By Christina Radish

Rufus Sewell at the CBS, CW and Showtime Stars Party held at Boulevard 3 in Hollywood, Calif. on July 18, 2008.

British born actor Rufus Sewell spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about playing what could be his first long-term character.

MediaBlvd Magazine> What did you like about this character, and what do you see in yourself that might be similar?

Rufus Sewell> Oh, I don’t know. As far as I’m concerned, I read any character and I see myself in it, no matter what the character is, so it’s not really a case of that. I thought he was very, very smart, obviously, but he also had a wonderful, slightly odd sense of humor about him. He’s got quite a troubled past, and he has new energy in his life because of that, and I just very much liked his humor. I liked the way his mind works, and the fact that there’s just enormous potential to him.

MediaBlvd> Did you have to audition?

Rufus> No, they called me up. Who knows how many people they called up before me. I don’t care about that.

MediaBlvd> Jacob Hood seems to have a very strong type of morality. What’s your perspective on that?

Rufus> In some ways, she’s a nurse, a handler and a mother. He’s got a great brain, but he’s also the sort of person where you could probably tell what he’d had for dinner because some of it would be on his shoulder. He’s probably not all that good at tying his shoelaces, and he doesn’t have a great sense of personal danger. It’s not quite the same thing as being very, very brave, but it has the same effect. He doesn’t know when he’s about to get hit on the head, so he needs that kind of looking after. But, they’ve got this wry, screwball, slightly exasperated relationship, and there’s certainly room for anything in it, but there’s many different levels to it.

MediaBlvd> Is there any romantic tension between Jacob and Rachel?

Rufus> Who’s to say? I have no idea. You never know.

MediaBlvd> Are the issues that are being portrayed in the show things that you think about, personally?

Rufus> I think they’re things that everyone worries about, personally, but only so much as when we find out about them. Our lives are hugely affected by them, but it’s only when we suddenly realize how our lives are affected by them that we suddenly start caring about them. When you suddenly read that the reason the weather is the way it is, is because of the ozone layer, it suddenly affects you in a way that quite scares you. Or, in terms of genetics, when you realize that the food you’re eating has been tampered with, and you start to think about illness and sperm count, you realize that all these things across the world might actually be affected by science. Depending on the amount of information we get, that’s how much our worries increase.

MediaBlvd> Have you always been interested in science?

Rufus> Not in the slightest. For science, I was basically in the park at school. But, I’m interested now.

MediaBlvd> Do they explain the science behind this to you?

Rufus> I met with some scientists and did some research. And, ideally, anything that comes up in any given episode, I’m given the tools to bone up on it.

MediaBlvd> Have you felt compelled to read up on any of these subjects, like cloning?  Have you been satisfied with how well-documented these subjects are in the script, in terms of whatever your character has to be doing, with regard to them?

Rufus> I’m very prepared to go deeply into those subjects. By nature, I’m a truant. I’ve always tried to avoid work. But, in terms of the team of writers, I completely trust the background work. It wouldn’t be a matter of checking up to make sure that they’ve got their facts right. But, whatever work I can do to back that up, so I do know what I’m talking about, I’ll do. I’m at the beginning of quite a big journey of education, in many wide-ranging subjects.

MediaBlvd> What kind of sense do you have of Jacob’s backstory?

Rufus> I have a sense of his back story, which I’m going to keep to myself because they very much play their cards close to their chest when you get things revealed to you. I’ve made my own decisions, which may contradict the writing. I just have to keep it slightly adaptive. We might get a writer who suddenly decides that I’m a transsexual, in Episode 4. But, in the event that doesn’t happen, I’ve got quite a clear idea of his background.

MediaBlvd> Jacob is clearly brilliant, but there’s also a level of eccentricity to him. Was that something that was on the page?

Rufus> It was on the page, to a certain extent, but it was also something that we talked about, very much. It was something that I’d expressed an interest in, in that aspect of him, and they were very enthusiastic in their response. So, in terms of the show developing, there’s room for that. It’s very important to me that I don’t have to embody some kind of square-jawed character because there are other people who can do that really, really well, and it would make me a little uncomfortable. The character has room for a slightly odd-shaped individual and, as to which ways that will develop, only time will tell.

MediaBlvd> Do you like technical gadgets or are you a techno-phobe?

Rufus> No, I like my gadgets, just not really scientific things. I only like them if they can do human things for you. I like my laptop because I can look at pictures on it, watch movies, listen to music and talk to people, and that’s all really human stuff. That’s the key for me.

MediaBlvd> Does this have much physical stuff for you?

Rufus> No yet. That’s the advantage of having an FBI bodyguard.

MediaBlvd> So, Marley has more action than you?

Rufus> So far. But, hopefully, I’m going to get about a bit.

MediaBlvd> Has there been any training?

Rufus> Not for me, no.

MediaBlvd> Were there any series that you saw that made you more prone to say, “Maybe I’d like to do something like that,” when this came up?

Rufus> Not really. It’s interesting to see the way something is cut together and try to get an idea of the impression it’s making. For me, it read and screens as something slightly different. It was really the appeal of the character and the possibility of that kind of format, but with a little play for idiosyncrasy and humor. The appeal was actually doing something for a longer period of time, but I had no specific series in mind.

MediaBlvd> When they brought this to you, what was it that attracted you? Had you heard about the British series?

