November 13, 2005

Skinwalkers: Jason Behr Interview

We are hugely indebted to Serena from JoBlo. Whilst visiting the set of Skinwalkers Todd's digital recorder went *** up and we feared everything was lost. Serena has been kind enough to provide us with the transcription of the Jason Behr interview. She didn't have to do that and for her act of kindness we have moved JoBlo up to the top of our Christmas card list.

Can you tell us about Varek?

Varek is the alpha leader of this pack of wolves that is on one side of this civil war that has been going on for centuries. Their whole mission is to, well, his mission -- he's a little different from the wolves on his side -- He kind of wants to organize freedom. He's sort of trying to convert the other side to his way of thinking and his belief system. His belief system is a celebration of who he is and what he is, what his place is in the world, and it's based solely on experience, and these other wolves haven't really experienced what he believes to be the right way to live.

It's interesting how you describe it that way. We have been hearing a lot about good werewolves and bad werewolves, and you almost sound like you are admiring Varek's character. There's more to it than just the fact that he's an evil character?

Yeah, I don't think it's so black and white. I don't think it's so cut and dry like that. It can't be for me. I think that stuff is sort of boring. There's gotta be more to it than just good and evil. I think that one of the most interesting things to watch, especially when you're talking about war or conflict, is that both sides really believe what they're fighting for, completely and whole-heartedly. That's why they're doing it. You can look at them as an observer. As an actor, I could say, 'Well, I can see what these guys are doing is wrong, and what these [other] guys are doing is the right cause.' But as an actor playing one of these characters, you really have to look a little deeper and try to find validation in what your character is doing, and not make him so cartoonish -- one note. Give him a little more layers. I think that Varek is a pretty complicated guy. He's been a lot of fun to explore.

As the actor playing Varek, do you think necessarily that the suppression of the beast is a good thing as the other tribe is trying to do?

Well...there's a lot of fun to him. (laughs) I get to shoot guns, ride motorcycles and celebrate something within you that comes out of you. That's something I've never really experienced. I think that it's been a nice excuse for me to let our the inner animal, and I'm not talking about the drum-playing muppet. (laughs) It's been a lot of fun for me as an actor to sort of just play around with this guy a little bit.

What's your favourite scene you've filmed so far?

The gunfights were really kind of fun. We took this little town .... This little town, Creemore, well known for their beer and for their brewery... and every morning was like a war zone. The gun stuff has been fun, the motorcycle stuff has been fun. They gave me this really long, custom-made sexy bike that I don't have, and I got to drive it through town like you're riding in some sort of old western. So that's been a lot of fun.

How did you find it working with the prosthetics? Did you find it painful?

The procedure to get all that stuff ready was really fascinating, because I got to go down to Stan Winston's studio. The guy to me is like the God of creature effects. From Jurassic Park, Interview of the Vampire, Terminator 2, stuff that we all grew up on. You walk in there, and that's all you see. You see this massive T-rex head, and Arnold Schwarzenegger's gun. I felt like I was 12 years old. They've made a lot of advances. All they had to do with me is a head cast. I haven't really tried on all the prosthetics yet. Just a head cast, and they did a body scan, which is basically me standing in my tighty whiteys, and then doing laser graphics of me, and that's about it.