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James Denton at the ABC All-Star party held at the Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, Calif. on January 14, 2007. |
The ABC anthology Masters of Science Fiction is comprised of four thought-provoking tales of present and future Earth, brought to life by a stellar lineup of actors and directors, and narrated by acclaimed physicist Professor Stephen Hawking. Based on some of the genre’s most popular and highly regarded short stories, Masters of Science Fiction stars some of the industry most well-respected actors (including Sam Waterston, Judy Davis, Malcolm McDowell, John Hurt and Brian Dennehy, among others).
On August 25th, the series will conclude with “The Discarded” (directed by Jonathan Frakes), which has Desperate Housewives star James Denton in the ultimate story of despised minorities sentenced to drift in the darkness of outer space forever. The Nashville native talks to MediaBlvd Magazine about his first experience making a science fiction film.
MediaBlvd Magazine> What is your involvement in Masters of Science Fiction?
James Denton> It was a strange occurrence, really, because they shot in Vancouver, and I found out that they seemed to only have budgeted bringing in a couple of actors from outside of Canada. And, they had set Brian Dennehy and John Hurt, which I think anybody would admit is a pretty good start to a project. My manager happens to handle John Hurt, and has for most of his career, so he knew about the project, read the script, and saw this role of Curran and thought I’d be perfect for it. So, he pitched me and they said, “Well, we’ve already got the two guys that are going to be non-local hires.” But, I think because John Hurt was also not American, and he was coming over from Europe, he got in the back door and got them to hire another American, besides Brian Dennehy. That’s how I ended up getting involved. Basically, when I saw that those two guys were attached, I just told my manager to tell them I’d do it for scale. I didn’t care. I just wanted the chance to work with those two guys. And, I’d never done any kind of science fiction, really. I did one episode of a series called Sliders, with Jerry O’Connell, that ran here for a few years. That was a lot of fun. But, it was primarily the attraction of working with Hurt and Dennehy.
MediaBlvd> Can you talk about going from Desperate Housewives to Masters of Science Fiction? What was that experience like?
James> Working with Harlan Ellison was pretty crazy. I don’t know if he’s famous or infamous, but obviously he’s very talented and a very prolific writer. Has quite a reputation for being a character. And, he was actually in the piece. I’m not sure, technically, what his role was, but he was in the make-up trailer the day that I showed up, being made up to be one of the discards -- one of the people up on the satellite. I think that was fun for him. I’m not really familiar with the genre, and I don’t know the writers well, like many fans do, but I knew who Harlan Ellison was. That also was a real bonus for me to get to work, not only on something he wrote, but also be in the trailer with him and listen to him tell stories. As far as the difference between this and Desperate Housewives, I always thought that science fiction was something unbelievable, outrageous or unrealistic. And then, I realized that that’s Wisteria Lane. So, I was already on a science fiction show. But, it was a lot of fun working with Harlan.
MediaBlvd> What is the story of “The Discarded,” and who is your character in the film?
James> “Discarded” is a really interesting piece, in that it’s very dark and very sad. It’s about a group of people who have been discarded and put on a satellite and shot up into outer space because they were “defective.” They had different types of diseases. It was like the satellite of misfit toys. And so, from that respect, as you get to know those people -- and John Hurt and Brian Dennehy among them, along with some really fantastic local actors from Canada -- it’s heart-breaking. They suffer from different kinds of illnesses and deformities, and you immediately empathize with that group. My character is sent from Earth to make a deal with them, and I’m not very well received because the healthy, normal Earthlings had sent them into outer space to get rid of them. And, it turns out that we need something from them. I’m the envoy that’s sent from Earth Central to dock and go into the satellite and approach them with this request. On the surface, I’m the normal, healthy human from Earth who comes up, as an emissary to this group.
MediaBlvd> What were you surprised to learn from William Hurt and Brian Dennehy about their process, as actors?
