Doug Jones has a very impressive resume of roles and several great ones currently happening and about to debut. He was kind enough to talk with us about his new role on Space Command and his numerous other projects including the upcoming final season of Falling Skies and Hellboy 3 as well as news on The Silver Surfer.
What can you tell us about your character on Space Command?
I play an android or “synth” who was the first of his kind in this space age story. I was meant to be a refined house butler type, but when I started developing my own sense of self, and asked too many questions, I was re-assigned to the mineral mines as a labouring synth. The rest of this first movie in what hopes to be a series of 6 SPACE COMMAND feature films shows me trying to liberate myself and thousands of my kind who are waking up to the fact that we were created to be enslaved to serving others. This is a very well written piece about humanity and what we’ve done to each other over the ages, but told in a futuristic sci-fi backdrop. Our decorated writer/director Marc Zicree always does such a great job of tapping into real human issues and personalities while serving it on a platter that feeds the geek in all of us!
What is working with the cast like and any moments that stand out from filming so far?
This cast for SPACE COMMAND has a few names that carry the right amount of geek credential. Most of my scenes are with the STAR TREK: VOYAGER legend, Robert Picardo. His character is the one human to gets me and takes our cause on as his own to fight for. A wonderful friendship formed on film between us, and that mirrored what was happening in our real lives, too. We’ve worked together on three other projects before this, but had very little screen time together until now. I also got to work with the beautiful Mira Furlan from BABYLON 5, and Bill Mumy, an icon from my childhood as Will Robinson on LOST IN SPACE.
When looking for a new project, what are the qualities that you look for first?
A few things. Script always comes first. Is it a story I want to help tell? Does it move me in some way to laughter, tears, inspiration? Then the character. Is it someone I want to let in to my heart to play through me? Challenging? Right for me? Or so wrong for me, that I must do it? I’ll also want to know what other actors I get to play opposite. Anyone I’ve been dying to work with or a big fan of? And finally, the director. Will I be safe in his or her hands? Do I trust his or her vision for this story? And if all that’s in place, I’ll try to make it work, but contracts can be tedious. So glad those are someone else’s job!
How do you prepare for roles as playing creatures not normally of this earth must be tough.
I need to do the usual actor preparation that any actor would do for any role. We take them all on from head to toe. The script will tell us a lot from the writer’s intent. Then the Director has his notes. Then it’s a lot of private rehearsal time for me, especially if it’s an otherworldly creature. I need to find his physicality, his posture, his ecosystem. My goal is that when the camera roles, I play like a creature who woke up that way…not a guy in a suit.
What is coming up for your character on Falling Skies?
Season four of FALLING SKIES is currently airing, Sunday nights on TNT, and this year, my Volm alien character “Cochise” is still the steady rock you grew to love in season three. I’ve stayed on Earth with a small recon team while the rest of the Volm took the mother ship off to another galaxy to fight another Espheni attack on our own people there. But our ultimate goal is still to liberate the humans from the clutches of the bad Espheni alien takeover, with a bigger picture to the entire plan that will be revealed in our final season five, that we start filming mid September. So that will conclude the show with some answers next summer 2015.
Which role was the most memorable for you?
I love them all, as I kind of have to if I want to play them effectively…even the bad guys. So I’ve loved crawling into the skin of The Silver Surfer, Billy from HOCUS POCUS, Pan the Faun and the Pale Man from PAN’s LABYRINTH, and my current love of Cochise on FALLING SKIES. But I think over time the one who’s nearest and dearest to my heart, along with being the most like me, is Abe Sapien from the HELLBOY movies.
Which role would you jump at the chance to reprise?
Abe Sapien mostly, because we left you hanging at the end of HELLBOY II: The Golden Army, screaming for a part three. So I feel unfinished there. I’d also love a Silver Surfer stand alone movie, which was talked about, but it’s seven years later, and still nothing. And I’d also love a crack at brining Billy back from the grave one more time for a HOCUS POCUS sequel, 20 years later.
If you could remove one role from your resume, which would it be?
I shouldn’t name a title, but it was a large insect creature in a low budget horror film directed by a soulless tyrant. Very unsatisfying all around.
Having an extensive background in both movies and television, which do you prefer?
Both have their merits. Loved being in the sit-com half hour format when I was a recurring guest on THE NEIGHBORS on ABC, just going to work and laughing all day. The biggest difference I notice between the formats is time. Features can be more meticulous with artistic detail, while TV is more of hitting our marks and saying our lines. But then another perf of TV is a steady gig that goes on for enough years to where you can fully develop your character, and let the writers flesh out so much more story for him!
What is your dream role?
I’ve already played a few! All of the above mentioned, actually, including my favourite “human” character I’ve ever played, the sympathetic “Jerry” from MY NAME IS JERRY. But the one I’ve been saying for years that I long to play is vampire of some sort. Not a pretty sparkly one, but a classic one, maybe filmed in black and white, like a re-do of NOSFERATU. Stay tuned, as this dream is in the works to come true sometime in 2015.
What do you like to do in your down time?
Down time? I have down time? Why didn’t anyone tell me?!?! I feel robbed!!! But seriously, once all the exercising and feeling alive happens in free time, I love to sit in a quiet coffee shop with an old friend and catch up while sipping on a warm brown drink. I wish I had more time for just that.
