V
verdantheart
Guest
I didn't see this older interview (from the Disney primetime preview weekend) at SciFi Weekly posted, so I thought I'd give you a look. Go to the page for the pictures & pretty format. A minor aired spoiler and plot suggestions below.
~~~
The cast of Alias spies unsettling changes coming in season three
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Patrick Lee and Cindy White
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alias, ABC's ever-morphing spy drama, returns for a third season this fall with a big mystery to resolve: Why did CIA operative Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) awake in Hong Kong and how did two years suddenly disappear?
At the end of last season, Sydney had a knock-down, drag-out fight with the evil doppelganger of her deceased friend, Francie (Merrin Dungey), shot her and passed out. Ex-reporter pal Will Tippin (Bradley Cooper) was left lying in a bathtub, mortally stabbed. When Sydney awoke, she discovered that she had been missing for two years and presumed dead. Her paramour and fellow CIA agent Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan) showed up, wearing a wedding ring. (Over the summer, Garner and Vartan also revealed that they have begun a real, off-set romance.)
In the upcoming season-premiere episode, Sydney will come to grips with a reality that is both foreign and frightening, ABC said. To begin her journey back, she confronts Vaughn about his marriage (to new cast member Melissa George) and learns the surprising fates of her father, Jack (Victor Garber), and her nemesis, Sloane (Ron Rifkin). Meanwhile, Sydney is granted temporary CIA clearance on a case that may help her regain her memory. Big changes are also in store for agent Weiss (Greg Grunberg), Marshall (Kevin Weisman) and Mr. Sark (David Anders).
Alias returns with new episodes on Sept. 28 in its regular Sunday 9 p.m. ET/PT timeslot. The cast took a moment to speak with Science Fiction Weekly about the show's new season during a press preview at Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, Calif.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since the show changes so much, do you ever hit your stride, or does it keep you on your toes constantly?
Garner: I think that's what's fun about doing our show. A lot of times in television, it starts to become mundane at a certain point. You've done this scene a million times before. But we don't have that problem. We're constantly learning from our characters, and we're constantly put in situations we never would have expected. So we're really lucky that way.
Rifkin: Simply because there are so many surprises for us all the time, I think the degree of comfort keeps changing.
Grunberg: There's also the threat of being fired, for me. I got shot in the neck last year. So you never know.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jennifer and Michael, I read you have a fight scene. Have you shot that? And who kicked whose ass?
Vartan: It wasn't really a fight. Well, all right, there was a fight scene, but I was blind-sided. I just want to say that she took me completely by surprise and ... yes, she did kick my—can I say ass? And she stabs me, too.
Garner: Hey now!
Grunberg: Ooh, what was that?
Weisman: Spoiler!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can you talk about the fight?
Garner: We already shot the scene. It was, as you can imagine, incredibly intense. And I did give him an actual pretty good wallop to the stomach, which I felt a bit guilty about later.
Vartan: Don't forget the elbow to the temple.
Garner: And an elbow to the temple. But, you know, we're all OK. We're smiling. We're here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you kick his ass at home as well?
Garner: Next question.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jennifer, you did [the upcoming feature film] 13 Going on 30 [during your hiatus], which has a lot less action. Was it hard to come back to Alias after that?
Garner: I was really nervous, because last summer, obviously, I did Daredevil, so when I came back I felt like I was fighting better than I ever had before, because that was such great training. And this time around, obviously, I didn't fight at all, and I was really nervous my first fight. But it hardly took any time at all to be right back into the swing of things.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can you tell us about your and Michael's relationship off screen?
Garner: We're not going to go there here today at Disneyland.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do you stay in shape?
Garner: I go up and down in how in shape I am, just like anyone else. Sometimes I'm more into it than others. But it has more to do with how often I can stay away from cookies more than anything. But I work out every day, one hour. Never like a freak. It's not like I do three-hour workouts. It's not like I kill myself for the hour, but I'm just consistent about it. And today, I didn't. Tomorrow I may not. I miss. I go. But it's a priority for me. And now, not even having anything to do with the show, it's mental as well as anything else. If I can do it, anyone should be able to adopt working out an hour a day. You can do it.
Weisman: Greg and I are still thinking about doing it.
Grunberg: Yeah, we're thinking about it.
Weisman: We should.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Weisman, how do you feel about the way your role has been expanded since the beginning of the show?
