COMMENTARY: All right. I'm Jason Katims.
I wrote the pilot for Roswell and worked on the show.
-I'm sitting here with... -David Nutter. I directed the pilot.
So basically...
...that whole thing that we just saw with her writing in the book...
...was this idea that I had...
...of how to frame the show.
Not only for the pilot. but the episodes. to frame it with her voiceover...
...and have her. Liz. writing into her journal...
...and to...
...you know. sort of talk about--
You know. as a sort of a window into what she was going through...
...and what she was feeling.
I just thought it was a really nice way...
...to have somebody...
To kind of. sort of. have somebody to go through this with.
To see what it would be--
We would imagine what it would be like if it were us doing it.
So that was the idea. that we would always open and close episodes...
.with her voiceover...
...which lasted. I think. about three or four episodes.
Right. Well. also too...
...we wanted to discuss a little bit about the seed of Rnswell...
...and how it kind of came about and how we both got involved.
-Yeah. -I basically got involved...
...through the people at 20th Century Fox.
And I'd just finished a film. It was a terrible experience...
...and I was trying to find something that would take me out of that rut.
And an angel touched me. It was called Rnswell.
They introduced me to Jason.
And. Jason. you'd been working on this for a while.
Yeah. what happened with me was Roswell was originally...
...this novel that was a young adult novel...
...and...
...it was" It came to me also through 20th Century Fox.
And it was--
And it was given to me and I read it.
And I thought. “Oh. this would make a great...“
Not only a great pilot. but was really sort of a premise...
...for what I thought could be a really good series.
Actually. this was the moment. that we're watching now...
...which really made me think this was this great. sort of. Rnmen and Juliet.
These two people who really shouldn't be together...
...but were sort of meant to be together.
And this moment here is the moment...
...that sort of made me want to sort of pursue this...
...and take this on as a project.
What I found the project, too. was one that people would say:
“We want to be involved in that show about three alien kids in Roswell.“
So you think that could be a teenybopper show. or you think it could be a show...
...that is quite light and superficial in tone and so forth...
...but this is a show that Jason and I really hit it off right from the get-go...
...saying, “This is real life. Life and death.
This story can be a metaphor for many things that young people go through.
Not being listened to and talked to. and people that basically feel alienated.
Young kids who don't have a voice.“
And it was a really great experience to work on something...
...that was gonna be as intelligent as this was.
And we just jumped right into it wholeheartedly.
One of the interesting areas of this. I think. was the casting.
We had a great casting director. Allison Jones, and Jason and I--
It was a great experience. It was great to work with someone...
...that I could not only learn from but also have a friendship with...
...that we saw so many things eye to eye.
These amazing actors came in. and I think we really hit genies in a bottle...
...with these performances and characters.
Yeah. I know. I remember when we started casting the show...
...our idea from the beginning...
...was that we would go and start casting before all the other pilots cast.
That was sort of our strategy...
...because. you know. it was a period when the WB was just--
Dawson's Creek was big and a lot of these young--
There were a lot of projects using young actors around.
So it was really" We knew it was gonna be a challenge...
...to find people that would-- To find these people.
And so that was the thing that we did.
We started casting months before everybody else...
...and I sort of felt like...
...because of that we were able to put a wonderful cast together.
The other thing. speaking a little bit to what David was talking about...
...the two of us working together on this project.
It was something that I really value so much...
...and love about what I do.
The opportunity that I've had to work in television and film.
The collaboration between a director and writer.
A let's sort of talked about lately. about all the...
Especially if you. like. hear about the battles...
...in terms of. like. contracts between the DGA...
...and the “Film By“ credit and all that.
I just had this conversation with people from the Writer's Guild yesterday...
...that so much of it gets...
That you can easily lose what's great about this.
What could be great about a collaboration...
...between a director and writer. To me...
...that's one of the things I value most about what I do.
And I remember what I love about doing a pilot.
As a writer, in television. once you start to go to series...
...you kind of write the script and then you're gone.
You give it to somebody and you have to start working on the next one.
But when you do a pilot. you can be there.
And I was able to be there with David through the whole process.
And pretty soon lines start to get blurred. in a good way.
Like. I remember we needed to do a rewrite on the fourth act...
...and I remember David and I...
...sitting in his production office in Santa Monica.
