Throughout his career Jack Davenport has successfully mixed TV and movies moving from the likes of Coupling to franchise Pirates of the Caribbean.
And now he is back on the small screen with hit show Flashforward.
- How would you describe the premise of FlashForward?
An event occurs at the start of FlashForward where everyone on Earth falls unconscious for two minutes and 17 seconds. While unconscious, everyone has a dream.
However, it soon becomes clear that they are not dreams; they are visions of the dreamers’ own future - a flash-forward. After the blackout, we’re left with a world full of people with knowledge about their futures - and the audience soon discovers how everyone reacts to this knowledge.
- What can you tell us about your character in the show?
My character is a recently widowed man called Lloyd Simcoe. He has an autistic child who is horribly hurt during the blackout, so Lloyd spends a lot of time at a hospital in the show.
- What happens in Lloyd Simcoe’s flash-forward?
My character doesn’t recognize his surroundings in his flash-forward. He is half naked and he hears someone calling out, 'Honey.'
The flash-forward ends as he turns around, but he doesn’t see the woman calling out to him. However, the audience soon discovers that she’s a happily married doctor at the hospital where Lloyd’s son is being treated.
She immediately recognizes Lloyd and she freaks out. Could she go on to have an affair with him in the future? Lloyd has no idea that she is the woman in his flash-forward and he doesn’t understand why she acts strangely in his presence.
He just thinks, ‘Can you look after my son, please? You're a doctor. Why are you acting so bizarre?’ It’s a complicated and mind-bending premise - but it’s fascinating and compelling.
- Did you know that your character was going to be involved in a mysterious love triangle when you signed up for the show?
I knew some of the plot lines, but the show's creators were very careful to keep a lot of the story as secret as possible. In fact, I only saw part of the script when I signed up for the show.
I'm only in two scenes in the pilot episode and I think I say about ten words. However, I was confident that I was going to be happy with FlashForward because it had a solid team of writers and creators.
- The female doctor in Lloyd’s flash-forward is married to an FBI agent played by Joseph Fiennes. Were you prepared for the possibility that your character might have to fight Fiennes for the love of a woman in the show?
When I heard about the casting, I just thought to myself, ‘If there is a fight between me and Joseph Fiennes, I will obviously win.’ [Laughs] No, I’m joking.
In all seriousness, it was wonderful to work with Joe Fiennes. He’s amazing. I have known him for many, many years and I was really looking forward to working alongside him on FlashForward - especially as our characters had this great dynamic between them.
- What makes FlashForward stand apart from other sci-fi shows?
What I think is brilliant about FlashForward is the way that there's a big, inexplicable event that happens with the blackout, but that’s soon pushed aside and you’re left with the emotional repercussions of what happened.
When I met [Executive Producer] David Goyer and talked about the show, he used a phrase that has stayed with me forever. He said that he wanted to make an 'intimate epic'. I love that phrase, and I think it’s very true for FlashForward.
- What did he mean by 'intimate epic'?
Well, the events of trying to find out what exactly happened in the blackout plays like a baseline throughout the season. But the show also focuses on the intimate lives of all these characters we meet.
They are all immediately brought back into a world that they all recognize and understand, except that the emotional landscape has been completely up-ended because everyone has knowledge about their own life and where they are heading.
This can make people fearful or happy or whatever, and I think that's really interesting as a premise. These characters are trying to cope with this knowledge of the future - and they are either trying to run away from it or run towards it.
- Were you ever concerned that the show might become over complicated?
Not at all. What I love about FlashForward is that whilst the premise of the show is big, mind-bending and astonishing; it's not overwhelming.
I think the show hits a perfect balance between the storyline focusing on the investigation into the blackout and the storylines of the various characters we meet on this journey.
- There have been many comparisons between Lost and FlashForward. Were you upset that you didn't get to film in Hawaii?
That didn’t bother me at all. I spent much of the last five years in tropical beachfront locations filming movies like Pirates Of The Caribbean.
To tell you the truth, those places are great to go on holiday - but they’re not wonderful places to live for a long time because there’s usually nothing but a beach.
After a while, you start to think, ‘Great... The beach again. A place where dirt meets water; brilliant.’ You’ve had enough of beaches after you’ve been there for nine months. I've certainly had my fill of that stuff for the while.
- Do you enjoy living in Los Angeles now?
