Bright Falls, the insanely popular live-action prequel to the Xbox 360 game Alan Wake is every bit as psychologically stimulating as the game itself, maybe even more so. Christopher Forsyth, known to fans of the mini-series for playing the character of Jake Fischer recently spoke with Examiner about his leading role.
At one point in the series, your character woke up in a bodybag that was just pulled out of a lake. What was that all about?
There are a plethora of theories floating around about that, and I can’t answer that from my point of view without creating a “spoiler” issue. I think in Bright Falls the series, it’s a creative way to say that strange things are going on in this town. But I also think it’s a nod to a couple of things in the game, not the least of which is the nature of this Dark Presence. There may (or may not) be answers to that in the game, but readers will have to play to find out!
If I had been waking up in strange places such as out in the woods with some kid watching me, I think I would have tried to get out of there immediately. Jake stayed for awhile and even went about his business and met with Dr. Hartman. What do you think was going through Jake's head as these weird things kept happening to him? Do you think that you personally would have reacted to what was happening to him any differently than Jake did?
Well, there are a number of factors at work here. It’s a great question by the way. First of all, Jake is a writer and a reporter, and I’d even go so far as to say an investigative reporter. So despite the fact that what’s happening to him is really freaky, it’s also addictively intriguing to him. The story he’s there to write about Dr. Hartman pales in comparison to what else is going on in this town, and the investigative reporter in him wants to know more. I think that while he seems to be courting disaster by doing so, he can’t help but want to figure out exactly what is happening. Another thing is that Jake’s job is on the line. There have been cuts back at the office, as Hal references over the cell phone in the beginning, so Jake has to do everything he can to hang on to his position, and coming back without the story he was commissioned to go there for would probably be certain death to his job. I think it’s also a distinct possibility that Jake believes, at least in the beginning, that it’s nothing more than his mind playing tricks on him. He runs out of his meds as he drives into Bright Falls, so maybe he attributes the “sleepwalking” and hallucinations to withdrawal from his meds. It’s never said what he went to the store for, but we know that whatever it is, it's going to be a week before he gets it. Maybe he was in there to get his prescription refilled. Third, I think in the beginning that there is a self assuredness about Jake, almost arrogance, that he has things under control.
Also, the nature of what is happening to him, although strange, is fairly benign in the beginning. When things begins to escalate – when he begins to wonder if maybe he might have killed Sam, Jake begins to realize that it isn’t so benign after all, and he seems to be losing control. At that point he does indeed attempt to get out of town, but by that time it seems that the town, or whatever is taking it over, is refusing to let him go, and is apparently winning that battle.
Me personally? That stuff – the paranormal, supernatural, all of that really freaks me out, though I have to admit that I am also incredibly intrigued by it – but from a distance! If even one of those things happened to me – I’d probably be out of there so fast it would make your head spin, but I’d also turn around from a safer distance and want to keep watching. That’s probably because I actually believe that there is a spiritual component to this world, on both sides of the good / evil spectrum. So I wouldn’t want to mess too much with whatever it is that’s lurking in the woods in Bright Falls .
In the last episode, it seems like Jake was unable to leave the village of Bright Falls even if he tried to and then he suddenly vanished. Can we expect to see Jake to cross Alan's path in the video game at some point?
Not in AW1. The game was already to far through the development process when the series was being written, and from what I’ve read, there was just no way to include Jake in the game retroactively. That’s not to say he won’t make an appearance in AW2! Now I’ve not heard anything to that effect mind you, but who knows. Remedy would be the people to ask about that. Everybody wants to know what happened to Jake, myself included, so maybe we will indeed find out eventually. I’ve jokingly theorized on several occasions that Jake could end up being Alan’s arch nemesis. Maybe Jake ends up representing on the dark side what Alan represents on the “light” side. Or maybe Alan rescue’s Jake, who knows. If fans want to see Jake reappear in the game, they’ll need to ask Remedy for that!
On the official Alan Wake forums you had mentioned that you also have been known to play video games from time to time. What would you say is your favorite game of all time?
Oh man, well, it’s not going to be what you’d think. I own and have played several contemporary favorites (Halo 3, Call of Duty IV Modern Warfare, Madden NFL 10, and of course now Alan Wake) and really love them all for different reasons. I was addicted to Unreal Tournament for a while. Oh, and this game called Thief – on the PC – I loved that game. And when I was younger, we had this game Sonic 2, on the Sega Genesis. I haven’t played that in a long time obviously, but I was completely addicted to it, and I loved it, it was kind of like being in a pinball machine. I only mention it because I’ve never forgotten it – that game for some reason sticks in my mind. I can still feel today what it was like to play that game – and I think I was only 11 or 12 when we got that. But my favorite game (or series of games rather) of all time, is The Legend Of Zelda series. Of those, my favorite is probably “The Ocarina Of Time”. I’ve loved every one of the Zelda installments. Not your typical answer probably, eh?
Some fans have said they would love to see more episodes of Bright Falls in the future or perhaps even making this story arc into a full length movie. If this were to happen, would you be interested in reprising your role as Jake again?
Most definitely, especially if we were able to keep the same creative people on board that were behind these 6 episodes. Anytime I get the opportunity to work with people as talented as they are, or to work with really fantastic writing, I jump at the chance.
You can see more of Christopher's work, biography, and photo galleries at his official website http://www.christopherforsyth.com/
Click here to read part 1 of this interview.
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