We were sharing with Buffy. I think. over in--
Yeah. it's where Buffy was shooting.
And I remember us sitting there with index cards...
...putting them up on this little cork board...
...in David's little office there.
And basically rethinking this fourth act...
...| think. really close to when we were starting to shoot.
-Oh. it was very close. -And it was...
That's the fun of doing this. Is when you're in the trenches...
...and it's all happening and it's...
Of course. you always have these obstacles that you're working against.
The obstacles are usually time and money.
We're not doing a feature film.
You have. to do a pilot. 11 or 12 days to shoot. maybe...
...and the budgets are somewhere around 2 million...
...or less or thereabouts, usually. for a pilot.
It's not the kind of time and money that you have to do a feature...
...and of course we want it to be like a feature. We want it to be great.
And so it's the--
That working together on everything. on every aspect of it...
...to try to come up with something that's great.
To get into this a little bit...
...with respect to the specifics of what you're watching...
...casting was something that was such a joy and such a terror as well.
This was a pilot for 20th Century Fox for the Fox network. originally.
Once the pilot was finished...
...the WB saw it and they picked it up for an entire season.
And basically Fox was trying to find a young Calista Flockhart...
...because this is the time Ally McBeal was so popular.
So we basically read every young actress in town...
...to find a character with Liz's qualities. Someone that is television-attractive...
...but also who has humor and has depth and drama...
...and has all the things that you're gonna dream for...
...in a lead for a show such as this.
And basically. we just...
I think every actress read several parts.
I think Majandra Delfino read for Isabel and her character as well as Liz.
Shiri read for all three parts.
Maybe even Katie Heigl read for a couple of the parts.
But it got to the point-- With Shiri. an interesting story was the fact that...
Buckley, who's an actor I've worked with before...
...he showed me a picture of Shiri and said. “You should read this girl.“
And I said. "Well. okay. we'll read her.“
-I did it as a friend. -She'd been trying to get in...
...to read for this role. It's very hard when you want to--
A lot of people are trying to read for the role. She couldn't get in.
-It's just through this fluke. -A fluke.
And when she walked in the door Jason and I just went, "Wow!“
It's great when you look into someone e|se's eyes...
...and you're both thinking the same thing and having the same thoughts.
This was one of those moments that happened.
And also. on the other side of the coin here. in terms of casting...
...is Jason Behr.
This particular scene. actually. Is the moment for me...
...that-- I mean. that..
When I was on set watching this scene being done...
...is when I thought. “Wow. we have a show here.“
It goes back to what David has said from the beginning. “This isn't--
We can't play this thing like a joke. The premise is too...
It's too crazy to play it as a joke.
We gotta play it serious.“
And when I saw Jason Behr do this scene...
...and the intensity of it. and Shiri as well...
...how they just sort of believed it. They were living it.
This was the moment when I thought, “This is gonna work.“
It was really kind of great.
Watch what he does with his finger. I actually did an X-Files episode...
...and Mike Gomez to David Duchovny...
...says something about seeing people from outer space...
...and he does something similar. and I said. “What a great moment.“
It just fit right into this for us. and it played out perfectly.
I think that that speaks also to the collaboration.
When I wrote the original script. this idea of him pointing was not in it.
I think he just said it.
And David-- And I had no experience in the genre of science fiction.
And David, of course. had come from X-Files...
...and any number of things. so he sort of knew how to do this stuff.
So when we were talking about this scene and he came up with that idea...
...of pointing to the air. I got so excited because I thought:
“It's just so great. because sometimes it's what you don't say...
...and what you can't say.“
And I just thought, “Oh. my God. that's gonna be right there.
That's the promo right there. That moment was perfect.“
I. myself. it was the same thing.
I remember the producer coming over to me and saying:
“We gotta shut down.“ We're going. “No! We gotta get this scene.
This is the most important scene. If we don't get this--
This solves the show. I think.“ It was something. It worked out great.
Well. Colin Hanks. let me just say. he walked in the door to casting...
...and Jason and I just-- This is a guy that-- It's so natural for him.
It works so well for him. He was fantastic. We'll talk more about him.
I want to mention quickly that this was a scene we shot later in the process.
Basically. when the first airing of the pilot was aired...
...| was thinking about separating Jason. Brendan and Katherine...
...with respect to their characters. Max and Isabel and Michael.
