For seven seasons on ABC鈥檚 hit fantasy series Once Upon A Time, Keegan Connor Tracy wielded a wand and fistfuls of fairy dust as the Blue Fairy, the steadfast matriarch of magic in a show populated by crisis-ridden fairytale characters.
Last Friday, the book closed on Once Upon A Time, and while the on-screen characters celebrated their assorted happily-ever-afters, Tracy sat down with the Courier to dish on her life after the Blue Fairy, which includes forays into other storytelling realms: namely, children鈥檚 books and directing her own work.
The former 鈥� This Is A Job For Mommy! 鈥� is slated to be published by Promontory Press later this year. And the latter 鈥� a fantasy short film that Tracy wrote and directed entitled La Fille, about a girl who enters a magical cabinet in the woods and ends up in 1920s France 鈥� went to camera earlier this month.
鈥淚鈥檓 always looking for what other things I can do,鈥� explains the Vancouver-based actress (turned actress-author-director) over tea in East Vancouver. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be unidimensional in this business, especially as you get older, because there鈥檚 this bottleneck that happens, particularly for women.鈥�
Tracy says she鈥檚 been thinking about directing her own work for years, but the #MeToo movement and the end of Once Upon A Time inspired her to slide into the director鈥檚 chair. 鈥淓ven though directing was on my radar 10 years ago, I didn鈥檛 do it because I was afraid,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut it reared its head again and said, 鈥榊ou should be doing this; why are you not doing this?鈥欌��
She was further motivated by 鈥渢he fact that I鈥檝e had a 20-year career, and more than 80 credits, and I鈥檝e worked with seven female directors. Seven. That鈥檚 an appalling number. We鈥檝e hit a tipping point, and I want to be on the edge of that tipping point that sends it over to the next side.鈥�
Given the abundance of magic in her recent filmography 鈥� besides Once Upon A Time, Tracy recurs on The Magicians, and plays Queen Belle in Disney鈥檚 Descendants聽鈥� it鈥檚 little wonder that La Fille has a magical bent. 鈥淚 hope it makes people smile, and laugh, and feel that dreamy wonder of childhood,鈥� she says. Her seven-year-old daughter is one of two little girls who appear in the film.聽
On May 26, Tracy will launch an online auction of showbiz memorabilia (including two scripts for the Once Upon A Time series finale that have been signed by cast members) to raise funds for La Fille鈥檚 post-production journey.
Beyond La Fille, Tracy is eager to tell screen stories that reflect the gritty, complicated, challenging, and glorious real lives of women. 鈥淭he stories of women right now, and women of my cohort, they鈥檙e big stories,鈥� says Tracy, who is currently developing a television pilot. 鈥淭hese are the stories that are going to form the daughters of the next generation. Those are the ones I want to tell.鈥�
Tracy will speak to the daughters of the next generation by way of This Is A Job For Mommy!, an ABC adventure book that shows that moms can do any job 鈥� including quarterback and neurologist. The book features illustrations by Roz MacLean and will be published by Promontory Press in September 2018.
鈥淭he idea is that a kid can look at that and go, 鈥榃ow, I didn鈥檛 know a mommy could be a police officer. I didn鈥檛 know a mommy could be a zoologist,鈥欌�� says Tracy. 鈥淭he book says to kids, 鈥榊es, she can, and yes, you can.鈥欌��
Tracy鈥檚 own children have grown up with Mommy as the Blue Fairy on Once Upon A Time. Tracy鈥檚 youngest was three months old when Mommy had her first costume fitting (鈥淚 brought my baby because fittings are usually 40 minutes, and she was crying and needed to be fed, and there I was in my Blue Fairy costume and my crazy heels and nursing the baby, and [costume designer] Eduardo [Castro] still talks about that as the craziest fitting he鈥檚 ever had鈥�), and both daughters joined Tracy on set for her final day wearing those iconic blue wings.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e on something for seven years, no matter what it is, it becomes a part of you,鈥� says Tracy. 鈥淔or whatever reason, Once Upon A Time hit a nerve with a particular audience. It鈥檚 been sad times, but watching that show, you weren鈥檛 thinking about your mortgage, you weren鈥檛 thinking about your divorce, you weren鈥檛 thinking about the news; you were thinking about magic and love. It touched a nerve for people, and I got to be a part of that, and I feel really fortunate.鈥�
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