ndre Braugher, the Emmy Award-winning star of NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street, again plays a police detective in New Line Cinema's SF thriller Frequency. But Braugher's character, Satch DeLeon, deals
with a case his former alter ego, Frank Pembleton, wouldn't have
recognized.
Satch plays the friend of a firefighter (Dennis Quaid) in 1969 and the
mentor of the firefighter's son (Jim Caviezel) thirty years later. Father
and son reach across the decades to communicate with one another via ham
radio during an unusual period of solar flare activity. When their
communication alters the time line, it's Braugher's character who must deal
with the consequences in both the past and the present.
Frequency also marks the reunion of Braugher with director Gregory
Hoblit, with whom the actor previously collaborated in the 1993 television
movie Class of '61 and in 1996's acclaimed feature film Primal
Fear. Braugher took a moment to speak with Science Fiction
Weekly about Frequency, which opened April 28.
What attracted you to this role?
Braugher: I thought it was one of the most interesting scripts I had
read recently. I thought the father-son story, which predominates and is
the heart of the story, was very interesting and freshly done. I thought
the science and physics of this communication across different times to be
another very interesting idea. And I had worked with Greg Hoblit, our
director, on several occasions before, and had a lot of confidence in his
ability to pull this very difficult material off the page and onto the
stage.
How would you describe Satch, your character?
Braugher: I would describe him as a fiercely loyal friend, a
no-nonsense, city-born and -bred cop and a smart detective. The situation
is an odd one, because I find myself faced with evidence that I think is
incontrovertible ... that my friend [Quaid] might be a diabolical
murderer. And yet I'm mostly concerned with its ramifications on his family
and his victims. And that seems to be Satch's quandary in the course of the
film: the effect on the family and the effect that I actually have on the
man.
You play a man in 1969 and the same man 30 years later. As an actor, how did you handle that?
Braugher: The body deteriorates, but the mind doesn't. You know, I
still feel like I'm 25. ... It's not really [an issue] of a changing
psyche, but one of physicality. ... [Playing an older man in] the
present ... is challenging, without a doubt. Beyond the tedious aspects of
the latex special effects, it is interesting to play a 59-year-old man,
only in that he has a different perspective on life than his 29-year-old
counterpart in the past.
There are scenes in which your character and his family share a backyard
barbecue with Quaid's character and family, an easy mix of black and white
in the late 1960s. Did you find this a problem?
Braugher: No. Dennis Quaid is a man, Satch is a man. ... They
approach each other in a humane fashion. People have mixed throughout time.
If you go back to 1969, you find that people mixed. The very idea that this
[may have happened] ... it wasn't impossible. ... I found it quite easy to
play.
Were you able to bring any of Frank Pembleton into your characterization
of Satch?
Braugher: No. I didn't think it had anything to do with Frank
Pembleton in the interrogation [scenes]. The fact that we're homicide
detectives is not key to our relationship. It was more about Jim Caviezel's
character and Satch as a father figure in his life.
Have you had a chance to see the film yet with an audience? How was
their reaction?
Braugher: Yes, last night at the premiere. ... They were
enthusiastic about film; they thought it was dynamite. We're all very
hopeful that the American audience will respond with the same kind of
enthusiasm that the premiere audience did. ... I think it's a terrific
film, and I'm very proud and glad to be a part of it.
Are you a science fiction fan?
Braugher: I have been at various times in my life. In my youth, it
was more the Conan the Barbarian or Red Sonja--Edgar Rice
Burroughs [type] fantasy worlds. And then, later in my college years, I started to
deal with parallel worlds, where if you change one aspect, it changes the
world. ... More recently, it's more about demographics, evolutionary
forces, the next horizons, be it mental or space or deep-sea.
Do you have a favorite SF book or movie?
Braugher: Oh, I don't know. If you go back to the Conan the
Barbarian series, I really liked that. The closest thing to modern-day
science fiction that I enjoy is Thomas Pynchon's [novel] Gravity's
Rainbow, which is not strictly science fiction ... but rather an
alternative world. It's the only thing of his I've read, though.
Would you be interested in doing more science fiction films?
Braugher: Sure. If the story's interesting and it's a compelling
script, I'd be thrilled to be a part of it.
Let's talk a little about Homicide. There's been one reunion
movie for the series, which ended in 1999. Are you interested in doing
more?
Braugher: No. After six years, I feel I've explored that character
to my satisfaction. And I've consequently moved on to other characters.
You once said you weren't interested in directing, but you've directed
one vignette of Showtime's trilogy Love Song. Are you interested in
doing more?
Braugher: I'd like to consider more of it. But only if I believe
that my directing talents will improve the material I'd be working on. I
want to make sure I don't sacrifice beautiful material on the altar of my
direction.
Can you tell us about some of your future projects?
Braugher: I recently completed a pilot for ABC called Gideon's
Crossing. I play an oncologist and the chief of experimental surgery at
a Boston hospital, a man for whom scientific excellence and compassion are
not incompatible.
Does he have some of the anger of your other characters?
Braugher: [Laughs] No, he's not an angry doctor.
I bet you get asked that a lot.
Braugher: [Laughs more] Yes, well, people misinterpret my characters
... and it's easy to jump on an "angry young black man" bandwagon. ... But
no, he's not angry.
How about movies?
Braugher: There's a gigantic "blow-'em-up," A Better Way to
Die [by first-time director Scott Wiper]. It's just recently been cut
together. ... I don't know where it's going to be distributed ... It's an
independent film. We narrowly averted the NC-17 rating and are firmly in
the land of R. I play a mercenary killer with a heart of gold.
