A CONVERSATION WITH NIGEL BENNETT
The Knightly News February 1993 Vol. 1 No. 2

Copyright 1993 The Forever Knight Fan Club. Reprinted with permission

Nigel Bennett enjoys playing villains, and without doubt does a great job of it. "I get to play them a lot up in here in Canada. Most of the things that I do are bad guys." The six-foot-one British actor, who portrays LaCroix on Forever Knight responded to questions about how he came to play our favorite bad guy: "Well, I auditioned," he laughed, "along with many others and that was basically it. I auditioned and they clearly liked me, and that was it.

"There was a problem at first. We weren't sure I'd be able to do it, because I'd already been contracted to another, Canadian, series which hasn't so far gone to series. We made the pilot and nothing's happened with it. So there was a little bit of the possibility that I might not be able to do [Forever Knight], because it would have clashed on the original time scale. But nothing's happened; and they were very good about it. You know, they said that if it did clash, they would allow me to leave Forever Knight and do the other one, because that was the first one. But that hasn't happened; and it doesn't look like it's going to happen, which is a shame 'cause it's a nice series. I like doing LaCroix."

Nigel came to the role well prepared to play a vampire. "I have played Dracula before now on stage and I did quite a bit of research then on who the original Dracula was and this whole thing about blood and the idea of drinking blood and the cannibalistic element. Cannibals in battle would drink their enemy's blood because they believed it gave them their enemy's power, and they'd eat their enemy's flesh. And there was a woman, way back, a queen who slaughtered hundreds of young virgins and bathed in their blood because she believed it would keep her beautiful, and all sorts of strange things. And yet, the guy who was supposed to be the original idea of Dracula, who was Vlad the Impaler, as he was known, he didn't actually do that. He just used to impale people instead. But there's no record of him actually drinking the blood."

What appeals to you about playing a vampire?
'Well, it's very erotic. I think vampirism is a very erotic thing. I think originally it was sort of like pornography back in Victorian times. The idea of women in particular: a woman pursuing a man at that time was unheard of. And pursuing him and biting him and sucking his blood and everything were extremely erotic back then. And still are. And that side is interesting. But it's also [that] they're outside normal moral laws and codes. And I like that, the idea of that, that LaCroix has his own, absolutely his own moral code which makes complete sense to him. And may not make sense to anyone else; but it does to him. And that's all that matters."

LaCroix ends up coming across very much in the way Lestat comes across in Anne Rice.
"I've been told this. Now, I was going to read her books. I read 'The Mummy,' which she wrote, which I thought was very good. But I sort of decided not to because I've got my handle on this guy and I don't want to start making him like Lestat. You know what I mean?"

It's interesting that independently you have evolved a very similar interpretation of the way a vampire would see himself .
"Yeah, well that is interesting; but maybe that's a given for that sort of character. Maybe in order to do that you have to look at yourself in that way. You know what I'm saying? In order to live with yourself....I don't think they see themselves as evil. They're simply doing what is right for them to do, and is natural. And it's the rest of the world that's unnatural. [Villains] don't see themselves as villains. They have absolute justification for everything they do; and to them it makes sense. "There's an actress called Carlin Glynn. She was in "Best Little Whorehouse In Texas" and she was also in "The Trip To Bountiful." She's married to Pete Masterson, who's a very fine film director. She was giving acting classes, and she said that in every character, no matter how on the surface repugnant the character may be, if you're going to play that character, you have to like them. There's something about the character that has to be appealing to you. And for me, I mean, I certainly find LaCroix appealing. I like his sense of where he is and who he is and why he does what he does and the fact that he enjoys it."

Do you see a sexual aspect to Nick and LaCroix's relationship?
"I'm not sure. The way I see it, Nick is LaCroix's possession. LaCroix made him. And, in a way, what he's saying a lot of the time is 'Look, he's mine. Get away from here.' And I think that's the reason he's fighting to prevent Nick from going straight, if you like. He's his, and he will do his damnedest to keep it that way. I'm not sure about the sexuality."