They wanted clearance that Michael doesn't live with them.
He's more of a foster sensibility. am I correct? And then, of course. Max--
-They wanted a little bit of-- -Clarity.
They wanted clarity of who these people were. what their situation was...
...and they wanted to see them melting cheese on a taco.
That was a big deal. the melting cheese.
So we did this re-shoot. and it just wound up--
We did this day where we went out to the desert--
-Palmdale. -Got this great location.
-Got the sense of the desert. -This totally sold Roswell to us.
-When we did this. -Totally sold Roswell.
We did this scene and then we did a wonderful scene with the--
-It was the sheriff and the-- -And Richard Schiff...
-...who played the FBI guy? -The CIA government guy...
...that Jason had worked with on Relativity.
He was doing the West Wing pilot. I think. during this period.
And he came back. and what a real treat it was.
It was great to work with him.
But we also got there the sense of back-story for the sheriff.
And so these scenes, these re-shoots...
...which are just not huge dramatic scenes in the show...
...but just really help you define and understand the characters.
The other thing about going back to the casting and finding people...
...with Jason Behr...
...was that we were searching for Max for so long.
We saw. I gotta think, 200 actors.
We saw some wonderful actors for that role. but nobody who really hit it.
We had an actor. and since this is the DVD we can talk about it...
...that came in and we actually tested.
We tested this guy and he tested for all the higher-ups at Fox...
...and I remember the head honcho at Fox...
masking me what I thought about this actor...
...and I said. “He's mysterious. He's mature.“
He says. “I don't see any of that.“
LIZ: I know. I'm sorry.
COMMENTARY: The bottom line is. Jason was actually...
...the last person that read for us. almost.
What happened was we kept hearing about him and seeing him on lists.
“Jason Behr, he's really good. he did this great piece on--
This great arc on Dawson 's, and he did, like, a really" A role--“
He did one episode of Buffy, but it was...
...well-known. He became very well-known for it.
And David and I were like. “Well. we gotta see this guy.“
There was always a reason why he couldn't be there.
Finally we were getting to the point where we had to cast somebody and...
We said. “Where is he?“ They said. ”He's back.
He's available to come in. but he's sick.“
And we were like, "Well. we don't care. You gotta tell him to come in.“
And he came in... I think it was the night before we went to test.
And he showed up. his brother had to drive him...
...because he was so sick he couldn't drive.
His brother drove him in. and he looked terrible. He sort of shook our hands...
...and barely could speak because his voice was so bad.
And he read. and we saw him and we were like, “There's Max.“
He embodied Max. because Max is someone who's always in pain...
...and always has that weight that he's carrying.
-He embodied that character. -He was wonderful.
I remember thinking. “God. I hope it isn't because he's sick.“
I remember you saying. “He'll come in and be totally different.“
William Sadler. real quickly. he had worked with me on a movie...
...and the one thing we wanted with Sheriff Valenti...
...is we didn't just want the arch-villain.
We wanted someone that had some depth and some history.
What was great about William Sadler is he's done so much great work.
And I had just worked with him. and I felt I owed it to him...
...to get him to at least come in and do this.
Fortunately. Jason and I both thought this was the right guy.
He came in and ended up. as the series progressed. as their savior and protector.
He carried that ball well.
Yeah. it was the first series television role...
...that Bill had done, and we were very. very lucky to get him.
Not only was he able to take this role that...
...at the beginning was very one-dimensional...
...and make it into a wonderfully complex character...
...but also to have somebody like that in your cast...
...when you have a cast of young actors. many of whom...
...don't have a tremendous amount of experience...
...and even if they have experience. they're still young.
To have somebody that's sort of like a leader there...
...of Bill's caliber...
...was really a wonderful thing. He was just such a stand-up guy...
...and he had such a great work ethic. And he was really a positive force.
We were lucky to get him.
Nick Wechsler is another young actor that--
We wanted to find an actor that was not just the jock or the bad...
...or the negative or the antagonist and so forth to Max...
...but we wanted to find a character deserving of Liz's attention...
...and deserving of Liz's affection.
So Nick came in. and he was so different and so unmannered...
...and so natural in his take and so forth.
And I think he had a great look.
He came in and just did something you wouldn't expect from an actor...
.and it was so un-actory...
...is the best way to say this. but he was quite something.
