Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with an interview I recently conducted with Anthony Michael Hall for the upcoming premiere of Season 3 of THE DEAD ZONE (This Sunday on USA) and the release of Season 2 of THE DEAD ZONE on DVD next Tuesday. I only had a little time with the man, so despite all my geek desires I didn't dip into his John Hughes-era work... But believe you me, if this was an in-person interview I'd now have a signed WEIRD SCIENCE one-sheet on my wall. I promise if we happen to talk again this guy is spilling on just how damn cute Molly Ringwald is in real life! So, who does now currently own Ms. Ringwald's underpants? Can he still sing The Birthday Song and/or Hey Jude? Is he glad he jumped off the sinking ship and didn't appear in any of the VACATION sequels? You know, the important questions!
Below you'll find out a lot about the role Mr. Hall plays on the show THE DEAD ZONE, how he attacks each scene and each day in front of the camera and behind the camera. You'll even find out some interesting info on some of the events of the next season. I hope you folks enjoy!
=====================
QUINT: I saw a little bit of the first season when it first aired, but with TV I usually lose the thread of shows... but I love these DVD box sets where I can just sit and watch an entire season in a day or two. The problem with me is I'll get into a show, watch 3 or 4 episodes and then miss a couple. You can't do that with shows like 24 or THE SOPRANOS.
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: It's different with our show. It's actually cool 'cause some of the shows are serialized, some of them are stand alone, some of them are inspired by movies. We kinda go in different directions, which is one of the things I'm proud of with the show is it's not really... You know, it's gotten this wrap of being a Sci-Fi show, which maybe it is to some people. To me it's not. Just like it's not specifically a Stephen King genre show. And if you'll notice since we've aired there have been about 5 Stephen King shows that have tried to hit the air that didn't work, so I'm proud of the fact that we're on USA network, we get to make the show we want to make and we're proud of it.
QUINT: They sent me the Second Season DVDs and I really got into the show. It doesn't hurt that I'm a huge Stephen King buff in the first place.
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: Yeah, he's great.
QUINT: The DEAD ZONE actually reminds me quite a bit of QUANTUM LEAP. I don't know if you've heard that yet, but...
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: Yeah, we've heard that and that had more of a light-hearted... But yeah, that was brought to my attention by the Pillers... my boss Michael and his son Shawn, who is my partner and another producer on the show. They suggested to me that I actually watch it. I'd never really seen it, to be quite honest with you, and I never did watch it when they recommended it to me, but I am familiar with that, so that's cool...
QUINT: You are credited as a producer on the show. How'd you swing that?
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: (laughs) Well, they had to put the quarterback on the field, so I wanted an extra credit. (laughs) You know what? The truth is they gave me that opportunity going into the second season and I certainly welcomed it. I had enough experience in the industry, I feel, that to be an onset presence... It was something that was interesting to me.
The way I facilitate my role, to answer your question, is I really shadow the director, kinda make sure he's got everything he needs, and like a director I think ahead in terms of how he's thinking, so not only are we doing one scene, but we're thinking of the next two or three shots and what's ahead. You know, welcoming the actors that guest star, working with the actors that are day players, so to speak.
And then behind the scenes, also, having an overview of the marketing and the promotion of the show and really getting vested in that, helping trying to sell it. Like, I'm in New York right now... I just got finished doing The Today Show, which went really well. Those are the kind of ways I contribute on that level. I've also written music for the soundtrack we had in season one... I shouldn't say I wrote it, but I actually re-recorded HALLELUJAH, the Leonard Cohen track that was brilliantly recorded by Jeff Buckley and Shawn Piller asked me to record that for the album.
So, I've kinda done whatever they've asked me to do on the show. It's certainly transformed my career. I've had an incredible time doing it, Eric, because I feel like it's a tour de force every week. Not only am I playing my character, but in some cases I'm playing other characters. When I touch people I might become them in some shows, as you've seen. So, it's really an incredible opportunity, I think, as an actor. The task here is to kind of walk an audience through it and help them in making that leap of faith, making unreal circumstances believable and plausible for them. It's an incredible challenge as an actor. I've been really inspired by it as I'm doing the show.
QUINT: Aren't you also directing in this next season?
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: Yeah, I directed an episode that guest starred Richard Lewis, who I think is great. There's a million stand-ups in the world, but there's not that many really great ones and I think he's one of the great ones. He has so much of that kind of Lenny Bruce quality, I call it, where a lot of his humor is based on his own life and that takes a lot of courage to discuss. Having been an alcoholic, dealing with women... all the things he tackles in his humor.
So, I was really thrilled to have him because I think he's a courageous and very talented comedian. He's also a very fine actor. That episode is called The Cold Hard Truth and that's forthcoming this season and it turned out great. I'm really proud of it.
QUINT: You know, I must insist that at some point you get Walken to guest star on the show...