Perhaps it just plays a little bit that way because he 's son of alternately caressing and then punishing?
"Hmm, I know what you mean. But it's quite parental in that way isn't it? Don't parents do that, alternately caress and punish? [In a humorous accent:] 'Isn't that the problem with kids today?' That their parents have smacked them and said' don't hit people,' and hit them to stop them from hitting people, which is absurd, and then turned around and said, 'Oh, never mind,' when the kid's upset. It's all confusion. "Pleasure and pain. I mean it's the same with sexuality and with relationships and everything. It's this intermingling of pleasure and pain. You see LaCroix must like [Nick] because I don't think he' s consciously brought anyone else over for a long time; because he gets too carried away with it. He gets so carried away with the physical act of drinking the blood (chuckles) that by the time he's finished there's none left. So it takes quite an effort of self-control. I think it was a very deliberate act...a very, very deliberate decision on his part, to create this companion for him."

What about Daniel? Is there any hint of what happened to him?
"The little boy? No, nothing. There are quite a few that - I mean, I said that LaCroix doesn't make many, but in the very first episode he makes Alyce, the museum curator. He turns her into a vampire and she's left at the end. There are quite a few people floating around who have been turned, who have been brought over and then conveniently forgotten. Now whether they'll return or not, I really don't know. That's not my decision. You never know. But the people who inhabit the Raven club have to come from somewhere, don't they?"

Is it harder to project a character when that character is only seen in glimpses?
"In a way it's easier because you don't have to worry about the character developing. He's very much the same in the glimpses. And what's happened, I think, is that the full character has been exposed, if you like, over a very long period of time, rather than being exposed in one episode in all his facets. It's taken twenty-two episodes so far, and we still don't know everything about him. So in that way it's a little bit easier, 'cause you can concentrate on just one specific area."

Is there any indication exactly when LaCroix became a vampire?
"The only thing was in the episode called "Dead Air" where he mentions Oedipus. But whether he mentions Oedipus simply out of some sense of being obtuse, or what, I'm really not sure. He talks in the first episode, or the second, about all sorts of people he's known. So he's been around a very long time. I like to think he was the very first one, but I don't know. Who brought him over?"

There is the implication that the Enforcers are very old and powerful.
"The Enforcers are an interesting problem. There are some computer network things that talk about the episodes and I got a look. And they were quite, not concerned, but they couldn't understand why LaCroix would put himself at risk with the Enforcers to save Nick. It seemed such a strange thing to them to do. I don't think that it was, because it's that argument that Nick is his, you know? 'No one's going to hurt him because he's mine! I want him."

No one can hurt him but me.
"Yes, absolutely. 'He's mine. I'll do things to him if I want to, when I want to, but no one else will.' And he stood up to the Enforcers and there were people who were saying, 'Well, LaCroix could probably take on the Enforcers and kick their ass,' and there were other people who were saying , 'Well, why did he put himself at risk in that way?' I don't know, to me, it's sort of gotten a little bit like the Chiefs of Staff of the army and the Prime Minister. You know that the Chiefs of Staff are more powerful on the surface and if you look at the Enforcers, they would fill that sort of role; but the Prime Minister actually controls them. And I wonder how much LaCroix actually controls the Enforcers. I don't know."

Is this a fun production to work on?
"Yeah, it's great. The crew are amazing. They're one of the nicest crews I ever worked with. I just hope we get them all back if we go again 'cause they're off working on other things now. The camera people, the look that they create for the series is just unique on television at the moment. I don't think there's anything else that looks quite that way. And the cast: Geraint is a lovely guy. We knew each other before. When I first came to Canada, six years ago, I rented his house. It's like we have been following each other around for a long time. And everyone, it's a really, really happy show. It really is. That sounds like rubbish, but it's true."

How about the other people in the cast? Has it become a sort of community?
"It's become two communities in a way, because there are certain people that, as yet, I've never worked with, like John Kapelos. I never worked with him because we just don't inhabit the same world. There tend to be the vampires, that's myself and Deborah Duchene and Geraint; and then there's the real world which is Geraint and John Kapelos and Catherine Disher and Gary Farmer, in the regulars. So we sort of are separate. But we all get on very well. John Kapelos is a very funny guy, very funny. He really is, as a person, let alone the character that he plays. He's very funny. And we go out and we have dinner occasionally and all this sort of thing."

