Casting Quirks 1/4: Callum Keith Rennie vs. Nick Lea as Krycek?
pam
http://www.the11thhour.com/archives/072000/features/castingquirks1.html
Note: it seems The 11th Hour has never heard of "Genderbender"
or Rob Bowman's role in Krycek's casting.
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Casting Quirks
War stories from the casting trenches of Hollywood.
by Julie Ng
[...]
THE TV SHOW: The X-Files
THE PLAYERS: Callum Keith Rennie vs. Nicholas Lea
CASTING QUIRK: Giving Away the Role of Alex Krycek
Remember the guy billed as 'Tommy' from the first season X-FILES episode,
"Lazarus"? Neither do I. But I do know and love Callum Keith Rennie
for his lead roles in some of the best Canadian films made in recent
years -- DOUBLE HAPPINESS, CURTIS' CHARM, HARD CORE LOGO, LAST NIGHT...
Don't remember those either? Not surprised. Unfortunately, part of
being loyal to the Canadian film industry means no one seeing your
work except for your guest spots on KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES
(if based in Toronto) or on THE X-FILES (if in Vancouver).
Nevertheless, Callum's few lines as 'Tommy' made an impression on
1013 Productions. When the time came to cast the recurring role of
double agent, Alex Krycek, Rennie was the first to be offered the role.
So what happened? Rennie flat-out turned it down. "The deal just
wasn't very good so it didn't work out," Rennie admitted to the
EDMONTON JOURNAL. His focus was exclusively on pursuing a film career:
"When you sign those [TV] deals you're hooked up for a long time.
If it works out you might get over-exposed and I really worry
about that. I worry about being caught on a successful series.
It's like William Shatner, it's like anybody who was on M*A*S*H.
They're doing dinner theatre."
At the same time Rennie declined 1013's offer, he suggested a local
colleague who he felt would play a great Krycek -- a guy called
Nicholas Lea. The rest is history. Lea replaced Rennie and was an
instant hit as the man that everybody loves to hate, and the only
recurring character who has managed to survive seven years of Chris
Carter's Ain't-it-fun-to-pointlessly-kill-people-off? tendencies.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Around the same time Lea was probably being crowned and exulted as
'Ratboy' by X-FILES fans, Rennie was still accepting a bitty part
billed as 'Groundskeeper' in the second season episode "Fresh Bones"!
Now they say that opportunity rarely knocks twice, but it did again
for Rennie in 1996 when he was offered to replace David Marciano,
who played Benton Fraser's (Paul Gross) partner Ray in the cult
series DUE SOUTH. Still not wanting to be tied down to a TV series,
Rennie took his time giving his answer. One night after a few
drinks at a bar, Gross asked him if whether he would ever make up
his mind. "I said, 'This is an important decision, so important,
in fact, that we should flip a coin.' So we did, and the show lost."
recalls Rennie, "I suggested that we go two out of three
and I guess that convinced him that I wanted the job."
WHO GOT THE BETTER DEAL?
In the end, Callum Keith Rennie had to eat his words and joined
the cast of a popular TV series. His character, Detective Stanley
Kowalski, is easily the role he is most widely known for. He did
however, sign a unique one-year deal for his stint on DUE SOUTH.
Either way, had the show been cancelled or not, he maintains the
freedom to take roles in great movies that few people ever see.
Meanwhile, some people might say that it's Nicholas Lea who will
forever be trapped on THE X-FILES -- armless, sadly under-used,
and poorly utilized as Mulder's whipping boy.
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