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USA Network is just days away from the highly anticipated premiere of Colony. In an exclusive interview with MStars News, creator Ryan J. Condal, fellow Lost alums, executive producer Carlton Cuse and actor Josh Holloway discuss what life is like "living behind the wall" in the sci-fi thriller.
As we perviously mentioned, Colony is set in the near future of Los Angeles. The city of angels now exists in a state of occupation by a force of outside intruders. There are some people who actually choose to collaborate with the extraterrestrial authorities and benefit from the new order. There are also others who rebel against the system and suffer the consequences. Will (Holloway) and his wife, Katie (Sarah Wayne Callies) Bowman, struggle to keep their family together in this new world.
Before the premiere of Colony on Thursday, January 14, Ryan J. Condal, Carlton Cuse, Josh Holloway talk about the creation of this alien/futuristic society, the motivations behind Will Bowman's arc, and their thoughts on reuniting after Lost.
MS: Tell me what interests you about your character, Will Bowman?
Josh Holloway: I love the dialogue. It hits me in a very deep level. I have two children. That is the core things that I love about the character. It's his job, to be head of the household and reunite his family. He puts his family first; so I like that. It's how he prioritizes.
MS: Tell me about working with Carlton Cuse again?
JH: t's great! It's like wearing an old pair of jeans. After working with this guy and not knowing anything, I'm ready for this! I don't know anything! I love a story where the audience knows as much what's going on as the character. I love high concept storytelling, the exploration of work that goes into it! I love sci-fi!
For me, when he called me up, I was ready. We talked about the pilot and me being attached. It was the right time to do that.
MS: Was Josh Holloway your first and only choice from the start?
Carlton Cuse: 100 percent! We totally did. Sometimes, we would actually refer to the character as Josh in the story meeting. We're all in on this idea! I think you have to do that. You have to have that kind of focus with what you're going to get.
MS: Tell me me about director Juan José Campanella?
CC: We chose a director from Argentina because we felt like it's in his bones. Juan Campanella, we hired him to direct our pilot and a couple of other episodes. We felt like he lived in this world. He did. He felt it all the way to the core of his being.
He was a film student in Argentina. His car would randomly be pulled over all the time. He and his fellow Argentinean students were put guns to their heads. He really understood what it was like living under a regime; where if you made the wrong mistake, you might end up being thrown out of an airplane, or into the ocean. It was like wow, somebody's bringing that personal experience into telling our story. He did such a great job!
JH: And how quickly he entrusted that! Even in that same story, it came down to them getting out of their car, with guns to their heads, they came from just watching a movie. They continue talking about the movie, with guns to the heads, like it was just normal. It's just the way humans adapt is very interesting to me.
MS: The Wall is featured in the footage of the trailers. The Wall could be seen as a metaphor for closing up the borders. It could also mean isolation from the rest of the world. Are these metaphors intentional?
CC: It actually does. It's a physical manifestation of the colonization. It's a metallic wall that wraps itself around the city of Los Angeles. And that is an intentional metaphor for societal oppression. It's looming digitally in a lot of the shots. It's a constant reminder that of what these characters face.
MS:What plans do you have for the first season and beyond?
Ryan J. Condal: The great benefit of this, Carlton and I have been talking about this project for over two years now. We've had a lot of time now cracking the story for the pilot. We've talked a lot about the world, how the story can evolve and grow. We have plans for the show to go well beyond its first season. It's a super rich storytelling environment.
It's the nature of things that can change and shift the show. You're always learning the rules of the of this world. People can come in and out of power, things can change. It just makes, I think, for a storytelling world that doesn't have an end to it.
MS: This is an interesting take on the alien invasion genre, because it's already happened. Tell me about this world Will Bowman and his family live in.
JH: It's saying a lot of things. It's saying what is right? It depends on the situation. Who would you save? Would you save your humanity or your children? It's asking these big moral questions. You either collaborate and rationalize. Or do you resist and suffer the consequences? It's a whole world of things that happen; the situations and the pressure.
MS: Lost recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. Looking back, tell me about working on the show from the beginning to the final episode.
CC: I fully expected that there was no possible ending that would satisfy all the people that were out there. So let's do the version that we want to do, that we want to tell. I was very reconciled with the fact that it would be great for some people and it wouldn't work for other people.
That's fine! I felt like we put so much effort from beginning to end, I think that's not the real criteria to be judged. There are 121 hours of Lost and hopefully it was an entertaining journey and the journey wasn't so horrible. And when we got to the end, some people didn't like it. We worked hard to make the journey really engaging. I was reconciled with the fact it's okay that people don't like it.
Colony premieres on USA Network on Thursday, January 14 at 10pm.
Readers, don't forget to check out our 5 Reasons review of Colony right here!
