© (C) 2008 TNT/Electric Entertainment Stana Katic and Noah Wyle in THE LIBRARIAN: CURSE OF THE JUDAS CHALICE

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Exclusive Interview: DIRECTOR JONATHAN FRAKES TAKES A BITE OUT OF VAMPIRE LORE IN 'THE LIBRARIAN 3' - PART 1

The former STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION actor helms his second LIBRARIAN film THE CURSE OF THE JUDAS CHALICE which debuts December 7 on TNT

By CARL CORTEZ, Contributing Editor
Published 12/3/2008

For a librarian, Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle) certainly gets around. Travelling around the globe throughout his two previous adventures in THE LIBRARIAN movies for TNT, the plucky bookworm with a mission to preserve history’s most famed artifacts has transformed from reluctant hero to more confident, reluctant hero in his latest outing.

For his third adventure, THE LIBRARIAN: CURSE OF THE JUDAS CHALICE (which debuts December 7 on TNT), Carsen travels to New Orleans where he battles Russians who are trying to resurrect Dracula in their attempt to create an ultimate army. The film is executive produced by Dean Devlin, whose new TV series LEVERAGE starring Timothy Hutton also debuts December 7.

Behind the camera for his second LIBRARIAN tour of duty is former STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION actor Jonathan Frakes who spoke with iF about the latest adventure shortly after the cast and crew screening on the big screen at the Arclight in Hollywood, CA.

iF MAGAZINE: How was it seeing THE LIBRARIAN on the big screen?

JONATHAN FRAKES: I’ve seen it in Dean’s mixing room, which is an incredible place to see it, but I was thrilled that other people got the opportunity to see it in that format. I’m very proud of it. This post-production facility Dean’s put together from the mixer to the colorist – he’s ensured THE LIBRARIAN plays like a big movie.

iF: This was shot on the digital Red cameras, correct?

FRAKES: It was the first TV movie to shoot on the Red.

iF: Did you have to go through some of the learning curves?

FRAKES: I would not say it was smooth sailing. The camera department to their credit, wrestled all the problems to the ground. It was a very steep learning curve with bumps in the road that were thankfully handled by people much more technically affluent than I am.

iF: You’ve shot both 35mm and Hi-Def, what are the pros and cons of both mediums?

FRAKES: The quality of the Red, certainly holds up next to film. The fallacy is that you don’t need to light it. If you have a D.P. with the level of skill of Dave Connell, which we were fortunate enough to have on both LEVERAGE and LIBRARIAN, he worked astoundingly fast. One of the things they used to say about the Red when it was in development, was you won’t need to light it the way you would a Panavision camera and that isn’t true.

iF: When I was on set for [TNT’s] LEVERAGE [where Frakes directed two episodes], it seemed like you used a lot of smoke to help out the image.

FRAKES: I think that’s true on all Hi-Def cameras, you use the smoke to diffuse the light. The Hi-Def cameras are so merciless in terms of picking up every detail, that the smoke makes it more beautiful. It shouldn’t be perceptible that there’s smoke in the room, but it diffuses the shafts of light in a way that softens the image enough to make it look even more like film.

iF: What other benefits are there to shooting digitally?

FRAKES: In this case, Dean owns the equipment, it’s a financial situation. Dean has been acquiring the Red cameras, but also the lenses to go with it and the bells and whistles, a train, a dolly and this approach he’s taking to becoming his own studio. He’s building a storehouse of equipment, so he won’t have to rent out from others. That’s really how this decision is made. Dean has been smart enough to make it his own, so he doesn’t have to go somewhere else and pay someone else for it.

iF: JUDAS CHALICE is more of a horror movie, compared to THE LIBRARIAN: RETURN TO KING SOLOMON’S MINES, but a light horror film – did you enjoy working in this genre?

FRAKES: I love that genre. I also think of the three films, it’s the tightest and it had the best last act. It had the same wonderful tone of comedy peppered in among the action. This one, to a greater extent than the last two, allowed Flynn and Noah to have really seriously dramatic scenes as well. There were a lot of people smiling at the end, which you don’t normally get, and it’s always a complement to the actors and writers.

iF: Was there a balance of “this is how far we can make this scary?”

