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Kevin McKidd Talks Journeyman
Reported by Jay Cochran - 02:27 PM 2007.09.12
NBC introduces its new, upcoming television series "Journeyman" premiering September 24, 2007. Here is a transcript of a recent telephone press conference.
Coordinator: Hello and welcome to the Journeyman Press Conference. At the request of NBC, this conference is being recorded for instant replay purposes. Along with Kevin McKidd, on today’s conference is creator and executive producer Kevin Falls, as well as Joanne Park and Carol Janson of NBC. I’d now like to turn the conference over to your host this afternoon, Ms. Carol Janson. Ms. Janson, you may begin. Carol Janson: Kevin and Kevin, why don’t you say hello to everybody? Kevin Falls: Hello. How are you? I’m Kevin Falls. Kevin McKidd: I’m Kevin McKidd. How are you? Carol Janson: Okay. To ask a question, please press star 1 on your touchtone phone. We’re just really happy to be with you today for you to talk to our two Kevins about Journeyman which will premiere on NBC on Monday, September 24, at 10:00 pm. And we are ready for the first question. Star 1. Kevin Falls: This is shorter than I thought. Carol Janson: It’s not going to be. Coordinator: Thank you. As a reminder, please press star 1 on your touchtone phone if you have a question at any time during today’s conference. Our first question does come from Joe Diliberto of Soap Opera Weekly. Joe Diliberto: Hey Kevin and Kevin, I got to see the show and I was really pleased to see that some intense personal relationships really play a big role, so maybe you can talk about the importance of Dan and everybody in his life. Kevin Falls: Yeah, it’s not a rectangle - excuse me. It’s not a triangle. It’s a rectangle and certainly Dan has to balance not only his wife - his beautiful wife in the present but he has this fiancé who died at the apex of their relationship and so he’s straddling these women - these two women that he loves in a very epic manner. So yeah, if that isn’t an ingredient for soap, I don’t know what is, coupled with the fact that the Jack character played by Reed Diamond was also at one point dating Katie, Dan’s wife. Joe Diliberto: Yeah. So, Kevin, I guess you have a lot more to play than just like a sci-fi aspect, right? Kevin McKidd: Yeah, that’s why I think the audience is going to connect with the show because, you know, as we’ve done a job well, it appeals to the sci-fi audience because we have all that intrigue and great plot twists and devices that we can use with the time travel element, but the thing that pins it down and gives it a sense of reality is the interpersonal relationships between these quite complex and very human and forward people. So I think that’s what attracted me to the project and hopefully that’s what will attract a great audience. Joe Diliberto: The women? Do you think that it will bring in more of a female audience? Kevin Falls: I’m sorry. Can you repeat that again one more time? Joe Diliberto: Did you think that will help bring in more of a female audience than you usually see with the science fiction? Kevin Falls: I think so and certainly I’ve seen how the show is going to be marketed. NBC is doing a beautiful job and you’re going to see some magazine spreads in the next couple of weeks that are really going to hit the triangle hard between Moon, Gretchen and Kevin. So yeah, we’re not going to shy away from it. I think that’s what kind of gives it its special - it sets it apart from a lot of the time travel shows that have been done in the past. Joe Diliberto: Okay. Thanks a lot. Kevin Falls: Thank you. By the way, if you’re confusing which Kevin is which, I’m the one with the American accent, Kevin Falls. Coordinator: Our next question does come from Mike Hughes of Gannett News Service. Mike Hughes: Never confuse your two voices, believe me that. Oh, boy. This is for Kevin McKidd. I wanted to ask you the - just in the case of like the final scene that you filmed there because I’ve always wondered this, you’re doing this very emotional scene and yet it’s just drenching rain; it’s just pouring rain at that time. How long did it take you to shoot that scene and how difficult is it to emote in situations like that? Kevin McKidd: It took - that scene itself took - I think it was one night’s shoot; pretty much the whole night. It was complex because we had to dig up the patio and all lose kind of - in a way the digging up the patio was the more trickier thing than the - it turned out the patio was far too well built and it took about 10 of us to smash through the thing. But on screen it looks like I do it myself. It’s funny, you know, those rain machines that they use which give such a great effect, I mean, it’s kind of NAR, no acting required, you know. It helps to