About.com
December 24, 2003
Alias Preview - December 2003: David Anders and Melissa George
By Fred Topel
It’s hard to get anything out of the stars of popular TV shows. Everything is such a big secret. I’ve run many vague interviews with cast members from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and Alias is shaping up to be a similar phenomenon.
Every week, something drastic happens, and nobody would even give you a hint before the fact. But I tried.
David Anders and Melissa George worked the press line at the Paycheck premiere and I got lots of one word answers and vague hints. But as any die hard fan of anything knows, you hold onto anything you can get. Anders, who plays Sark, was first:
What’s coming up on Alias? I wish I could tell you, man. Its’ kind of a tight storyline that we’ve got, a tight set.
Will Sark switch sides? Yes. Well, there’s a switch coming for some character. Some characters on the show. It’s always back and forth, traders and all that, so yeah, that’s coming. I’m kind of a lackey for the covenant right now, the new SD-6 in essence on the show. Since my character’s bankrolling the whole operation with $800,000,000 that he inherited, it kinda sucks.
As an actor, how do you react to constant character changes? It can be tough, because you learn script to script backstory for your character. Now you kind of expect you to be in someone else’s corner. It can be frustrating but it can be exciting and surprising and a lot of fun.
When do you go back to work? Tomorrow’s our last day before break, and then we go back to shoot after the New Year.
Are you shooting in any exotic places? I just shot up in Castaic which is going to be North Korea for us. We don’t go anywhere outside of 40 miles outside of LA. But our CGI team and our set dressers make it look like exotic places.
What is Sark doing in North Korea? You’ll see.
Melissa George joined the cast of Alias in Season Three as Vaughn (Michael Vartan)’s wife, Lauren Reed, who is also an NSC agent. This creates conflicts with Vaughn’s former love interest, Sydney, and marital strife when CIA agent Vaughn’s agenda conflicts with hers.
The Australian beauty has also been seen in such films as Dark City, Sugar and Spice and The Limey.
What can we expect on Alias? It’s such a huge thing, it’s a closed set, I’m tight lipped about it but it comes to air January 8. And everyone will know what’s going on them.
Let me try some vague questions: Will Lauren have more tension with Sydney? Yes.
Is her marriage to Vaughn is in trouble? No… You don’t like that answer, do you?
I’d hoped you’d expand a little bit. No, it’s not in trouble. It could be, but it’s not right now.
Not yet? Not yet.
Will she get a new boss since Lindsey got killed? Yes.
Who? It’s not revealed yet, even to me, but I’m assuming it’s in the pipeline.
How do you handle these character changes back and forth all the time? It’s the only show I’ve ever read or been on that I have to read the script 10 times before I start filming it. And even on the set, after 20 takes, we’re all like, “Oh, that’s what it really means.” It’s such a well written show that you have to really concentrate, so it’s difficult.
Is this type of action new for you? No, Thieves with John Stamos, I did martial arts on that. That was launched the same year as Alias actually and I was like the kick ass girl.
How about the car chasing and explosions? No, no, I’ve done it before, so I’m loving that part. I want to do more of it.
Do you watch the shows when they air? Yeah, I definitely watch them all.
Do you catch stuff you missed while you were shooting it? No, I just watch it and follow it quite well.
What sort of fan interaction have you had? A really great reaction. They all don’t know who I am. They’re all wanting to find out, so that’s really interesting for me, that people are really invested, and a good reaction.
Are you doing stuff for the DVD sets? Yeah, we’re doing interviews and things like that and getting it all set up, so third season, yeah, we’re working on it. They try to squeeze it in, in little moments and film little behind the scenes kind of stuff, with all the great actors that we get on the show.
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