Issue 5, August 2011 OSCK MAGAZINE 53
we tee it up that there’s an initial interest between these two and it starts the clock ticking in the audiences mind about when this is
threat is very present but you don’t want it to be so bleak that it turns off viewers who are tuning in to watch more of a drama than a genre show.
And as we were shooting the episodes we were always conscious of the fact that we hadn’t really advanced this relationship at all. So we’d write scene’s where I would be on guard duty and she’d bring me a sandwich and we’d start talking about whatever and suddenly it would get a little romantic.
But by the same token there’s a science fiction audience out there that I think the network would very much like to attract that is coming with the expectation that this is going to have a lot of epic battle sequences and be a fairly dark and violent show.
going to get consummated.
And as we rehearsed them or talked them through it seems like it immediately dissipated the tension and level of credibility for the world that we were trying to establish and that we hadn’t earned that moment yet. And then it kind of stuck out like a sore thumb as an obvious (beat) in the television show so we cut it. And instead we would play it out probably more closer to the way it would realistically play out which is, yes, there’s an interest from opposite sides of the room but these are two very busy people who have to get back to work. And, as the season progressed and we finally got into the final episode there was a moment that seemed truly earned, very kind of romantic and I think it became incredibly satisfying to have it (pace) out that way. Question (cont…) how edgy it was going to be? Noah Wyle: Oh yes, that was the parallel I was trying to draw which is…It’s a fine line to walk because you want to create a world where
So it’s going back and forth between the two. It’s having moments of humanity and hope and humor punctuated by moments of terror and action and then how we move on from there and get back to the moments of humanity, hope and humor before the next attack comes. But by the same token there’s a science fiction audience out there that I think the network would very much like to attract that is coming with the expectation that this is going to have a lot of epic battle sequences and be a fairly dark and violent show. So it’s going back and forth between the two. It’s having moments of humanity and hope and humor punctuated by moments of terror and action and then how we move on from there and get back to the moments of humanity, hope and humor before the next attack comes. I don’t think it’s going to get much more gratuitously violent than episodes we’ve already shot. I don’t think that that’s in the words but I don’t think we really want to paint the rosier picture of the world prematurely either.
Question: Your approach to Dr. glass, how is it different from your first other – other science fiction characters — because like you said you’re not the action character this time, you’re not the girl with the gun, you’re more of a nurturing type — and how is that playing into the tension that we’re starting to see in the first couple of episodes between Dr. Glass and Captain Weaver? Moon Bloodgood: Oh yes, let me just tell you that scene that I got to do with Will in the beginning is one of my favorites; I just – I love working with Will Patton. I loved being able to humbly be the voice of the civilians, because I’m not just a doctor but I’m their – they have my ears. I’m dealing with then, they’re the ones we’re fighting for and I have to remind, you know, Will Patton’s character of that — that this is what’s important, don’t lose sight of that in your need to protect your fighters, remember what the cause is and humanity is the most paramount thing. And in playing a role as a pediatrician — which is what Anne Glass was — I was certainly a doctor who is capable but in over my head. So I prepared but I also wanted to seem like I was a little out of my element because then when I am (deharnessing) kids and, you know, performing surgeries and I’m just way out of my element. Question: (“Falling Skies”) brings lot to the table, there’s a little something for everybody; you know, it’s not exactly a sci-fi film, it’s a drama, it’s a love story,
it’s a family film, you know, it’s so many different things. What was some of the things that really, really attracted you to it? Moon Bloodgood: That, you know — doing something that is not just one dimensional; it’s science fiction but it’s human tragedy, it’s different diverse characters interwoven together and trying it kind of find their humanity and live any kind of normalcy and readjust to the new world that’s changed completely from the world that they know. So I think I want to do projects – I mean I was also drawn to playing a doctor and it’s something I’d never done, I’d played a nurse before but it has to be – you know, and I’d have to have a gun on my leg and be running around and doing stunts, though I love that to death. I wanted to do something more cerebral and that I got to be a little softer and I thought that was a more fun place for me to be in this, you know, in this time in my life.
************ “Falling Skies” was the cable’s #1 new drama series to premiere this summer on TNT. If you missed seeing the series it’s available for purchase on iTunes or you can watch episodes online at http://www.TNT.TV “Falling Skies” will return next summer for it’s second season. Renewal press release is available on the next page.