get an element like that to an emotional scene like that because I think cinematically it just adds a whole other level. So actually it aided the scene as opposed to making it trickier and I think it made it - you know the lightning and the rain, I think it makes it quite epic and quite kind of a beautiful moment in the pilot. And - so it helped us. Mike Hughes: And just one other thing off of that point. You know a lot of actors I’d say boy that must have been tough for them, but you had to do even harder things when you were doing Rome. I mean, what was the examples - like one of the hardest - just physically hardest things you had to do in Rome? Kevin McKidd: Presently - you know it was funny because we did a scene the other day where I had to have a bloody nose and they put a tiny speck on my nose and the makeup artist on Journeyman was going I’m so sorry we had to put this tiny speck. I said, listen, I’ve been drenched in blood for the last two years, so a little speck of blood is no big deal. On Rome, there were so many hard days. Probably physically the hardest sequence we shot was in Episode 10 of Season 1 with the big gladiator fight where I save Pullo from his death from the (blood) pen. Mike Hughes: Yeah. Kevin McKidd: That was physically very hard, but fun and you get to play out these kind of boyhood fantasies of being a gladiator, you know. Kevin Falls: Can I just add some perspective? Kevin - we’re doing this conference call in my office at Fox studios. Kevin is wearing a tuxedo. That’s for the scene we’re shooting today so it’s been rough. Kevin McKidd: What I love about it is that it really is night and day from that to this show. But this is pretty physically demanding. Kevin Falls: It’s getting to be very physically demanding. And Kevin, of course, has a strength there, but it’s also the scene we’re shooting today, it’s very romantic and Kevin, I know, is - when we had our first meeting, he told me something which surprised me because I loved what he had done in Rome and he just said, “I confess, I’m a romantic. I love the romance.” And when you see Episode 3 which is shooting now where he’s wearing the tux, it is really beautiful and fun and intense all at the same time. And Kevin delivers in every way. Mike Hughes: Okay, cool. Thanks a lot. Kevin Falls: Thanks. Coordinator: Alice Chapman-Newgen of Comingsoon.net, you may ask your question. Alice Chapman-Newgen: Hi Kevin, this is Alice. How are you? Kevin McKidd: Good. Kevin Falls: Hi Alice. Alice Chapman-Newgen: I was wondering - this is for both of you, if you could, like in the show, would you like to be able to travel within your lifetime and go back and see how things could have been different or changed? Kevin McKidd: It’s a funny question. I think I’m intrigued at the small things, but I think hopefully I haven’t taken too many wrong - I think the show is about people that are taking maybe the wrong path or need to be nudged back on to the correct path of their lives. And you know I’m a very lucky person. I’m playing this part with a great team for NBC so hopefully that kind of points to the fact I haven’t made too many mistakes, although we all make mistakes... Kevin Falls: We’ll find out. Kevin McKidd: So actually, I don’t think - I wouldn’t want to be burdened with this affliction that poor Dan Vasser has had, no. Alice Chapman-Newgen: How about you Kevin? Kevin Falls: I wouldn’t change anything, but I think I would love to go back and observe some of my early years but then I could probably just go watch the movie Superbad and that pretty much would be my life, so… Alice Chapman-Newgen: Okay, well thank you. Kevin Falls: Thank you. Bye Alice. Alice Chapman-Newgen: Bye. Coordinator: David Martindale of Hearst Newspaper, you may ask your questions. David Martindale: Thank you. First, for Kevin Falls, what was the genesis of this for you? And then for both of you, how did Kevin McKidd get involved? Was it a long process or you reaching out specifically to him? What? Kevin Falls: For the genesis, every year in June I go and have lunch with my agent and he always says, all right, you’re going to develop this year, what have you got, and I said, I got nothing. And he said, well, why don’t you do something different, like a different genre. And I said, like what, and he goes, well ABC has been looking to do a time travel show, and so I thought, well you know what, if I could do it in a very grounded way, I would love to do it. And so I came up with the pitch for Journeyman and went in to ABC and they promptly passed. And then I went to NBC, and to their credit, they got the show from the very beginning and held me to its original vision. And how Kevin got involved was interesting in that I had watched the first couple of episodes of Rome and didn’t check in - I’m telling