On August 6 Fox held a panel discussion on Human Target for the Television Critics Association.Broadcasting cable snaged some highlights of the conversation with Executive Producer McG, Writer and Executive Producer Jonathan Steinberg and actors Chi McBride (Winston) Jakie Earle Haley, (Guerrero) and Mark Valley (Christopher Chance)
On keeping up the high-quality look of the pilot:
McG: "There's a guy named Len Goldstein at the back of the room from Warner Bros we need to convince to keep it up.... If it atrophies, viewers will notice and tune out.... Pilots [are actually] not that expensive."
On television becoming a high-quality medium:
McG: "I think there is such a renaissance going on. Such a thought that film is elegant and television is s***. Look at [new Fox Broadcasting Chairman] Peter Rice. [He] comes from most elegant film world.. .[There's] a lot more drek coming out in theaters week to week. With what HBO is doing...there's really no room for inferior storytelling in television. There's so much good television out there. JJ [Abrams] is one of the best things going in film, and he's in television. It's a great time to be involved in television."
Steinberg on working on an action project:
"It's pretty freeing now to do an action [project].... The hope is to be able to pick up a lot of the tropes that for a long time were constrained to film ...There's no real reason not to be able to do that on TV."
On getting the rights to other DC Comics characters and adding then into the series:
Steinberg: Certainly not ruling it out. The mission starting out is to get him [main character Christopher Chance] to stand on his own two feet. [To first try] to meet him and spend some time in that world."
Haley on transitioning from film to television acting:
"I really wanted to work on something that my 10 year-old could watch. In reading the screenplay, I was just sorta floored by it. Seemed like an incredible job to go work with these guys. What excited me about it was getting to develop this character over time. I think it also will be good as an actor to kind of work in this environment against this schedule, so I hope to grow as an actor."
Valley on differences between this role and his previous one in Boston Legal:
"It's a little different. I have had some sidekicks and split my pants and never did that on Boston Legal. I'm anxious to play somebody who wears jeans every once in a while."
McBride on being accused of being the wet blanket again and Pushing Daisies:
"You're going to see a lot more action from Winston [his character on Human Target]. Winston doesn't give the appearance of that, but he's a pretty crazy guy.... A lot of darkness you're going to see come out of this character.
People said to me, 'Everybody loved Pushing Daisies.' I'm like, 'No, they didn't. That's why I'm here.'"
Perhaps a press favorite because of his work on Watchman and his upcoming roll as Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Jakie Earle Haley was probed by the critics on questions pertaining to more than just Human Target.
iesb.net posted the Q and A with Haley who will play Guerrero.
Q: Will Guerrero get in on a lot more of the action as the season progresses?Jackie: I sure hope so. Hopefully, they'll do it in such a way that's different from Mark. This is Mark's show and he's the action hero. But, I think you'll find some things from Winston and Guerrero that will be a surprise.
Q: Does Guerrero exist in the comic books?
Jackie: Guerrero is not in the comic books. He's a new character.
Q: Do you see Guerrero's look as something that could change, over the course of the series?
Jackie: I'm not sure. That's a good question. That's definitely something I'm thinking about.
More of Jackie's interview after the jump. Or check out iesb.net
Q:How was it to do A Nightmare on Elm Street?Jackie: We had a blast. The cast was wonderful. It was an arduous task, getting in and out of that make-up, though.
Q:Much longer than Watchmen?
Jackie: Oh, much longer. I was Rorschach, man. I put on a sock. Jeffrey was the guy that did 3 ½ hours in make-up. People would say, "So, how did you get into that character?," and he'd say, "After 3 ½ hours of make-up, you pretty much felt like killing somebody." And, I found that to be true. You come out as Freddy, after 3 ½ hours of make-up.
Q: Were you a fan of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street?
Jackie: I've never been a huge horror fan, per se, but I actually went and saw that one in the theater, and I liked it. The commercials were cool and the concept of it was great. As far as horror, I think Alien was probably my favorite, and then Sam Raimi's stuff blew me away.
Q: How does your Freddy Krueger compare to Robert Englund's Freddy?
Jackie: I don't know. Our approach was to make him a little more serious. He's a little less jokey.
Q: Does he look like the Freddy we've seen?
Jackie: He's got a new look going. We're still true with the fedora, the sweater and the glove, but the mug is a little bit more based in reality.
Q: Is there still a great first kill?
Jackie: Maybe. Let's go see the movie. We'll find out together.
Q: Why did you want to do that role?
Jackie: Oh, man. I did need to think about it, for a minute and a half. But, I just kept going, "Freddy Krueger?!" It's such an iconic character. How could I not do that character?
Q: Do you worry about the comparisons to what Robert Englund did with the character?
Jackie: They were going to do it, and they were going to get somebody else to do it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. As an actor, I'm one that's willing to take risks. Especially as a character actor, I've got to be willing to go out and totally mess up. If I try to play it safe, I'm not going to be a very good actor. I would imagine, somewhere along the way, and hopefully it's not this, but even with characterizations and stuff, playing it safe is not what makes us interesting. It's getting in there and really trying to do something with something, and hope for the best.
Q: It took four or five films to really complete Freddy's backstory. How much of an arc do we get in your first film, about where Freddy came from?
