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Let’s start off with a little bit about
your character, Malcolm.
Yeah, I play this type of guy from time to time… just the fun lovin’
chubby dude. But I don’t normally get to go to these depths, which was really cool. So, it was easy to step
in, but it was fun to flesh out.
Were you able to add a little bit of your own personality into the character?
What I brought to the audition is what they wanted to see; I think you have to fuse some personality into it to keep
it grounded.
What would you say was your favorite scene to film?
A fun one to shoot
was probably where Mr. Wellington… I was sitting with him on the couch and then Sully runs by covered in feathers.
[laughs] That was a fun one to shoot. Probably my favorite scene though… looking back as emotional stuff was
probably Booth’s death… and maybe returning to his grave.
 The money that your character found on the boat; did you have any idea what it was for at the time you shot that scene?
I think we thought it was just drug money; I don’t think Malcolm would have done it if that was honest money…
I think he figured that nobody gets hurt this way. I don’t think there was any malicious intent in that money;
it just happened to be there – if we don’t take it then somebody else is going to grab it… or it’s
going to go to the bottom of the sea – or the Feds are going to get it and it’s just going to go into a holding
cell. I really justified that, didn’t I? [laughs]
Did you watch the whole series as it
aired on TV?
Yeah, I did.
Did you have a big gathering for your final episode?
We just had some family and friends around – it was a pretty big gathering. Sean and I had watched a couple
together – the guy who played Booth. We watched one episode together; which was really nice because most of them
are back in L.A. and there’s only a few of us here in Vancouver – so it was nice to be able to watch at least
one with a Harper’s Alumni.
What were your friends and family’s reaction to your death scene?
Pretty shocking.
[laughs] I think that I had one of the better death scenes in terms of gore and being explicit. On the DVD I think they’re
actually going to show the footage of the head; I may be wrong about that, but that’s what I heard. You will actually
get to see a severed hand going into the fire and then my actual severed head; which we took a long time to make that head.
I think it was pretty expensive too; so it would be a real shame if it never made it.
Did they mold your
hand as well?
No, they just used a stunt hand because it just goes past the camera, but the head…
they cover you in this gel and basically you get one sense at a time… so basically they put it over your ear so you
can’t hear… puts it over your eyes… then it starts going over your mouth; they actually had to get the
gel inside of my mouth because I had an open mouth expression. Then he starts putting it on my nose, and there was one
tiny second where I had a super panic attack when the stuff was just dripping down my nostrils… so it was a grueling
process; I really do hope that they put it in. I’m pretty sure they are.
So I’m assuming
that you’re very happy with your death scene.
Oh, yeah. There’s some good deaths and
I think mine… with that stuff it should make it good.
Yeah, I think it would be top five at least.
Yeah, who was your favorite?
I like Cal and Chloe’s obviously; Victor’s [Hunter]…
Yeah, that was pretty cool. You know who else I liked? Booth’s… he shot himself… it
was just a wicked turn.
And perfect for his character too.
[laughs] It was totally
perfect for his character… [laughs]
How did they approach you to let you know you’d be the
next one to die?
I got a phone call. He phoned… and I didn’t pick up. [laughs]
I phoned back and he said “Are you sitting down?” – I pretty much knew then. I said “Give it
to me straight, doc” – but all of us went into the show with the knowledge that we were all going to get axed
sooner or later.
And you got a pretty good run out of it.
I think I got seven episodes
out of it. I expected to go way earlier; with the way that my character was. Jon Turteltaub was very cryptic about who was going; he would walk by and say “You know, it could be a bigger guy who’s the
killer.” He was basically planting the seed in everybody’s head just to get you to play that edge a little
bit.
Could you see your time coming to an end as you read the scripts?
When I took
the money; that’s when I knew. But there was another plotline that they didn’t have; I don’t know
if they’re going to have it on the DVD, but there was a relationship between Beth and I. Which would be really
neat to be able to see that; it was some pretty charming stuff.
Yeah, there’s that one scene where
Beth comes to your room door… and that’s all we see.
Yeah, that’s right – that
was the result of all this stuff. On the scavenger hunt when we had to go around to the bar and museum… her and
I were walking together on the hunt, and we ended up bonding in that scene. So, it would be really nice to see that
on the DVD – add a little depth to both of our characters.
Another great thing you were in this year
was Watchmen. How did you get involved with that?
Yeah, that was really cool. I had heard of it
coming to Vancouver for a long time – I was super stoked. I didn’t pursue my agent to get on it or anything
– it just came to me as any other would. My friends had auditioned for some of the other parts in it; Matt Frewer, whom I worked with on "Eureka" was in it as well. It was fabulous; I got a call for the audition… it was great; working with Zack Snyder was
awesome. I filmed my scenes towards the middle; so he wasn’t bogged down by the heaviness of this big budget picture.
It was just so fun to be there and do that.
Did your character have more screen time that we didn’t
see?
That’s pretty much it; it’s fairly true to the graphic novel… the scene was extended
in the graphic novel at the end, but this is how it was scripted and how it was going to play out.
What
else are you working on right now?
I did an episode of "Sanctuary" – and I did a pilot called Health Nuts; which basically takes place in North Vancouver and is with these guys
opening up a health food store. And you can also see me in "Smallville" coming up; I play the Toyman once again. So I’m back to that evil bastard again.
How
did you get involved with Smallville and playing Toyman?
I was in the audition room – it was very
hush, hush… they didn’t have his actual name; I think they called him Mike Plot – or something like that.
So we worked the character, and basically I didn’t find out until a couple of days before that he was the Toyman.
Then I got the call and we got the costume fitted; the costume really helped – when we were filming they would say “A
little creepier, a little creepier… talk to your toys” – it worked out really well, it was so much fun.
It was a blast playing someone like that; a total sociopath – and a villain who has no superhuman powers… so
on Smallville that’s a pretty big deal. You’re relying on your zaniness and your sociopathic tendencies.
[laughs] So it was very cool to get to go back to do that again, and I hope there’s going to be more.
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