WEST Vancouver actor Jonathan Lloyd Walker was filming the feature film Red in Toronto, Ont., in early 2010 when he received word there was interest in him for a role in The Thing, a prequel to the John Carpenter science fiction horror classic of the same name.
He couldn't believe his luck. A teenager when the film came out, he was an immediate fan.
"I remember leaving the theatre after watching that and thinking, 'That's an amazing film, something that I would aspire to either write or act in.' So when this new version, the prequel, came along some 30 years later, I was very excited at the possibility of being involved," he says.
The Thing, a creature feature released in 1982, starred Kurt Russell and portrayed a group of scientists in Antarctica and their battle with an extra terrestrial able to take on the appearance of the people it kills.
The prequel, released Oct. 14 by Universal Pictures, was likewise set in Antarctica and depicts the events leading up to the Carpenter film, starting with the discovery of a creature frozen in ice. Paranoia spreads amongst the gathered group of international researchers following the realization that the thing is still alive, parasitic in nature and able to replicate living beings.
The Thing stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton, and was directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
Walker plays British radio operator Colin, a brooding, loner-type who keeps his ideas and thoughts to himself. One of the few non-Norwegians based at the facility, he's a bit of an outsider and finds it difficult to trust the group of predominantly American scientists who arrive.
"Once the thing gets loose, he's really in neither camp and really at the end of the day he's trying to protect himself and look after himself," says Walker. "The stress of what's taking place pushes him into a very desperate and hopeless place by the end of the movie."
The Thing was filmed from March to June 2010 in and around Toronto, including at an abandoned gravel pit north of the city that was transformed into the tundra, and Pinewood Toronto Studios. Location shots were filmed in Stewart in northern B.C.
Filmmakers employed a mix of practical effects and CGI.
"Obviously the difference between those is when you're on set working with practical effects if there's supposed to be a creature in the room there's really a creature in the room and it looks horrific and horrible and you have something very real to react to and so that was really helpful when we were shooting," says Walker.
There were 21 Vancouver Film School grads who contributed to the project, filling a variety of roles, from animators to lighting artists.
Walker continues to be amazed by the original film's diversity of fans, from
teenagers to older generations.
"Some of them are happy with the end result, where this film sits within the canon of that world, and others are not, and that's entirely understandable," he says, adding it's impossible to please everyone when tackling a work people have preconceived notions of.
Those without previous knowledge of The Thing are, in some ways, at a bit of an advantage.
"They get to just experience this film for what it is, as a piece of horror entertainment," he says.
"In many cases, I think the reaction from those fans has been a bit more favourable because they're not saddled with the baggage of having the Carpenter film as some reverential ideal. . . . Many of them were really entertained and thrilled and scared by our film and that was very satisfying to hear."
What appeals to Walker about their version is: the inclusion of Norwegian characters and culture, and resulting use of subtitles, an atypical choice for a Hollywood production; and, filmmakers' success in tying the two films together.
"I was very proud of how that turned out, that connection between the two movies," he says.
Walker, from Henley-on-Thames, England, was inspired to pursue acting at a young age by his mother, who was active in community theatre, as well as his neighbours.
"I grew up in a little town about 40 miles west of London and it just so happened that living on the same street was the Bale family," says Walker. "I became friends with both Christian and his sisters and we ended up doing little school plays together that his mom choreographed and directed. . . . I can remember thinking, 'I could see trying to do this for a living.'"
While in university Walker considered pursuing a different path, serving as an officer in the Canadian infantry for a few years, he eventually realized his true calling.
"I craved a greater degree of creativity, free thinking, independence, being able to be challenged by new situations, and new people and new environments. And really, at the end of the day, acting and writing provided that for me. . . . There's something quite exhilarating about walking the tight rope of this industry without necessarily knowing where you may land if you fell. . . . One week I'm a lawyer in the 1800s, and the next week I'm some future bad guy trying to electrocute somebody through their eyeballs. It's a very strange and very wonderful alternate reality to get to dip in and out of every week."
In addition to acting, Walker is an active screenwriter. One project he's undertaking in the coming months is with his wife Sheona McDonald, who was born and raised in West Vancouver. A documentary filmmaker, her movie When Dreams Take Flight, which portrays a group of students and aerospace engineers who attempt to build and fly a human-powered flapping-winged plane, premiered at the Austin Film Festival in Austin, Texas, Oct. 20.
Walker and McDonald are partners in Dimestore Productions, a boutique production company, and have plans for a dramatic feature that he'll write and act in, and she'll direct, starting shooting before the end of 2012.
Another project Walker is pursuing is Out of Time, a television series that's just been picked up with a 10-episode order by Shaw, the parent company of Global Television and Showcase.
It's a partnership with GK in the United States, Graham King's well-established production company. "They're in the process of marketing that for an American network pick-up as well," says Walker.
Out of Time focuses on a police officer from 2077 who, in that time, witnesses the trial and execution of seven convicted terrorists; however, justice isn't served as they manage to escape through a rift in time. The officer pursues them, leading them back to our present day.
"So it becomes a cop from the future chasing these bad guys from the future through present day Vancouver," says Walker.
Filming is set to begin in January and the show should hit the airwaves in the late spring or early summer. Casting will occur later this fall and a number of Vancouver-based actors are anticipated to be part of the show, as well as potentially Walker down the road.
"My mandate moving forward is to really try and make the most out of all that we have to offer here and try and create work and projects that not only are based here, to take advantage of all the great talent that's here, but also to not hide, not try and play Vancouver as L.A. or New York, but let Vancouver be Vancouver."
