- 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.
vidiot at vidiot dot com
Last modified on April 4, 1995