Brian J. Smith (as Lt. Matthew Scott) on Stargate Universe. Photo by Art Streiber and copyright of The Syfy Channel.
From an alien spaceship traveling through the deepest regions of outer space to a steam train en route from Istanbul to England, actor Brian J. Smith has had the chance to experience two extremely different fictional worlds over the past year. Currently, he is working on season two of the Syfy Channel's Stargate Universe, playing Lt. Matthew Scott. During the hiatus between the show's first and second seasons, Smith took on the role of Hector MacQueen in a TV adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, a feature-length episode of the long-running ITV Poirot TV series starring David Suchet as the legendary Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
"It was the second time that this story has been done for TV [the first being a 2001 made-for-TV movie]," says Smith, happily taking time to chat in-between takes on SGU's Vancouver set. "I believe they [the show's producers] had wanted to do it for a while, and then a script that they felt was really good finally came along.
"It's funny, I keep becoming involved in franchises, first SGU and now Poirot, that all of a sudden when I come to them are trying to do things a little bit different. What I understood about this TV movie is that they wanted it to be real and gritty. Even though it's set in that specific art deco time and the glory days of the Orient Express, they still wanted the characters to come across as real human beings as opposed to standard or stock murder mystery characters.
"And they sure did take a big departure. The [1974] feature film has a sense of fun and in some ways is like [the board game] Clue. It has almost an element of camp to it, whereas this one does not at all. I mean, this version of Murder on the Orient Express is very dark and doesn't shy away from the disturbing reality of a group of people that have come together to kill someone and how they justify it in their minds. Then on top of that, of course, is how they might try to justify it to someone who has caught them red-handed."
In Murder on the Orient Express, Hercule Poirot boards the Orient Express for home after solving an important case in Palestine. Traveling in the compartment next to him is Samuel Edward Ratchett (Toby Jones), a man hiding a very dark secret. He was once known as Cassetti, a fugitive from the U.S. who, five years earlier, kidnapped three-year-old American heiress Daisy Armstrong. Although a large ransom was paid, Cassetti killed the little girl and fled the country. This tragedy caused further grief and loss for the Armstrong family, all of which could explain why Poirot finds Ratchett/Cassetti stabbed to death the following morning. Among the suspects is Smith's character, Hector MacQueen. Ratchett's secretary and an aspiring actor who was enamored of Sonia Armstrong. Sadly, she died from shock after hearing of her daughter's murder.
"I think most people will remember that Anthony Perkins played Hector MacQueen in the [1974] movie, but the character in our version is closer to the Hector MacQueen that Agatha Christie wrote," notes Smith. "It's interesting to compare him to Lt. Scott on SGU; Hector MacQueen is extremely intelligent, highly educated, speaks fluent French - in fact, he is probably fluent in a couple of languages - and comes from a very, very wealthy family.
"Hector has a very famous lawyer father who was destroyed in the Armstrong case, and yet my character somehow manages to get himself employed by this man, Ratchett, who he wants to kill. So there's a cunning to Hector and a sharpness to the way his mind works. He's fiercely emotional as well. Hector has been wronged, and whereas Lt. Scott is out for redemption, this kid is out for revenge. Again, though, he comes from a very emotional place, and is also very much a child of the time that he grew up in. So Hector carries himself in a different way. He also thinks differently and has his own very distinct rhythm.
"It was fun to do a period piece, put on those clothes, be in those surroundings and try to get into someone else's skin for a little bit. The Scott role starts to feel very comfortable after a while and I'm able to jump in and out of him as I need to. So it was great to show up on another set and be 'scared' out of my wits as an actor starting out in a new role."
Philip Martin, whose credits include Wallander and Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act, directed Smith and the rest of the Orient Express cast. "Philip was among those instrumental in making this very dark version of Agatha Christie's story come to life," says the actor. "He wanted to explore the visceral, almost tribal or animal-like nature underneath the social customs, politeness and pretense of some of the characters. Philip was interested in the 'raw animal' lurking below all that, so the murder scenes were quite graphic and disturbingly done.
"He is just incredibly intelligent and reassuring. Philip was always watching and looking out for you and your performance. Conversely, if he wasn't getting what he needed, Philip wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted out of you as a performer. Philip met with each of us individually for lunch or whatever before we began filming so that we could talk about our character and come to a common understanding of where we wanted to go with it."
The actor expresses similar accolades with regard to Poirot leading man David Suchet. "He is amazing," says Smith. "We had a read-through of the script in London before filming began and he said to us, 'I just want to warn all of you that when we're shooting, I have to be Poirot. It doesn't work for the character or the show if I'm walking around dressed up like him, but still talking like myself.'
"You could talk with David on-set, but he would respond the way Poirot would. He went around with that familiar shuffle that his character has, and being very polite and reserved. At the same time, David is also a beautiful human being, very, very smart, extremely warm and sweet. He will come up to you and ask how you are, where you're from, etc.
"David was very, very kind to me, and generous. He's like a big kid having fun. I don't know how many times I heard him say, 'I'm the luckiest man on Earth because I'm able to be an actor and do this for a living.' For a young actor like me to hear that is cool. It's the same on SGU with Robert Carlyle, Louie Ferreira, Lou Diamond Phillips and Ming-Na. They have a joy as well as humbleness and gratitude about being able to 'play' and make a career out of it."
Steve Eramo
Aa noted above, photo by Art Streiber and copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
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