Actor Bryan McClure recently scored a lead role in a new science-fiction movie franchise over 7,000 of his peers. We speak to the actor about his big break as the star of the upcoming Space Command movie.
How much has winning the Space Command role helped your career? Is it opening doors?
I believe that the full scope of what Space Command will do for my career is yet to be determined. But it is definitely already starting to shift some great things in my career. By beating out 7000 other people for a role, a number of heads start to turn your direction as people realize your talent. I’m excited to see what great things 2014 have in store within the ‘Space Command’ Universe and beyond.
What other science-fiction film would you compare it to?
Because it is a series of six different films and I have, at this point, only read the first of the films, I cannot really make extremely accurate comparisons, but if I have to, I’d say it’s somewhat similar to ‘Star Wars’. The story follows two families over three generations and we really get to grow with the characters. But because the creator of the franchise, Marc Zicree, has spent his entire life loving and creating science fiction, I’m sure there will be elements that fans from all sorts of science fiction films and tv shows can get excited about.
Have you spent a lot of time with the filmmakers, in the film’s development?
Whenever I get the chance to evolve myself with the project, I jump at it. If there’s a production meeting and Marc allows the actors to attend, you better believe I’m there. We’re on the verge of something really huge here and I want to be as involved in the process as he’ll allow us.
You went to Comic-Con for the movie. Was it your first time? What did you think?
This was my second time going down to Comic-Con, but this was my first time on the other side of a panel. Getting to sit on the panel and talk to a large audience about ‘Space Command’ was a blast! I had a lot of fun getting to interact with all the fans that showed up to learn more about our films. Additionally, there was an awesome poster signing afterword which gave us the opportunity interact with all the fans on a more personal level
Do you know who else the filmmakers have attached to the film yet?
At this point I don’t know 100% for sure, but I can tell you that Doug Jones (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth), Mira Furlan (Lost, Babylon 5), Bill Mumy (Babylon 5, Lost in Space), and Dean Haglan were all speaking on the Comic Con panel with me.
What kind of commitment are the filmmakers hoping to get from you – is it a multi-picture deal?
Space Command is, as of right now, a total of six feature films. I will be a part of the journey in three of the six. I could not be more excited about it.
How did you enjoy The Starving Games? I take it just wandering around the set would’ve been interesting in itself!
The Starving Games experience was a blast! Not only was it my first time going down to New Orleans, which, if you’ve never been, I highly recommend, but it was my first time work with Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Those guys are both very kind and very funny fellows. The whole experience being down in New Orleans was an incredibly memorable time and being able to work on a fun film like The Starving Games just the icing on the cake.
Why do you think there’s so much interest in these spoof movies? Can we blame Leslie Nielsen?
That’s a good question. I guess, maybe it goes back to that saying that laughter is the best medicine. Jason and Aaron are able to take lot of different elements of our pop culture and mix them together into one hilarious story. Since comedy often comes from things we don’t expect, we get a storyline that we think we already know, like “The Hunger Games”, but with a bunch of twists that obviously didn’t exist in the original and, because they’re not expected, they become funny. And yes, Leslie Nielsen is the one to be held responsible for spoof movies [Laughs].
