Torchwood/Doctor Who Star John Barrowman Speaks Out
Torchwood/Doctor Who Star John Barrowman Speaks Out
By Christina Radish
John Barrowman at the BBC America presentation for the Television Critics Association Press Tour held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. on July 13, 2007.
From Russell T. Davies (Queer as Folk), writer of the most recent incarnation of Doctor Who, comes Torchwood, an action-packed, adrenalin-fueled new sci-fi series following the adventures of a team of investigators who use alien technology to solve crime. Led by the enigmatic Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), the team uses scavenged technology to solve present day crime, both alien and human. Working in an underground base built on a rift in time and space, the team respond to any alien threat. Separate from the government, outside the police and beyond the United Nations, Torchwood sets its own rules, delving into the unknown and fighting the impossible.
John Barrowman, the 40-year-old Scotsman who stars on the series, recently spoke with MediaBlvd Magazine about the challenges of playing the same character on two different television series.
MediaBlvd Magazine: For American audiences who might not be familiar with who you are, can you talk about where you're from and how you got into acting?
John Barrowman: In a nutshell, I was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. At the age of 8, I was brought over to the United States with my family because my father's job moved him there. I was educated in the U.S., consequently falling in love with American television and drama, and serial television. I still kept my connections with the U.K. by watching shows, like Doctor Who, on PBS, and Monty Python, and all that sort of stuff. My parents raised us, as kids, with an upbringing of the best of America and the best of Britain, so we had a really good balance of the best of both worlds. At the earliest age that I remember, I've always wanted to be involved in the business. I've always wanted to be an entertainer, of some sort, whether it be in television, film or theater. Jumping years down the line, having gone to a university and studying musical theater, I went to the UK to study Shakespeare. I went to an open call audition and got a job opposite Elaine Paige, who is the Patti LuPone of UK theatre, in a show called Anything Goes, and that was the beginning of my career in the UK. I was welcomed back by the UK public because I was born over there. They took me back in, under their wing, and I have done 16 or 17 West End shows, two on Broadway, lots of children's television for the BBC in the UK, two TV shows in the States -- one for CBS (Central Park West) and one for NBC (Titans) -- and a couple of films. But, the biggest success, thus far, for myself, if you want to talk in the terms of becoming a household name in the United Kingdom, has been playing Captain Jack Harkness. Because of his success with the British public, on Doctor Who , the BBC and the writers and producers decided to create a show for him, called Torchwood, which is an anagram of Doctor Who. They gave Jack his own secret alien hunting organization that he bases on Planet Earth in Cardiff, Wales, where there's a rift in space and time that runs through the city. It's where all the alien technology and the aliens come through.
MediaBlvd: How early on did you know that Captain Jack would be getting his own series?
John: It was after Captain Jack had appeared on Doctor Who -- after episodes 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the first year. Executive Producers Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner had a conversation, well before they started Doctor Who, about doing a science fiction type show, called Excalibur, about this team of people who do these exceptional things and save the world. So, it was an idea, prior to the conception of the new release of Doctor Who, but I wasn't informed about it until after the first series. I was called in for a meeting, where they told me I would be involved in Series Two. And then, there was a little hiatus, and they called me in for another meeting. As the true actor, I was thinking, "Oh, shit, I'm out of the show now." And, they said, "You're not going to be in Series Two, but you will be in Series Three, and we'd also like to develop Torchwood around Captain Jack." I felt like I was handed the world on a platter, at that point. But, I had to keep it under wraps. I wasn't allowed to talk about it to anybody, not even my family. It was like a balloon ready to burst inside. It was great.
MediaBlvd: The character has a fairly mysterious background. Is that something that will be explained as the series progresses, or is it going to be left vague?
John: In the series, you will always learn something new about Captain Jack on each episode, but it's not going to be so blatantly in-your-face. It will be delivered in a line of dialogue where you'll go, "Oh, my God! I just missed that." You're really going to have to listen, but you will learn new things about Jack. He is dark, he is charismatic, he has a past. There's two weeks (sic - two years) of his past that have disappeared from his memory and we don't why. He is completely passionate about the human race and saving it from anything that might be detrimental to it, which he has learned from the Doctor. You're going on a journey with Jack because, as you learn about him, so does the team of Torchwood.
MediaBlvd: As the actor, how much do they let you in on the secrets and the plot revelations?
John: Some of the stuff, they try not to tell you. When you read the script, you're going to find out, anyway. Russell T. Davies, who is the head writer, and co-producer Chris Chibnall will always talk to me about it, so we know what's going to happen. But, if something is going to be exciting, like there's something that happens in Series Three of Doctor Who to Jack, and I didn't want to know. David Tennant, who currently plays the Doctor, kept running into my trailer and saying, "Have you read it? Have you read it? Have you read it?" And, I was like, "No, no! Go away! I don't want to know!" And then, when I read it, I was like, "Oh, my God!" So, I do sometimes tell them to not tell me because I want the excitement. I love this stuff! I am a sci-fi fan, myself. As the British say, I am a sci-fi boffin. I absolutely love this genre, and I love these types of shows, so to be excited by it is really important to me.
