Michael Shanks is perhaps best known as the universe and star faring Dr. Daniel Jackson on STARGATE: SG1, but fans of 24 are now seeing him as the more than slightly shifty Michael Bishop. Shanks has the unique distinction of being in one of the very few sex scenes on 24, and told iF MAGAZINE in an exclusive interview all of the secrets to surviving on a show where so many characters get killed off.
iF MAGAZINE: How did you get involved with 24?
MICHAEL SHANKS: I was down in Los Angeles for pilot season and they were casting, the same producers were doing a pilot for Fox which is not entirely similar but the same sort of serialized drama with the story being all about one thing, so I went in to read for that. I had met with the casting director before and one of my recurring directors on the show who has been a friend of mine for years, Brad Turner, is now a supervising producer on there as well. I read and the entire group is a very nice bunch of people and they asked me if I was going to be in town for a while and I told them I was, and they had me read for a couple of different parts on 24 and Brad was directing them. I know that Peggy Kennedy, the casting director for 24 is a big STARGATE fan. The last time I met her she was talking about it, and I from what she was saying I knew she had seen it, but the more we talked, I realized she watched us regularly and she knew everything about it. So, it was just a matter of getting the network approval for me to do it.
iF: On 24, nobody has sex, but you were introduced having sex with Kari Matchett, so was that odd?
SHANKS: There’s more hot and heavy stuff to come in the episodes that haven’t been shown. It was odd, but I think it was odder for the crew than it was for us. I haven’t watched the show regularly, I’ve seen it here and there, and the crew is so used to chainsaws and axes and fingers getting cut off and torture, that they don’t get a lot of nookie on screen due to the nature of the program. If Jack Bauer has a love scene, there’s two to three o’clock! [Laughs] Even by nature of the show, if you calculate the sex scene in real time, it’s a quickie. I would have to classify that one as a quickie. The crew was quite funny and giggly about doing sexual stuff. What was good for me is the fact that stuff can be awkward to just do as an actor; here’s this actress you haven’t met then you meet them and go to see and you’ll be immediately making out and tearing each other’s clothes off. It doesn’t matter how much of a professional you are, there is always a certain amount of awkwardness that comes with that a little bit and you want to respect the other person’s space as much as possible. So, it was great to know ahead of time that the girl playing my love interest was a girl I’ve know for thirteen years from Stratford, Ontario. It was a lot less awkward having that comfort level established.
iF: Since your character is involved with the Russians, do you see him as a bad guy?
SHANKS: I think at the end of the day there are a lot of characters on 24 that are shades of gray, but if you want to equate it to the audience, he’s working for the Russians and the Russians are working against the American Government. So, you have to qualify him in the eyes of the audience as a bad guy. We as actors can never look at our characters as bad people so we look at them and say, “he’s doing what he feels is right.” On this show there are many characters that seem to wearing the good guys uniform who really do not operate as good guys.
iF: If you survive your arc is there a chance for you to return to the show?
SHANKS: I think there is always the potential. At the end of my particular arc, I don’t see the need for him to come back, but there is potential. It’s OK to say my character lives, so what happens to him beyond that is a bigger question. Eric Balfour is a good example where in Season One he was just kind of hanging around and now he’s a field agent. Peter MacNicol said, “Well, you live so hey, see you next year!”
iF: Does your character cross paths with Jack Bauer at all?
SHANKS: No, but I think that’s why he lives. [Laughs] That was what was funny about my experience working on 24, is that people would ask me how Kiefer Sutherland is to work with, and I never even met him! We never worked on the same days or even the same storyline so I never got to meet him.
iF: Since you and Powers Boothe [who plays the Vice-President] are romancing the same woman is there going to be a big throw down before it’s all said and done?
SHANKS: I will say that chaos will ensue, and I won’t say whether it’s with Powers or not. The first time I met Powers, he was on set to do some off camera line reading. There’s so much phone conversation that goes on, that they have actors in on their days off to read off camera phone conversation, so people can act with the opposite voice, which is a really nice thing for the actors to do that. We got introduced and Powers was in character and in the moment and looked at me and Brad [Turner] said, “I didn’t mean for you guys to beat the crap out of each other.” [Laughs] But, he’s really a very nice man. There’s some obvious competition in this little love triangle.
iF: So, what would you say the comparison is between STARGATE and 24?
SHANKS: It was oddly very comfortable; especially those first couple of days with Kari, and having Brad Turner direct it. I could’ve been doing anything, because the crew was so nice and relaxed and they’re a well-oiled machine and are nice people. I had been told that before that the crew was a well put together group of professionals. Being there made me feel very much at home. Usually, when you go on a new shoot it’s nerve wracking to figure out the lay of the land, but this was very easy to transition into.
iF: About how many hours is your arc?
SHANKS: It started off being four, and I think they paired it down to three.