him this for the first time, I didn’t watch it much after that. And then we were cast contingent way back when and we had to get an actor and the usual list of suspects, some very fine actors came across the board. And then Robert Ulrich, our casting director, popped in this tape of Rome where Kevin you watch your fiancé -- you probably had fiancés in Rome -- fall off the balcony after you thought she was the father of - not the father of your child but the mother of your child. And we were - and Alex Graves, the executive producer, along with myself, were so blown away, all we wanted was Kevin. And - I don’t know if I probably should be telling the story but we called NBC and NBC says, you know, we love Kevin McKidd. He’s fantastic, but I don’t know if we see him in this. Have I told you this? Kevin McKidd: You told me about this, yes. Kevin Falls: And they really didn’t like him. Everyone in town wanted him for his pilot but they just didn’t necessarily see him in this. And so we went back and we looked at other actors and then Alex and I said, you know what, we’re going to call Kevin Riley personally and ask him one more time. And we called him up and we said, this guy is the bomb and we think he’s great. And at the same time, Kevin was looking at Kevin McKidd’s picture on IMDb and he was all gladiatored up and he goes you know what, I think this guy is the real deal and he called us back and he said let’s do it. And it was one of those things that happened in your career where we knew he was good -- I’m not just saying this because you’re sitting in this room -- we just didn’t know that he was great. And with the first day of dailies, he tumbles off a plane and has to shoot like one of - the penultimate scene in the pilot and Alex Graves - it’s in the bus and we’re watching him act and Alex Graves turns to me and says, “My God we’ve got ourselves a movie star.” And I don’t know Kevin if you’re just passing through, and I don’t know what’s going to happen with Journeyman, but I know that Kevin is going to go on to do great things. David Martindale: Great that you introduced another Kevin into the story, too. So Reed and Kevin, it’s uncanny how believable they are as brothers. I mean, just visually and physically. Kevin McKidd: Yeah, it’s funny. I met Reed on the first day of prep and we instantly hit it off and he’s such a great guy. He really is like - I mean he looks more like my brother than my brother. David Martindale: Wow. Kevin McKidd: So... Kevin Falls: Did you tell them the story - tell them the story about what Reed used to watch Rome and what his wife said. Kevin McKidd: Yeah, Reed told me on the first day that he used to watch Rome with his wife because they were a fan of the show and Reed kind of sat up in bed one night and said, “I’m going to play that guy’s brother one day. You watch.” And within a few months, I think, he had met Kevin and Alex for the show and that was it pretty much. But I mean, for me, coming to this show, I did get - I’ve never done a pilot season before so all this is very, very new to me, you know. And I just - because of Rome, I think there’s a lot of pilots came my way this year, which I’m very thankful for, but I read Journeyman and loved it. And then I met Kevin and Alex at the Chateau Marmont for a cup of coffee and I just thought they were such fantastic, just obviously hugely talented but also just great people. And I think when you look at doing a show that could run for many years, you want to know you’re in bed with people that you can, you know, get on with and enjoy each other’s company because it becomes a family and I knew that straight away and it’s been a fantastic experience ever since that moment. David Martindale: That’s great. And I was going to ask if it was just pure luck of the draw that you get the two brother characters to look the same, but maybe it sounds like it’s all part of Reed’s master plan. Kevin Falls: You know, it’s funny, in the episode we’re shooting now, we actually have to cast the young - because, you know, it’s time travel and he goes back and he actually sees himself as a boy and we’re casting the young Dan Vasser and the young Jack Vasser and those guys are strikingly close to looking like our two leads. So Alex and I really want to do that. We really - we like the fact that, you know, people look alike if they’re going to be siblings. David Martindale: Well, yeah, at the very least you’re not going to have that moment where you’re taken out of the moment of the show because you’re going to say no way those are brothers. So good on you for that. Anyway, thank you very much. Kevin McKidd: Thank you. Kevin Falls: Thank you very much David. Coordinator: David Zurawik of Baltimore Sun, you may ask your question. David Zurawik: Hi. This is for Kevin Falls, but