MediaBlvd: When you were doing all of that extensive theater work, early on in your career, did you ever have any idea that you would have such success doing sci-fi?
John: No. I was a fan of sci-fi, as a kid. I'm the age group of Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, the original series, and all that kind of stuff. I'm from that era. I loved Doctor Who. I never thought that there would ever be a place for me, in that genre. And then, low and behold, this all happened, and it's been a dream come true. I am overwhelmed by it, and I'm loving it. If I were to put it in a nutshell, I'm a man who is living a little boy's dream. Every day, I get up for work and I go fight aliens, I save the world, I shoot laser guns, and I get to run very fast. It's a dream job.
MediaBlvd: Were you surprised at the reaction to Captain Jack and the success of Torchwood in the UK?
John: Yeah. I played Jack very unlikable. I tried to play him really confident and arrogant, in the first part of "The Empty Child" in Doctor Who, and the public didn't like him. On all the blogs, they were saying, "I don't like this guy!" And, I was so glad that they did because I knew, the next week, I was going to try to change their minds because he was going to become more about humanity and more about the team. And, they did. They went with it. They loved him for his heroic nature. Kids like him, women like him, men like him. I don't know what it is, but it's fantastic. I'm truly overwhelmed by it. He is a cool guy.
MediaBlvd: How do you think American audiences will respond to him?
John: I don't know. I think American audiences are smarter than some television shows make them out to be. BBC America has a very intelligent audience that watch their programs. And, I hope it draws in the sci-fi crowd because I wanna say that they're gonna love it. I hope they love it. We're going to have to wait and see. It will be interesting because they've never seen a character like this on television before, with his omni-sexuality, as we call it in the sci-fi world. In terms of wording that you need to use in today's day and age, he's bisexual, and I don't know whether they're going to be able to deal with that or not, but I really think they will. I don't think it's going to bug them. It might bug the politicians. It might bug the people who are so far up their own arses that they don't want to let other people live their lives. But, I think the more people who watch it and let people know they like programming like this, the better it will be for us.
MediaBlvd: Do you think this show presents positive role models because it presents characters who don't have to explain their sexuality and who just live their lives?
John: That's the way it should be. It should just be very matter-of-fact. If you're bisexual, gay, lesbian, transgender or heterosexual, who cares? If it does change the minds of certain audiences, that's great. People who watch these shows are gay, lesbian, bisexual, from the transgender community, and who's to say that you're the one to judge who's right or wrong. That's not your position, as a human being, to do that. It's actually no one's position. The thing that Torchwood does is treat it very matter-of-factly. It's not an issue. I use the example of when people describe me as, "Gay actor, John Barrowman." If they were to interview Brad Pitt -- and I use him as an example because he's very popular, not because I'm in the same kind of category -- they wouldn't say, "Heterosexual actor Brad Pitt," so why do they have to put labels on everything else? These are sexually active human beings, as we all are. They're not afraid of sex. We shouldn't be afraid of sex. Sex is a vital part of our existence. For anybody who watches the show and is upset by it, turn off the fucking television. It's so not the norm in America. In Europe, we don't put that much of a heavyweight on it. It is normal. It's sensationalized in the United States, which might be a good thing because it makes people watch, but it can also be a detrimental thing. Let it be. Let it happen. And, I think that's why we explore that. People in the States are intrigued by that because all of our shows cover that. Americans look at it as exploring the issue. We don't look at it as exploring it. We look at it as telling the story. Hopefully, one day, it won't be an issue in America.
MediaBlvd: What are the challenges of playing a character that you've already established on another show?
John: You have to remember where you've come from, and you have to remember what you've learned. I have to carry certain things with me into Torchwood from Doctor Who. Even now, while we're filming Series Two, I'll read something and say, "Look, I can't say that because that's contradicting what I did in episode 3 of Series One." But, that's a good thing because Chris Chibnall and Richard Stokes, who's one of our producers, and Julie Gardner, appreciate that because it shows that I'm passionate about it and want to make it right. If I were watching it, as a science fiction fan, I'd go, "Wait a minute, Jack has just totally contradicted himself." I'm very much aware of that. So, it is a responsibility because our writers are guests. They come into our world to create our world, but they have to also know what's happened, and when they make a contradiction, we have to point it out to them.
MediaBlvd: Captain Jack's personality is even a bit different when he's on Doctor Who, as opposed to how he is on Torchwood. How did that come about?
