Syfy’s ‘Alphas’ David Strathairn, Zak Penn, Ira Stephen Behr interviews
M&C: Are there only two choices for Alphas, to work for Rosen or to get locked away?
Zak P: I certainly don't think Rosen wants that to be the only choices. You'll see in upcoming episodes where we meet people who are Alphas who don't have some crazy ability, they're not villains or heroes, they're just people who can do something special who neither work for Rosen nor for Red Flag. They're in the wind, as we would say.
That said, the pressure is going to get turned up as the season goes along. The government is putting more and more pressure on Rosen to say, "Hey, these people are either an asset or they're a danger, one or the other."
There are people on the other side saying, "Wait a second! Why do I lose my rights because I can see signals in the air?" All of those issues will come into play over the course of the season. The question of the origin of how this all started and who really does know about it and who doesn't will come out in the course of the season. I can't give away any spoilers or they'll send me to Binghamton.
M&C: Can an Alpha develop more than one ability?
Zak P: A number of our characters will realize that their abilities have more than one application. You're seen a little of that already with Hicks. It's all got to be rooted in brain chemistry. That's our one rule. If we can't explain it with some brain chemistry explanation, it doesn't belong on our show. We always come back to that. But yes, you will meet people who perhaps have developed more than one Alpha ability.
M&C: The character of Gary seems to be a very accurate representation of a savant.
Zak P: Thank you. That was actually one of the earliest ideas. It came from right out of reading a lot of Oliver Sacks. When you do research on Savants, on people who have some of the extraordinary abilities, that comes with a price. There's a guy, when they flew him over Rome, painted an absolutely accurate diorama of Rome down to the windows over the course of two days, but he's also mentally handicapped in a lot of ways.
We just felt we had to do that. One of the characters had to be that way. You'll see more on that subject.
M&C: What are you enjoying most about the Alphas world?
DAVID STRATHAIRN: Learning all about brain neurology... that's the fun part. We should all be interested in our brains.
M&C: Is your character a good guy or a bad guy?
David S: That's up to the audience. I can't play good or bad, I just play what's on the table. That's one of the exciting things about the show is that it's a complex teeter-totter.
M&C: What drew you to playing the character?
David S: He's between a rock and a hard place, caring for these people and then reluctantly associated with a department in the government that's doing investigation and essentially law enforcement. That's not something a scientist necessarily envisions for himself when he starts doing research on brain function. It's an interesting dramatic place to be.
(FULL INTERVIEW)