James> The great thing about Brian Dennehy is that I’m a theater guy, and he has a huge theater resume. He was actually doing The Iceman Cometh at the Goodman in Chicago when I was there, slumming around. It was fun just being around him and listening to him talk about other actors, different experiences, and doing work on the Arthur Miller plays he did in New York. He’s just one of those guys that’s bigger than life, not only as an actor, but as a person. I made a point to hang around with him a lot on the set, and just listened and tried to learn from a guy like that. For John Hurt, the most fascinating thing was that he had never done television. This was his first American television performance. And, he may not do it ever again because I don’t think he was real crazy about it. He’s a wonderful guy, really sweet. I had never met him, but you can tell he’s very serious about acting, if you’ve seen any of his work. And, in television, you don’t get any rehearsals, and you move very quickly. Instead of shooting three or four pages a day, like you would on a feature, we were shooting seven to ten pages a day. So, he was a little bit overwhelmed, or surprised, by the amount of work that we did in a day’s time, in television. I don’t think he was real crazy about it. It was kind of fun, seeing him be a little bit insecure or self-conscience about trying to work so quickly, when he’s such a brilliant actor. Coming from a primarily television background, it was interesting to watch him try to adapt to the television pace. But, of course, he was absolutely brilliant. I would just be standing there in a scene with those two guys because they’re sort of on the same side, representing the discards, and I’m pleading with them. Most of the scenes were triangular, in that it was me going against Hurt and Dennehy. There were times, during the day, where I would just laugh to myself, or have to pinch myself, when I realized, “I’m in a scene with Brian Dennehy and John Hurt.” Those two guys were just really fascinating to be around on a television set.
MediaBlvd> ABC let this show sit on the shelves for quite a while, and now they’re bringing it back, even though the network hasn’t done a lot of promotion for it. What are your thoughts on that, especially coming from a show that ABC hypes all over the place?James> It’s been a little bit frustrating for us. Jonathan Frakes directed this, whom I’m sure many know from Star Trek, and different things. He’s a really great guy and a really good director. Many times, actors don’t make the best directors, or they suffer from the same sort of traps you can fall into as an actor, but Jonathan is a brilliant director. He and I stayed in touch through the process, trying to figure out when they might air it, and what was going on with it. I did get the feeling that “The Discarded” was one of the installments they were happy with. Apparently it is, since they’re airing it. It was nice that we were included. I’ve worked for Steve MacPherson for a long time. I’ve been on ABC for eight or nine years, on different programs and pilots, and Steve was at Touchstone when I first started. I trust him. I didn’t want to talk to him about it because I didn’t want to put him on the spot, but I did read a couple of interviews, where he commented that the work was just really uneven, and that the six installments didn’t fit together in the way they had hoped, so it didn’t make as much sense to air as a group. I’m guessing, from the inference, that there were a couple that they really weren’t pleased with the outcome of. I have no idea why, and it’s certainly no comment on the people that were involved in those two. But, the four that are airing fit together a little better. They were a little better cross-section, and a variety of science fiction. I assume that there were things in the other two that they couldn’t fix and, through the process, realized that they only had four of these to air. And, of course, Saturdays in August is not exactly where you’re going to put your most prized programming, so I didn’t see any of the other installments. I have seen ours, and I’m really proud of it. It’s not perfect, but it’s very entertaining, and it’s a really touching story. It’s a weird little role. There are a lot of traps in it. In the beginning, Curran seems like the bad guy. He comes in and misleads these guys. My character, on the surface, is a real bad guy, who comes in and presents himself in a certain way, and then double-crosses these people. And, Jonathan Frakes and I decided, with Harlan’s consent, that it would be much more interesting if Curran was an unwilling participant, and really didn’t come in there dishonestly, but was also sort of a victim of circumstances, by the end of it. It was fun to play him a little more sensitive, and not fall into the trap of him being the stereotypical bad guy in the story. It was a lot of fun, and obviously a real departure from a Wisteria Lane plumber.
MediaBlvd> Now, that you’ve done science fiction, are you looking to do some more?
James> I’d do it again in a heartbeat, especially if I had a chance to work with Jonathan Frakes, or somebody like Harlan. Everybody has a different perception of science fiction. But, this had so much humanity in it, and the story is so heartbreaking. It’s futuristic, and does have to do with some space travel, but science fiction is so much more than that, I’ve learned. I would absolutely work on something like this again, whether it was a Masters of Science Fiction type of mini-series, or a chance to work with Jonathan again. He has directed the Star Trek series, and films. I’d love the chance to work with him again. It was a lot of fun. And, it’s nice to do something that’s a little surreal, and that’s quite a departure from what my day job is.
MediaBlvd> What type of other roles are you being offered, and has it been challenging to break outside of the mold you’ve set for yourself in television?
