Post by Mayra on Apr 8, 2004 15:00:19 GMT -5
Found this article yesterday and thought i should post it. I guess it's still not sure if John will return for the fourth season, but it looks like he is willing to come back if they ask him.
[ 'Mutant X's' John Shea Goes West
By Kate O'Hare
After apparently returning from the dead on the syndicated science-fiction series "Mutant X," actor John Shea is experiencing a resurrection of sorts in other areas of his life.
The long-time New York resident temporarily has left Gotham behind for the golden shores of Southern California.
"Over the years, I've lived in L.A. many, many times," he says. "But this is the first time I've lived in Venice. I'm right on the Boardwalk. It's so cool.
"There's this great world outside the windows. As I talk to you, I'm looking out over the ocean. Then there's this parade of characters that marches below on the Boardwalk. It reminds me of New York.
"I've just been on the East Coast. From the stage in New York, I went to Toronto to do 'Mutant X.' Now, with 'Mutant X' finishing up its third season, I thought it was time to return to L.A. I'm feeling like I'm being reborn here."
Shea spent two seasons as a regular in "Mutant X," playing Adam Kane, a genetic scientist protecting a group of his mutant creations from his former employer, now determined to hunt them down. The original cast included Victoria Pratt, Victor Webster, Forbes March and Lauren Lee Smith.
At the end of season two, the destruction of a genetic lab left Smith's character, telepathic mutant Emma DeLauro, dead, and Kane missing.
"I was very sad," Shea says about Smith being dropped from the cast. "I loved her. On the other hand, in the world of 'Mutant X,' anything can happen. It's like in real life -- now you see them, now you don't. That shock that everyone felt when that happened reflects what happens in real life, when people in your life suddenly disappear and there's no good reason why. They're just not there anymore.
"They've been killed; they've disappeared; they've run away. Whatever it might be, they're just not there, and they leave a hole in your life, a wound. I feel that her loss was a kind of wound that's still felt by me and the audience."
It was well into the third season before the Mutant X team learned that Kane was not dead, but in hiding.
"When producer Peter Mohan and I talked about how I might come back and how interesting it might be, the idea was to have disappeared for a good reason," Shea explains. "That is, I had been underground, doing investigations about the threats that were out there for all of us.
"The only way to do that was to fake my own death. In doing that, I've gone into deep cover. I discovered things that I will now reveal over the next six episodes. The show has this paranoid world view that reflects the paranoid world we live in, where there's secret cells of al-Qaida in your corner grocery."
Adam's disappearance coincided with the arrival of new team member Lexa Pierce (Karen Cliche), a mutant who can bend light, and who has her own personal history with Adam. The team hardly welcomed her with open arms.
"What Peter is reflecting in the writing," Shea says, "is the fact that it's very difficult to know who to trust in this day and age. That's one of the things Peter and I talked about. There's this new team member, Lexa Pierce. They don't know if they can trust her or not; she doesn't know if she can trust him.
"With Adam gone, there's no kind of moral compass. They're on their own. When he does come back, it's 'Why was he gone? Can we trust what he's saying? Why did he abandon us?' It's all the feelings of betrayal that people have."
Shea made his feature writing and directing debut in 1998 with the gritty Boston-set drama "Southie," starring Donnie Wahlberg ("Boomtown") and Rose McGowan ("Charmed").
Under "it's a small world after all," McGowan's boss on "Charmed" is executive producer Brad Kern, who cut his genre teeth as a writer in the 1990s on "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," which featured Shea as the Man of Steel's nemesis, Lex Luthor.
"One of the reasons I wanted to do 'Lois & Clark,' " Shea says, "is because of the action-adventure and special-effects aspects of it. So I've had a tremendous education.
"The last episode of 'Mutant X' we shot, the last 20 minutes of the film were all CGI, so it's sort of like shooting 'Lord of the Rings.' We're acting in sets that aren't really there and talking to people that aren't really there. I feel like I'm plugged into where the future of film and television is going."
Shea also keeps a weather eye on the newest incarnation of Superman, The WB's "Smallville," and on the small screen's current Lex Luthor.
"I met Michael Rosenbaum in London this past summer," Shea recalls. "We were both there as part of a big sci-fi convention. I had a great time with him, and he and I hatched a lot of possible scenarios where we could come back together [on 'Smallville']. I'd like to work with him. He's a great guy."
Right now, Shea is reading pilots and working on a new feature project, tentatively titled "The Junkie Priest," about Father Dan Egan, a Franciscan friar who battled drug and alcohol addiction in New York. It's unsure whether he'll return to 'Mutant X' for its fourth season.
"That remains to be seen," he says. "Let's put it this way, I would like to go back, because season three ends on another very cool cliffhanger.
"I'm not under contract with them, but I feel like I'm under contract with the audience. I wouldn't want to be left at the altar. So I would like to go back and shoot some episodes that would resolve that character arc, do it in an artistic and intelligent fashion, so that people weren't just left hanging.]
