incent Ventresca, star of the SCI FI Channel's new original series The Invisible Man, is no stranger to series TV. Best known to SF fans as Dr. Ed Tate in ABC's short-lived Prey, Ventresca has also had roles in Boston Common, Friends, Maggie Winters and Medicine Ball. The dynamic actor has also appeared in several feature films, including Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and the independent movies Madison, The Learning Curve and This Space Between Us.
Invisible Man marks Ventresca's first series lead, and he's eager to tackle the part of Darien Fawkes, a small-time thief who finds himself with an unusual ability. In exchange for a furlough from prison, Darien agrees to an experimental procedure that gives him the power to become invisible at will. But there's a catch: without a chemical called the Counteragent, the power will slowly drive Darien insane. The series combines a quirky comic sensibility with dark SF and conspiracy elements.
Ventresca spoke to Science Fiction Weekly shortly after completing the pilot for Invisible Man, which premiered June 9.
How did you get the role of Darien?
Ventresca: I met with the executive producer, Matt Greenberg, and Breck Eisner, the [pilot] director. It was tricky, because the tone of the piece was what we were trying to figure out. ... There was certainly a lot of potential in the script. It's just how it's accomplished.
When you're dealing with SF, ... things have to be grounded, so that everything is explained and that it makes sense. And ... we had sessions before I got the part, [in which] they said, 'This is how we see it.' And [we] sort of talked about it.
There's humor in it, ... which you have to be very careful [about], because if it gets too much, it just gets silly. And I didn't want to be involved in anything that was particularly silly.
You've done a lot of television, haven't you?
Ventresca: I've done more television than I've done feature films. This is like my fourth series. ... I like television. The great thing about television is that it's a story that's sustained. There's something challenging about finding a new take on something every week and revealing something different and moving the story along.
Was there something particular about this idea that attracted you?
Ventresca: Yeah. The tone of it--the way I envisioned the tone of it, in a perfect world--was how we accomplished it. It's surprising. First of all, it's different from [what] you think it is [going to be] in the first 20 minutes. It's fun, ... a little like Raising Arizona. A little over the top. Then all of a sudden, it ... gets a little darker, more brooding, more scary. Then it sort of culminates in this situation with this guy who is ... in a dilemma. What's he going to do with this gift that he doesn't want, but yet he has? And he has no choice, because he can't end his life.
Is there something you can compare it to?
Ventresca: It's sort of a smorgasbord. There's elements from a lot of different things. But there's a uniqueness to it in terms of the blend. The pilot just sets up the premise. For 90 minutes, we get to the point where we [discover] oh, this is what the show's going to be about. ... I think it's going to be a cross between The X-Files and Wild Wild West [laughs]. ... I get teamed up with this other secret agent, played by Paul Ben-Victor, and we sort of have an interesting relationship. It's a little like 48 Hours, like Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy. They don't really like each other, but they need each other.
Had you read H. G. Wells's novel The Invisible Man or seen some of the other films about invisibility?
Ventresca: No. My dad gave me the H. G. Wells book, and I started reading it, and I just decided to stop. ... And everyone talks about the [movie] that Claude Rains did [1933's The Invisible Man] and how genius it was. I think I'll watch it now, but I didn't really want to watch it for the pilot. I don't think they'll really have anything to do with each other. ... A lot of times, part of the excitement of doing a pilot is that it's a creation of something that's never been before. And no matter what people say, a lot of times, you do things that are derivative of other things you've seen. I think the invisibility in this is significantly different from that invisibility. So I didn't think it would matter too much. But I think I'll probably check it out now.
What about the 1992 John Carpenter movie, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, which starred Chevy Chase?
Ventresca: Yeah, well, we wanted to make sure you didn't see, like, cups floating and that was the invisible man. We wanted to avoid that. But we did want to keep elements of humor, but the humor's not quite so shticky, I think.
Are you a fan of SF?
Ventresca: I was when I was little. I was into Star Trek, and then I kind of got out of it. But then I did a series for ABC a couple of years ago called Prey, and it kind of got me back into it. SF has gotten a little different, at least in my mind. It's gotten a little more like science fact. It's gotten a little more grounded; it gets a little more explained. With The Invisible Man, that's one thing we really liked. There's a couple of scenes of exposition that clearly demonstrate theoretically how this could be potentially possible.
Would you agree that SF is getting more grown-up, more interested in metaphors for emotional states or ideas?
Ventresca: Exactly. What's great about science fiction is that it takes what our imaginations sort of grasp and pushes it just a little bit. And sometimes imagination can dictate innovation. ... I'm sure when H. G. Wells wrote The Invisible Man or The Time Machine, it was just this far-out thought he had. But when you really get down to it, and the more we learn about science, some of this stuff becomes a little more theoretical, and all of a sudden, then you have a reality to the SF, and then it gets a little more interesting--and a little more frightening, frankly.
Does the show use invisibility as a metaphor?
Ventresca: I've never seen the movie Harvey, but I know the premise [of a man with an invisible six-foot rabbit as his best friend]. ... [One of our upcoming episodes] is about this little girl who has this imaginary friend, and I sort of take on the role of her imaginary friend, and I have this relationship with her that I've never had with anyone. And I think there's going to be a lot of [such] metaphors for real emotional things. The writer, Matt Greenberg, is really great, and he's really passionate about it. He's everything you'd want in an executive producer. It's very important to him. And that's a valuable commodity in television.
What other projects are you working on?
Ventresca: I have a movie that I did right before the pilot, called Madison. ... It's about a small town in southern Indiana ... and it stars Jim Caviezel, Mary McCormack and Bruce Dern. And I have a small part in that. And I'm from Indiana, so it was really great to go back home ... And then there's a movie [that premiered] at the Palm Springs Film Festival ... called This Space Between Us. ... It's a romantic comedy that I shot in San Francisco. It stars Jeremy Sisto and Poppy Montgomery.
Would you do other science fiction?
Ventresca: As an actor, if you can tell an interesting story, it doesn't matter whether it's SF or a sport movie. Whatever it is, as long as it's an interesting story.
Do you worry about being typecast in science fiction, like David Duchovny does?
Ventresca: No. I used to worry about that stuff, but it's a big, fat waste of time. It's a little egocentric to think you can dictate as much of your future as you'd want. But I don't think you can. You just do your thing, and see what happens. I feel really fortunate to be involved in this show. I think the SCI FI Channel has huge potential; I think this show's got great potential. In the premise, there's sort of ... if I don't [get] this Counteragent that the government sort of holds myself ransom with, I go mad. "The lid is blown off my id" is the quote from the show. ... So as an actor, there's a sort of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde thing. And it's also interesting because I'm not necessarily a good person. So, if you're invisible, you can do good and you can do bad.
