Perhaps one of the more exciting genre series to come out this year is the modern interpretation of ‘Sleepy Hollow,’ and joining the cast of that show in Monday’s episode will be none other than John Noble, who is to take on a role that is central to moving the story of the first and second season of the show forward.
Yesterday I was lucky enough to take part in a conference call with John Noble, who came across as very enthusiastic about the show and was more than happy to talk about his role in the series.
SciFiPulse: Obviously you have some history with Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci. How did you get involved with ‘Sleepy Hollow’?
John Noble: Alex rang me. Oh no that’s not true. I think I got a call through my manager and then Alex contacted me and we took it from there. I was home in Australia when I got the call.
SFP: What can you tease about your character?
John Noble: Its interesting that the episode is called ‘The Sin Eater’ and that it introduces this character of Henry Parrish who seems to be a reluctant sort of saviour, but he has the ability to in a sense remove evil from a person. So I’ll tease you that much, but even though he doesn’t want to he’s called in to basically save Ichabod’s life.
So that’s his first introduction and we establish that there is some sort of chemistry between him and Ichabod.
SFP: What was you experience like working with Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie?
John Noble: The whole experience with the company was good. Tom in particular. He’s a beautiful man and also a fantastic actor. We had some common ground in that we both come from a theatre background, which allowed us to talk about a whole series of issues.
But really it was the connection that we had on set that is special and when it happens its terrific, which is what Tom is referring to in his interviews I would imagine.
SFP: Was there a favourite moment in your first episode that you can perhaps talk about?
John Noble: Its funny because my favourite moment believe it or not is the first time that my character is exposed. No one has any idea who this character is and in this situation its a knock on the door.
I haven’t actually seen the footage, but I’d imagine the shot is going to be one eye looking out through the door and that is how you do a really creepy good moment isn’t it? A shot of someone looking through a door and then we meet Henry.
I only had two scenes in my first episode, but they were two very big scenes and both of them were beautifully written. So I enjoyed them, but really the first introduction was my favourite moment I think.
SFP: What do you think is unique about your character of Henry Parrish?
John Noble: Henry is another one of these really complex characters. You see when I did Walter Bishop one of the great joys of him was the layers that he had, which gave me so much room to play the psychological elements. Henry offers me the same and from what I’ve been told by the writers we’ll see the levels of that as time goes by.
SFP: Will Parrish be in a few of the up and coming episodes?
John Noble: Yes. I have three more episodes to do this season. I’m in four, but done one already. And I’ll probably back next year as well for quite a lot.
SFP: Earlier you mentioned that Henry is a very layered character much like Walter Bishop was. How different is Henry from Walker because Walter was pretty eccentric and off the wall much of the time. Would you say that Henry is also eccentric?
John Noble: Yes absolutely, but not in the same way. I mean from what I know so far he doesn’t have that extreme range that Walter had. From what I know I don’t see Walters type of range. What I do see is the secrets and psychological twist of this character. He’s a mystery man and he’d reveal these mysteries, and as time goes by his revelations will be quite a shock to the other characters and to the audience.
It’s terrific fun to play those sort of things, but he’s not a crazy like Walter was.
SFP: You’ve done roles across a few different franchises such as ‘Lord Of The Rings’ and was wondering if there is a film or TV franchise you would like to eventually take part in?
John Noble: [Laughs] Okay. You’ve been reading the rumours about Star War have you?
SFP: To be honest I missed that particular rumour.
John Noble: The biggest franchise right now would be Star Wars. We all know that. I mean that would be a dream if I got that. I don’t know… I’ll just say the one at this stage. It’s certainly the one I’d like to be in. Star Wars is what appeals to me most.
You can all see John Noble’s first episode of ‘Sleepy Hollow’ when the series returns on Monday on Fox in the USA and on the Universal Channel in the UK.
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