[inset]
KHC: Robert sat down
with me and we talked about what I wanted. Basically I told him that my
problem in Hollywood has been that I’m a large figure. I don’t fit the
suit, and the roles aren’t really being written for a guy like me. I’m
a very unique type -- very unique look, so we have to create something.
He said "I get it" and he
went away and he did [get it]. In fact, he created an
entire race, which are a very extreme people, which makes them great
fun to play. It really allows me to be all the things that we cannot be
in real life. It’s always the arch characters who don’t have to be politically
or societally correct.
So when you mantle yourself
in the cloak of a character like this you can play out all those extreme
emotions and ideas. There’s a wonderful, fascistic nature to these characters
which we all would love to have at our fingertips. We would all love to
say, "Do it my way dammit, and that’s that." But we can’t. And this character
can, and does. Which is not to say that he’s not conflicted.
SPACE.com: In the
first few episodes we’ve seen
him conflicted several times. When he has choices to make, he’s apparently
siding with Dylan.
[uplink]
KHC: Right now Dylan
is really the last best hope, not only for the Commonwealth, but also for
Tyr. There’s not a whole lot else going on [for Tyr].
Certainly Tyr has goals and
ambitions, but this seems to be the most pragmatic way of reaching them,
even if he has to put up with any amount of ethical, moralistic hogwash,
from his perspective, for a while. And despite himself, these people can’t
help but in some way, grow on him. So, given that he is a thoughtful Nietzschean
and trying to figure out where he sits, this questions of who am I, of
what am I, pop up in his head a lot. And being confronted with these people
on a daily basis, I think he can’t help but sort of grow towards them,
and they towards him on some levels. But there’s always going to be a difference.
Next page: Tyr's evolution
and Shakespeare
~
SPACE.com: How has
Tyr changed from that first luncheon meeting with Robert Wolfe?
KHC: I think that
the writers in general had a difficult time because it is not a character
that you can apply typical human sensibilities to. We’re finding more and
more that he is very human in many ways. They are ostensibly human beings,
the Nietzscheans, but what tended to happen was that the writing initially
was extremely one-dimensional.
As I began to play the character
and maintain a dialogue with [the writers], I tried to make it clear that
you are going to see this character thinking about other things other than
"how can I kill all the crew this week?"
SPACE.com: I notice
you’ve got a Shakespearean background. It strikes me that Tyr’s a very
Shakespearean type of character, almost a king without a country or a prince
who’s going to come into his destiny. What did you bring to the character
from that background?
KHC: Well, that’s
a great question and I’m really thrilled that you would notice that. Purely
from the point of view of building some realistic basis for the character,
my feeling was that Tyr’s entire pride [Nietzschean lingo meaning
his family clan], so far as we know, are destroyed. He is dispossessed
from everything in his past, so, there was a crisis of identity for him
and even at this late date, he’s trying to build, again, this question
of "who am I?" [It] comes up again and again for him.
At this point in time all
Tyr has to be taken seriously, is his might -- is his ability to do harm,
to inflict his will through force and the spoken word. So, he has become
very articulate not so much as a point of pride, but as a way of saying
"This is who I am and I’m going to tell you something once, I’m going to
say it very clearly so there can be no question that you understand me.
You will listen because it’s important that you do because if you don’t,
something bad may happen."
I always look for the Shakespearean
hero in the roles that I play. I look for the characters who express a
great deal of feeling in their words. Who take stock in saying something
beautifully, because there’s so much feeling in it. There’s no other place
to express it for a character like Tyr. There’s not a lot of dancing in
the streets.
He is laughing and smiling
more now because things are a bit more relaxed, he’s becoming more comfortable
with the crew. Yet still so much of what he feels he can only express in
the turn of a phrase.
Next page: required reading,
and how Dylan and Tyr are alike
~
SPACE.com: The story
of Andromeda is one of nation-building, and while Dylan is a good
soldier, I don’t know if he’d make a good king. Do you think that Tyr could
be the kind of leader who can create a consensus between the Magog, the
Than, the Nietzscheans and the humans?
KHC: I think that
between Dylan and Tyr, they have that ability. I don’t think either of
them have it separately to govern. I think they balance each other out
very well and that’s what so interesting to me in the relationship that’s
growing there.
I think certainly Tyr is
looking for his future, for his domain. I think he wants to be a leader
simply because -- and you can read this in Nietzsche and Machiavelli --
being the leader is the comfortable place to be, the safest place. And,
he’s a Nietzschean. He wants his family, he wants his genes carried out.
He and Dylan both are isolated,
separated from the things that they know. You know [Tyr] has this great
survivor’s guilt that he must come to terms with. And, so does Dylan. And,
it is at the heart of the conversations that they have very often. Dylan’s
extreme morality and ethics and Tyr’s pragmatism and force of will [would]
make an extremely potent combination if they can ever learn to work together
and stay together.
SPACE.com: I believe
you are the only actor on Andromeda who has a required reading list.