James> I did just say that I haven’t done science fiction, and that’s probably because I don’t really know the best way to define it. I did a movie last hiatus, called Wanted Undead or Alive. It was a zombie comedy, which is a whole different genre. There are not a lot of zombie westerns out there. It was Chris Kattan and myself, and we end up fighting zombies in the old west, which is hysterical and very surreal. They couldn’t get a distributor, and I don’t know if anybody’s ever going to see it, but the reason I took that was because it was a big, broad comedy, which was a lot of fun. And then, this past summer, after Masters, I went to Canada and did a couple of films. One is called Tortured, and it’s a psychological thriller. It’s an FBI story with Laurence Fishburne in the lead, and James Cromwell, Kevin Pollock and Jon Cryer. It’s a very violent, dark, FBI movie. And then, a couple of months later, I went to Ottawa and did a Lifetime Television movie with Rob Morrow and Kay Panabaker, called Custody of the Heart, about two guys fighting over custody -- one’s the biological father, and one’s the father who raised the daughter.
MediaBlvd> Which one are you?
James> Well, again, I’m sort of the bad guy. I’m the guy who’s the biological father, who shows up when she’s 13, wanting her back after Rob Morrow has raised her, after her mom died. Rob is not the real dad, but has raised her, and she thinks he’s her real dad. And, I am a rich real estate developer who shows up and just decides I want her back now. It’s a nice, touching, but funny, better than average Lifetime Television movie. The first summer, after I started Desperate Housewives, I got offered Mike Delfino as a cop, Mike Delfino as a fire fighter, Mike Delfino as a lawyer. It was all pretty much just the same guy, in different walks of life. But, between Undead or Alive and Masters, and then those two I got to do this summer, it’s been a pretty good variety. It’s fun when you spend 10 months out of the year tossing softballs to Teri Hatcher. I’m not knocking it. It’s putting my kids through college. But, it’s fun to go do something a little different, and stretch your legs a little bit on a different project.
MediaBlvd> Can you tell me about Mike Delfino and what he might be up to in season four of Desperate Housewives?James> That’s a great question. I purposely didn’t ask Marc Cherry this year because I hate lying to reporters and I hate trying to mince words. I don’t really know exactly where they’re going. We’re three episodes in and, so far, it’s just been really fun, romantic comedy. But, I know there’s some darkness that’s creeping in from Mike’s past, toward the middle of the season, that’s going to cause a lot of problems for Mike and Susan, because it’s Wisteria Lane. Obviously, they can’t be happy. But, so far, we’ve had a lot of fun with Mike being a fish out of water. Is he going to be a dad to Julie -- this 17-year-old girl that he doesn’t really know -- or just try to be a buddy? How’s he going to fit into that house with two women? The first three episodes are pretty light-hearted, but I understand that it’s going to take a turn and things are going to get tougher for them, which, of course, has to be interesting. But, that’s about all I really know. The first three years, Mike was the only single guy, and he was a mysterious, even shady, character that you didn’t know much about, which made him kind of interesting. Now, he is the father of a teenage girl, in just another family on Wisteria Lane. It’s not the sexiest character move, but it’s going to be a lot of fun. And, I love Teri. I didn’t get to work with her that much last year, between the coma and prison, and all the other stuff, so that’s one big benefit to the changes that I get to work with. And, Andrea Bowen is just a brilliant little actress. It’s been a lot of fun.
MediaBlvd> Is there going to be any writing or directing in your future?
James> I’ve never had any aspirations to write. I’ve written some music. When I was in Chicago, I wrote music for a few plays, and that was a lot of fun. I grew up in Nashville, so it’s part of the deal that you at least dabble in music. But, I’ve never attempted to write for film or television. I do want to direct. I’ve directed some theater when I was in Chicago. We’re trying to put together a film, called Damaged Goods, that I guess you would call a romantic comedy, that a friend of mine wrote, and I want to direct this hiatus. Our problem is the upcoming strike. It’s hard to get too enthusiastic about a project when either a strike or a lockout seems eminent. So, that’s frustrating. My directorial debut of anything on camera would be this film, which we were hoping to do in May, in New Mexico. But, hiatus might not even happen for us. We might shoot straight through May, whereas we normally wrap May 1st. So, that’s going to make it tougher. Whatever happens, we may just have to wait until this little Housewives run is over.
