorite things about what I do, is whatever show or whatever job, you’re probably going to have to learn a new skill, so when they said I’m going to have to learn piano for this, I was so excited. It was a dream come true.
I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the piano, but you always have these excuses as to why you don’t have time to take the lessons, and it’s too hard to learn a new thing as an adult, but now it was my job. I didn’t learn how to read music, but I did learn how to play the songs I had to play in the show. I had a piano teacher in Albuquerque that I worked with. And then, my partner is a musician, so he really helped me also learn the song, and then I just would do it over and over again and just learn by memory. So I can’t say I know how to play the piano, but I do know how to get through the songs that I had to learn for the show.
