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Kevin McKidd at the NBC All-Star party held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. on July 17, 2007. | By Christina Radish
From Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Kevin Falls (The West Wing) and Emmy Award-winning director/producer Alex Graves (The West Wing), Journeyman is a romantic mystery/drama about Dan Vasser (Kevin McKidd), a San Francisco newspaper reporter and family man, who inexplicably begins to travel through time and change people’s lives. Along the way, he also must deal with the difficulties, at work and home, brought on by his sudden disappearances.
Moving back and forth throughout his own lifetime, his freewheeling travels through the decades reunite him with his long-lost fiancée Livia (Moon Bloodgood), which complicates his present-day life with his wife, Katie (Gretchen Egolf), and their son.
Falls and star Kevin McKidd (Rome) talk to MediaBlvd Magazine about their NBC series.
MediaBlvd Magazine> What was the genesis of this show? And, how did Kevin McKidd get involved?
Kevin Falls> Every year, in June, I go and have lunch with my agent and he always says, “What are you going to develop this year? What have you got?” And, I said, “I’ve got nothing.” He said, “Why don’t you do something different, like a different genre?,” and I said, “Like what?” Then, he said, “Well, ABC has been looking to do a time travel show.” So, I thought that if I could do it in a very grounded way, I would love to do it. 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. With Kevin McKidd, I had watched the first couple of episodes of Rome, but then I didn’t watch it much after that. So, when we had to get an actor for the role, we put together the usual list of suspects, and some very fine actors came across the board. And then, Robert Ulrich, our casting director, popped in this tape of Rome where Kevin’s character watched his fiancé fall off the balcony, after he thought she was the mother of his child. We were so blown away, all we wanted was Kevin. We called NBC and NBC said, “We love Kevin McKidd. He’s fantastic, but I don’t know if we see him in this.” They really didn’t like him for this role. Everyone in town wanted him for their pilot, but NBC just didn’t necessarily see him in this. And so, we went back and we looked at other actors, but then decided to call NBC Entertainment President Kevin Riley personally and ask him one more time. We said, “We think he’s great,” and at the same time, Kevin was looking at Kevin McKidd’s picture on IMDb, all gladiatored up and he said, “You know what? I think this guy is the real deal.” He called us back and said, “Let’s do it.” It was one of those things that happens in your career where we knew he was good, we just didn’t know that he was great. And, with the first day of dailies, we said, “My God we’ve got ourselves a movie star.” 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.
MediaBlvd> After The West Wing, Shark and Sports Night, how comfortable was it to find yourself in the world of time travel and science fiction?
Falls> In some ways, it’s liberating to do something so different. It’s the toughest thing I’ve done. Trying to dramatize farm subsidies and saving social security on The West Wing was hard, but doing time travel is very difficult. It’s a Rubik’s Cube. The challenge is to tell these stories, which are a lot of fun, but 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 that, so far.
MediaBlvd> Did you watch any of the previous time travel shows, like Quantum Leap, for inspiration or for ideas, or to see what not to do?
Falls> I’ve never seen Quantum Leap. I certainly know that there’s some similarities, and I only hope we can be as successful as they were, but I haven’t watched it. I’ve also never seen Early Edition.
Kevin McKidd> I actually watched Quantum Leap a lot, when I was younger. It was huge in the UK. It’s strange that everybody draws that parallel because, if you really watch an episode of Quantum Leap, it 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 that person. I remember one where Scott Bakula played an African American boxer, but he’s always Scott Bakula. That was really the thrust of that show, as opposed to any form of traveling back and forward in time. If you 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, which isn’t this show at all.
MediaBlvd> From an acting standpoint, what’s it like to play an American and transform from the classical character in Rome, and some of your other work in European film?
McKidd> 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. But, that was a very minor supporting role. It was one of my dreams to play an American role because I was brought up on American cinema. That’s what turned the light bulb on in my head, about becoming an actor. So, it’s really exciting for me. And, it’s just another skill set that I hope I’m getting better at. I work with a dialect coach, intensively, and 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 hide in the shadows of a character, so it really helps me. It gives me a short-cut to finding that character. And, I think the key thing is not just being an actor, but being a character. Hopefully, Dan Vasser is a believable guy. I’m loving the challenge of it all.
MediaBlvd> What’s the appeal of coming to America and doing some of our television work versus staying at home and doing British television work?
McKidd> 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 there because it’s a much smaller pool in the UK. It’s taken a huge chunk out of the business there. I’ve done my fair share of period dramas and worn the cups and all that stuff. In the UK, it’s quite easy to start to feel as though you’re repeating yourself, if you stay there. I was starting to feel that way, especially after Rome. It was such an unusual project, so just going back and doing what I was doing before really felt like a step back for me. I felt that Rome really pushed the boundaries a bit, and that’s why I’m loving this show. I think Journeyman is actually pushing the boundaries a little bit on what a network TV show can be, so I’m really enjoying it. The crews in America and the UK work just as hard, and the job is just the same. That’s what’s interesting. I always thought I’d come to Hollywood and things would be different, but actually they’re not. It’s the same as in the UK.
