Saul Rubinek as Warehouse 13's Artie Nielsen. Photo by Justin Stephens and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
Benjamin Franklin's lightning rod, Harriet Tubman's thimble, Sylvia Plath's typewriter - all relics of bygone eras that would likely end up in a museum, right? Not necessarily, at least not in the world that is Warehouse 13. In this hit Syfy Channel TV series, these and thousands upon thousands of other historical items have been imbued with something of their creators or owners, and in many cases have an adverse affect on anyone who handles them. As a result, these "Artifacts" are kept under lock and key in a top secret government facility called Warehouse 13.
The "caretaker" for this rural South Dakota repository is Dr. Arthur "Artie" Nielsen, a United States Secret Service agent and scientist whose serious and meticulous nature makes him the ideal person for such a job. With the first season of Warehouse 13 under this belt and the second well under way, veteran stage, feature film and TV actor Saul Rubinek has without a doubt made the character his own. However, as comfortable as he has become in Artie's shoes, the actor initially had some concerns about stepping into the role.
"I'm going back two-and-a-half years now, but Jane Espenson, Rockne O'Bannon and a few other people who have since gone on to do other projects, had been involved for quite a while in the development of Warehouse 13," recalls Rubinek. "Then just before the writers' strike, David Simkins [series executive producer] was given the job of writing the pilot. He didn't quite finish in time, though, so the script wasn't completed until the late winter of 2008, and after the strike had ended. Production then began on what was going to be a two-hour pilot, and while they had cast the Myka and Pete roles, they didn't know exactly what type of person they wanted for Artie.
"They were all over the map as far as who would be right age-wise, ethnicity-wise, etc., and the funny thing is, I was never originally up for the role. I had worked with a number of the people at the network and was respected by them, so there was no problem with me as an actor. It was just that character-wise they didn't feel I was right for the part. However, I believe it was Mark Stern - who runs Syfy with David Howe and Bonnie Hammer, and who also works as a top executive for NBC/Universal - who suggested me.
Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Artie (Rubinek) search for a way to reverse the effects of an Artifact that causes rapid aging in season two's "Age Before Beauty." Photo by Steve Wilkie and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
"I had read the script and really liked it. It was magical and full of potential, but the character of Artie wasn't quite there...yet. So I went in to meet with and audition for David Simkins, and I remember saying to him, 'Look, I don't want to be presumptuous. I think the script is great, and it's pretty clear that there are a lot of wonderful actors outside your office right now, any one of whom could play this character. The thing is, you guys don't quite know what you want to do with this role, and I think it's slightly in the writing. However, the direction I want to take it in means that I'd have to improvise, not a lot, just a little bit on what's been written. You're the writer, though, and I don't want to offend you, but I don't know how else to play the part unless I do that.'
"Well, David was very receptive to that. In fact, he's one of the people most responsible for this working out for me, and that's because he was so open to me and my suggestions. Not all writers who work for years on creating a character are going to be like that, but this character wasn't set in stone. They were looking for an actor to being something to it that wasn't on the page. I guess they always are, but in this particular case, perhaps more so.
"So I improvised with Artie in a way that made him less welcoming and less cheerful. I thought that he should have some paranoia as well as a love/hate relationship with the Warehouse, which was already suggested in the script, but I just brought it out a little more. I also brought out the idea that he had another agenda, which wasn't in the script. Artie had other things he was working on. He was distracted, or it might look like he was distracted, but he had bigger fish to fry somewhere else. Artie was a slightly darker character that had a whole other life that did not include welcoming new agents into the Warehouse.
"Ultimately, that's what the network went for, and from there the writers then began to wholeheartedly write for Artie. So I'm in a very lucky situation where I just love playing this character and I'm totally supported in my [acting] choices by David and [executive producer] Jack Kenny, who's the show runner, as well as the wonderful writers and both the network and the studio. In all my experience doing television, I've never seen anything more supportive than NBC/Universal and Syfy are of this program. So I feel blessed, really, to have lucked out and to have found one of the most fun roles I've had in a career spanning 45 to 50 years."
Artie (Rubinek) in season two's "Merge With Caution." Photo by Ken Woroner and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
In the Warehouse 13 pilot, U.S. Secret Service Agents Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) and Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) are assigned to protect the President during an official visit, but an Artifact, specifically an Aztec Bloodstone, complicates matters. Artie Nielsen arrives on the scene to help out, and then just as quickly disappears. Not long after, Pete and Myka are reassigned by the no-nonsense government official Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder) to be Artie's new assistants. Their job is to travel the globe, retrieve objects identified as Artifacts, and bring them back to the Warehouse for safe keeping. Having already gotten a feel for the Artie character, shooting the pilot was a joy for Rubinek.