also Kevin McKidd, if you’ve got any thoughts, that would be great. Kevin, I wonder if you have any thoughts on the notion of the extraordinary abilities; the abilities to change life of the hero here. And that concept of a hero, there seems to be a number of heroes in series this fall. I mean, American television always has a lot of them but this fall and some have these extraordinary powers. And I wonder if you have any thoughts on why now and how your hero fits into this sort of lineup? Kevin Falls: Well there’s been lots of speculation as to why now all these characters have popped up. Everyone has talked about escaping from the dark dramas of not only the shows that were on last season but also what’s going on in the world today, and I can let others speak to that. Like I said, I simply had run out of ideas. There was no master plan. But with Kevin’s character, Dan, we wanted to approach it from a place of reality because Alex and myself don’t believe in time travel. So we wanted our character to approach it and you guys should be getting - we’re mixing today the first episode after the pilot, which we are very excited about. We think it’s better than the pilot and really will speak to what the show is each week. We want - he’s going to get an MRI in the first scene. Even Dan and Katie, despite the wonderful parlor trick of hiding the ring in the backyard, they’re still trying to get their heads around what the hell is going on. So there is going to be an approach of “There is something wrong with me” as opposed to “What power is doing this.” And eventually he will trip on that, but he’s a very real person who still has to keep a job, a wife, be a father to a child and we wanted to really speak to the idea of the ultimate emotional workplace affair when talking about the dead fiancé coupled with the ultimate job on the road and how that impacts a family at home. David Zurawik: Okay. Thank you. Kevin... Kevin McKidd: But I’m a big sci-fi fan personally and I have been since I was a child, but what I really loved about this is that Dan - you know, as you say he’s a hero, but I don’t consider him that. I don’t play him that way even though he’s in the positions that he has to overextend himself and do extraordinary things. I’m always attracted to characters that aren’t extraordinary from the outset but actually are pretty normal, maybe a forward - I mean Dan is a forward guy. He’s had a gambling problem in his past and had some dark, dark moments, you know. And I’m really attracted to the idea that he does have this power but he isn’t actually in control of it. It’s very erratic and it happens at times - he starts to realize as the episodes go on that there is more of a pattern to this and he starts to almost preempt and almost second guess when it may or may not happen and see the patterns, but the patterns shift and change. And I think that’s what’s exciting for the audience is that they’re seeing a guy who has a power that he isn’t actually in full control of at any moment, but he learns to deal with his affliction as opposed to his power. David Zurawik: Thank you very much. That’s great. Thanks. Kevin Falls: Thank you. Bye David. Coordinator: Paige Albiniak of New York Post, you may ask your question. Paige Albiniak: Hi. My question actually is a good follow-up to what he just asked which is the power/affliction that Dan has, is that something that we intentionally as an audience don’t understand how it works because he doesn’t understand how it works? And thus how are you going to play that out and so it does let the audience in on what’s going on? Kevin Falls: Yeah. We’re going to be like Dan. And I think that’s the strength of the first few shows is Dan trying to figure out what’s going on, coupled with the fact that he has no control of it. So in order for him to get back to the present, he has to finish a leg of his mission or the procedural, as we call it. So we want him to be grasping for answers and ultimately as we get into the second part of the season we’ll address more of the bigger mythology of the show and really actually in the first 10 tell you why Livia is a time traveler and what her story is. But as far as what is the power, that’s something we’re not going to reveal, certainly in the first part of the season. Paige Albiniak: And then... Kevin Falls: And... Paige Albiniak: Oh, I’m sorry. Go ahead. Kevin Falls: Okay. And that’s not to say our characters aren’t going to be wondering what the hell is going on. They have to be. Paige Albiniak: I just was going to ask do you think that the fact that we don’t know how this works or why this is happening is - how do you think the audience will react to that and I ask this because actually my editor, like this is throwing him off completely, like why don’t we know why this