What 's your average work week like?
"It's a six day shoot; but actually there are two days off in every seven so you don't get a whole episode shot in one calendar week. There's always a little bit left over. So, if we started shooting on Sunday, we shoot Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, with Friday and Saturday off. And then we'd finish that episode on the following Sunday. And then we'd start one after that; so it sort of staggers itself along. The episodes that I'm in, I'm in for two or three days. It depends. And I was in sixteen episodes."

Do you hate flying?
(Nigel laughs.) "No, it's real fun actually, when you're in the harness and you're being flipped up in the air. That's a buzz. But there was one scene; I don't know if you've seen the episode yet. It's an episode called '1966.' It's set in East Berlin in 1966 and there's one point at which LaCroix burns a library down to prevent Nick from getting his hands on a manuscript. Nick arrives there as the building's in flames and there's LaCroix standing on the top of the building, looking down at him and sort of shouting. And we started to shoot the scene and I was perfectly okay, no safety harnesses or anything like that, and then they said, 'Can you move a bit closer to the edge?' So I walked to the edge and said, "Like this?.. Aaaah," at which point the stunt coordinator just knelt down behind me and grabbed my belt, his hand up my back holding my belt during the whole scene. But that was weird, that was, standing there going 'Aaaah."'

I gather you're not real nervous about heights.
"No, no. I got a bit queasy with the contact lenses at first."

Can you see through them ? Are they just painted regular contact lenses?
"They're not painted. They're just plain, specially made yellow contact lenses with a little green edge. You can see through them, but the aperture in the center is fixed, so everything tends to be a little bit blurred through it. They're getting new ones for next year, provided we go, which are like the ones that were used in 'Innocent Blood,' which can apparently be any color you want. So we'll have to see."

Do you have a favorite episode?
"It's difficult to say. Well, I like what I did in "Dead Air.' I mean, it was just, when I killed the derelict there, I don't know what the heck I was thinking of, but it was just - it really looked blecch, looked disgusting. So that was nice. I make myself laugh, occasionally, with the little comments that he throws across at Nick. In that episode when Nick is saying,' You can't do this; it's not human. You can't. How can you do this?' I just say to him, 'Well, don't look.' And the episode in the American Civil War, where he says he hates war but he loves the free food. I love the sort of comments like that. But a favorite episode? No, I don't know. I don't think so."

How did you get into acting ? How did you decide on, this as a profession?
"Um, I went to what in England we call secondary school. You go at age eleven, so it would be like Junior High, I suppose. We did school plays every year, and I did school plays every year, and suddenly announced to my teachers and parents and everything that I wanted to be an actor, when I was about fifteen, I suppose. I'd absolutely no idea how to do it. I went along and auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and didn't get in. And then went to university and studied drama and education. I came out as a teacher of drama and worked doing that for a year. And then simply applied - in England it's not easier, it's difficult, but I applied for a job in a company that was expanding and had Equity cards to give out, and I was lucky enough to get an Equity card. And it just sort of went from there."

So you were mostly on stage?
"Oh, yes, before I came to Canada, yes. I was ninety-five percent stage, maybe five percent television over there; and when I came to Canada it just reversed itself, straight away. It was the strangest thing. As far as I could see I wasn't doing anything different. And suddenly I was doing lots of television and very little stage. And that's the way it's been."

Presumably it pays better. I've never heard of stage paying well.
"Oh, yes. Actually it's easier as well."

I guess if you muff something, they can reshoot it.
"Well, yeah. But it's the fact that you can concentrate your energy in bursts rather than having to maintain it for a full two hours or whatever for a performance. That demands a very large amount of emotional and physical and all sorts of energy you need to put into it to do a performance. And to do it eight times a week is just draining."