John: In the UK, Doctor Who is a family show, and kids are watching. On Doctor Who, Captain Jack is part of a smaller team. He�s number three in the team. The Doctor is the main one. He is the leader, and the one that Jack follows, so you play that differently. Whereas, on Torchwood, jack is the leader. Everyone follows him, so it's played very differently. It's a little darker. He doesn't want everybody to know everything about him. How much do you really know about your own bosses? He has that kind of attitude, and he wants to keep things a little aloof with the team. On Doctor Who, the responsibility is not on his shoulders. It�s on the Doctor's. He's assisting the Doctor. It's fun to play because I get to do both sides of the coin, and show two sides of his personality. As we progress through Series One of Torchwood, and play the dark side, Jack will resolve some things with himself in Series Two, and become more like the Series One Jack in Doctor Who.
MediaBlvd: Is your character also going to be returning to Doctor Who?
John: Captain Jack goes back into Doctor Who in Series Three. He does return. And, Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) will be coming into Torchwood. I can't tell you why, but it's going to be really good. In Series Three of Doctor Who, her character developed in a huge way, and it makes perfect sense that jack would turn to someone of her stature, at that point, for help.
MediaBlvd: Having done both comedy and drama in your career, is there one that comes easier for you? Do you prefer one over the other?
John: For me, it's all about the work. I never put that much weight on something. If it's comedy, I hope I'm funny. If it's drama, I hope I'm dramatic. I hope it works. I enjoy every aspect of it. I do love to sing, and I miss singing. Musical theater is my first love. If someone said to me, "If you had to play Jack for the next 10 years, would you be happy?," I'd say, "Yeah, but they'd have to write a musical episode." I'm so trying to get them to do it because I really think it would be quite interesting. We might have to wait a couple of Series, though. Comedy is easier to play. Drama is more difficult because there's more of a heightened reality there, particularly in science fiction. You're making an unreal world real, so you have to play it a different way, and you also have to firmly believe that you mean what you say. You're talking gobbledy-gook, but you have to make it look and sound real. You should see the outtakes.
MediaBlvd: Do you enjoy working with the special effects? Which is more challenging for you, the more emotional work or the more physical stuff?
John: The emotional work is not difficult. I find it quite organic to tune in with because I am a bit of an emotional person. I love working with the special effects because I like to pretend. As a kid, I loved pretending, so I love to pretend that there's that creature coming. I get to see pictures of what the creatures look like prior to the CGI being done, but when you do it, you're in front of a big green screen and that's it. I find the physical stuff more challenging. For instance, I did a big sequence, and I won't tell you what, with James Marsters, who played Spike on Buffy. He's in one of the episodes of Torchwood in Series Two, and we filmed this big sequence that was 12 hours of the most enduring physical stuff that I have ever done. The fans of the show are going to love it because it's got sex and violence and, at the end of it, you're going to have to go finish yourselves off, so to speak, because it's so horny, it's not even funny.
MediaBlvd: What was he like to work with?
John: He's great. He is really cool. I think he enjoyed being with us, as a team, because we're very relaxed. My motto on set is to have fun and enjoy ourselves, and I like to put that across to our guest-starring artists. I had a great time with him.
MediaBlvd: Has there been anything specific that was memorable, either to film or just how something looked when you saw it?
John: I loved the Cybergirl episode because it was just a little creepy. Some of the issues that we deal with are a little risque, like bringing people back to life. The weirdest thing is always to look at one of your colleagues, if they're laying there with their head split open, or they walk in and they've got a stomach prosthetic on, with their guts hanging out. All that kind of stuff is weird because it really looks real. The hard thing to do, at the moment, is when you're injecting someone with something. You have to do the needle and it looks like it's going in their arm. All those little things, for me, are a little creepy, but it's pretend. I love doing it. It's part of going to work, every morning.
MediaBlvd: What's it like to have your sister write your biography with you?
John: I was asked to do it by a publisher in the UK. I was quite surprised that they asked because I don't really think I'm old enough yet to be penning such a thing. But, my sister has been following me for a few months and we're collaborating. I dictate into an iPod, and she takes it away and puts it onto the page. She'll be with me for the rest of the summer. We have to have it into the publishers this month. I just talk into the dictaphone and she's, basically, penning it. They actually wanted me to say I was writing it, but I wouldn't have anything to do with that. It's about me, but my sister will get the credit as the author on the book. It's a book about me, but told by me. It's my stories of my career, my trials and tribulations, my family situations, and exciting things that have happened to me. I'm from a very close, tight-knit family, and my sister knows everything about me, as do my family, so I have no problem telling her all this stuff, and sitting and listening to it. There were only five times where she said, "Eww, I don't want to know," but she's gotten over that. I think it will be an interesting read. It's not going to be written in your classic style of, "On the day of March 11, 1967, I was pressed out of the womb." It's nothing like that. It's more storytelling than that.
MediaBlvd: Are you hoping to do more work in the States?
John: I was offered two films with Warner Bros. recently, and I had to turn them down because of my schedule with Torchwood. But, I never say no to anything. I love work. If work brings me to the States, and Torchwood furthers my career over here, I'm all for it. I'll go for it. But, my heart and my base is always the UK because that's where I got my start, and I will never forget that.
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