By Christina Radish
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Jason Behr at the premiere party for The Wedding Bells held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif. on March 9, 2007. |
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Jason Behr knew that acting was his calling at a very early age. With 75 commercials and numerous guest spots on TV shows to his credit, the 33-year-old landed a starring role on the sci-fi drama Roswell, which earned him legions of devoted fans. That show ended in 2002 and, since then, Behr has been very careful in his selection of roles. But, the dedicated actor now has four films waiting for release (Skinwalkers, D-War, Senseless and The Tattooist), and recently told MediaBlvd Magazine how excited he is to be involved with such diverse projects.
MediaBlvd Magazine> What is Skinwalkers and who you play in it?
Jason Behr> I play the bad guy, for once. It’s about two warring Native American tribes who have this gift of skinwalking. It’s an actual Native American myth. You put on the pelt of an animal and you become that animal. It’s a different spin on the werewolf mythology, where a shaman, way back in the day, started to use this gift for bad and became obsessed and possessed by it, and from that, spawned these two different views of life. One embraces the blood lust and embraces the animal within, and the other thinks that it’s murder and they deny themselves that.
MediaBlvd> Was playing a bad guy what appealed to you about doing Skinwalkers?
Jason> I’ve never done that before and I thought, “If you’re going to do a movie about werewolves, you might as well do it with somebody like Stan Winston,” who is a master at that. To know that the reason why he got into the whole business was because he loved werewolves and he was always playing a werewolf on Halloween, and he had never done a werewolf movie, it just seemed like the right fit.
MediaBlvd> Have you done any other films recently?
Jason> I did a movie called Senseless, based on a Stona Fitch novel. It’s about this American businessman who’s abducted in Europe and held hostage for 41 days. The people who take him captive have a political agenda, but they also want to make money, so they stream his captivity online for anybody with a credit card and a computer to watch. It’s called Senseless, not just because what they’re doing is senseless, but because they systematically take away his senses. It was really tough work. It was pretty bare bones. A Scottish director, named Simon Hynd, took it on, and we did 6-day weeks. On the seventh day, we would all get together and rehearse because everybody wanted to make it as good as they possibly could. It was a really intense project. It was all taking place in one room, so we got to shoot in order. That’s a real gift for an actor because you get to start off from page one and go to page 112, and it’s all in order.
MediaBlvd> Are you ever going to come back to television? Are you looking at pilots at all?
Jason> Oh, sure, absolutely. It just depends on the story. Right now, I’m just supporting my wife (KaDee Strickland) and her series, The Wedding Bells.
MediaBlvd> How did you guys meet?
Jason> We met in Japan when we were both working on The Grudge.
MediaBlvd> Do you and your wife have a song, or something that you like to dance to?
Jason> I’ll dance with my wife to anything, anywhere. I don’t care if we’re in the kitchen. John Lennon plays big in our home. Anything by John Lennon. “You Are Here” is one of our favorites, and “Grow Old With Me.”
MediaBlvd> Is there anything you like to watch on television?
Jason> Well, I definitely watch my wife’s show. I don’t get a chance to watch too much television. I’ve been working so much the past year, I haven’t been home too much. I was literally home in the States for about three months of the past year.
MediaBlvd> So, the movies you did were made overseas?
Jason> Yeah, I did one in New Zealand and one in Scotland, and then in Toronto.
MediaBlvd> Who are you dying to work with that you haven’t been able to yet?
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Jason Behr with his wife KaDee Strickland at the premiere party for The Wedding Bells held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif. on March 9, 2007. |
Jason> My wife. Someday, we’d love to do that.
MediaBlvd> What keeps your marriage so solid?
Jason> What keeps it solid is just being honest.
MediaBlvd> Are you a romantic guy?
Jason> I am with my wife.
MediaBlvd> What was it about her that helped you to know she was the one?
Jason> Her humanity. She’s got the biggest heart.
MediaBlvd> Does the fact that you both work in the business make it tough to maintain your relationship?
Jason> I think it’s great ‘cause you both understand what your day-to-day involves. Being an actor, you’re asked to do some pretty strange things, and it just helps when your partner in crime knows what that’s like.
MediaBlvd> Would you like to direct someday, or write any of your own stuff?
Jason> Absolutely. Someday, I will do that. It just depends on picking the right thing, or writing the right thing.
