You’ve had plenty of experience dealing with fantasy worlds on film, but what made Terra Nova such an intriguing project for you to take on a series role?
I scratched my head when I read this because, on the one hand, it was clearly a very risk-taking and cutting-edge thing. To do it right, clearly, is going to require technological expertise, which we see applied in the world of movies, but we rarely see applied in the world of television. So I saw that, but at the same time, I saw something very traditional. I saw something, almost a throwback aspect to the show, which is to say it clearly was being designed to have a broad family appeal. I just thought that was a kind of an interesting juxtaposition. And then if you add to that the interesting character that is, perhaps not the lead in the show, but at the centre of this Terra Nova world, Commander Taylor, I thought, “Yeah, I’ll be part of that. That’s a groove.”
How does Terra Nova evolve over the course of these episodes?
Well, over the period of the 13 episodes, an awful lot of things will become clear. As a matter of fact, every question asked will be answered to the extent that you will understand why people do what they do. There are people who are in a sort of emotional bondage, and there are forms of blackmail that are going on. There are unspoken agendas, but they’ll all be articulated. And I think you’ll understand Commander Taylor, certainly, much better by the end of it. You may not like him. You may not think he’s a good man, but you’ll understand him.
You’ve played a variation of Commander Taylor before. Where does your own sensibility for leadership reside? How has that impacted your performance?
What I look to as some of the lessons of leadership is to inspire confidence in the people who are following him there, who are looking to him for protection, and to state the vision of what this place is supposed to be; and to carry out that vision, to tell them what to do. That’s all about leadership skills, and they’re as good as they can be for this guy, you know? He’s as good a leader as he can be. He always works at it. But as we pick up life in Terra Nova, the colony has been in existence for seven years. Just parenthetically, it’s one of our hopes that over a period of time, we’ll get to go back to some of those early years and you’ll see how things do develop. You’ll see Terra Nova in a more primitive state than it is now. But those seven years have taken a toll on him. He didn’t have a white beard and silvery hair when he got there. It’s been a hard road, and every day brings on a new set of challenges, and dilemmas, and conflicts. He is so deeply invested in the success of this place that he never lets go. Having to let go at some point, or having to share responsibility at some point, is a really interesting dramatic kind of path to take.
He is just as important as a father figure as James Shannon.
So much of this show, you’ll find, is about parents and their children. And Taylor, in his own way, is, when you meet his son, you’ll probably see some of the source of some of his pain.
We’re not out to give parenting lessons or anything like this. But our characters are learning the hard way. They’re learning by experience: what it is to be a father, what it is to be a mother, what it is to be a son or a daughter. I just think people get interested in that stuff, you know? Particularly when you got dinosaurs. [SMILES]
How do you decompress from a show with these elements in a given scene?
I find between takes you really have to kind of let off a little bit of steam because it can get pretty absurd. You know, it really can get a little goofy. But during a take, it’s just got to be even more intense than usual because these dinosaurs are big, they’re angry, they’re hungry, they’re fast, they smell. I mean, all kind of things, you know, you just got to respond.
Terra Nova, the complete series is out on DVD on September 24, from all good retailers.