After a successful career in the music world as the front-girl of Garbage, singer Shirley Manson has now made the leap to the acting world, having appeared in the second season premiere of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Although we knew ahead of time that Manson would be stepping into the shoes of corporate honcho Catherine Weaver, we had no clue she would turn out to be a Terminator of the T-1001 liquid metal variety.

A day after the season two debut, our own Troy Rogers caught up with Shirley Manson to find out what it was like to get the role, how she handled the pressure, and the process behind her musical contribution to the show.

THE DEADBOLT: Given how popular the franchise is, how did you handle the pressure of stepping into the show?

SHIRLEY MANSON: I just didn’t think about the pressure, to be honest. I’ve been under a lot of pressure situations in my life through being a musician, and a touring musician, and I have just come to realize, in life you just have to block out people’s expectations and hopes and just try to concentrate on enjoying yourself and having fun. At the end of the day, that’s really all you have. Life is so short and you really just have to engineer having a blast and freeing yourself up, and not being scared to take chances. Otherwise, I think life can become really boring.

I just decided, this is something I’ve been given the opportunity to do, I’m either going to be good at it, not so good, maybe I’ll be somewhere in between, but I’m not going to let my own fears, or the judgment of others to stop me from doing it. I jumped in and just have tried to do my best, I’ve taken it very seriously, and that’s life.

THE DEADBOLT: At what point in the process did the song [for the show] come about?

MANSON: Josh Friedman, the creator of the show, took me out for dinner, wined and dined me, and then after my fourth glass of champagne, introduced the idea.

To be honest, I was a little wary of doing the song because I understood I was really setting myself up for a lot of flack, or certainly, making it harder for the audience to believe my character.

I think that is what is so hard for musicians when they step into acting is they’re not coming in as a blank slate, they’re coming in with a real set idea of who they are, where they’re coming from, what their politics are, what their tastes are. I didn’t really want to remind the audience I was a singer, I knew that would create difficulties for me. At the end of the day, Josh asked so nicely, he’d given me such a great opportunity in this show that I just bent to his will in the end, and I did it as a favor to him.

I’m pleased, it was a challenge for me because it’s a kind of music I haven’t ever really investigated, it was a folk song, and it was five minutes long, so it required some kind of emotional act to it; it was an interesting challenge for me.

THE DEADBOLT: As you pursue acting, are you looking to shed the music image of Shirley Manson to create a new identity, or does that factor in at all?

MANSON: I don’t think once you’ve been in a successful band you can ever truly shed that image. We’ve joked about this many times, in the music industry, being in a band is like being in a minor mafia, you never really get out alive, one way or another you’re scarred in some way, and you carry that baggage with you forever.

Even during my Garbage years, I was haunted by my very first band in Scotland, Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie, so it’s not something I’m interested in shedding, and I feel it has been a very important part of my life, and hopefully will continue to be.

I also would love to do more acting, and I see no reason why I can’t. I know there is a lot of criticism whenever a musician steps into acting, and whenever an actor steps into music and I understand where that comes from. I’ve certainly been guilty of being very suspicious myself of people who have done crossovers.

But at this point in my life, I’m 42 years old, and I feel like being an active musician on the road is a tough life, and I don’t know if I want to necessarily want to continue that kind of existence.

I want to be continually challenged and excited and acting has provided that for me at a time in my life when I felt very confident in the music realm. I knew I could go out, play shows, I could write good songs, and I could put on good shows and get on well with my band. I can’t say it was boring, but it didn’t frighten me any more.

I feel like in some ways, to keep life exciting, you have to push yourself towards things that scare you a little, and that’s exactly what I’m finding on the show. I’m scared, I’m excited, challenged, and I’m being pushed, so that feels really good. It makes me feel like I’m alive and I like that feeling.