Jackie: I think we get a little bit more than in the original film.
Q: Does Robert Englund have a cameo in it?
Jackie: No.
Q: Is it designed as a new series? Are you signed on for more films?
Jackie: I've signed on to do a couple more, but it needs to be successful before they do that.
Q: You also have Shutter Island coming out, before A Nightmare on Elm Street, right?
Jackie: Yeah. I'm really excited about that.
Q: What was that experience like?
Jackie: That experience was just pinch yourself crazy. I was acting this far away from Leo DiCaprio, and Marty Scorsese was coming up and directing, between takes. It totally was a pinch me moment. I can't wait to see it.
Q: Who are you playing?
Jackie: I play this guy, George Noyce, who is an inmate at the facility. There's this one scene that's very pivotal for Leo's character, towards the last act. I can't wait to see the movie, myself, because it will be just like going to see a movie. I just so happen to be in one long scene, in the middle, and the rest of it will be just watching the movie.
Q: What's the status of Bolden!, the jazz biopic you did?
Jackie: I just talked to Dan Pritzker, the director. I think he's recently finished up the silent film, Louis, and I think he's getting ready to finish up Bolden! as well.
Q: Will that get released?
Jackie: I'm not sure. That was a neat experience 'cause it was such a period piece with the costumes. It was crazy.
Q: Why do you think your career has become so hot now? Did it take time for you to grow into the character actor that you are?
Jackie: Wow. I don't know how to answer that. I quit acting for 12 or 15 years, and Steve Zaillian brought me back to be in All the King's Men. I was just blown away. The sky opened up, and Steve reached his godly hand down, pulled me out and said, "Hey, do you want to do this again?" Since then, I've been crazy lucky. I don't know how to describe it. It's the exact opposite of what I'd been going through, the prior 10 years.
Q: Are you more appreciative now, the second time around?
Jackie: Yeah, definitely. I'm more mature, so I can appreciate it at a much deeper level. I'm still human, so I'm sure I might take for granted, a day or two, here or there, 'cause I'm caught up in the middle of it and I'm doing it all. But, it doesn't take but a minute to get humble. This has been five years now, and I still stop and think about it. And, I think that's just because it was so long. I really thought, for 15 years, that I just would never get to practice this craft again. Even before that. I had left the business for 15 years, but there was a good eight years of it going downhill, so that's 20-some years.
Q: Do you still live in Texas, or have you moved out to L.A.?
Jackie: No, I live in Texas.
Q: Why do you love it there?
Jackie: I live in San Antonio and the city is just a wonderful size. Everybody is super-friendly. It's not so big that it's huge and crowded, but it's not so small that it's podunk. I've been living there for over 10 years now, and now, with the economic state of things, Texas is a nice state to live in. Everybody is having a hard time in L.A.
Q: If someone wanted to visit Texas, where would you tell them that they had to go?
Jackie: Well, you've got to go to Austin. That's the place to go and check out and visit. I pop into there, but I love living in San Antonio. We're very close. It's about 70 minutes. But, when you go to San Antonio, you've gotta do the mainstays. You've gotta go down and see the Alamo and the River Walk, and that kind of stuff. The only time I see it now is when my friends come.
Q: What's a secret local haunt that you'd recommend?
Jackie: Liberty Bar is a great place to eat. There was this wonderful place, called Tacoland, that's no longer around, but that was a great place.
Q: Where do you go for BBQ?
Jackie: Rudy's is just fabulous. They're renowned around the country because their stuff is really good.
Q: Do you BBQ yourself?
Jackie: I'm a horrible cook. I know how to pour cereal.
Q: If you were in Texas, what would you be doing right now?
Jackie: Having my five-year anniversary dinner with my wife. Today is my anniversary.
Q: Did you miss the business during the time you were away from it, or were you okay with it?
Jackie: No, I've gotta tell you, it was a really hard time in my life when I had to make that decision to either start all over, as an actor, like I had just walked into town as this new guy, or I needed to move on. I literally had managers tell me that. I was trying to get a new team and, when I heard that, I was like, "You know what? I think I'll move on." And so, it started off a bit bitter, but Hollywood never conspired to oust me. Things just go and perceptions change. Over time and over years, it got emotionally okay. But, no matter how okay I got in my heart, I'd still go to movies and there was that little 10% of angst of, "I'd love to be up there, practicing that craft with those guys." Not from the standpoint of, "Look at me, everybody," but from the standpoint of experiencing the craft.
Q: Was action hero something that you'd longed to be?
Jackie: No, it wasn't something I'd longed to do, but combined with great characters, man, it rocks. It's a wonderful part of acting, to get in there and get to do all these physical stuff, too. It's a blast. It's like being a kid.
Q: How difficult was it to act with something actually over your face, like you had to do in Watchmen?
Jackie: I realized that I needed to do what I normally do, and that's just act inside of myself and hope that the outside takes care of itself, and that's what I did. Every now and then, I'd need to animate the suit a little bit, just 'cause I'd look at the monitor and go, "Wow, that didn't come through." But, surprisingly, that was 1% or 2% of the time. If it was happening inside, somehow it came through. And, I don't know what they did, but the combination of the physicality of what was going on and the way they did the blots, it somehow really had a personality.
Good stuff =)