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: To get Walken to do a walk-on! I would love it. He's certainly one of the great American iconic actors that we have. From jump street it was never my intent to copy him on any level. You know, there's too many people that can imitate DeNiro or Walken in a joking context. Obviously, he did a great job with that film. I did watch the original DEAD ZONE a couple times and just decided to take it in my own direction, make my own character out of it.
QUINT: As I said before, I'm a big fan of King's book and a big fan of Cronenberg's film, but I do think it's really fascinating what you folks are doing with the show. The fact that you're taking which was, essentially, a side subplot of the book and making it an ongoing storyline, like a detective story.
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: Ah, cool. Thanks... I think Michael Piller's logic and reasoning for going into this and tackling this as a series was that I think early on he understood that this psychic ability is a sort of portal to all these different worlds and also many different types of shows. What else can I ask for as an actor? As I said earlier, that's my task every week to kind of make things that might seem unreal or unbelievable to people believable. I'm doing my best and I have fun with it.
One of the things we pride ourselves on is we're not really stuck in a mold. We've done shows where we've... In the first season we did an homage to 12 ANGRY MEN and some other episodes have been hybrids in terms of films that have inspired Shawn or Michael to make a show out of it. We did a show called Deja Voodoo and all along Shawn had wanted to do an episode that had elements of GROUNDHOG DAY in it.
That's a great thing to do, to openly say, "Hey, look. These are films that have inspired us. We are, in fact, making a cinematic show. It takes a couple 100 people, like a damn movie, to make a TV show every week, so let's go all out. Let's make the best show we can that is at once cinematic and dramatic and, in some cases, comedic and whatever else we can sprinkle in there. I'm so proud of it, I really feel good of it.
QUINT: One of the things, as a King fan, that I really dig about the show and I think you've actually done a better job than King did because you've had so much time to explore the character of Greg Stillson. I think Sean Patrick Flanery has done a great job with it. I even think he's surpasses Martin Sheen's performance just because in Cronenberg's film all we got to see was the crazy, really.
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: Exactly. Here you see a congressman on the rise and the whole shit. I agree, totally. He's an excellent actor. I think that Frank Whaley is also a very fine actor, who plays Future Man, the Christopher Wey character, who's a sort of a post-apocalyptic apparition that comes to me, goading me forward to tackle Stillson.
So, you get these elements that remind me of Nostradamus in a sense, where I'm feeling these catastrophic visions and I'm trying to piecemeal them together that I know include him, but I don't know much more about that. That's fascinating as is exploring the whole challenge of meeting him head to head. I have a lot of fun working with Sean. You know, I don't really spend too much time personally with actors that I work with because it is a job, so it's interesting in that case where you're playing someone who's a villain... it's great to kind of save it for the lens.
You know, you prepare the scene, you think about how you want to play it, you think about some choices and some little things you want to do in the scene. Basically when it comes to our scenes together I kind of save it for the lens with him. He's done a really good job playing that part, I agree with you.
QUINT: Specifically, I'm trying to remember which episode, but you're sitting in a booth with him and he just plays it so high on the southern charm, but also with that menace underneath.
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: (laughs) You picked it out, right there. He's a Texas boy. What a great attribute as an actor to play this kind of evil politician. In my mind, I see his character as a hybrid of many people. Without naming standing presidents, he's got some David Duke in him, he's got some Dan Quayle in him, he's got a lot of different things. Also, he personally reminded me of David Cassidy.
So, these are things I think about when I go to look him in the eye and he comes up to my collarbone. But, anyway you have to... Just like a fight. You've got to prepare yourself mentally. Just like in sports, you got to get your gameface on. In those scenes with Sean, I love working with him because he's very talented and, like I said, we meet each other on camera.
QUINT: When the time comes, do you think you guys will follow through with the book's dark ending, or have we already seen that in the alternate-reality episode with Louis Gossett Jr.?
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: What are you saying? Will we see what? Oh, right, with the shooting and everything. Right. I think we addressed it in that episode for that reason. In the reality here, in the context of our show, I think he continues and I think he'll be a character that, obviously, I have to deal with among many other themes and arcs going into the fourth season. I feel strongly about that. I think it's certainly worth exploring.
I mean, it's interesting the whole idea of art imitating life imitating art. Here we are, you know what I mean? Post-apocalyptic images, I mean, we're dealing with them daily. Political struggles, we're dealing with them daily. Look at this war we're in. Truth is scarier than fiction right now, by the news standards and what's going on in our world.
QUINT: So, what can the fans expect from this upcoming season?
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: Well, the episode that I mentioned is gonna be really powerful, the one I directed with Richard Lewis. He plays this sort of Howard Stern small town shock jock. I confront him because he's attacking me on the radio because we're both in this small town in Maine where, obviously, everything Stephen King is set. Bangor or wherever. Cleave's Mills in this case.
So, that will be addressed. The whole thing with our relationship, him attacking me and me sort of befriending him and we have this strange relationship that unfolds. I help him figure something out about his past, which you'll see.