And he's also from New Mexico. which is interesting.
Nick is great. It was an interesting thing with that character...
...because everybody on the set loved Nick...
...and we thought he was so funny and smart.
And just everything he did was so real. and yet it was like we--
Unfortunately he had this role of the guy that she dumped.
In the first scene of the show he's referred to...
...by Majandra in some awful way.
I forget exactly what-- Like a lap dog. A poodle. So basically she's...
So basically. he had so much riding against him as a character.
And one of the great things about doing series TV is when you do a movie...
...you tell one story and you don't get to develop those characters.
But when you do TV. you get to take these minor characters...
.or even barely there early on...
...and over the course of a season or two or three...
...you really get to examine their characters...
...and you get to shift episodes...
...so that suddenly the supporting characters become the leads...
...and the leads become supporting people for an episode.
Nick was able to. over the course of the series...
.we were able to write him.
He. of course. had this incredible humor and just wonderful spirit...
...and he ultimately became one of the favorite characters on this show.
And it's just something I love to see when that happens.
One of the technical things I want to get into was...
...John Bartley. who I'd worked with on the first three seasons of X-Files...
...we wanted someone to give the show depth. shot this for us.
He was fantastic, and he really was a great leader as well.
One interesting thing is that these close-ups were pretty tight for TV...
...and I was actually lying on the floor shifting Jason's ankle...
...so he wouldn't block out Shiri's face. And these kids were great.
Jason told me once that Ed Zwick said:
“It's better to work with actors with no habits rather than bad habits.“
These guys are amazing, how they work together. One thing I loved--
That's actually Daniel Hansen. a young actor I'd worked with on ER...
...and my daughter. Zoe. who played the young Isabel and Max.
This kid. Daniel Hansen. was something. as far as his depth.
He could really embody young Jason. I think. But what was interesting--
I want you to know. by the way. It wasn't nepotism.
-She was the best one for the role. -Exactly.
I'd never want that. Exactly.
I would never want that. but she did actually work out quite well.
What was great here was Jason wrote these moments...
...of how to really involve each other in their souls. seeing in someone's soul...
...besides just seeing it in someone's eyes. I think...
We talked about that. And I think those are the moments...
...that made this show magic and made it last.
This scene. when I'm looking at it. Is. to me--
This scene sort of embodies what I wanted the series to be.
Certainly what it was in the pilot...
...and what it stayed and what it wasn't.
But what I wanted it to be was this real fusion.
This real...
...kind of mix between science fiction...
.or imaginative fiction drama...
.and a teenage ensemble drama.
And that scene that we just saw combined both. You know what I mean?
The science fiction aspect of seeing into somebody's soul.
It's. like. a weird crazy thing...
...but it was done in such a way where the--
Like those shots of them crossing each other and looking each other...
...by the school lockers. looking longingly.
Like. in the same scene you have. like. basically X-Files and My Sn-Called Life.
It's-- Those are the-- And, of course, those were--
My Sn-Called Life was where my roots are.
-X-Files was mine. -X-Files is David.
And so when you get a scene like that-- That was, to me, like...
Sort of. you know...
...an example of the best of what this show could be.
It was interesting. Michael Horse. another great talent...
...I'd worked with on X-Fifes, and made his mark in Twin Peaks.
Colin Hanks-- Just having seen a scene with Colin Hanks...
...he was such an amazing natural talent.
And it was funny. one day I was talking to Colin about his dad...
...and I said. “What pearls of wisdom has he given you concerning acting?“
And he says. “The most important was. 'S|eep.'"
He said. “Always find a place to sleep when you can. Take advantage of it.
Because you never get enough of it.“
It's something that I've taken with me in my life.
I learned from young Colin.
No. but he had such a great natural talent.
It was almost. like. don't get in his way. as a director.
-He knew exactly how to play this. -He was so real and so likable.
I remember when he was--
Before he came in for the audition. his agents called me and said:
“Look. I was wondering if you could do me a favor.
We have this young actor. Could you do me a favor and bring him in?
He's Colin Hanks. He's Tom's son.“
They didn't know-- He had never done anything.
He'd never acted. I think he did a play in college or something.
And it was sort of like. “Will you do me a favor and--?“
“Well. yeah. What's that gonna do?“
And then. of course. the favor that they didn't realize...