Other Conference Call Highlights:

Shirley Manson on how she plays her character, Catherine, and whether she and Cameron will mix it up this season:

"Some terminator action; I don’t know, they don’t really tell us much about what’s going to happen from episode to episode, we really learn on a need to know basis, unfortunately, so I’ve not seen an idea for where it’s going to go. With regard to the character, she is embodying a human being, so she’s still in the identity of Catherine Weaver, so that in itself is sort of interesting to me because, obviously, she’s physically like a human being, but she’s unable necessarily to bring what is essentially human all the time to the table. I felt that was kind of interesting, it’s a sort of rumination on what it is like to not have emotions and not have necessarily a logical thought. I suppose the whole time I’m on the set I’m trying to imagine what that is like, so that’s been an interesting discipline for me.

"It’s harder to be a robot than one would think because you realize they would probably be very economical with their movements, so I’ve tried very consciously to be as undemonstrative as possible, and that has been a challenge in itself. Being a musician, when you’re on stage, or at least I am, very demonstrative, so it has been quite a challenge.

I find it fascinating; this is a woman who is truly unassailable, because she’s a terminator who is sort of the head of a company, and a CEO of a very successful company. I find it very amusing in a way that she’s just completely on top of everyone and everything. It’s really a lot of fun to play."

Manson on whether she will still have time for music and if we can expect a new album soon:

"Yes, I’m still working on music. Obviously, I’m not a huge lead in the show so I have plenty of downtime too, despite some of the crazy hours we work. I’ve been working all year on stuff and continue to do so. I hope so. I have a lot of material, I’m intending actually to go in and start recording some of the songs live, next month, so we’ll see if I manage to pull it off."

On the liquid visual effects of the T-1001:

"I basically, act physically, the scene out and then I have to go and stand in a flesh body suit and have my entire body and face scanned 360°, and they take, essentially, digital photographs and compile a digital manifestation of my physicality, and then they can do with that what they will."

Manson on her first day on set:

"It was pretty intense, it was a real challenge in large part because I’d had no real training, but then, I’d never had any training for being a singer either, so I decided I was just going to throw myself in and see what I could do. It was very intimidating and I really had a hard time keeping my heart rate and blood pressure down, I was really pretty freaked out and somewhat overwhelmed. It’s getting a lot easier now, I’m feeling much more relaxed on set, and being able to have a lot more fun. It was a challenge."

Manson on what Butch [Vig] thought of her role:

"He wrote a very quick e-mail saying, 'F**king awesome! I loved it, Queenie.' I think he loved seeing me play a terminator. I think everybody thinks it’s really funny."

On whether she wants to try another role or a film in the future:

"I do, actually. I feel like I’ve really been bitten by a bug and I find it really exciting and very challenging. It reminds me of being little, when you get to play in the sandbox or in your Wendy house or playing with dolls, there is something really innately childish about it, but also as a result, really thrilling and exciting. Yes, I would like to do more, definitely."

Manson on whether she used Robert Patrick’s performance as a reference for Catherine Weaver:

"Actually, no, I didn’t want to try to replicate his performance, I think that would have been the most obvious thing to do. My two muses really, were I thought a lot about Glenn Close in Damages, because I felt she was very threatening and very powerful in that television show and her performance is incredible. I think it’s rare when you see a woman on screen where you truly believe she’s capable of unworldly deeds, so she was a muse.

"Also, for some inexplicable reason, I also thought of Margaret Thatcher. She was really a very powerful and seeming unassailable character when I was growing up, and I really didn’t think very kindly of her, so I thought she was really someone who was a great inspiration for a CEO of a company, who didn’t have the kindest and warmest of hearts, so I looked her up on YouTube. My performance is nothing like these two characters, but they certainly informed me."

Shirley Manson on whether there were any cross-over musicians she wanted to emulate:

"That’s an interesting question, I can’t say there’s anybody I’ve ever wanted to emulate their career, necessarily, but obviously, there have been some musicians that I think have done an amazing job. I think Tim McGraw does an amazing job every time I see him on screen, funny enough. I thought Courtney Love did an amazing job in the life and movie. David Bowie, obviously, I think did an incredible job in The Man Who Fell to Earth. I think there have definitely been actors who have done some great work on screen. It’s very different, obviously, for me, but I think it’s possible."