I do. I’ve been living in Los Angeles on and off for the last seven years. I still have my home in London and I don't want to ever lose that foothold - but California certainly has its advantages. I love the optimism of America and the way that people get on with things here. I like that a lot. However, I don’t see myself living here forever.
- Is it surprising for you to work with so many British actors in Hollywood?
Not really. Ever since Hollywood began, British actors have been coming here to work because we benefit from speaking the same language and there’s a lot going on here.
FlashForward had an enormous cast and if you looked at the statistics, it’s not that improbable that there would be four or five British actors within that list. I'm the only one who’s not suiting up and doing an American accent, though.
- FlashForward delves into a myriad of themes including fate, destiny and the future. Do you believe in fate?
I believe in fate and destiny up to a point. If I didn't, that would imply that I don’t have a romantic bone in my body – and I think I do.
- But have you ever had any visions or premonitions?
Have I had a vision of the future? No. And to be honest, I really don't want one. I'm scared enough of the future as it is; I don't need to know what it's going to be.
I’d much rather come face to face with the future as it comes along. I’m fine with that. Ignorance is bliss.
Flashforward is out on DVD now.
Throughout his career Jack Davenport has successfully mixed TV and movies moving from the likes of Coupling to franchise Pirates of the Caribbean.
And now he is back on the small screen with hit show Flashforward.
- How would you describe the premise of FlashForward?
An event occurs at the start of FlashForward where everyone on Earth falls unconscious for two minutes and 17 seconds. While unconscious, everyone has a dream.
However, it soon becomes clear that they are not dreams; they are visions of the dreamers’ own future - a flash-forward. After the blackout, we’re left with a world full of people with knowledge about their futures - and the audience soon discovers how everyone reacts to this knowledge.
- What can you tell us about your character in the show?
My character is a recently widowed man called Lloyd Simcoe. He has an autistic child who is horribly hurt during the blackout, so Lloyd spends a lot of time at a hospital in the show.
- What happens in Lloyd Simcoe’s flash-forward?
My character doesn’t recognize his surroundings in his flash-forward. He is half naked and he hears someone calling out, 'Honey.'
The flash-forward ends as he turns around, but he doesn’t see the woman calling out to him. However, the audience soon discovers that she’s a happily married doctor at the hospital where Lloyd’s son is being treated.
She immediately recognizes Lloyd and she freaks out. Could she go on to have an affair with him in the future? Lloyd has no idea that she is the woman in his flash-forward and he doesn’t understand why she acts strangely in his presence.
He just thinks, ‘Can you look after my son, please? You're a doctor. Why are you acting so bizarre?’ It’s a complicated and mind-bending premise - but it’s fascinating and compelling.
- Did you know that your character was going to be involved in a mysterious love triangle when you signed up for the show?
I knew some of the plot lines, but the show's creators were very careful to keep a lot of the story as secret as possible. In fact, I only saw part of the script when I signed up for the show.
I'm only in two scenes in the pilot episode and I think I say about ten words. However, I was confident that I was going to be happy with FlashForward because it had a solid team of writers and creators.
- The female doctor in Lloyd’s flash-forward is married to an FBI agent played by Joseph Fiennes. Were you prepared for the possibility that your character might have to fight Fiennes for the love of a woman in the show?
When I heard about the casting, I just thought to myself, ‘If there is a fight between me and Joseph Fiennes, I will obviously win.’ [Laughs] No, I’m joking.
In all seriousness, it was wonderful to work with Joe Fiennes. He’s amazing. I have known him for many, many years and I was really looking forward to working alongside him on FlashForward - especially as our characters had this great dynamic between them.
- What makes FlashForward stand apart from other sci-fi shows?
What I think is brilliant about FlashForward is the way that there's a big, inexplicable event that happens with the blackout, but that’s soon pushed aside and you’re left with the emotional repercussions of what happened.
When I met [Executive Producer] David Goyer and talked about the show, he used a phrase that has stayed with me forever. He said that he wanted to make an 'intimate epic'. I love that phrase, and I think it’s very true for FlashForward.
- What did he mean by 'intimate epic'?
Well, the events of trying to find out what exactly happened in the blackout plays like a baseline throughout the season. But the show also focuses on the intimate lives of all these characters we meet.
They are all immediately brought back into a world that they all recognize and understand, except that the emotional landscape has been completely up-ended because everyone has knowledge about their own life and where they are heading.