"I was a child actor, but not a Hollywood child actor," he says. "I was a stage actor for 20 years before I ever worked in front of a camera, and during my early years on stage I did a great deal of children's theater, which was an escape for me to a certain extent. I was an only child and my parents were Holocaust survivors, so I have kind of a dark past in my family. I had a happy childhood, though, and a lot of that is because of the Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, The Snow Queen, Peter Pan world that I was involved in back then while performing amateur children's theater in Ottawa, Ontario.
"Warehouse 13 reminds me of that. This is a Jules Verne-type world that we're in. It's a very imaginative fantasy/adventure that is reminiscent of the types of stories that I helped tell and could disappear into when I was a child. I haven't felt that way about something I've worked on in a long time. If you came to Toronto and visited Artie's office, which is a terrific set designed by Franco De Cotiss, our production designer, you'd see why there's no acting required in a way. You kind of just show up, walk onto that set and imagine you're the character. It really is a beautifully designed show in every way - conceptually and physically.
"So I remember the pilot being magical, and I loved working with Eddie and Joanne, who were and still are great colleagues and brought their own particular idiosyncratic personality to the show. It was rounded out by episode four when the brilliant and wonderful Allison Scagliotti [Claudia Donovan] came on to be kind of a 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' to my character. I also remember the hard work that Jace Alexander did as a director in setting us out on our road. It's been that kind of journey from the very beginning for us actors on the show. It's an amazing adventure thanks to the support that we have in every area. They spend an awful lot of time and money on the show and the audience is the beneficiary of that."
Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) and Artie (Rubinek) work on a resolution to yet another Artifact-related dilemma in "Vendetta." Photo by Steve Wilkie and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
Pete's and Myka's former boss, Agent Daniel Dickenson (Simon Reynolds) is not at all pleased about losing either of them to Warehouse 13, and both agents also have misgivings at first about their reassignment. Artie is none too sure, either, what to expect with Pete and Myka, but an offer of his freshly baked cookies at the end of the pilot helps smooth the way. It has taken time, but they, together with Claudia, have become a family, albeit a slightly dysfunctional one, but a family nevertheless.
"Artie has been at the Warehouse for almost 40 years and watched agents die, disappear, go insane, you name it," explains Rubinek. "He has no other family. So the people who work there become his family, and that's certainly reinforced in spades by Jack Kenny and his writing staff as a concept. We're really making a family comedy/drama that has fantasy elements to it.
"So my character's relationships are to his 'children,' and there's kind of an absent mom in Mrs. Frederic and a dad, Artie, who is obsessed by his work and the kids. It really is like that, except that the stakes are incredibly high; the world could get screwed up, you could die, you could go mad. Artie's job is to make sure that his 'kids' take the place seriously and realize that the stakes are, in fact, so high and that there are certain rules that need to be followed. He knows that only too well, having broken the rules himself. If you remember, my character was called on the carpet last year and kind of put on trial for going after MacPherson [Roger Rees].
"Getting back to the family relationships, those have only further deepened this season. We find out more about Artie's background and his own family problems, why they happened, why he had to change his name and why he ended up kind of going undercover in the Warehouse. His reasons are all connected with a dark past and the things that he had to do when he was younger. That helps further reinforce how much Artie cares for the people who work for him. That's true, though, with all the characters. The writers have really strengthened the family bond between all of them, and that's what makes the audience care about these people. You can do all the imaginative writing that you want, but viewers aren't going to tune in unless they care about the characters, and if we don't care about each other on the show, then it's not going to happen."
Artie (Rubinek) in season two's Warehouse 13/Eureka crossover episode "13.1." Photo by Steve Wilkie and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
"When asked if he has a favorite episode from the first season of Warehouse 13, two immediately spring to Rubinek's mind - Duped and also Claudia, in which Allison Scagliotti makes her debut as Claudia Donovan. "I was really excited about Duped, the story where Myka gets trapped in Louis Carroll's mirror," says the actor. "There were some huge trust issues that had to be resolved, and we were able to do that in an episode that was very imaginative and emotionally resonant for all the characters.
"Claudia also sticks out in my mind, in many ways more than any other episode, because of what happened with that particular character. The introduction of Claudia could have gone any way. I mean, the part could have been cast wrong, it might not have worked, anything could have happened. And the truth is Allison kind of channeled the character, and even though she's so much younger than me, you felt that we'd been working together for years. It was an instant collaboration that has continued and deepened to today. So that was a great experience, and also it was the first episode directed by the amazing Steve Surjik [co-executive producer], so it's memorable to me for that reason, too."
As the actor mentioned, Artie was chastised by his superiors last year when he chose to take matters involving James MacPherson into his own hands. A former Warehouse agent, he was once Artie's partner, but that all changed after he began using Artifacts for his own personal gain. MacPherson's scheme to once again sell Artifacts led to what at first appeared to be a tragedy for our heroes at the end of Warehouse 13's first season cliffhanger finale, MacPherson. The character returned in the year two opener Time Will Tell, only to die at the hands of H.G. Wells (Jaime Murray).