MediaBlvd> Having done a lot of European films, as well as Rome, how are you adapting to the speed at which an American show is produced?
McKidd> It’s fast. HBO is much more like low budget movie-making. I’ve done a lot of low-budget movies in Europe, and I think that was a great training ground because, on Rome, it was very luxurious. We had 15 days to do each episode because it’s cable and that’s the way things are over there, as they do less episodes per season. But, certainly, I’ve done a lot of guerilla filmmaking on micro-budget movies. In Europe there are minimal shooting days and I really think that it’s been a lot easier for me to make the transition to American television than I thought it would. Everybody kind of said, “Oh, my God, it’s eight days an episode. It’s crazy.” It’s hard, and there are long hours, but I’m not going to complain about that because I knew what I was going into. All the years of low-budget movie-making, and flying by the seat of my pants, and trusting my instincts, has really helped me to build and come to this and, hopefully, keep the quality level high, on such a tough schedule.
Falls> We will get into subsequent episodes, where we’re going to loosen up his schedule because he works so hard. We do have to lighten up his schedule because he’s got to see his wife and kids, one of these days.
MediaBlvd> In regard to the power/affliction that Dan has, is the audience intentionally kept in the dark because he also doesn’t understand how it works?
Falls> The audience is going to be like Dan. 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. 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. We want him to be grasping for answers. And then, as we get into the second part of the season, we’ll address more of the bigger mythology of the show. In the first 10, we’ll tell you why Livia (Moon Bloodgood) is a time traveler, and what her story is. But, as far as what the power is, that’s something we’re not going to reveal, in the first part of the season. That’s not to say our characters aren’t going to be wondering what the hell is going on.
MediaBlvd> How do you think the audience will react to not knowing how this works or why this is happening?
Falls> I didn’t want to chase the mythology, as opposed to dealing with it. This is an intimate story about what’s going on and how this is impacting Dan’s life. Because we have these stand-alone stories in each show, I’m hoping that that, in itself, is compelling and 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 there to be a clue at the end of each episode 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 explain what the power is and what’s causing it. First, I’d rather just deal with it in a very real way.
MediaBlvd> There are some intense personal relationships on this show. Can you talk about the importance of Dan, and everybody in his life?
Falls> It’s not a triangle. It’s a rectangle and, certainly, Dan has to balance not only his beautiful wife, in the present, but he also has this fiancé who died at the apex of their relationship. So, he’s straddling these two women that he loves in a very epic manner. If that isn’t an ingredient for soap, I don’t know what is. That, coupled with the fact that the Jack character, played by Reed Diamond, was also at one point dating Katie, Dan’s wife.
MediaBlvd> Does that give you more to play than just the sci-fi aspect?
McKidd> Yeah. That’s why I think the audience is going to connect with the show. 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. That’s what attracted me to the project and, hopefully, that’s what will attract a great audience.
MediaBlvd> Do you think that will help bring in more of a female audience than you usually see with science fiction?
Falls> I think so. And, NBC is doing a beautiful job with the marketing. There are some magazine spreads that really hit the triangle hard between Moon, Gretchen and Kevin. So, we’re not going to shy away from it. I think that’s what sets it apart from a lot of the time travel shows that have been done in the past.
MediaBlvd> Are the missions that Dan goes on thematic, in terms of things that are going on in his own life, or are they a mix of what he’s just called to do?
Falls> 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 in every episode. There are themes to certain episodes. But, there is a reason for a lot of the things he’s doing, in the course of the season. There will be a reason for it, which we will ramp up, in the latter third of the season, if we’re so fortunate to get that far. There’s a method to our madness. 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.
MediaBlvd> How difficult is the physical stuff you have to do on Journeyman compared to what you had to do on Rome?
McKidd> It was funny because we did a scene on Journeyman where I had to have a bloody nose, and they put a tiny speck on my nose. The make-up artist said, “I’m so sorry we have to put this tiny speck on,” and I said, “Listen, I’ve been drenched in blood for the last two years on Rome, so a little speck of blood is no big deal.” On Rome, there were so many hard days. Physically, the hardest sequence we shot was probably in episode 10 of season one, with the big gladiator fight where I save Pullo (Ray Stevenson) from his death. That was physically very hard, but fun. And, I got to play out these boyhood fantasies of being a gladiator. What I love about it is that it really is night and day from that to this show. But, this is pretty physically demanding.
Falls> It’s getting to be very physically demanding. Kevin, of course, has a strength there, but it’s also very romantic. When Kevin and I had our first meeting, he told me something which surprised me because I loved what he had done in Rome. 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, fun and intense, all at the same time. Kevin delivers, in every way.
