LEGEND LEGEND: Q & A With Richard Dean Anderson

Question:
What is it about LEGEND that convinced you to come back to series television?

Anderson:
Before I saw the script for LEGEND, I was starting to worry about the possibility of ever doing another series, because none of the scripts I was reading really inspired me. You really have to be in love with something to commit to the potential of multiple years in the same role. When I first read LEGEND, I envisioned it being directed by someone like Terry Gilliam, it's that unique. And I realied that the reason I'd been dismissing all those other scripts was that I'm just not interested in typical television fare. LEGEND really piqued my interest because the potenital is there for some very creative misbehaving on television. The thing that ultimately interests me is anything that deals with the elements of discovery, invention and science. The scripts for LEGEND are full of all those things, plus action, adventure and history. And while it's not a spool, LEGEND is full of humor. When I put down the script, I just felt I'd been entertained.

Question:
Can you describe the character you portray - Ernest Pratt/Nicodemus Legend?

Anderson:
Ernest Pratt is a writer in 1876 who creates a fictional character Nicodemus Legend for a series of dime novels. Pratt's publisher convinces him to pose for the picture of Legend which appears on the cover of the book, and the confusion between Pratt, the writer, and Legend, the fictional hero, begins. This is interesting territory for an actor because very often the difference between celebrity and reality gets confused - by the press, by the public, even by actors themselves.

Question:
How does Pratt come to actually portray Legend?

Anderson:
In the first episode, Pratt is drawn into a land-grab scheme and travles from San Francisco to Sheridan, Colorado, where he is forced by circumstances to take on the Legend persona to a much greater extent than ever before. In Sheridan, he meets Janos Bartok, a brilliant but eccentric scientist and inventor who has actually built many of the incredible gadgets and vehicles which Pratt dreamed up the his novels.

Question:
What kind of inventions will we see on the series?

Anderson:
We have all the incredible inventions which spring from Pratt's imagination. And Bartok, who is an inventor in his own right, builds the first steam-powered all-terrain vehicle. Pratt and Bartok also use a hot-air balloon as their main method of transportation. There will be a lot of fantastic machines - I don't want to give away all the fun. Aside from the inventions, we'll have a lot of the things I like - dogs and dirt - although Pratt has an odd relationship with horses which we'll see as a recurring problem in the series.

Question:
Pratt and Bartok seem like such different characters. What is it that brings them together as friends.

Anderson:
Pratt isn't a hero like the character, Legend, whom has created. Pratt himself is good-hearted, but he's a writer, a gambler, a womanizer and he drink too much. Bartok helps Pratt see that there's more to life than wine, women & song. He really helps Pratt re-direct his energies toward some loftier goeal - not that Pratt has any intention of ever giving up on wine, women and song. And Bartok is a fan or Pratt the writer; he admires Pratt's imagination and creativity. Bartok is very protective of the character of Legend. He may encourage Pratt to pretend to be Legend, but it's always for something important - helping an underdog, righting a wrong. Bartok doesn't waste the romance and charisma that surrounds Legend. Also, both these men are fascinated by science. They just apporach science from different backgrounds, and from different educations. They make a fascinatinf team, and I think LEGEND is going to be a very special series.

LEGEND is executive produced by Richard Dean Anderson, Bill Dial, Michael Greenburg and Michael Piller. Larry Rapaport is producer. The series is filmed in Tucson and Mescal, Arizona, for broadcast Tuesdays, 8:00 - 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on UPN.

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Last modified on April 4, 1995