KHC: [LAUGHS] Yes,
I do. I have these books in my trailer. You have a lot of down time on
this set so when that happens I’ve got this heavy reading. [The problem
is] you end up sleeping after you look at these books. I’ve got Sun Tzu,
Nietzsche, Machiavelli and Darwin. They all say such cogent and wonderful
things about achieving power and maintaining power. Ironically the least
interesting is Nietzsche because he says some very brilliant things but
it’s mired in tons of garbage. Just novels of just blather.
SPACE.com: The German
philosophers needed really good editors.
KHC: Absolutely, ‘cause
they just never shut up. They must have been paid by the word.
SPACE.com: So, how
much of Tyr has started to melt into your life? Are you a little more pragmatic
or ruthless? Are you a little more philosophical than you were when you
were in All My Children?
KHC: The only way
I know how to work is to look into myself for aspects of me that are inherent
in that character and build on those. Tyr is just an extreme, Keith on
steroids, to the Nth degree. I’ll be the first one to admit there’s something
quite Mussolini about me at times. That’s alright, I think it is in all
of us. I have been taught and raised that it is inappropriate to be as
arrogant as Tyr is, but I certainly understand why he does it.
Next page: on being a sex
god
~
SPACE.com: I interviewed
the costumer for Andromeda and she describes your costume as that
of a sex god. What has been the reaction when people see you?
KHC: Well, it certainly
cuts a figure. It certainly gets noticed and I think that would have been
by design in Tyr’s mind as well. The Nietzscheans are about getting themselves
noticed and drawing to them potential mates. That’s the way that works.
SPACE.com: There’s
a bit of the peacock there.
KHC: Absolutely. In
all the Nietzschean men. At the same time it needs to be functional and
we tried to give it a sense of it being sort of like armor, this chainmail
shirt. In real terms, is it practical? No, it’s very cold. I don’t know
if you’d walk around a spaceship every day in a chainmail shirt. Consequently,
after several episodes we started to come up with other things which are
interesting.
SPACE.com: But, you’ve
been the sex symbol for several years now [one of People Magazine’s
50 Most Beautiful People]. You don’t see yourself that way?
KHC: No, I don’t.
I’m an actor. I’m trying to be a good most of the time. [I’m] looking for
projects and looking for the body of work that I can be proud of. If that
perception helps facilitate that, I’m happy to wear it. But, it’s best
for me to leave those words in other people’s mouths.
SPACE.com: I was speaking
with Gordon [Michael Woolvett who plays Harper] the
other day and he said that the most surprising thing about you is your
sense of humor. For example, there was a scene in episode three or four,
where Tyr and Harper meet in the hallway, Tyr just growls at him and Harper
runs away. He said that was an improv that you came up with.
KHC: Yeah. I’m of
the school that, whether you’re doing a play or series, you have to be
available to the creativity of your co-workers. I think that particular
incident, it’s the disparity in the size, you know? Gordon’s so small and
me so big and I thought, "now, what does Tyr do with this guy?" And, in
fact, that dynamic is now ongoing, their energy together.
Next page: the melancholy
prince
~
SPACE.com: There’s
a story I’d like you to tell. After Tribune put out the ads, your agent
called and...?
KHC: He called to
say that he’d seen these ads [in the trade magazines, touting Andromeda’s
runaway ratings success] and read them to me.
My response was, "That’s
all well and good but let’s see if we can maintain it." And, he said, "Damn
you, can’t you just be happy?"
This has been an ongoing
theme. People don’t understand that my melancholia, for lack of a better
word, is not sadness, it’s not being unhappy. This is a strange and unfriendly
business. I got into it because I have never been happy not acting. I want
to do that. I don’t want all the other stuff. I don’t want the ratings,
I don’t want to be judged for my ability to sell soap. I don’t want to
smile in meetings where I don’t feel like smiling, and say nice things
where I don’t particularity feel like the person deserves to have nice
things said to them.
So I won’t pretend to embrace
it and say "great." I won’t pretend to say, "I love it all." I don’t. The
only thing I love is being able to act.
I said to him, "When we’ve
done this for three years and we’re still number one and I have other projects
that I can do because of it, you will see a different demeanor."
SPACE.com: You said
that it reminded you of a quote from Richard II.
KHC: Richard II, at
the end of the play, is in jail. He’s been imprisoned and he’s sitting
there thinking about how he’s sort of screwed it all up, and squandered
his opportunity to be a good king and he says:
"Nor I nor any man that but
man is
With nothing shall be pleased,
till he be eased
With being nothing."
And, it was a line that was
always very poignant and rang true to me ‘cause I, like every other human
being, always want something more. No matter what you’re given.
There’s an Asian proverb
that my business manager is fond of quoting to me -- "he that knows he
has enough is rich" -- and most of us don’t. We’re never satisfied and
certainly on the level of the work I am still at a place where it’s not
good enough.
We can do that better. Let’s
try that again.
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