The other thing is telling our son that he's finally my son. He's been raised by Sarah and Walt, the sheriff. And I have to say my counterparts, the rest of the ensemble of actors have done an incredible amount of good work. Particularly in this season we've really stepped it up. Just like with the passage of time you kind of get to know people and get more comfortable. It's positively affected out work. Everybody's really performed really well this season. I think everyone will be really impressed with the quality of performances.
QUINT: There's another thing that I've liked since the beginning of the second season... You guys could have easily made Walt a character that nobody cared for. I think it's a lot more interesting, myself, to make him a sympathetic character that doesn't have it in for Johnny and keeps his negative emotions under his hat. It's a good example of the talent of the writers on the show to not take the obvious route with this character.
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: It's an excellent point you make, Eric. The thing is, there's this sort of symbiotic relationship between the two of us. He pulls me into these cases and we become sort of detectives on missions some weeks in some episodes, but as you said there's still a real character there. We're also sharing the development and growth of our son's upbringing, you know.
And Nicole de Boer is always on the money. I think she's an excellent actress, who's always bringing it. That's kind of developed in this season as well, the sort of outgrowth of her cheating on Walt with me and us dealing with that as three people and dealing with the raising of our son and ultimately addressing J.J. with the fact that he is, in fact, my son in the episode with Richard.
So, what happened was this wonderful thing developed, not to give too much of it, but part of what I discovered about his (Richard Lewis) past is that his son has died in a horrible accident that the writers patterned after that tragedy that fell upon Eric Clapton... he fell out a window... That's the A story line I have to figure out. The B story line is telling J.J. that he's ultimately my son.
So, what really happened, Eric, was I realized it was about fathers and sons and that's a very passionate and personal thing to me because I grew up without my own father, biological, I was raised by my step-father, so there was a lot for me to attach emotionally to. I tried to put it all up there on screen by directing Richard, letting him go when I needed to and kind of reeling him in when I needed him to and he delivers as a fine dramatic actor as well as the Richard Lewis that we know.
That's another thing we deal with. The Stillson stuff is ongoing and there's a number of sort of serialized things. There are something that are sort of ripped from the headlines, reminiscent of Dick Wolf's show... You know, the LAW AND ORDER series, you know... those shows. That's inspiring, too, because again as an actor it's interesting to kind of latch onto current events. Although you're fictionalizing them, there's a lot to work from. You have real guttural instincts and emotions about similar things that actually have happened. They certainly give you a lot to draw from as an actor.
There's a lot of different stuff. We did an episode that is, in part, inspired by the Columbine thing and other high school tragedies where there is a shooting. We have a very talented actor who plays A.J. on THE SOPRANOS, Robert Iler, and he's in the high school episode that we did, as is Judge Reinhold. Frank Whaley joins the cast again, Sean Patrick is there, Sarah Winter from 24 plays my leading lady this season and there's some interesting stuff there. She was a lot of fun to work with, great attitude when she works. She's really cool.
You know, you hear a lot about people talking about "Oh, what a family we have on the set! It's such a great show!" I'm gonna continue the cliché! (laughs) The truth is we do have a great group of people. We shoot the show in Canada, in Vancouver, we got a fantastic crew, great actors. We've all been together a couple years now.
My M.O. this year, Eric, was just to step it up, to make it a better show than its been by far in the first and second seasons and it already was a good show. I'm proud to say that I have all the confidence to tell you that it really is, it's gotten a lot better. The shows are even more intense and even more cinematic and filmic looking. I feel great about it. We just wrapped about 2 weeks ago and I'm proud to get out there and say, "Look, check this show out! This is one of the best shows on television and I know it!" 'Cause I see what's out there. It's dynamic! There are so many elements to it. There are a couple hundred people that make it a reality.
The other component is incredible behind the scenes people. You know, editors we have, we have this amazing visual effects company called Stargate that does all the effects for CSI, all their shows, ER and in fact their work is best represented on our show. As you know, we have these sort of MATRIX-like cool visual effects shots that are unbelievable and mind-blowing. We've really stepped it up with regard to the look of the show, too. We've stepped it up, we've gone beyond what we did in the first and second season.
QUINT: Very cool. Hopefully I'll be better about keeping up with this next season, instead of catching the first few episodes then missing the rest.
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: Yeah, try to check it, man, this weekend. If you're around with your girl or your buddies or whatever, check it out. It's really strong. The first two particularly coming out of the gate... there's a lot in there. They definitely deal with the Stillson stuff of me trackin' him down. There's a lot going on in the first two episodes. It's actually a two-parter.
QUINT: I think that's about it. Thanks for your time.
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: Thanks for writing about us on Ain't It Cool News, man. Holler at everybody over there at the office...
QUINT: Before I go, the DVD box set for Season 2 comes out....
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: It's coming out Tuesday, the 8th and we air this Sunday, June 6th! Thanks for your time, buddy!