FRAKES: They pulled back quite a bit. I was more inclined to do much more blood and gore, but TNT and Electric were aware that our audience is not the same audience as SAW.

iF: The other thing I’m impressed with all of the LIBRARIAN films, but this one even moreso, is how in terms of your direction particularly the little tiny comedic bits and the funny looks the characters give each other. It really brings the movie to life. How much time did you work at bringing that type of stuff – since it’s obviously not scripted.

FRAKES: It’s in the direction and also in the takes. If you remember something like that, as I generally do. When I’m in the editing room, I’ll say, “they did something really funny here, let’s look for that beat or look.” All the things you just referred to are my favorite parts too. Those are the things that make you smile on the inside when you see it. It comes from Bob [Newhart] and Noah, having worked together before, and with Stana [Katic who plays the new love interest and a vampire to boot] and Noah. It’s a credit to her being able to step up and understand tonally what the LIBRARIAN franchise is about. And then my responsibility is to try to capture those and pull them out of the dailies and put them in the movie. I think everyone enjoys those bits.

iF: Obviously doing huge action sequences on a TV movie budget can be a daunting task, but there are some really clever bits in the new movie – particularly the sword fight at the beginning.

FRAKES: The opening sequence had the flavor of James Bond movie, and we even used James Bond music when we temped in the music. We dressed him in the costume – everything about it was designed to remind the audience of it. Then we hired this wonderful actor – Joe Knezevich – he actually is a trained swordsman. In rehearsing the scenes, he and Noah got together early, and worked on the choreography with the swords in connection with the choreography of the dialogue. So I got the advantage of a few days extra of rehearsal from them, that ordinarily you would have to take time on the stages we didn’t have, or piece it together.

iF: I also though the Bob Newhart’s barbershop scene was pretty clever, with Bob popping up as all those different characters.

FRAKES: That was a brainstorm of [executive producer] Marc Roskin. We were trying to find a way to get that exposition which was a long walk and talk through a graveyard. We suggested that we take it into a barbershop and Roskin expanded, “what if Bob is playing the Barber,” and I said, what about Bob playing the guy at the end and what about Bob doing that other character too. That character of Judson is so omnipotent, he really has the license to use him that way. So Roskin and John Rogers and Marco Schnabel rewrote the scene. We didn’t shoot it with any visual effects, but it was all planned in a way you could do it with cuts, which I thought was cool.

iF: How was it shooting in New Orleans?

FRAKES: It was fantastic on a lot of levels. Clearly, the people down there were happy to have work return to their city, as the Andre character says in the movie. It was very sentimental for me. I had my first date with my wife in New Orleans when we were doing NORTH AND SOUTH. I’ve always loved the town. I love to eat and it’s arguably the best eating town in the country. The team works well on location. Noah, Dean, Roskin, Connell, Gary Camp who was the operator and has been all these things with us. Charlie Brewer, the stunt coordinator. We’ve worked so much together, we travel as a team.

iF: THE LIBRARIAN owes a lot to the INDIANA JONES franchise, but the second and third movie really came into its own as Noah fell into his character.

FRAKES: He really owns his character now, in a way that is so delicious to watch. He said something in an interview that I saw, the character can handle him playing it brilliantly, he can play it stupidly. He could play it clumsily and elegantly and Flynn can absorb all these behaviors. That’s a rarity.

(Additional reporting by A.C. Ferrante)

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF iF'S JONATHAN FRAKES INTERVIEW

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INTERVIEWS AND EXCLUSI VES FROM LIBRARIAN: CURSE OF THE JUDAS CHALICE

CLICK HERE FOR MORE EXCLUSIVE LEVERAGE INTERVIEWS AND NEWS FROM iF MAGAZINE

Reader Comments

carol from england sez....
absolutly love all the librarian films. i do hope another one follows soon. carol pearcey.
9/19/2009 6:39:48 AM

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