...is that they had done us this incredible favor...
...because Colin walked into the room and immediately...
-...had this calm and this presence-- -And maturity.
He'd never acted before. walking in a room. there's David and I...
...there's a casting director. several other producers...
...and he's just himself.
And he was wonderful and charismatic.
-It was our good fortune to get Colin. -It was fantastic.
This was a school we shot. I think...
...in South Los Angeles that worked good for everything for us.
The scene just now with the sheriff and Jane was at that school as well.
Richard Schiff, I tell you. he walked in here. and Jason had worked with him--
I think you, at one point, Jason. you'd worked with him on Relativity.
And then he got an opportunity to be on Jurassic Park...
...which was an interesting story.
Yeah. Richard was somebody. when we cast Relativity...
...Richard read for the dad. We loved him.
I remember we brought all the actors to the network.
You have to bring the actors to the network to test.
They saw everybody.
And the network...
We brought the actors and the network said. "Okay. we like everybody.“
And the only question they had was about Richard Schiff.
I. of course. was like. “Richard Schiff? The guy's brilliant.
He's great.“ And, of course. he is.
And so I always-- I feel really great...
...about having cast him then...
...because he's gone on to do so many things.
And while we were shooting Relativity...
...Spielberg wanted him for Jurassic Park...
...and we actually wrote him out of-
We wrote an arc where...
...the father leaves for a series of episodes to allow him to do that.
Also. with respect to a show about young people...
...rarely do you have adult actors of the caliber of William Sadler...
...and even John Doe, and...
With Richard. I think it brought so much lift to the show...
...and so much importance to the show and their stories.
I just felt it added so much to the show and the believability factor.
This was always a scene that I thought played beautifully.
This was a real art class that we didn't do a lot to.
And it's a very well-designed class...
...and I think that Vincent Jefferds did a great job with the show...
-...did. of course. the Crashdown Café-- -Production designer.
Yeah. he was fantastic, and this was another one of those strikes of luck.
I mean. sometimes when you're doing television...
...it's always. like. finding what you don't have to do.
Because you have a limited budget. so you put your money into the things...
...that you really want to make great. Here's an incredible set...
...that was there for us for the taking. There for free.
One of the things here is, this is a moment that everyone wanted to see.
The executives wanted to see their powers. what they could do.
Like. you mentioned the melting cheese and so forth.
Jason and I came up with this.
This is actually something that my brother-in-law made in Austria.
I said. “What if we did this?“ We're going. “Let's try that.“
-There you go, he made a glob of clay. -Glob of clay.
-Beautiful statue. -There you go.
You know. one of the things that David...
...sort of helped me understand when we were working on the pilot...
...and then beyond the pilot into the first season...
is a lot of times. less is more.
And the less we show in terms of their powers...
...and the more that we leave to the imagination...
...and the more the audience wonders. not only about their powers...
...but who they are and why they're here and all this stuff, the better off you are.
And sometimes explaining things and showing things...
...is not the...
It does you more harm than good sometimes.
And so we really. especially early on in this show...
...tried to be very spare with things like their powers...
...and things like getting into their history.
And try to sort of keep a sense of mystery about it.
It was like...
...wanting to make the aliens human.
This shot here was. I know. in a lot of the...
...and this one as well. was in a lot of the trailers.
And in the main title. the last shot.
But it was about making these young aliens human and giving them...
...that quality that everyone can relate to.
And. to me. that was such an important part of this. the fact...
...that every young kid will look in the mirror...
...and see an alien or an angel and feel that no one understands them.
This was the metaphor for that.
This outfit I just thought was the best.
Our costume designer. she came in and she showed us--
She drew some sketches of this and we said. “Go for it.“
And this was amazing. Majandra Delfino was just--
When she auditioned. she had so much verve and excitement.
I remember Jason" It was quite exciting when she came in.
Some of the stories and rigmaroles we'd go through.
I think we had a misnomer on her age. We thought she was older than she was.
-Don't know how that happened. -Exactly. She wasn't quite old enough.
When you're doing series television. it's important that the actors are 18 at least.
If they're under 18. you have to deal with--
Their hours are limited. in terms of you have-- They have to be in--
They have to go to school. they have to do--
And so she wasn't-- I think during the pilot--
She was emancipated. or became emancipated at the time.