Is it a different skill to have to do this to a camera instead of a another actor?
"Yes, yes it is. People used to say, 'It's the same thing as on stage only you do less of it.' Well, that's not strictly true. It's far more difficult in front of the camera. You have to be aware of where the camera is, where the lights are, the sound. You have to be able to split yourself into different levels of awareness, if you like. You have to be performing with another actor who may be standing right next to the lens to give you an eye line, and at the same time you have to have another part of your brain that's remembering where you're casting shadows and thinking of the lights and another part of you that's thinking on some other level. So it's quite difficult in that way. When I say it's easier to do than stage work, I don't mean that the actual acting is easier. Not at all. It's just that the amount of energy - no, not even the amount of energy, 'cause you have to put the same energy in, even in these short little takes that we do. But it's easier because you don't have to do it solid for two hours."

What about the repetition? It seems like you have to do a scene three different times because it's from this angle; it's from that angle.
"At least, yeah, yeah. And that's assuming you only do one take. You can see this on television sometimes, where actors have given a slightly different performance when it's their shot from the performance they give when it's another actor's shot. And you can actually see differences in expression or bodily posture. That's another one of those things you have to be aware of. You have to try and maintain the same performance, the same level of performance."

Is there a role you haven't played that you really would like to?
"Oh. God! There are thousands of them. There are thousands of them. I'd of loved to have done Hannibal Lecter. I think I'd do better than Anthony Hopkins." (Laughs.) "On stage, any of the great Shakespeare roles are just wonderful to do. Now, Geraint is very lucky. He's done a lot of them, Geraint. He' s done a lot of those things and I haven't, because Geraint was, and is, a leading man, very much a leading actor. You know, the young, boyish good looks, all of that sort of thing. And I was always a character actor, never had that sort of boyish thing; so I never played the lead roles. But there are lots. There are lots."

[The subject of the club 's origin as a Group of the Boston Star Trek Association - unashamed plug - comes up.]
"Yeah?" [Eagerly.]

Yeah.
"God, I love Star Trek."

You love Star Trek?
"Yes, I'd give my eyeteeth to be on Star Trek. We talked about this during shooting, just sort of jokingly one day. Geraint and I were sitting and talking and saying that we should have guest spots in every series that's on at the moment. You know, on Star Trek they should discover a planet which has vampires living there. Should be great. God, I'd love it."

It sounds like LaCroix would still have to be a ghost in the twenty-fourth century.
"Well, that depends. Tell me, what episode are you watching down there at the moment?"

The last new episode was "Feeding The Beast. So we think he's a ghost right now.
"Yeah, he is. Well, I mean, there are things that happen."

Oooooo.
"I can say no more than that."

Ooooo.
"There are things that happen."

Ooooo. [Both chuckle.]

Well, all the people in the Trek club will be just thrilled.
"Yeah?"

We 're actually a pretty ancient and venerable one.
"I worked on an episode of Beyond Reality and the producer on that was Hans Beimler, who was a producer on the first season of The Next Generation so I was just - 'Ahhh' - you know, to meet a guy who'd been a producer on that was a thrill."

Now I have to start a letter campaign to get you guys on Next Gen or DS9.
[Both laugh.] "Oh, great, to be on DS9, wouldn't it be? ...Definitely more sort of a thinking person's space adventures than Next Generation is."

Some statistics: When is your birthday?
"19 November."

Do you have kids?
" Yeah, two, both boys. One is seven and the other is sixteen months, and the seven-year- old is as much of a Star Trek fan as me. But he's very dismissive about the original series. I remember watching it in university. It was a big thing to go and watch Star Trek. And we watched it black and white as well. And you look at it now and it's just sooo - I mean, it was amazing for its time, but compared to the technical effects and the tricks they have now, it's just very naive, very innocent sort of television."

What were you doing over hiatus?
" Well, I went skiing down into Vermont, which was very nice, and I've worked on a few other things as well. [Matrix, Secret Service, and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues] And that's basically been it. Nothing too much in work terms, because it's a very quiet time of the year and we're waiting to hear what' s going to happen next year. That's our main concern."

To finish up, here are some more of Nigel Bennett's television credits you can look for: Sweating Bullets; E.N.G.; Counterstrike; T&T; Friday the 13th; Passion In Paradise; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; The Twilight Zone; Mount Royal; Super Dave; Diamonds; Bay Coven; Night Heat; Adderly; Elizabeth Alone; Coronation Street.