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Toronto Star InterviewOctober 11th, 2005
They are a study in contrasts, these two young and handsome stars of the new Steven Bochco TV series Over There.Erik Palladino, best known as Dr. Dave Malucci on ER, is sitting quietly, waiting for the interview to begin; he's done so many of them over the years. Next to him on the hotel sofa and almost bouncing off it is overly eager Luke MacFarlane, our Canadian content from London, Ont. Over There? It's a huge hit on pay-TV services all over the world: more than 100 countries and still counting. "It tells the truth about the Iraq war if you care to listen," Palladino says proudly. In other words, if you are pro- or anti-war it really makes no difference because Bochco's scripts are dramatizing the conflict in real time. The aim of Over There is to heighten viewer awareness about the triumphs and tragedies on both sides even if military blogs have been after Bochco for some factual blunders (such as misfired battle tactics). "It's not patriotic in any rah-rah sense," MacFarlane says. "That's why the scripts are so great, they mirror reality." And in a unique selling offensive, 20th Century Fox deliberately shopped the series to emerging pay TV and specialty networks around the world from Canada's History TV to Germany's Premier to Latin America's Movie City and the U.K.'s Sky One. Pay TV fare has to be distinctively edgy and substantive and Over There suits that bill. "We already have our pick up for a second season," Palladino reports. Palladino once joked he'd been on the lowest-rated U.S. network series of all time. That would be 1998's DiResta, wouldn't it, Erik? "Right! And then I was on the highest-rated (ER) and you tend to get more respect on the highest rated." And now comes the hottest new cable TV series and "great reviews. We couldn't do this on network TV, really."
Palladino has wracked up fine personal notices as gruff "Sgt. Scream" who really does care about his unit while MacFarlane has scored in his first substantial TV role as "Dim," the college-educated soldier with the floozy wife (Brigid Brannagh) back home. He's called "Dim" because he's in there fighting even though he was at graduate school and could have requested a deferment. Stories oscillate between the soldiers in the field and the families they've left back home. At the beginning the soldiers' ages flash across the screen: 19, 20, 22 ... showing how young and impressionable they all are. "My character is just that little bit older," smiles Palladino. "Meaning he sees that a 19-year-old has this fearless quality ... doesn't ever believe he'd be hit. Well, that kid has to be protected until he learns about death or he'll be a statistic all too soon." Filming of the superbly reconstructed war scenes is done in a canyon at Chatsworth on 25 acres of bulldozed terrain that actually does resemble Iraq. Chatsworth is near enough to Los Angeles that actors can be transported home after a day of play acting at war. "We all went to boot camp," MacFarlane remembers. "And it was pretty tough. We also use the same weapons as real troops but not live ammunition." Shots of the combat show a gauzy haze and oppressive heat conditions bound to wilt any able-bodied actor. "Bochco is there, he's around," MacFarlane reports. "We do see him, he's there for us. But he's more into the script, it's all there in the scenes. And at Chatsworth we have great directors out there."
Like Chris Gerolmo, who directed Citizen X for HBO and gave the premiere episode its distinctive grittiness. MacFarlane, only 25, nods vigorously when it's suggested he's lucky to have landed such a quality role first time out. "Nobody knows that more than me." A 2003 Juilliard drama graduate, he attended New York City's elite arts school for four years on a scholarship. At London's Central Secondary School, Luke first caught the acting bug and co-starred in several high school productions with twin sister Ruth. MacFarlane received astonishingly fine notices for his professional theatre debut last year in an off-Broadway piece called Juvenelia. Said one critic: "MacFarlane is convincing as the dangerously alcohol prone campus stud." Then he was Bruce, the son of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey (Liam Neeson) and wife Clara (Laura Linney) in last year's movie Kinsey. According to news releases, MacFarlane was just one of hundreds of promising actors considered by producer Bochco for the part of Dim. In the same release, Bochco praises the young Canadian "as a very gifted young guy." MacFarlane says it's true he hasn't struggled too much to get where he is. "All I've met are very co-operative people who have helped me along." One of them is veteran Palladino, who at 37, is just about the oldest of the actors to be cast. He describes the audition as "a real stretch. I had studied the script and it was all there and I felt the character coming out. It was a part I had to get." Born in Yonkers, son of a heating contractor and a junior high school teacher, Palladino remains a diehard Yankee although he now lives in California. When he relocated to Los Angeles it was to co-star in the short-lived sitcom Love And Marriage (1996). He then jumped to a recurring part on Murphy Brown and was on the first five episodes of Joan Of Arcadia. Palladino agrees Over There is his biggest "and best" project so far. "It's shot like a movie, very expensive — those war scenes are well planned. I know we're being talked about, it's all I hear everywhere I go." Shooting has just concluded on Season One. Palladino is a race car enthusiast in off months but also says he'll get married this hiatus. MacFarlane, interviewed last week, only wanted to head home and celebrate a Canadian Thanksgiving with his family.