But she was 17 when she did the pilot.
She told us this story. she had longer hair before the audition and she cut it...
...having a fight with her mom. and she sent it in a box to her mother.
I said. “This is an interesting story in itself.“
We were shooting this scene 3:00 a.m. in the morning out in Pomona.
We drove by a doughnut shop that was open 24 hours.
And everyone was tired and I said. “Let's stop. Let's get some doughnuts.“
And I think that the sugar definitely helped Majandra zip this scene along...
-...which worked funny. -What's great about Majandra...
...is she started out in the pilot as this wonderful sidekick...
...who inhales her mother's whatever it is. the oils and stuff, to relax herself.
She's so great. but what's great about a young actress with a talent like that...
...is by the end of the first season. she was doing...
...you know. completely vulnerable things.
Where she was able to play sort of drama...
...and play romantically against Brendan.
And really just show...
...completely different sides of herself as an actress.
And it's great when you're. sort of. working with a talent like that.
This is actually a scene we had talked about during the sensibilities.
“What are we gonna do with the fourth act?“
I remember this was, like-- She has this, “I have a plan.“
We're like. “Okay. what's it gonna be?“
We talked about it being almost a Lucy thing...
...where you do this and a little of this and it'll all work.
And magically it all just came right together...
...with your pen and knowing exactly how to play it.
-It turned out very interesting. -What's interesting is that the pilot...
...follows the narrative of the book...
...from the beginning. in terms of when Max heals her. and then he knows.
And I can't really remember the book at this point...
...but I remember it follows it to some degree.
-Right. -Fairly closely.
But at this point we're out of the book completely. entirely.
We needed to come up with an ending for the pilot...
...that was going to feel very different than the ending of the book.
And that's what David and I were working on...
...while we were prepping the show.
We had scenes where they went into a rock.
We had crazy stuff. and then there was the notion of this Crash Festival.
Which really happens at Roswell. When I was doing research...
...| saw that this really happens in Roswell...
...so we talked about. "How about we kind of involve this somehow...
...and embrace the science fiction of Roswell.“
Because that's what made Roswell so. of course. distinctive and unique.
The uniqueness was what we wanted to make this show.
So then we knew where it was gonna be...
...and we had to figure out what was gonna happen there.
-Exactly right. -But you kind of know if you get...
...like, a bunch of people dressed up as aliens...
...it's gonna be fun at least. so we had that going for us.
And. again. this is a wonderful thing to see. This is just so great.
We're shooting this thing in L.A. We never left...
...more than 30 or 40 miles out of the Los Angeles area.
And to be able to. between the location manager...
...production designer, the director. the DP and everybody else...
...to create that world.
It was funny. Vince and I went to Roswell after we did the pilot and said:
“We did a pretty good job on the pilot. It looks pretty close to this.“
It was funny. Brendan Fehr's another actor we wanted to discuss.
I had had a lot of success in Vancouver. There's a lot of wonderful actors there.
I kept pushing to go to Vancouver and hold a casting session.
When we were casting the show. we were casting for months.
And I was like. “We should go to New York.“
David was like. “We gotta go to Vancouver.“
I'm like. "Vancouver? You want to go to Vancouver?“
And he wouldn't let it go.
And I realized that at a certain point I was going to Vancouver.
I was getting on the plane. and of course we went there.
Of course. David had done X-Files there for years.
I did my movie with a lot of these actors.
Brendan had been in the movie as well.
And Carly Pope was in the movie. Those are two of the young actors...
...we had test for us.
And of course. Carly Pope. while she was great...
...wasn't right for this. Immediately got cast in another show.
-Pnpular. -What we found in our casting...
...was that a lot of people that came in for us...
...and got close but didn't quite get roles. immediately. once we were cast--
Because when we were casting-- When we were shooting this pilot...
...is when all the other shows started to cast.
So we started hearing. one by one, all those other people...
...Carly Pope included, started getting cast in other shows.
And we'd be going. “We don't have her. Who do we get now?“
This was Kevin Weisman's first real gig on a show.
-He had worked with you before, Jason? -Actually, no.
-I never worked with Kevin. -It was great.
Now. I guess. he's got a big part on Alias...
...but he was great. They were both great.
And these characters were both exactly the fly in the ointment...
...you needed. I think. to make this all work.
But. yeah. Brendan came in. and he was very different.
