Noah Wyle may be fighting aliens in the new TNT show Falling Skies, but he hasn’t forgotten what it was like working in Chicago when he started his career on ER. “Nothing’s more physically demanding than working in winter in Chicago,” the TV star joked at a sneak preview of his new apocalyptic show on May 31, 2011.
But as Wyle said of both Falling Skies and winter in Chicago, it’s not about how tough it is shooting in some conditions, it’s all about working with the right group of people. Call that “gallows humor” if you will, Wyle said, but it’s true. In Falling Skies, he’s working yet again with Steven Spielberg, who also executive produced both ER and Falling Skies.
This time around Spielberg has quite the hand in the show’s production. When the Falling Skies pilot was filming two years ago, Wyle said, Spielberg didn’t like the third act and re-created the storyboard until he got it right.
As for his own role in the series, Wyle admits his Falling Skies character is quite a different character for him, but it’s one that makes him look like a hero in the eyes of his eight-year-old son. In deciding what role he’d take next, Wyle recounted the story of asking his son what he thought, laying out the scripts for the role of a lawyer, policeman, insurance adjuster, or an alien fighter. Naturally, Wyle’s son chose the character of Tom Mason, American history professor turned alien fighter.
Of course, Wyle considered other factors, too. “You look for a character who has the biggest story arc ahead of it,” he explained to a crowd of a couple hundred. And he saw a big story for Tom Mason, who is forced to become a military leader when aliens invade earth.
Falling Skies dives right into the middle of the action, six months after the aliens land, and Wyle enjoys the action role. So what makes this sci-fi drama different from the other ones out there? Well, according to Wyle, their show hasn’t been canceled yet. In fact, if all goes well, the show’s writer Robert Rodat has at least a three-season arc planned.
But if the show is going to succeed, fans need to tune in. The two-hour season premiere airs on TNT on Sunday, June 19, 2011 at 8PM.
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