is happening. Kevin Falls: That’s a good question. Listen, we get it a lot and what I didn’t want to do because I feel like shows have done it -- whether it’s Lost or Invasion -- and it’s chasing the mythology as opposed to dealing with, which to us is an intimate story; what’s going on and how this is impacting his life. And I think that because we have these standalone stories in each show, I’m hoping that that in itself is compelling and that people will be satisfied but I totally get that the audience is going to want to know and we have to deliver at some point. I just don’t want that to be at the end of each episode there is a clue that gets us closer to the meaning of it. That’s just not a show that I want to do, but yet, I feel like we owe it to the audience to what it is, what the power is and what’s causing it, but I’d rather first just kind of deal with it in a very real way. Paige Albiniak: And then do you really consider it a hero with a power or is it more like a guy who is having this weird circumstance that he’s having to deal with? Kevin Falls: I think he’s a hero with an affliction. That’s what I always thought. I never thought - you didn’t look at it as a power at all. Kevin McKidd: Yeah, yeah. I think that what Kevin just said there, and I’m enjoying playing and again I think people will like in the drama is that because we don’t - because Dan is always wondering why is this happening, but he is drawn each episode into somebody else’s life and he has to solve or find out or piece together what it is and use his instincts that become more tuned and adapt -adept at finding out what he needs to do. And I think those stories are so potent, he, himself, as Dan Vasser, doesn’t quite at the time initially to look back, to keep going, what is this about, why is this happening, why is this happening because the missions that he’s put on are so immediate and there’s such a ticking clock in each one. And I think that’s what will carry the audience along with Dan is that, okay, this is a phenomenon that nobody - that he doesn’t know what’s going on, the audience doesn’t know what’s going on so they’re both in that same knowledge base. They’re both in it together. And that’s the fun of the show, I think. And the sort of adventure aspect of the show is that if we start getting bogged down, well it’s a whiz bang, (tang-tunneled) and get bogged down in that, then I think it will dilute fun of the adventure of each episode. Kevin Falls: Yeah, we’d like people to tune in to episode 4 that they heard the show is good and be satisfied with what they saw. Listen, we’re going to reward the viewers who watch it from Day 1 because there is a lot of fun stuff in there that will follow, but I do believe that you can turn on the TV and watch Episode 4 and have a satisfying hour of entertainment. And by the way, let me just - I want to qualify one thing is that when I talk about Lost and Heroes, these guys did it great and they set the bar high and we just want to try something a little bit different and see if people cotton to it. Paige Albiniak: Thanks you guys both so much. Kevin Falls: Thank you Paige. Coordinator: Rick Porter of Zap2it.com, you may ask your question. Rick Porter: Hi. For Kevin Falls... Kevin Falls: Sorry, what’s your name again? Rick Porter: Rick Porter. Kevin Falls: Hi Rick. Rick Porter: Hi. What is it that the time travel element of this story allows you to do that one that’s completely based in a sort of normal reality to our own experiences wouldn’t? Kevin Falls: Well, for instance we’re doing an episode - we just finished an episode where we get to sometimes - not in every episode, lots of times we’ll visit people who have common problems and relatively speaking rather normal lives and yet in Episode 4, Dan is transported to a spot where a character, a D.B. Cooper type character lands on his parachute. And you think you’re going to be following the D.B. Cooper of it all and you will but what’s connected to that story is something that’s happening in Iraq which is that he’s trying to get somebody out of Cambodia; an interpreter that helped him in the Vietnam War. And because of that, we get to draw some parallels to the people that we may be leaving behind as we start hopefully a withdrawal out of that country and allows us to speak in a different context, and not to mention go back into the news room where Dan can actually - he needs a piece information that only his father has and he gets to go back and see his dad who he lost at the age 6 and have a conversation with him with the father not knowing who he is which is really the heart of the show. And while that is going on, in the margins, someone takes a shot at President Ford at the St. Francis, and even though we don’t go there, this stuff is all living in the margins