NBC’s action-adventure/science fiction drama THE EVENT returns from its three month hiatus with a special two-hour episode on March 7 at 8pm eastern/ 7pm central before settling back into its usual 9pm eastern/8pm central time slot on March 14. All told, it will run eleven consecutive episodes without reruns to finish out the season in hopes of luring back the viewers it shed the weeks before it was taken off the air for retooling.
Blair Underwood and Zeljko Ivanek play President Elias Martinez and Director of National Intelligence Blake Sterling, two men smack in the middle of–and often at odds over–the cover-up of the aliens’ existence and incarceration. The two actors are looking forward to watching the rest of the mysteries of The Event unfold along with the viewers.
Daemon’s TV was there when Blair and Zeljko talked about their characters, how The Event writers are changing their storytelling, and how the secrecy surrounding the actual Event affects Blair and Zjelko’s acting. They also tease a couple of character arcs.
On a more linear story structure
One of the bigger complaints about The Event was that the frequent use of flashbacks and time jumps to tell the story made the plot too convoluted, so Blair stressed that producers addressed those complaints when retooling the show during the hiatus. “The construct of the story telling is more linear… It’s important, I think, for people to know that watched the show, like the show and maybe felt like they got lost or left behind, that we’re no longer doing [flashbacks and time jumps]. It doesn’t change the quality of the show. It doesn’t change the intensity and the integrity of the storytelling, but the way in which we tell the story is linear from beginning to end, so it has much better flow, it’s much easier to understand and much easier to follow. ”
On President Martinez
While President Martinez has been spending most of his time working and dealing with the assassination attempt and government cover-up of the aliens, Blair wants more stress on his family life. “That aspect of being a family man and a father and a husband is very important to me in how President Martinez is portrayed. It’s one of many conversations I continue to have with the writers and producers: to be sure to show that side when we can, and we are beginning to see more of that in some of the new scripts you’ll see in the upcoming episodes.”
Blair said he also wants to show more of the president’s patriotic side while making sure not to fall into the trap of making Martinez too presidential. “And it can be a trap. The same way an actor tries to be intelligent or smart or, you know, it’s all playing for results and not doing that because everybody has their ideas and notion in their own heads and minds what a president should be.”
When asked what he thought being presidential means, Blair answered, “To me it’s someone who can engender trust. You will believe in him to follow his guts and instincts to lead the country in the right direction, whatever that means. Beyond that, I think it’s about being as truthful and honest and sincere as possible to do whatever you feel is the best way to lead the country.”
On President Martinez and Sophia
When Zeljko was asked if there were anything ‘in particular’ he could tease about upcoming episodes, he joked, “I think if we said anything ‘in particular,’ we’d be shot.” While he then said the generic “most of what is coming is one surprise after another and one turn after another,” he also gave out one fun teaser. “I would say that what is coming up very soon is a major shift in the relationship between Sophia and the president and that’s kind of the driving force for the rest of the season.”
On President Martinez and Blake Sterling
Blair and Zeljko both love the complicated relationship between Blake and the president and Zeljko sees it as central to the show. “For me, that has been the most interesting relationship. Obviously there’s an enormous amount of story swirling around us, but that really has been the crux of the season so far for me-the deepening of that relationship. We start in a very clear antagonistic place at the start of the season and as things happen, we’re both forced to re-examine where we are and who’s right and there are no black and white answers any more to this situation that we’re in.”
As the relationship between Blake and the president have deepened, their stances on certain issues have also begun to evolve, something Zeljko appreciates. “I like that things really change and shift gears as the season has gone on and there have been changes and shifts between Blake and the president. As things happen, they change their positions and find themselves kind of making the opposite arguments at each other than when they started. ”
The relationship will continue to shift. Zeljko explained, “The change in the power in that relationship and the deepening friendship that evolves that gets challenged again as they find themselves doubting each other again.”
Blair teased, “Blake Sterling-especially in later episodes-is really the only person the president can truly trust right now. And of course, at the beginning of the season, you never would have thought that.”
On the continued testing of President Martinez
When asked if President Martinez would lose his values as the danger increased, Blair said, “I hope not. I can say we haven’t yet, but he’s tested. The story has accelerated so fast and it makes us all question who we are. In many ways, I think the over-riding undercurrent of the show is ‘Who are we?’ Identity and who are we in certain circumstances when those circumstances and situations keep shifting and changing. He hasn’t lost himself. He has rethought a lot of his values, but he has not shifted. Yet”
Zeljko teased, “There are some major challenges coming at the president and how he reacts is not what you might have expected.” He also noted that this testing continues for all the characters. “They have found themselves doing things they never thought they would do. Whether that is changing your values or just having your values confronted with reality; I’m not sure which it is, but certainly everyone has found themselves caught short in ways they never anticipated and behaving in ways they would not have predicted for themselves.”
On Blake’s “moment of clarity”
It was widely assumed when The Event premiered that Blake was more or less the enemy. Zeljko explained, “I think the assumption was that because I was playing him, he must be a bad guy and I’m happy to find out there are worse guys working in this administration and this world. Anyone who reaches the position I’m supposed to be holding I’m sure has a lot to answer for, but at the same time, he’s clearly a patriot and he’s clearly trying to save the world and you get into the nitty gritty of what is he really to do in order to do that. ”
Zeljko said that moral ambiguity is not just for Blake. “That is kind of the crux for a lot of the characters: how far are you willing to go to protect the things you think need protecting and we’re constantly challenged as the story ratchets up the stakes.”
In the two-hour midseason premiere, though, it seems Blake will have an epiphany of sorts. Zeljko said, “It’s kind of an action-adventure episode for my character and on the one hand it’s a real change of pace, but it ends with a real moment where he has to reassess his whole view of this situation and the aliens. It just comes out of the events that happen and he’s put in a place he never expected to be in, causing a shift in perspective. We’ll see if it lasts and how circumstances affect it, but I think there’s a real moment of clarity for Sterling that he didn’t see coming.”
On Janusz Kaminski directing
The 15th episode was directed by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (‘Saving Private Ryan,’ ‘Schindler’s List’). Zeljko called the experience fantastic and said, “He brought a very unique energy and a very different eye. It was kind of astonishing watching him tell a story as if it was already in his head in a way. You just kind of had to translate what was in his eye and in his mind to all of us to get all the pieces he needed.”
Blair said Janusz is a “force of nature” and teased, “When you see episode 15 you’ll probably see a different look and style to the show, but it was all informed by what is the story and who are the characters and what are they doing at this moment.”
On secrecy surrounding the actual Event
Viewers aren’t the only ones still in the dark about exactly what the Event is. Blair admitted he is still clueless and Zeljko said, “I still don’t know what the Event is and I don’t know how many or if any of the cast members do. In some sense I know as much as my character does.”
When asked if the secrecy surrounding the show’s plots made it harder for them to portray their characters, Zeljko replied, “It may be different for different characters. I’ve been satisfied that I know as much as I need to know to play the scenes I’m playing. As long as I feel up to speed enough to play the scene I’m playing next, I’m fine with that.”
Blair agreed for the most part. “I haven’t really pushed the issue or asked too much because I kind of don’t want to know. I just want to take the ride as my character takes the ride. Once in a blue moon, something will come up and you feel like you need more information to play the scene accurately, but you know, ‘accurately’ changes. What’s important in that moment could possibly change.”
The Event returns to NBC with a two-hour episode on March 7 at 8pm eastern/7pm central before moving back to its regular 9pm eastern/8pm central time slot on March 14.
You can read all our The Event coverage here.
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