Smallscreen News

EXCLUSIVE David Lyons and the baddie Englishmen, The Cape carries on

By April MacIntyre Feb 1, 2011, 2:23 GMT

David Lyons - © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos

NBC's fun, fantastical comic book writ large is "The Cape," full of villains and heroes, everyday people and The Circus of Crime. So many characters to savor, and the lead, Aussie actor David Lyons, cast as Vince Faraday who also is the titular Cape.

Lyons is a humble talent, and made a point during a phone interview, speaking about the actors he works with and holds in the highest regard.

Monsters and Critics had a chance to chat with David today as he spoke in depth about the fun he's having with all the "baddie" Englishmen on the series.

"The Cape" airs tonight at 9:00 pm on NBC, Mena Suvari guests as "Dice" 

Monsters and Critics:  David, talk about the guest stars, and the interesting theme between Vinnie Jones and James Frain showing the English class system where Scales has sort of got a chip on his shoulder, right?

David Lyons: Absolutely, yes.

M&C: And Scales (Jones) the East Ender versus James Frain as Winchester, very, very proper English.

David Lyons: Absolutely.

M&C: And you're Aussie, and I'm an American, so we don't really have that. I can't speak for Australia, but Americans are sort of like, "Wow, they're both English?" You know, these regional rivalries between the English...

David Lyons: Yes, I think it's a beautiful thing. It's weird, though, all the baddies are English. I'm not sure what they're saying. But what was really great is that the show writers have taken the personalities of these two characters as well as actors and really started to play with that. And it's a beautiful sub-language that is spoken all the way through their dialogue.

And that's one that we'll see more and more of, is sort of,  the king and the farmer, essentially. And with their power dynamic, which is soon to come to a head, like a big head, we start to see the shifts in those two characters in a fantastic way just to see, who is the ultimate villain in this situation.

M&C: And you don't think it's Rollo?

David Lyons: He's not a villain. He's a good guy. He's ...actually when I first read the part, I was like, "He's going to be a nasty party the whole time."  He's such a beautiful actor that Martin is, as well he's brought so much humanity to the role- and humor to the angry little guy, and we start to really explore his emotional side, which is really into the tough guy that has chinks in the armor.

M&C: Aw, you're not going to make Rollo soft. I hope they don't.

David Lyons: Oh, no, no. No, no, no... No, he's not ...don't get me wrong. He's not soft in any way. He's still a tough little nugget, but it's you just get to see what makes him tick -- what his obsessions are... the light and shade of a man that's kind of all muscle.

M&C: I love the writing. I loved James Frain in the cowboy hat, and he said he looked like he escaped from a mental institution in the cowboy gear.

David Lyons: Exactly, yes. Now, it's perfect. And he plays it so wonderfully. It's just a pleasure to watch.

M&C:  I wonder if you could talk about a visual moment. There was a moment where Scales was on top of the train when you were fighting. So being on top of the train and it looked like a comic book,  it was very blacked out around the train as the train was moving.

And I appreciated that from a visual standpoint, because this is a comic book - a series based on a comic book, and it looked like a giant cell of a comic book to me

David Lyons: Yes. No, you're absolutely right. That's what really interesting about it is that - like it's - it is based on a comic book, but it's kind of really Escher-esque in the way that it folks in on itself.

There's a comic book at the center of this world. There is a man who's not a superhero who's playing the - you know, titular hero of the Cape in a world which is somewhat comic bookish.

So there's kind of like - it bleeds in and out of itself, which I think is really interesting. It makes the world a lot richer, and it means that you can have this grounding of family, which is a very real and emotional epicenter, and then bleed out into this really rich and textured and bizarre world.

And some of the characters that you'll see coming up are indeed so bizarre that it can be nothing but comic book, but given the environment that they've placed us all in, it works.

M&C: Yes, beautifully. Guest star Dayton Callie, who's one of my favorite character actors. He stars on "Sons of Anarchy" as Chief Unser, and you had him on as the mayor in the last episode on the train. And I was wondering if we're going to see more of Dayton Callie in the series.

David Lyons:   You are. You will see him. I believe it's in episode 7 -- maybe 8. I - I'm - apologies for that. I - because I'm a little bit - we're up to episode 10 now. But he does come in. He's the mayor of Palm City.

Along with his Chief who's one of the Senators? He does have a role as a power play, so you will see him coming and going in that. But likewise, along with everyone else who comes in, he's just such a beautiful actor to watch and behold.