of the show. So I think sci-fi - Alex and I are from West Wing and those were very provocative shows and sci-fi is doing that now and it’s allowing us to tackle some subjects that we used to do on West Wing. Rick Porter: And just like the rules of the game is - does he - does Dan only kind of go (unintelligible) jump in the same place that he was standing 20 years in the present day or can he move around in space, as well? Kevin Falls: I didn’t quite hear part of that. You kind of flamed out there a little bit. Rick Porter: I’m sorry. Kevin Falls: The rule - he only can travel in his own lifetime. Rick Porter: Okay. Kevin Falls: Though we won’t go deeper than the 70s or go past the 70s and he only travels within the Bay area or anything linked to the Bay area. In other words, in the first episode, he finds himself on a plane in the 70s but it’s en route to San Francisco. So that connection is always to San Francisco. And of course, you know, the rule of simply he’s kind of given a mission which he has to figure out on his own and he can’t stray off that. And if he tries to do something that’s off what he’s supposed to do, there’s blowbacks. So he learns rules the hard way as he goes. Rick Porter: And I’m sorry to be so logistical and technical here, but is he - are the missions sort of thematic in terms of things that are going on in his own life, are they a mix of that and just what he’s called to do or… Kevin Falls: Sometimes they are and we always - in the writers’ room we always like to tie it to something that’s happening at present but that can be tiresome if you do it every episode, but there is themes to certain episodes. But I should also say that a lot of things he’s doing in the course of the season will - there’s a reason for it, which we will ramp up to in the latter third of the season if we’re so fortunate to get that far. So there’s a method to our madness. So it’s one of those things where you can watch each episode and enjoy it for what it is and yet collectively there’s something else going on. Rick Porter: Okay. Thank you. Kevin Falls: Thank you very much. Coordinator: Ian Spelling of Wi-Fi.com, you may ask your question. Ian Spelling: Hey there guys. Thanks for doing this. Kevin McKidd: Pleasure. Ian Spelling: Kevin Falls, to you, after West Wing and Shark and Sports Night, you started to touch on this, but how comfortable are you finding yourself in the world of time travel and science fiction? And then to our other Kevin, you’ve done a lot of European films and of course you also did Rome. How are you adapting to the speed at which an American show is produced? Kevin McKidd: I’ll give Kevin a break. It’s fast, you know. HBO - it’s much more kind of a low budget movie-making. I’ve done a lot of low-budget movies in Europe. And I think that’s been a great training ground because on Rome, it was very luxurious. We got 15 days to do each episode because it’s cable and that’s the way things are over there and they do less episodes per season, as you know. But certainly I think, you know, I’ve done a lot of guerilla filmmaking, micro-budget movies I’m still really, really proud of in Europe in minimal shooting days and I really think that that’s given me - it’s been a lot easier for me than I thought it would. Everybody kind of said, oh my God it’s eight days, it’s crazy. It’s hard. It’s long hours, but I’m not going to complain about those because I knew what I was going into. And I really think all the years of low-budget moviemaking and flying by the seat of your pants and trusting your instincts has really helped me to build and come to this and keep hopefully the quality level high on the tough schedule, you know. Kevin Falls: And he has, and we’re telling him - we have to - we get into subsequent episodes where we’re going to loosen up his schedule because God, he works so hard and you’ll see it on the screen and we do have to lighten up his schedule because he’s got to see his wife and kids one of these days. As far as me getting into this genre, it’s liberating in some ways to do something so different and the toughest thing I’ve done, too. I mean, I thought, you know, trying to dramatize, you know, farm subsidies and saving social security on West Wing was hard. Doing time travel is very difficult. The challenge, you know, it’s a Rubik’s Cube, and the challenge is to tell these stories which are a lot of fun but you know it’s whack-a-mole; you push something down over here and you screw something up over there and we really want to make these episodes clear for the audience so people aren’t just scratching their heads going I’m totally lost. And I think we’ve done it so far. Ian Spelling: Kevin McKidd, back to you real quick because I don’t know if I’m going to get another shot at this, now the rumors are starting