Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Kevin Kilner (Earth: Final Conflict)

 
Stage, feature film and TV actor Kevin Kilner.

In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, actor Kevin Kilner discusses his initial reservations about accepting the role of William Boone in Earth: Final Conflict.

Committing to series television was a big decision for Kevin Kilner, who had just completed work on the feature films Music from Another Room with Brenda Blethyn and Martha Plimpton and Home Alone 3.  “I was flying back and forth between Chicago and Los Angeles to work on these films when my agent called me one day and said, ‘There’s a new program that Gene Roddenberry wrote back in 1976.  His wife [Majel Barrett Roddenberry] has found the pilot script for it and they’re going to make a series out of it.  I’ve read it and I can’t get you out of my mind. I keep thinking that this guy, William Boone, is you.’

“I was and always am willing to read anything,” he says, “but I had just finished a very uncomfortable ending to the sitcom Almost Perfect. It had been a situation where CBS wanted my costar Nancy Travis to become a single woman, much against the wishes of Paramount Television and the show’s writers. Nancy is so wonderful and all the actors I worked with on the show were terrific, as was the crew. It was a pleasure to go to work and to have had it all end like that after working so hard was a disappointment as well as somewhat painful. I thought, ‘God, if a combination of talent and writing like that can’t work, then the hell with television.’ ”

Kilner was contemplating accepting a role on another film project when he met with Earth: Final Conflict executive producer David Kirschner and the show’s co-executive producer Paul Gertz to talk about the series. The actor asked a lot of questions and was impressed with the answers he was getting. Prior to their meeting Kilner had read up on Kirschner’s work on such projects as Steven Spielberg’s smash hit An American Tail and the live action/animated fantasy The Pagemaster. He was eager to work with such a talented individual but still had some doubts about joining a series so soon after Almost Perfect.

“David invited me to his home to talk with me more personally about the show,” says Kilner. “To be honest, I loved the character that Gene had created as well as the idea that he had of, ‘What would we really do? What would happen if an alien species arrived on Earth and began solving all of our problems?’ It’s a wonderful philosophical question of, ‘If all your struggles are taken away, what would happen to the human animal?’ I went home and talked everything over with my girlfriend, Jordan Black, who’s an actress. I knew the series would be shot in Toronto [Canada] and because Jordan’s career is between Los Angeles and New York I also realized that if I accepted it would be very hard on our relationship. It was difficult but I called up David and said, ‘I don’t think I can do this. If I did it would destroy something that is very important to me.’ ”

After spending a month searching for an actor to play Boone, the show’s producers came back to Kilner. Besides helping to develop his character, Kirschner also told the actor that he wanted him to be involved in the storywriting process and, eventually, direct an episode if he wanted. With some gentle persuasion by his manager, his agent, and, of course, his girlfriend, he accepted the role. “When they called me I was up on the roof of our house helping the roofers. Jordan yelled up to me, ‘They want you for this role.’ I yelled back, ‘Great! Just let me finish laying the insulation.’ One day you’re fixing your roof and the next day you’re helping to lead an alien resistance force,” he laughs.

Steve Eramo

Comments

[MK]

September, 2012 - There was so much disappointment when Kevin left "Earth:..." so I thought I'd let people know that he will be in a production of "An Enemy Of The People" by Ibsen at Center Stage in Baltimore, MD, Sept. 28 - Oct. 21, 2012. (He's my cousin...) :)

[SciFiAndTvTalk]

Thanks very much for the information, MK. I just did a posting on the play. Loved Kevin in EFC, and he's a great guy as well!!