In the early days he had the David Duchovny look...
...and so forth. and he worked out great.
He's very much like the character of Michael, I think. as a person, as well.
Brendan's one of those guys that you can put the camera on him...
...and he doesn't have to say anything. You read so much into his face.
There's so much expression in his face.
JIM: You okay? -Yeah. I think so.
COMMENTARY: I don't know how to describe it, the outfit.
It just worked out so perfectly. It was interesting, on this pilot--
When you do pilots, you have to go and test them...
...for audiences and so forth. And we tested this pilot.
And the one thing that I'll always take away from this opportunity...
...and this pilot was. again. the most enjoyment...
...I've ever had on anything I've ever done.
But after the audience saw this. and this was an audience of mixed age...
...not just young people.
And because of the timeless love story Jason created...
...and how it all worked out and so forth and the fact that...
...it played to them. it was actually the highest-testing pilot...
...in the history of Fox Television. of any pilot they've ever done...
...any adult-orientated. teen-orientated. whatever.
And we both felt that after that at least we did our best.
And so whatever happens. happens. And the WB picked it up for a season.
-The old paint-on-the-finger option. -That was an interesting part...
...that I'd almost forgotten until you said it.
I remember when we had done the pilot. did the re-shoot...
...it was all done and then it was-- You know. I said we started early...
...we||. we didn't end early. We worked forever in post on this show.
Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad.
Right. we worked forever. and we were finally done. It was locked.
And you hand it in in May and a couple weeks after...
...they make their decisions. And so we handed it in.
David and I were exhausted. I went to the desert with my family.
I was in the desert. and basically that's when we were hearing...
...whether it was gonna get picked up or not.
And it was really interesting. because this show was shot for Fox.
It was 20th Century Fox Studios for Fox Television.
-Fox network. -Right. And so we...
I kept sort of. like. getting phone calls. I was trying to vacation...
...and I wound up. basically. literally sitting in my hotel room by the phone...
...as we got. sort of. the news of what was gonna happen.
-Oh. there's Jonathan Frakes. -Who was...
...was amazing to have on this. He was involved...
...in the early stages of the book and so forth.
Sad to say. we had to cut some of his involvement in this sequence.
But the bottom line for me is that the thing that hit us both...
...was this scene here. The conglomeration--
Not the conglomeration, but the accumulation of the effect of the story...
...was this scene of these kids seeing themselves...
...and what people thought of things they don't understand...
...and the fear that that can instill. really. I think. brought this home...
...and gave this what it needed. and it worked out beautifully.
And I remember when we were cutting this...
...we found the Dave Matthews song. the “Crash“ song.
And it just was one of those things where...
...you find that you don't want to let go of it.
-It worked out great. -Yeah.
But in any case, to finish the thing. we wound up being...
...instead of on Fox-- For a while it looked like...
...we may get a midseason on Fox. or we might not get picked up at all...
...and it wasn't looking good. every hour it was changing.
And then suddenly the WB somehow got a copy of it.
Somebody slipped it to them. and it wasn't me.
-Yeah. -And they loved it.
And literally it was. I think. in a 24-hour period...
...we went from almost being cancelled...
-...to being 22 episodes on the WB... -A full season.
...and it was pretty unbelievable.
This scene here. was that the scene--? You'll see this firework go out...
...at the most opportune moment. like it was meant to be.
I remember Gail Berman came out that night to the set...
...because there was a question from a lot of people...
...thinking that Max didn't smile enough. They wanted to see him smile.
Yeah. that was a big note from people.
When you're sitting-- What's interesting...
...is they're in their offices getting dailies. they're seeing two hours...
...of this guy, and, of course, it seems like he's not smiling--
And there was a smile. He just did it. That was it.
That's all you get.
But this is kind of meant to be. The light went out when they parted.
And it was one of those moments that was meant to be.
We're gonna end real quick. I just wanted to thank Jason...
...for the opportunity to be involved in this magic.
And I think, again. one of the best-casted...
...and written episodes or series I've ever seen.
And directed. I'll add.
This was a labor of love for both of us.
-It sure was. -And there's the ending.
That Jason so knew exactly how to turn it back into this.
And it worked out perfectly.
Starting at the beginning and then leave the beginning. of course.
-“Five days ago I died.“ -Yeah.
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