that they want you to play Thor. A, how true? B, how interested would you be if it is true? Kevin McKidd: A, it’s semi-true, although I didn’t know about it either until I heard the rumors. I called my agent and he went, yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ve been talking to them about it. But I think the last I heard from my agent, they’re talking that they want to go for somebody much younger; a 20 - 19, 20 year old for that role, so they’re reconceptualizing it as we speak. Although, they’re still - they’re switching their sights and there’s a kind of - I think there is the other main male character in that movie that I’m in consideration for. But certainly by no means it’s not in the bag or anything. And to be honest, until I read a script, I don’t really know, so I haven’t really had a look at the script. This is all still just information that’s coming in. So you know it could be fun. But it just depends on what’s on the page, you know. I think it all starts and finishes with the quality of the script. Kevin Falls: Ian, now I know why he has a Bowflex now on stage that went in last week. Ian Spelling: Thanks guys. Break a leg with the show. Kevin Falls: Thank you very much. Coordinator: Matt Liebowitz of Flash News, you may ask your question. Matt Liebowitz: Hi guys, how are you? Kevin Falls: Hi Matt. Matt Liebowitz: Thanks for doing the call. There was briefly talk before about travel shows that - I’m sorry, time travel shows that have appeared throughout the years and I was wondering -- and I guess this question is for both of you -- if you watch of any of these shows for inspiration or for ideas or to see what not to do? I’m thinking like Quantum Leap and like that. Kevin Falls: No. And I swear to God I have not - I’ve never seen Quantum Leap. I certainly know that there’s some similarities, but I didn’t - I only hope we can be as successful as they were. But I haven’t watched it. You know what, I don’t - what else - what was that Early Edition I never saw but I didn’t, believe it or not. Maybe that will show. Kevin McKidd: It’s funny because, you know, Quantum Leap - I actually watched Quantum Leap a lot when I was younger. It was huge in the UK. And it’s strange that everybody does draw the parallel because if you really watch an episode of Quantum Leap, which I did many, really - Quantum Leap really isn’t a time travel show in the sense that each episode the lead character transforms completely in the eyes of whoever is around them and he looks like - I remember one where he played an African American boxer, but he’s always Scott Bakula. So - and that was really the thrust of the show as opposed to any kind of form of traveling back and forward in time. So I think - the more I think about it I know that it’s an easy pitch to kind of latch onto Quantum Leap. Actually if you really look at the format, Quantum Leap really wasn’t a time travel show. It was a transformation show about a lead character who became a different character - person, which isn’t this show at all. Matt Liebowitz: Okay, and, you know, as a reporter, I think it’s my duty to ask if in preparation for the show you actually hung out with any newspaper reporters or saw what that life was like or just… Kevin Falls: He’s doing it right now. Kevin McKidd: I know. Well Kevin Falls was. You... Kevin Falls: Yeah, I was. Kevin McKidd: So just kind of being with him, I realized what assholes these people can be. That was a joke, by the way. No, no, I mean, to be honest, my schedule was so crazy that I had to jump in with both feet and I’m learning as I go. And a lot of these guys on the writing staff actually, there’s quite a few people who are from the journalist world, so I’m kind of around it every day anyway. And I latch on to the vernacular. I have to ask them, ask everybody a lot about some of the vernacular that is in the journalist world. And it’s a fast-paced high pressure world to be in and I don’t envy you guys. Matt Liebowitz: All right. Well, thank you guys. Good luck. I appreciate it. Kevin Falls: Thank you very much Matt. Coordinator: Tenley Woodman of Boston Herald, you may ask your question. Tenley Woodman: Hello. This question is for Kevin McKidd and I’m just wondering from an acting standpoint what it’s like to play an American and transform from the classical character in Rome and some of your other work in European film. Kevin McKidd: You know it’s just - it’s really exciting for me because it’s something that’s been on my wish list for many years. The only other time I’ve played an American was in a film called De-Lovely which is a Kevin Kline movie. Tenley Woodman: Right. Kevin McKidd: But that was a very minor supporting role. And it’s one of my dreams, really, to play an American role, you know, because I was brought up on