Weisman: [Show creator] J.J. [Abrams] is a very creative person who does not like to write what's already worked. He's always looking for ways to evolve not only the show, but the characters. He always promised, "You will be integral to the technical end of the show in terms of the missions and the gadgets and stuff. But once we've really had an opportunity to explore emotionally most of the characters on the show, we will get to you, and hopefully the show will still be on the air on that point." And luckily it is. We're in season three. Finally, they're really starting to write some personal elements. There's a love interest, Amanda Foreman, who plays Carrie. She's coming back, and that relationship has sort of evolved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you get to improvise a lot?
Weisman: I do a lot of improvising. They're very gracious in terms of letting me come up with stuff. They're very good writers, and they do write a lot of the stuff, but they do let me do what I want. I'm really the only actor with a green light. J.J. lets me go for it. A lot of it ends up on the cutting room floor, but a lot of it ends up in the show, which is great.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Grunberg and David Anders, there's a lot of changes this year.
Grunberg: It's a season of change. But when you think about it, the idea of a CIA agent who is so good at what she does, actually disappearing for two years and not knowing what happened to her, and then discovering it over the course of the season, is a great premise for a pilot. So in reality it is a new beginning. It's such a great tool to use to tell a story.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg, what's happened to your character?
Grunberg: For my character, the changes are I'm going to be living with Sydney, which is great. And getting out of the office. They're giving me a lot. I get to go on missions and stuff.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So you take her in?
Grunberg: It's more that the CIA wants someone to keep an eye on her, because she's emotionally unstable.
Anders: And Weiss can't pay his rent by himself.
Grunberg: Hey, it's a co-op. I'm like everybody's confidant. So I'm going to be basically the same, but more involved in the action stuff and getting out of the office.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Are you put in the middle between Sydney and Vaughn?
Grunberg: Yes, as a matter of fact, I am in the middle. And that's a good place to be. And also, Marshall was, like, talking to me about his relationship with this girl he was interested in. I'm the shoulder to cry on. Everybody comes and talks to me.
Anders: He's the show's Dr. Phil.
Grunberg: I am the show's Dr. Phil. And it's a good place to be. I'm the uber-Dr. Phil, if I might steal from you.
Anders: [In English accent] Cheers, brother.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of the accent, I had no idea before that you weren't English.
Anders: I am Oregon-born and bred.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's just like finding out Buffy the Vampire Slayer's James Marsters [Spike] wasn't English.
Anders: Yeah, that always comes up. Me and Marsters. And I'm friends with Nick Brendon [Buffy's Xander], and I've always wanted to meet Marsters and battle. He's got a different accent on that show, though, and it's much easier to do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I see you have short hair now, too.
Anders: It's a whole new Sark. I've heard that some female fans have expressed a disinterest in my hair, but I dig it. It was J.J.'s brainchild.
Grunberg: J.J. has a history of cutting hair and losing ratings [a reference to Abrams' last series, Felicity]. So hopefully this won't happen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well Jennifer has it long still.
Anders: It's fake, though.
Grunberg: It is fake. There's a secret we can give out. She's wearing extensions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the episode?
Grunberg: Yeah. She's wearing them right now.
Anders: They look great when they're done out as braids. She looks hot.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Which episode are you on now?
Grunberg: Four. She looks like [Daredevil's] Elektra in this episode. So beautiful. Hello!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Are you a little jealous that Michael Vartan gets all the good scenes with her?
Anders: I've had some pretty good stuff with her, actually. The limited scenes I've had, I've had some good stuff. But I mean, of course, they have the best.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was sort of an implied connection between Sark and Sydney last season
Anders: That was sort of implied, yes. It comes to a head.
Grunberg: It sure does. And I was there. It comes to a head. That's a great thing that's coming up.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David, where is your character aligned now?
Anders: I guess Sark leans more towards Sloane, but they've kind of had a rift. I mean, Sark's been in prison for two years, and Sloane's turned over a new leaf. So he's kind of becoming his own man.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg, you're really close with J.J. Abrams, aren't you?
Grunberg: Yes. My best friend in the world.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How long have you been friends?
Grunberg: Since kindergarten, believe it or not.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you ever give him advice about the show?
Grunberg: You know what? J.J. is, I think, one of the best writers in television, so there's not much that needs to be told to him. But we just know each other so well that he'll write something for me, and I get it. It's great working with your best friend, that's for sure. Because that balances working with a guy like this [gestures to Anders].