"They had this great idea for a villain and we were very fortunate that Roger Rees, who's such a talented actor and an old friend of Jack Kenny's, agreed to do the show," says Rubinek. "I loved the idea of Artie having a confrere who was a partner to him but who also had a different philosophy about how the Warehouse should be run and the Artifacts used.
Artie (Rubinek) and James MacPherson (Roger Rees) have a tension-filled reunion in season one's "Implosion." Photo by Philippe Bosse and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
"It was a terrific device to further bring out my character as well as show how the mortality of operating in the Warehouse works. It gave you a bit of the Warehouse's history, too,and that will continue this season, as you already know from the introduction of H.G. Wells and Warehouse 12. We'll even go back in time 3,000 years to other Warehouses, and you'll then come to understand even more how the mythology deepens the relationships between the characters and also how it deepens the story of the Artifacts.
"So I loved working on the MacPherson arc because the character was written and performed so brilliantly. He wasn't a black or white character, but rather a very complex one, and Artie truly felt bad that the deep friendship that the two of them shared was going to end. Having said that, even after he finally does die, Artie is 'haunted' in a way by MacPherson, and there's a suggestion that there may be a continuation of that arc because of the watch that Artie finds at the end of the second episode this season [Mild Mannered]."
Along with Roger Rees, Warehouse 13 has once again played host this season to a number of familiar faces when it comes to both guest-star and recurring roles.
"Aside from the fact that our regular cast is great, we've really had some incredible guest stars this year," notes Rubinek, "and personally, working with some of my contemporaries - Rene Auberjonois, Judd Hirsch and Lindsay Wagner - are the three highlights of the season for me. They brought their whole [acting] history along with them and they all had a wonderful time on the show.
Artie (Rubinek), Myka (Joanne Kelly) and Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) come up against a celluoid-based threat in "Beyond Our Control." Photo by Philippe Bosse and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
"That made me proud of our set and our crew, the fact that these very experienced and talented people enjoy doing our show and would like to come back. In fact, Lindsay does just that, and we're hoping Rene and Judd will as well. We've kind of developed an ad hoc repertory company of character actors and actresses, and that's quite wonderful."
Although he had been performing onstage from an early age, it was not until Rubinek was in his mid-to-late 20's that he began acting on film. That was followed in his late 30's by directing, writing and producing. His first significant TV role was a half-hour adaptation of a play called So Who's Goldberg, which aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1975. "That project had me and [comedian] Marty Short, who I knew back in those days, on TV together," says the actor. "It's one of my more memorable projects, and one of the first things I ever did for CBC Television."
Wall Street, Ticket to Heaven, The Singing Detective and Julia are among the actor's feature film credits. On the small screen, Rubinek has appeared in several made-for-TV movies as well as guest-starred or played recurring roles in a number of series including The Equalizer, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue, Lost and Psych. Genre fans will be especially familiar with his work on such shows as The Outer Limits, Eureka, Stargate SG-1 and Star Trek: The Next Generation in the episode The Most Toys.
"I had done theater in the late 70's with Brent Spiner, who played Data in Star Trek, and Tim Bond, an old friend from my children's theater days in Canada, was directing the episode that I did," says Rubinek. "I happened to be in California and was planning to visit the set, but then David Rappaport, the actor who was originally cast in the role that I eventually ended up playing, attempted suicide.
Chris Czarkowski (Vice President - Ad Sales), Allison Scagliotti, Artie Nielsen and Michael Claffey (Director- Ad Sales) at a special Chicago screening to celebrate Warehouse 13's second season. Photo by Stacie Freudenberg and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
"At that point they had shot with David for two or three days, and they asked me to come in and replace him at a moment's notice. I think it might have been Brent who suggested me to them. It was a very difficult and really sad situation, but it was an incredible role and a very memorable one as well. This was another example of me going back to my children's theater days, because the character, who was a collector named Kivas Fajo, was outrageous, and I played him as outrageously as I could. So I got to work with two old friends and play a character that was really out there and delightfully evil."
From Donny Douglas in Frasier to Hasty Hathaway in Jesse Stone and now Artie Nielsen in Warehouse 13, Rubinek has provided and continues to provide audiences with countless hours of entertainment. Having the opportunity to do that is something that the actor does not take for granted.
"I've worked with very talented people who are also fabulously wealthy and famous, and there's usually a factor of luck involved," he says. "But certainly I know just as many people, perhaps more people, who are brilliant talents but who for one reason or another have not had the good fortune to be able to practice their craft and at the same time support themselves along with their family.
"Of course I've had fallow periods like most performers, but look at me, at 62, and just before my 60th birthday, having landed the Warehouse 13 pilot. So,touch wood, I do what I love, I make a living at it, and I can support my family. I'm a very, very lucky man."
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photos by Steve Wilkie, Philippe Bosse, Stacie Freudenberg or Justin Stephens and copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
