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 Michael Caine, star of the ABC miniseries, "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea," feels that Captain Nemo is a very modern kind of character, even though Nemo was created over 100 years ago by Jules Verne, the "father" of science fiction. "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" was written in the 1860s. Verne thoroughly researched science fact for his books, but he did occasionally make up scientific "facts" for his stories. History has proven his prophetic talent for imagining the possible. In "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," many of the Nautilus' details were based on work being done over a century ago by the French government and by a friend of Verne's, Jacques-Francois Conseil. The 1990s version of The Nautilus that viewers will see in ABC's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" was built on massive sound stages at the Warner Roadshow Studios on Australia's Gold Coast. The opportunity to work in a big budget, special effects-driven project was one of the draws that lured Academy-Award winner Caine to the miniseries. He talks about the character he plays and the miniseries' stunning special effects and sets. Q • Tell us about your character, Captain Nemo . . . A • For me he's a very modern character, although he was written in 1860 by Jules Verne. He is running away from the surface by going below the ocean because of what the surface did to him. Plus he's incredibly concerned with ecology. If you think in terms of 1860 and now, Jules Verne must be spinning in his grave. He is a driven man, but I think slightly insane, for he sets out to find a paradise under the sea, which he does. He should be a villain, but nobody sees themselves as a villain. He has very little sympathy for the people of the surface and wants to create his own world. Q • What is appealing about this part and this project . . . A • The whole fascination with "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" is that this man [Jules Verne] was so prophetic about what would happen to the world and what would happen to the oceans, from the point of view of wars and upheavals. You'd have thought we would have come a long way since the 1860s, but we've gotten worse – as far as the ecology is concerned, we've gotten much much worse. But I don't want you to think this is some great moralistic tale. This is basically an adventure story, an incredible adventure story, plus it's being done on television. I think this could have only been done now because of computerization of special effects -- otherwise, we would have been doing it with a sort of tin submarine bobbing along in someone's bath. One of the reasons I took this film was, while it does rely on performance and character very much, it absolutely relies a tremendous amount on special effects. If you're an actor like myself and you're going to do a movie with special effects, you're going to want to be in a big movie with a massive budget. What finally convinced me is that I saw Ted Danson in "Gullivers Travels." I saw what they can do. That convinced me, and I was absolutely right, because I've seen the stuff they've done with this. The special effects are incredible. The sets they've built here in Australia are quite incredible. I was stunned when I came here. I think Stewart Burnside (the miniseries' production designer) is one of the greatest designers I've ever worked with. This is a movie for television, but it isn't like that at all. I told them if they could cut this down to two hours they could release it as a big movie -- it looks big , believe me. Q • British actors don't seem to have problems American actors do in moving from film to television projects. Why doesn't TV seem to have the stigma with British actors like with Americans? A • Years ago television would have been a step down if you were a movie actor, but now there are so many great things you can only do on television, right back to "Brideshead Revisited," which was done in England. What happened was that television grew up, television really grew up. From a point of view of action and special effects it's only recently that television's grown and grown and grown, with these tremendous advances with computerization special effects. Television also became global, so there was more money to spend on budgets. I think there are very few actors who wouldn't appear on television now, for some stigmatic reason, if you gave them the right part. Q • What are your primary relationships in this story? A • Nemo is on his way to his paradise, and he sinks a ship and picks up survivors from the hated surface world. He takes aboard different characters, one man, Pierre Arronax, who is basically our leading hero, played by a wonderful actor called Patrick Dempsey. The relationship with him is something that he never had with a son. The others he brought on board are either evil or violent representatives of the surface world. He tried to get away from everything on the surface, and he ends up taking them with him. Q • What do you think viewers will take away from this? A • It's a combination of the pleasure of a day dream and the suspense of a nightmare, because it's a day that turns into a nightmare, and then back again. It's something that obviously you don't see on television every day. You've never seen anything like this on television. Q • Ultimately, what is this movie about? A • The final morality of the tale, what it would leave me with as a viewer, would be the fact that you can't escape. You've got to try and make the best of where you are because no matter what resources you have, if you try to run away it won't work. You've got to try and make it here rather than try to go to some other paradise. In other words, we're stuck with it and we'd better do the best we can. Michael Caine | Michael Caine, Q&A | Patrick Dempsey Mia Sara | Bryan Brown | Adewale ABC is POP main menu abc.com | |
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