Anders: What happened? I blacked out.
~~~
~~~
The cast of Alias spies unsettling changes coming in season three
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Patrick Lee and Cindy White
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alias, ABC's ever-morphing spy drama, returns for a third season this fall with a big mystery to resolve: Why did CIA operative Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) awake in Hong Kong and how did two years suddenly disappear?
At the end of last season, Sydney had a knock-down, drag-out fight with the evil doppelganger of her deceased friend, Francie (Merrin Dungey), shot her and passed out. Ex-reporter pal Will Tippin (Bradley Cooper) was left lying in a bathtub, mortally stabbed. When Sydney awoke, she discovered that she had been missing for two years and presumed dead. Her paramour and fellow CIA agent Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan) showed up, wearing a wedding ring. (Over the summer, Garner and Vartan also revealed that they have begun a real, off-set romance.)
In the upcoming season-premiere episode, Sydney will come to grips with a reality that is both foreign and frightening, ABC said. To begin her journey back, she confronts Vaughn about his marriage (to new cast member Melissa George) and learns the surprising fates of her father, Jack (Victor Garber), and her nemesis, Sloane (Ron Rifkin). Meanwhile, Sydney is granted temporary CIA clearance on a case that may help her regain her memory. Big changes are also in store for agent Weiss (Greg Grunberg), Marshall (Kevin Weisman) and Mr. Sark (David Anders).
Alias returns with new episodes on Sept. 28 in its regular Sunday 9 p.m. ET/PT timeslot. The cast took a moment to speak with Science Fiction Weekly about the show's new season during a press preview at Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, Calif.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since the show changes so much, do you ever hit your stride, or does it keep you on your toes constantly?
Garner: I think that's what's fun about doing our show. A lot of times in television, it starts to become mundane at a certain point. You've done this scene a million times before. But we don't have that problem. We're constantly learning from our characters, and we're constantly put in situations we never would have expected. So we're really lucky that way.
Rifkin: Simply because there are so many surprises for us all the time, I think the degree of comfort keeps changing.
Grunberg: There's also the threat of being fired, for me. I got shot in the neck last year. So you never know.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jennifer and Michael, I read you have a fight scene. Have you shot that? And who kicked whose ass?
Vartan: It wasn't really a fight. Well, all right, there was a fight scene, but I was blind-sided. I just want to say that she took me completely by surprise and ... yes, she did kick my—can I say ass? And she stabs me, too.
Garner: Hey now!
Grunberg: Ooh, what was that?
Weisman: Spoiler!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can you talk about the fight?
Garner: We already shot the scene. It was, as you can imagine, incredibly intense. And I did give him an actual pretty good wallop to the stomach, which I felt a bit guilty about later.
Vartan: Don't forget the elbow to the temple.
Garner: And an elbow to the temple. But, you know, we're all OK. We're smiling. We're here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you kick his ass at home as well?
Garner: Next question.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jennifer, you did [the upcoming feature film] 13 Going on 30 [during your hiatus], which has a lot less action. Was it hard to come back to Alias after that?
Garner: I was really nervous, because last summer, obviously, I did Daredevil, so when I came back I felt like I was fighting better than I ever had before, because that was such great training. And this time around, obviously, I didn't fight at all, and I was really nervous my first fight. But it hardly took any time at all to be right back into the swing of things.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can you tell us about your and Michael's relationship off screen?
Garner: We're not going to go there here today at Disneyland.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do you stay in shape?
Garner: I go up and down in how in shape I am, just like anyone else. Sometimes I'm more into it than others. But it has more to do with how often I can stay away from cookies more than anything. But I work out every day, one hour. Never like a freak. It's not like I do three-hour workouts. It's not like I kill myself for the hour, but I'm just consistent about it. And today, I didn't. Tomorrow I may not. I miss. I go. But it's a priority for me. And now, not even having anything to do with the show, it's mental as well as anything else. If I can do it, anyone should be able to adopt working out an hour a day. You can do it.
Weisman: Greg and I are still thinking about doing it.
Grunberg: Yeah, we're thinking about it.
Weisman: We should.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Weisman, how do you feel about the way your role has been expanded since the beginning of the show?
