Press Room

Q&A With Genevieve Cortese
Source: Horse Illustrated Magazine
Article By: Kimberly Abbott
Date: April 2008

The star of ABC Family's equine drama Wildfire chats with HI Associate Editor Kimberly Abbott.

HI: What was the first thought that came to your mind when you met Wildfire?

GC: The main horse that plays Wildfire, [Finder], is just this overwhelming, gorgeous creature. He was an actual racehorse at one point, and he can do tricks that are unbelievable. We actually use several different [horses], but he's the main one. He was in Seabiscuit and Zorro. My favorite horse is Houdini. He doubles as a few horses on the show. The commands he knows are just amazing.

HI: How old is Finder?

GC: Finder is around six. He's one of the horses we use on the track. I don't ride him. He's just so full of fire and energy, and he's tough. He's just so enormous in comparison to some of the other horses. Next to him, I'm just a peanut.

HI: You learned to ride from you mom, correct?

GC: She had all kinds of horses growing up. I have been so familiar and comfortable around them, and any advice I need, I just ask her. She made me take formal training, like English and western, and I did a bit of jumping as a kid.

HI: When your character is shown riding, is it really you, and not a stunt double?

GC: Probably 80 percent [of the time, it's me]. I do as much as I can. It also depends on the schedule for us. If it's something big, like in season three when it required jumping, I worked really hard on the weekends to learn how to jump again so that everyone on the crew and the producers were comfortable with me jumping. The difficult stuff is on the racetrack, and I can't really do that just for liability's sake, and because we do use real Thoroughbreds, and they do really race. In the starting gates it's very dangerous. If there is a field shot where my character is racing around, it's usually me. During the pilot I did almost everything.

HI: How do you film the racing sequences?

GC: We have a mechanical horse that looks like half of a horse body, and it's on a rig. We put it on a trailer, and it moves back and forth. It's my job to [react] in a way that's appropriate looking. The trailer is attached to the truck, and the crew is sitting on the truck, and we drive around the track. That's the only way to get close-up shots. Then we'll put the horses and riders next to me on the track that are racing to give that real effect.

HI: How do you film a stunt in which someone is supposed to get hurt?

GC: There are a couple of ways. In one episode, I'm racing and the horse does a somersault. We used footage from an actual race, and we used my stunt double for the racetrack sequence. The fall was actually me, but we didn't do it from a horse; I stood on a ladder and jumped. Editor's Note: A representative from the American Humane Society is always on set to monitor production.

HI: What have you learned about horses as a cast member of Wildfire?

GC: How wonderful they are, and when I think of horses, I think of my mom. I get nostalgic because it feels like home. I think everyone should have [a horse]. They'd learn a lot.

HI: With Wildfire being your television debut, how did you become Kris Furillo?

GC: I read the script probably in 2004 and was immediately attached to it because my character, Kris Furillo, rides up Mount Diablo, and it's about the Bay Area. I grew up riding up Mount Diablo. I really got the geography and got where she was from, and she reminded me of my mom. My mom is a really cool, independent, free spirit. I understood where [Kris] was coming from. So I started immediately getting back on horses and training before I even knew I had a chance. It was a long process because they started auditioning, and then I had to wait a month. I went back in for ABC Family and read there, and I think a day or two later I got a phone call saying 'they love you,' and this was on Friday, 'but it's between you and another girl, and you won't know until Monday.' It was like the worst feeling ever, but it ended up working out because it was between me and Nicole [Tubiola], and Nicole got Dani.

HI: What did you need to learn when you first started?

GC: It was basically warming up the muscles again because I hadn't ridden in a while. I find it very much like yoga. It's so Zen, and you center yourself, and you learn to breathe with the horse and become one with them. You feel very grounded.

HI: What do you like most about working with horses on the set?

GC: I really love riding Houdini. Our trainer would make me close my eyes, and I wouldn't use the reins. He would use his hand motions to get [Houdini] to canter and to do crazy eights and for me. It just felt like a really wonderful bonding experience. I don't know if Houdini felt it, but I did.

HI: What happens when you or Wildfire or any of the horses have a bad day?

GC: There have been situations where things happen. Nana [Visitor] did a stunt, and she was kicked in the head by the horse, and she got a concussion. She was supposed to get hurt [in the episode] and was just in the wrong spot at the wrong time. With horses you just can't tell what's going to happen.

Tricks sometimes don't happen the way that we'd like them to, but I can't say that there's ever been a really bad day. We've been really fortunate to have everything go as planned. We have one horse that I use that's less fiery than Finder, so if for some reason he's not giving us the right attitude then we'll use Finder. So there's always a plan B.

HI: When and where is Wildfire filmed? What is the filming schedule like?

GC: [Wildfire is filmed] in Albuquerque, N.M. It's about a five-month period, and we've shot from June to September, and September to December, and then we had a hiatus until July. It just changes all the time. Normally, if you're on another network show, it would probably take eight days, maybe more. We shoot it in seven days, and then there are usually about two six-day episodes a season. That's just a way to save money, and we do our best to contain it. We also have to go in and do the voice-over work. If a horse whinnies during our line, we have to go back and do that, and then there's post-production where everything's been shot and completed.