The link is: tv.zap2it.com
It's under features.
[ 'Mutant X's' John Shea Goes West
By Kate O'Hare
After apparently returning from the dead on the syndicated science-fiction series "Mutant X," actor John Shea is experiencing a resurrection of sorts in other areas of his life.
The long-time New York resident temporarily has left Gotham behind for the golden shores of Southern California.
"Over the years, I've lived in L.A. many, many times," he says. "But this is the first time I've lived in Venice. I'm right on the Boardwalk. It's so cool.
"There's this great world outside the windows. As I talk to you, I'm looking out over the ocean. Then there's this parade of characters that marches below on the Boardwalk. It reminds me of New York.
"I've just been on the East Coast. From the stage in New York, I went to Toronto to do 'Mutant X.' Now, with 'Mutant X' finishing up its third season, I thought it was time to return to L.A. I'm feeling like I'm being reborn here."
Shea spent two seasons as a regular in "Mutant X," playing Adam Kane, a genetic scientist protecting a group of his mutant creations from his former employer, now determined to hunt them down. The original cast included Victoria Pratt, Victor Webster, Forbes March and Lauren Lee Smith.
At the end of season two, the destruction of a genetic lab left Smith's character, telepathic mutant Emma DeLauro, dead, and Kane missing.
"I was very sad," Shea says about Smith being dropped from the cast. "I loved her. On the other hand, in the world of 'Mutant X,' anything can happen. It's like in real life -- now you see them, now you don't. That shock that everyone felt when that happened reflects what happens in real life, when people in your life suddenly disappear and there's no good reason why. They're just not there anymore.
"They've been killed; they've disappeared; they've run away. Whatever it might be, they're just not there, and they leave a hole in your life, a wound. I feel that her loss was a kind of wound that's still felt by me and the audience."
It was well into the third season before the Mutant X team learned that Kane was not dead, but in hiding.
"When producer Peter Mohan and I talked about how I might come back and how interesting it might be, the idea was to have disappeared for a good reason," Shea explains. "That is, I had been underground, doing investigations about the threats that were out there for all of us.
"The only way to do that was to fake my own death. In doing that, I've gone into deep cover. I discovered things that I will now reveal over the next six episodes. The show has this paranoid world view that reflects the paranoid world we live in, where there's secret cells of al-Qaida in your corner grocery."
Adam's disappearance coincided with the arrival of new team member Lexa Pierce (Karen Cliche), a mutant who can bend light, and who has her own personal history with Adam. The team hardly welcomed her with open arms.
"What Peter is reflecting in the writing," Shea says, "is the fact that it's very difficult to know who to trust in this day and age. That's one of the things Peter and I talked about. There's this new team member, Lexa Pierce. They don't know if they can trust her or not; she doesn't know if she can trust him.
"With Adam gone, there's no kind of moral compass. They're on their own. When he does come back, it's 'Why was he gone? Can we trust what he's saying? Why did he abandon us?' It's all the feelings of betrayal that people have."
Shea made his feature writing and directing debut in 1998 with the gritty Boston-set drama "Southie," starring Donnie Wahlberg ("Boomtown") and Rose McGowan ("Charmed").
Under "it's a small world after all," McGowan's boss on "Charmed" is executive producer Brad Kern, who cut his genre teeth as a writer in the 1990s on "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," which featured Shea as the Man of Steel's nemesis, Lex Luthor.
"One of the reasons I wanted to do 'Lois & Clark,' " Shea says, "is because of the action-adventure and special-effects aspects of it. So I've had a tremendous education.
"The last episode of 'Mutant X' we shot, the last 20 minutes of the film were all CGI, so it's sort of like shooting 'Lord of the Rings.' We're acting in sets that aren't really there and talking to people that aren't really there. I feel like I'm plugged into where the future of film and television is going."
Shea also keeps a weather eye on the newest incarnation of Superman, The WB's "Smallville," and on the small screen's current Lex Luthor.
"I met Michael Rosenbaum in London this past summer," Shea recalls. "We were both there as part of a big sci-fi convention. I had a great time with him, and he and I hatched a lot of possible scenarios where we could come back together [on 'Smallville']. I'd like to work with him. He's a great guy."
Right now, Shea is reading pilots and working on a new feature project, tentatively titled "The Junkie Priest," about Father Dan Egan, a Franciscan friar who battled drug and alcohol addiction in New York. It's unsure whether he'll return to 'Mutant X' for its fourth season.
"That remains to be seen," he says. "Let's put it this way, I would like to go back, because season three ends on another very cool cliffhanger.
"I'm not under contract with them, but I feel like I'm under contract with the audience. I wouldn't want to be left at the altar. So I would like to go back and shoot some episodes that would resolve that character arc, do it in an artistic and intelligent fashion, so that people weren't just left hanging.]
The link is: tv.zap2it.com
It's under features.