Weisman: [Show creator] J.J. [Abrams] is a very creative person who does not like to write what's already worked. He's always looking for ways to evolve not only the show, but the characters. He always promised, "You will be integral to the technical end of the show in terms of the missions and the gadgets and stuff. But once we've really had an opportunity to explore emotionally most of the characters on the show, we will get to you, and hopefully the show will still be on the air on that point." And luckily it is. We're in season three. Finally, they're really starting to write some personal elements. There's a love interest, Amanda Foreman, who plays Carrie. She's coming back, and that relationship has sort of evolved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you get to improvise a lot?
Weisman: I do a lot of improvising. They're very gracious in terms of letting me come up with stuff. They're very good writers, and they do write a lot of the stuff, but they do let me do what I want. I'm really the only actor with a green light. J.J. lets me go for it. A lot of it ends up on the cutting room floor, but a lot of it ends up in the show, which is great.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Grunberg and David Anders, there's a lot of changes this year.
Grunberg: It's a season of change. But when you think about it, the idea of a CIA agent who is so good at what she does, actually disappearing for two years and not knowing what happened to her, and then discovering it over the course of the season, is a great premise for a pilot. So in reality it is a new beginning. It's such a great tool to use to tell a story.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg, what's happened to your character?
Grunberg: For my character, the changes are I'm going to be living with Sydney, which is great. And getting out of the office. They're giving me a lot. I get to go on missions and stuff.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So you take her in?
Grunberg: It's more that the CIA wants someone to keep an eye on her, because she's emotionally unstable.
Anders: And Weiss can't pay his rent by himself.
Grunberg: Hey, it's a co-op. I'm like everybody's confidant. So I'm going to be basically the same, but more involved in the action stuff and getting out of the office.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Are you put in the middle between Sydney and Vaughn?
Grunberg: Yes, as a matter of fact, I am in the middle. And that's a good place to be. And also, Marshall was, like, talking to me about his relationship with this girl he was interested in. I'm the shoulder to cry on. Everybody comes and talks to me.
Anders: He's the show's Dr. Phil.
Grunberg: I am the show's Dr. Phil. And it's a good place to be. I'm the uber-Dr. Phil, if I might steal from you.
Anders: [In English accent] Cheers, brother.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of the accent, I had no idea before that you weren't English.
Anders: I am Oregon-born and bred.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's just like finding out Buffy the Vampire Slayer's James Marsters [Spike] wasn't English.
Anders: Yeah, that always comes up. Me and Marsters. And I'm friends with Nick Brendon [Buffy's Xander], and I've always wanted to meet Marsters and battle. He's got a different accent on that show, though, and it's much easier to do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I see you have short hair now, too.
Anders: It's a whole new Sark. I've heard that some female fans have expressed a disinterest in my hair, but I dig it. It was J.J.'s brainchild.
Grunberg: J.J. has a history of cutting hair and losing ratings [a reference to Abrams' last series, Felicity]. So hopefully this won't happen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well Jennifer has it long still.
Anders: It's fake, though.
Grunberg: It is fake. There's a secret we can give out. She's wearing extensions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the episode?
Grunberg: Yeah. She's wearing them right now.
Anders: They look great when they're done out as braids. She looks hot.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Which episode are you on now?
Grunberg: Four. She looks like [Daredevil's] Elektra in this episode. So beautiful. Hello!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Are you a little jealous that Michael Vartan gets all the good scenes with her?
Anders: I've had some pretty good stuff with her, actually. The limited scenes I've had, I've had some good stuff. But I mean, of course, they have the best.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was sort of an implied connection between Sark and Sydney last season
Anders: That was sort of implied, yes. It comes to a head.
Grunberg: It sure does. And I was there. It comes to a head. That's a great thing that's coming up.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David, where is your character aligned now?
Anders: I guess Sark leans more towards Sloane, but they've kind of had a rift. I mean, Sark's been in prison for two years, and Sloane's turned over a new leaf. So he's kind of becoming his own man.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg, you're really close with J.J. Abrams, aren't you?
Grunberg: Yes. My best friend in the world.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How long have you been friends?
Grunberg: Since kindergarten, believe it or not.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you ever give him advice about the show?
Grunberg: You know what? J.J. is, I think, one of the best writers in television, so there's not much that needs to be told to him. But we just know each other so well that he'll write something for me, and I get it. It's great working with your best friend, that's for sure. Because that balances working with a guy like this [gestures to Anders].
Anders: What happened? I blacked out.
~~~
