Change is in the wind for Eureka's Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson). Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of the Syfy Channel.
Every so often we take a wrong turn in life, but sometimes that unintentional detour is just what we need. It was four years ago that U.S. Marshall Jack Carter and his teenage daughter Zoe got lost and ended up in a little Pacific Northwest town called Eureka, which boasts a population that includes some of the world's most brilliant scientific minds. Little did Carter and his daughter know that this would soon become their new home, with Jack taking over as town sheriff. Our handsome hero was initially somewhat reticent about relocating, but as Colin Ferguson, who plays Eureka's Jack Carter, explains, that is all in the past.
"In season one, he didn't want to be part of any type of society or community," says Ferguson, speaking from the show's Vancouver set during a break in filming. "Jack was pretty much a lone gunman and kind of doing his own thing. He wasn't even really a part of his own family, other than in name, but over the past few years we've seen my character progress and truly embrace being a father. I guess that his canvas just got bigger, first off to where he wanted to be a part of his daughter Zoe's [Jordan Hinson] life, and from there, wanting to be part of a community.
"Now this [fourth] year, Jack is reaching out if you will, personally and wanting to be part of a relationship, and hopefully achieving that. So he has relaxed a great deal when it comes to his insecurities, and as much as the town of Eureka has benefited by his presence, he's benefited from being a part of the town."
At the end of Eureka's third season, Jack Carter's personal life was turned upside-down, and, surprisingly, it was not the result of any scientific mishap, which is sometimes the case. His daughter Zoe was accepted to Harvard University, while Jack's new romantic interest and temporary head of Global Dynamics, Tess Fontana (Jaime Ray Newman), accepted a new job in Australia.
In the season four opener, Founder's Day, Jack is trying to get used to Zoe being away from home as well as deal with a shift in his relationship with Tess, when he is taken out of his comfort zone yet again, physically and emotionally, and has to adjust accordingly. As for Ferguson, he was eager to dust off his sheriff's badge and get back to work.
Fargo (Neil Grayston), Allison (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) and Jack (Colin Ferguson) prepare for Founder's Day. Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of the Syfy Channel.
"We'd had a 14-month hiatus, and when you've had that much time off you're a little rusty right out of the gate, you know, but also really fresh," he notes. "One of the best things about this year is that we've got a new show runner, Bruce Miller [writer/co-executive producer]. So he and Jaime Paglia [series co-creator/executive producer] are running the show and they're doing such an amazing job. It's so nice, so calm, the scripts are ready way in advance and this season is more fun than ever before. And by that I mean everyone seems to have bigger ideas, there are crazier [plot] turns and just wonderful bizarre stuff happening story-wise.
"With the season opener, what I've basically been telling people is that something cataclysmic happens and you assume it's one of those things that sort of gets swept under the carpet, and our characters will right the ship and it'll all turn out fine. But they don't, and the writers stuck with it for the entire season. It's really interesting as well as bold and I was shocked that the network agreed to do it. We're just wrapping that storyline up now in the episode we're filming at the moment [the mid-season finale I'll Be Seeing You], and it's been a blast carrying that idea through nine or ten episodes.
"Regarding Jack, specifically, this year he's faced with Zoe not being around, but we get Jordan back for a bunch of episodes, and although her character has moved on in terms of her life, Zoe's presence on the program is as deep as ever. She, of course, is at Harvard, and Jack visits her there, and then she comes back to Eureka for a couple of weeks. And I guess I can also say that progress is made towards the long term Jack/Allison [Salli Richardson-Whitfield] plotline, so that's been terrific and I've enjoyed approaching that in a proper manner."
In the opening teaser of Founder's Day, Jack crosses paths with Dr. Trevor Grant (James Callis), a theoretical physicist and onetime resident of Eureka. A supposed "accident" has brought Grant back to town, which has changed quite a bit since he was last there, and it seems that he will be a part of our characters' lives for the foreseeable future. The scientist's presence is cause for some consternation on Jack's part, especially given Grant's eye for the ladies, including Allison.
"Jack and Grant get off to a bit of an antagonistic start," reveals Ferguson, "and then we sort of go away from that, come back to it, go away from it again, etc. With the two of them and Allison, it becomes a triangle. Grant is a catalyst, a speed bump and an obstacle - his presence is all those things that it should be in relation to Jack's and Allison's relationship. As far as how things end with Grant, they definitely end, how shall I say, the way they should. I wish I could say more, but I can't without blowing it all," says the actor with a chuckle.
Jack (Colin Ferguson) and Dr. Trevor Grant (James Callis). Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of the Syfy Channel.
"I can tell you that James Callis is great. He's one of the members of the Battlestar Galactica cast who we met first. James has always extended himself and always been very generous and embracing. So we were all familiar with his energy as well as his personality and who he is. On top of that, he's a terrific actor, so James has been a really easy fit to this show."
Along with Jack, Allison and Dr. Grant, both Henry Deacon (Joe Morton) and Deputy Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra) are among those caught up in events that have altered their lives as well this season on Eureka. "Henry has always been Jack's best friend in town and that doesn't change," says Ferguson. "And Joe Morton is such a rock solid guy that it's really easy to play those scenes with him, and a pleasure, too.
"With me and Erica, our two characters actually get much closer this year when Jack and Lupo start living together. Something happens to Jo's house and she ends up having to move in with my character. We've had a blast doing those [domestic] scenes because we've constantly played the antagonistic brother/sister-type thing between Jack and Lupo, so to play the friendly aspects have made for a nice change."