MediaBlvd> It’s uncanny how believable Kevin and Reed Diamond are as brothers, both visually and physically. Was that surprising?
McKidd> I met Reed on the first day of prep and we instantly hit it off. He’s such a great guy. He looks more like my brother than my brother does. On the first day, Reed told me that he used to watch Rome with his wife because they were fans of the show. He said that he 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, he had come in for the show. I’ve never done a pilot season before, so all this is very new to me. Because of Rome, 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 Falls and (director) Alex Graves at the Chateau Marmont for a cup of coffee, and I just thought they were such fantastic. They are, obviously, hugely talented, but also just great people. 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 get on with and enjoy each other’s company because it becomes a family, and I knew that, straight away. It’s been a fantastic experience, ever since that moment.
MediaBlvd> Playing a reporter, in preparation for the show, did you actually hang out with any newspaper reporters, or see what that life was like?
McKidd> To be honest, my schedule was so crazy that I had to jump in with both feet, and I’m learning as I go. There’s quite a few people on the writing staff who are from the journalistic world, so I’m around it every day, anyway, and I latch onto the vernacular. I have to ask them about some of the vernacular that is in the journalistic world. It’s a fast-paced high pressure world to be in and I don’t envy it.
MediaBlvd> Do you really consider Dan 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?
Falls> I think he’s a hero with an affliction. That’s what I’ve always thought. I don’t look at it as a power, at all.
McKidd> I think people will like the drama. Dan is always wondering why this is happening, but he is drawn into somebody else’s life in each episode, and he has to solve or find out or piece together what it is and use his instincts to find out what he needs to do. Those stories are so potent. The missions that he’s put on are so immediate, and there’s such a ticking clock in each one. What will carry the audience along with Dan is that this is a phenomenon and neither Dan nor the audience knows what’s going on. They’re both in that same knowledge base. They’re both in it together. That’s the fun of the show.
Falls> We’d like people to tune in because the show is good, and be satisfied with what they see. We’re going to reward the viewers who watch it from day one because there is a lot of fun stuff in there, but I do believe that you can turn on the TV and watch episode four and have a satisfying hour of entertainment.
MediaBlvd> Do you have any thoughts on the notion of heroes with extraordinary abilities?
Falls> There’s been lots of speculation as to why all these characters have popped up now. 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. 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. In the first episode after the pilot, Dan is going to get an MRI, in the first scene. Despite the wonderful parlor trick of hiding the ring in the backyard, Dan and Katie are 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?” He’s a very real person, who still has to keep a job and a wife, and be a father to a child. 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.
McKidd> 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 I don’t consider Dan a hero. I don’t play him that way, even though he’s in the position 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. Dan is a forward guy. He’s had a gambling problem in his past, and he’s had some dark moments. 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. As the episodes go on, he starts to realize that there is more of a pattern to this, and he starts to almost preempt and guess when it may or may not happen. He sees a pattern, but the pattern shifts and changes. 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, and could happen, at any moment. He learns to deal with his affliction, as opposed to his power.
MediaBlvd> What does the time travel element of this story allow you to do that basing the show in normal reality wouldn’t?
Falls> Lots of times, we’ll visit people who have common problems and, relatively speaking, rather normal lives. And yet, in episode four, Dan is transported to a spot where a D.B. Cooper type character lands on his parachute. You think you’re going to be following the D.B. Cooper, 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 an interpreter out of Cambodia 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 hopefully start a withdrawal out of that country. It also allows us to speak in a different context, and go back into the newsroom where Dan actually needs a piece information that only his father has. 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, 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. Alex and I are from The West Wing, which was a very provocative show, and sci-fi is allowing us to tackle some subjects that we used to do on The West Wing.
MediaBlvd> If you could, would you like to be able to travel within your lifetime and go back and see how things could have been different or changed?
McKidd> I’m intrigued at the small things, but hopefully I haven’t taken too many wrong turns. The show is about people that are taking the wrong path, or who need to be nudged back on to the correct path of their lives. I’m a very lucky person, although we all make mistakes. I wouldn’t want to be burdened with this affliction that my poor character, Dan Vasser, has.
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 because that pretty much would be my life.
MediaBlvd> Most of us have more than one love in our lives, at different times of our lives. Can you talk about the complications of Dan having to go back and forth between his two different loves, in different years? And, what are the repercussions of that?
Falls> I think that’s the heart of the show. What separates it from other shows that have done this is that he does love both women. He really loves his wife and his son and his family, and does not want to change that, as much as he loves Livia. Livia was taken from him. It wasn’t like a divorce, or that 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 that person again? That is the very complication of the series. Moon is wonderful and they have a great chemistry in that pilot, but when you watch Gretchen, and what she does, you’ll see that she’s great, too. 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. But, I’m happy to say that it’s a toss up.
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