American cinema and that’s what turned the light bulb on in my head about becoming an actor. So it’s really exciting for me. And, you know, it’s just another set of skills. It’s another skill set that I’m getting better at, I hope. And, you know, I work with a dialect coach intensively and I just - I’m lucky in the sense that I’ve always been an actor. I hate using my own voice. I feel naked if I’m acting and I have to use my own voice. I like to kind of hide in the shadows of a character. So it really helps me. It gives me a shortcut to finding that character. And I think that’s the key thing is not just being an actor but it is a character. And hopefully Dan Vasser is, you know, a believable guy and I’m loving the challenge of it all. Tenley Woodman: And also, I’m a big fan of a lot of British television and drama, so what’s the appeal of coming to America -- no offense to the other Kevin -- but coming to America and doing some of our television work versus staying at home and maybe doing British television work. Kevin McKidd: You know, the British TV market is actually becoming more limited. Reality TV has really taken a hold there. I know it’s big here, too, but it’s really - because it’s a much smaller pool in the UK. It’s taken a huge chunk out of the business there and it does seem that, you know, I’ve done my fair share of period dramas and worn the cups and all that stuff, and it can quite easily in the UK you start to feel as though you’re repeating yourself if you stay there. Tenley Woodman: Right, right. Kevin McKidd: I was starting to feel - especially after Rome it’s such an unusual project and just suddenly start going back and just doing what I was doing before really felt like a step back for me because I felt that Rome really pushed the boundaries a bit. And again, that’s why I’m loving this show because I think this show is actually pushing the boundaries a little bit on what a network TV show can be, you know. So I’m really enjoying it. It’s just - and actually, the crews work just as hard and the job is just the same. That’s what’s interesting. I think always thought I’d come to Hollywood and it would all be - things would be different. But actually it’s not; it’s the same as in the UK. Tenley Woodman: Well thank you very much. Kevin Falls: Thank you Tenley. Coordinator: Vanessa Coates of www.seats42.com, you may ask your question. Vanessa Coates: Hi guys. Kevin McKidd: Hi. Kevin Falls: Hi. Vanessa Coates: My question is most of us have, you know, more than one love in our lives, different parts of our lives, so can you talk about the complications of Dan having to go back and forth between his two different loves in different years? And then are there any repercussions because of that? Kevin Falls: Well, I think that’s the heart of the show and what does separate it from other shows that have done this is that he does love both women. I mean he really loves his wife and his son and his family and does not want to change it as much as he loves Livia because Livia was taken from him. It wasn’t like a divorce or he got dumped or he dumped her. Their relationship ended at the apex of it. They were ready to get married so how could you not still have some feelings if you run into this person again. So that is the very complication of the series is that, you know, a lot of - we talked to executives who work on the show and people who have seen the pilot and there’s Club Katies and there’s also Club Livias and we find people kind of like identifying with - and it changes week to week because the actresses are so strong. And Moon is wonderful and they have a great chemistry in that pilot, but when you watch Gretchen in Episode 1 and what she does, you’ll see, oh man, there is - she’s great in the pilot, too, but you see this is really more her episode. So - and it had to be - that was the hardest thing to do was to cast these two people because if that teeter-totter tips any way where you’re all just going to go well this is a no-brainer, you should be with this person. The show falls apart and I’m happy to say through five episodes it’s a toss up. Vanessa Coates: Great. Thank you so much. Kevin Falls: Thank you. Coordinator: At this time we show no further questions. Kevin Falls: Okay. Carol Janson: Well that’s just about perfect because they have to go back to their respective jobs. Kevin Falls: Thanks so much for taking the time. Kevin McKidd: Thank you. Coordinator: Okay. Thank you. Carol Janson: Okay. Thanks very much everybody and I’m really looking forward to this show. Kevin Falls: Well, we’re looking forward to you guys watching it. Thank you. Kevin McKidd: Thank you. Carol Janson: Okay. Bye. Joanne Park: Thanks everybody. Kevin McKidd: Good-bye. Joanne Park: Bye-bye.
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