As in the past, Ferguson together with the rest of the Eureka cast and crew have ventured beyond the studio lot to do some filming for season four. "There's a physically grueling episode called Momstrosity where we were shooting out in the forest all night for weeks," recalls the actor. "We worked nights filming outside for a couple of weeks as well on Founder's Day and it was a living hell. It was freezing, we were soaked, the bugs were out - not exactly my idea of a good time," jokes Ferguson. "That said, the CGI [computer-generated imaging] in that first episode is unreal. The guys at Zoic Studios [the California-based visual effects company] are that talented."
This season, Eureka teams up with another hugely successful Syfy Channel series, Warehouse 13, to do two crossover episodes. In the Warehouse 13 episode, 13.1, Fargo (Neil Grayston) treks over to that show's secret government facility, while in the season four Eureka story Crossing Over, Warehouse 13's Allison Scagliotti's character of Claudia Donovan pays a visit to the scientific haven. For Ferguson, it was like old home week when it came to this exchange of talent and storylines.
Jack (Colin Ferguson) and Allison Blake (Salli Richardson-Whitfield). Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of the Syfy Channel.
"I've known Eddie McClintock [Agent Pete Lattimer] and Jack Kenny, the Warehouse 13 show runner, for years," says the actor. "I worked with JoJo [Joanne Kelly, who plays Agent Myka Bering] as well years ago. Also, Saul Rubinek [Artie Nielsen] guest-starred on our show - he was in the [season one] episode Invincible - so I feel like I know their program, and it's not dissimilar in tone to Eureka.
"The only person from that series who I hadn't met was Allison, so she came over to us and we all had a ball. It helped, too, that Neil had established a working relationship with her, having done the Warehouse 13 episode. As far as the episode itself, it's just like a normal Eureka episode in that we didn't want it to look too much like a set piece. They [the writers] made Allison's character a good fit. Claudia is spunky and she gets the job done, but at the same time our characters are trying to keep certain things from her. Claudia can't see everything, so it was a lot of fun to shoot."
Last year, Ferguson had the opportunity to step behind the Eureka cameras to direct the episode Your Face or Mine. He did so once again this season with The Story of O2. "This time around they [the producers] put me in the middle of the shooting schedule as opposed to the front, so I didn't have as much time to prep," says Ferguson. "I'm good at flying by the seat of my pants, but ideally I prefer to have the prep. Syfy, however, is very happy with the episode as well as the TV movie I directed for them last summer, and they've asked me to direct other series for them, so that's good. It's a nice gesture. Actually, it's more than that; it's a nice vote of confidence on their part for me."
With that prior directing experience under his belt, did the actor find it easier to direct Eureka this season? "Definitely," he says. "Having directed that movie in Bulgaria, which was a two-hour format, with a crew I'd never worked with before and in a country where I don't speak the language, I really felt bulletproof by the time I came back into this year's Eureka episode.
"It's the little things you realize, like, 'Oh, I can think in terms of two cameras,' where I wasn't really doing that with the first episode I directed. You find your knowledge of gear, including lenses, gets better, too, as does knowing what you need and what you don't. Again, I was flying by the seat of my pants on some days, but it was all good."
Henry Deacon (Joe Morton), Allison (Salli Richardson-Whitfield), Fargo (Neil Grayston), Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra) and Jack (Colin Ferguson) in "Founder's Day." Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of the Syfy Channel.
As the actor already mentioned, he spent part of last summer directing the Syfy Channel movie Fossils in Bulgaria, and prior to that, Ferguson starred in another upcoming Syfy TV movie Lake Placid 3, British actress Kirsty Mitchell plays his wife in that film, and the two were reunited for the filming of Fossils. "Kirsty is just a top-notch actress and was by far the highlight of working on both projects," enthuses Ferguson. "In fact, she was so good in Lake Placid 3, that we cast her as the wife in Fossils.
"I loved directing in Bulgaria. It's the Wild West over there, and by that I mean it's like it was here back in the 70s. There are rules as far as the filming process, but if you know who to talk to, it all works out, and I really enjoyed that. Sometimes we're so over-regulated in Los Angeles, whereas over there, if you're trying to get something done and it's something that you know isn't a problem, they'll go, 'OK, we understand what you're trying to do. That's fine.' They still have that sort of mentality here in Canada, too, but I sometimes find in LA that you have to get a permit for everything, and they do not waver."
Given a choice between acting and directing, does Ferguson have a preference? "It's sort of like the difference between a scientist and a professional athlete," he muses. "When you're an actor and in every scene all day long, that's a physical drain and it can take its toll, whereas with directing, you tend to just get mentally drained. Again, they're very, very different and I love them both."
Over a half-hour has passed and the actor is being called back to set to carry on filming. While some in his position might consider resting on his or her acting laurels and coast through scene after scene in order to finish another working day, Ferguson resists such temptation.
"The [acting] challenge with something like this is to keep it fresh," he says. "It's the same with any role, even the first time you do it, but after 50 episodes you start to think, 'Hmm, everyone sort of knows what's going to happen; this is how we shoot this, this is how we shoot that.' So you kind of have to break it apart sometimes and say, 'Let's rethink this. Let's put a new spin on things.' We've got to try to keep it fresh, even in the littlest ways, so it doesn't become rote."
Season four of Eureka premieres Friday, July 9th @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on the Syfy Channel.
Steve Eramo
As noted above, all photos by Eike Schroter and copyright of the Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
errrrrrrmmmm Jack's love interest in Season 3.5 was Tess Fontana NOT Tess Harper!
Posted by: alicia | 09/03/2010 at 08:02 PM
Noted (and corrected). Thanks for that shout-out!
Posted by: SciFiAndTvTalk | 09/03/2010 at 09:52 PM