Rufus> I think I’d heard a little about it, but when it was on in England, I was out of the country. When I realized that it was based on that series, I studiously avoided looking at it. The fact that they were casting me, as opposed to Patrick Stewart, means I don’t need to worry about trying to be like Patrick Stewart because, obviously, you’d get Patrick Stewart, if that’s what you wanted. I wasn’t worried about trying to match that, but rather just try to do it the way I would do it because, presumably, that’s why they came to me. I really liked the character. It was appealing to play someone really, really smart, who also had a little bit of mystery and was quirky and idiosyncratic, and not without a sense of humor. There’s a slightly screwball element to the central double act. There’s a bit of humor there, which makes it more pleasant to actually film it because that’s very much a part of me. Also, for the flavor of the show, in particular, it’s got its own character. It’s very, very serious, but there’s also a screwball element.

MediaBlvd> What about American television is more appealing than British television?

Rufus> Personally, I wasn’t offered a series in England, I was offered one here. It’s’ not like I was weighing my options. If the BBC had offered me something else, I might have considered that instead. Also, a lot of work is generated here, and not so much work is generated in England.

It’s an opportunity to see someone above a certain age who you’re not already sick of. You can be not new to the business, because most actors my age in America, either from movies or from TV, are already really familiar, and still get someone who speaks the same language and can possibly do the accent, who people aren’t already over, which is not to say they won’t be over me in two episodes.

MediaBlvd> You’ve played quite a few really edgy, unusual characters, more than you’ve done mainstream, big-budget stuff. Is that just the kind of character that you respond to?

Rufus> People come to me with edgy parts, to the point that I’m over it. Generally, people come to me with edgy characters that they throw on horses. So, the idea of not being an overly edgy person, who actually walks on his own feet rather than rides on four, really appealed to me. I liked the idea of doing something that had many dimensions and was actually, to some extent, quite heroic, but not in a square-jawed sense. He is someone who is, ultimately, a good guy, but with many layers. He’s a complex, gray character, who’s not black or white, with a long arc to tell a story with many different directions and a lot of potential depth. There is edginess to it, certainly, but that’s not something that attracts me.

MediaBlvd> What was the appeal of playing a long-running character?

Rufus> The idea of playing one character for a long period of time doesn’t scare me as much as having people see me as a certain type of actor, who they only offer a certain type of role, which could very easily happen with my film career. I’m continually offered a certain type of role, which has nothing to do with my strengths. It’s just to do with, perhaps, the way I look and a couple of parts that I’ve played. I would much rather play one part with a lot of depth than play a lot of similar parts. If you play similar parts, you’re only ever allowed to play them, in a decreasing level of quality of product. If you get a great director, casting you as a lordly villain, it’s not going to be a great director the next time, and you’ll end up doing straight-to-video stuff.  I want to have a longer career, and I want people to know what I’m capable of. As far as I’m concerned, my greatest asset is my versatility. This is a great chance to show that.

MediaBlvd> How strong was the name Jerry Bruckheimer a factor in your decision to do this?

Rufus> It was definitely strong. I was doing a play on Broadway and heard, “Jerry Bruckheimer wants to take you for lunch.” That means more than another name you would recognize. But,  that gave me a certain amount of trepidation as well because you are aware of this very enormous presence and a particular style, which made me immediately think of CSI. I’m a great admirer of that series, but the idea of me being in CSI: Heathrow was not really my next step. So, it was very exciting, but there was also trepidation before I knew what it was. It means that there is definitely a level of expertise and quality, just because he’s done so well in the past. People say, “He only ever makes hits,” but my instinct said, “Well, there’s always a first time.” That wasn’t that convincing for me. It was just the fact that I read the script and really liked it. I knew that I was in good hands, and that someone was going to give it a really good shot. Beyond that, no one can tell, anyway. But, I liked him personally, and he had quite a recommendation.

MediaBlvd> Why does Jacob Hood have an American accent? Couldn’t he have been a British character?

Rufus> I wouldn’t be playing it. I don’t want to play a British character for a long period of time because people will assume it’s me. He’s not me. He’s got better lighting, and he’s much, much smarter. In playing a character in, hopefully, a long-running American series, you obviously want to use elements of your personality. I love doing accents, and anything that makes me someone else. With Jacob Hood having a distinct American voice, it takes me into a different register. It makes me feel like someone else. I want to continue with my film career and my theater career. All I need to do is turn up and do an interview in my own voice, and people will see that I’m obviously not him. I think that’s quite important. And, I read the character and he was American. That’s the character. I’m not trying to make him more like me. I’m trying to make me more like him.

MediaBlvd> Can you talk about the accent you’ve chosen for him? What region does he come from?

Rufus> It just came out a certain way and sounded to me like his voice. It’s a relatively generalized accent, but with a slightly urban feel to it. Maybe there’s a little bit of Chicago in there. He’s been traveling around, working for a long time. It’s pretty generic, like a lot of people you actually meet. It’s not as easy, these days, to pin down where people come from, especially in England, with the advent of television.

MediaBlvd> Have you moved to Los Angeles?

Rufus> Yes. Well, no because I didn’t really have any roots down anywhere. I came from doing eight months on Broadway. Before that, I was in Thailand and, before that, I was in Canada. I was living in enforced gypsy-dom. But, actually, I’m quite liking it this time around, I have to say. I’ve got a job, and for me to actually be on a job that I’m quite looking forward to doing, and  I actually know real people who live in actual houses here, it’s a different kind of place now.

MediaBlvd> What would you say to someone who’s wondering whether or not to watch this show?

Rufus> It’s not quite possible to get into the flavor of the humor at the center of it by watching the trailer. Not to say it’s a comedy, but a very important aspect of the dynamic of it is the central relationship, which is quite kooky. There’s a humor to it. That combination is something that makes it stand out a little, and makes it entertaining, in a different way.