Showtime's new sci-fi adventure series JEREMIAH follows the title character's journey as he searches for his father in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world. Luke Perry and Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who star as Jeremiah and his partner Kurdy, continue their talk about the new show today.
Kurdy (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) is often the comic relief in JEREMIAH
© 2002 Showtime
Kurdy has an internal struggle to face as the series progresses.
"Jeremiah is the character that wants to help everybody, so as we go on we see Kurdy's inner conflict," says Warner. "Everybody's problems [are] not his problems; still he's compelled to help. He didn't ask to be the guy on the white horse."
When our heroes return to home base at Thunder Mountain, viewers will meet another member of the team in the person of actor Peter Stebbings, who compares his character, Marcus Alexander, to some familiar leaders from film and television past.
"I think of him as a cross between Col. Kurtz from APOCALYPSE NOW and Patrick Stewart from STAR TREK," says Stebbings. "Patrick Stewart is my patron saint because he delivered his exposition so perfectly in that show, and he had the sensitivity of a great leader. Where Marcus Alexander is not like Patrick in that he's less sure of himself he waxes more philosophical, he's younger but there's an inherent kind of wisdom. I dig it. I have a lot of fun playing him."
Kim Hawthorne plays Theo, the Tina Turner-esque monarch of a "barter town" in JEREMIAH
© 2002 Showtime
Stebbings will be appearing in more than half of the first season's episodes, and some mystery surrounds his role in the unfolding mythology of JEREMIAH.
"Not that I can talk about, but there are some great surprises," says Stebbings. "This show, if nothing else, is always a complete page turner. I always read the scripts going, 'S**t, what's going to happen next?'"
Stebbings also offers some insight into the complex production that requires the show to shoot two versions of some scenes for cable and eventual syndication.
"There's a moment, for example, where Luke Perry flips the bird in response to something, and then they go, 'Keep rolling, we're going to take that again,'" says Stebbings. "Then he delivers his straight version. So we shoot two versions, but even for public television, I think it's an edgy show. It's a tough show. It's dark, and yet there's all this humor and lightness to it."
Stebbings' role is limited mostly to interiors, but when he ventures outside of the Thunder Mountain compound, watch out.
"The next time I go outside, I suffer tremendously," says Stebbings. "I go outside again two or three times before the end of the season. But every time, it's bad news. I get into trouble."
As an adult, Jeremiah searches for both his father and the mysterious Valhalla Sector
© 2002 Showtime
While Marcus Alexander faces peril in the sunlight, Luke Perry has his hands full both in front of and behind the camera. Perry is not only the star, but a producer of the series as well.
"It's not unlike when Isaiah Thomas was playing for the Pistons," says Perry, utilizing a sports analogy. "When I'm on the court, I call it out, and they do what I say. That's the only way I can play. I've done so much television at this point that I have to equate it to basketball. I can see all the picks they're setting. I can see the floor. I like to pass the ball, but I can only do that if I can run the floor, if I'm executive producer and I can say, 'No, put it there, do this, I'll walk there.'"
Perry's desire to call the shots extends to exploring the boundaries of cable television as well.
"I always want to push it," says Perry. "They say 'less,' I say 'more.' They say 'slower,' I say 'faster.' I like tighter shots. I want to utilize the fact that we're on cable television, not just with nudity and profanity, but you can really take angles on subject matter and approach them in an intelligent way because you're not held back by the standards and practices of a network. If we roll up our sleeves we can get dirty. And I want to do that."
Ultimately, however, JEREMIAH will face the censor's scissors when it heads into syndication, but Perry isn't concerned with that particular future.
"I think ideally that would be the plan for MGM," says Perry. "But I don't think about it. I just make them."
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