The Return of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

RHI Entertainment brings to MIPCOM this year a variety of movies and miniseries including the highly anticipated "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". Miracle Screenings sat down for an exclusive interview with the star of the movie, Dougray Scott who portrays the infamous character. Scott, most known for his role on the hit TV series "Desperate Housewives" and "Mission Impossible 2", talks to us about his role in the movie, his love for theater and what made him want to become an actor. Also starring in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is Emmy Award winner Tom Skerritt.

Dougray, what attracted you to this project?

I always loved working with Robert Halmi, Sr., this is my third project with him and I always have a good time. I did Arabian Nights, I did "The Ten Commandments" and now "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and the story is notorious, infamous and just intriguing. The idea of exploring a character that basically has a multiple personality disorder, exploring that side of someone's soul and someone's persona is intriguing to me.

How did you prepare for your role?

The internet is an amazing thing, I just punched it in and all these things came up and I read a lot about it as well and explored whatever side of myself I have to explore to be able to come up with some of these characters. I read the novel again. Your preparation gives you the confidence to feel that you can go in many different directions with the character and the story when you're on the set and when you get on the set it's about the confidence really to trust yourself, you can go in many different directions so it's not set, especially with a character like this. What's written on the page isn't really what happens on screen as it were because Jekyll changes into Hyde.you've got to invent something, you've got to go through a process that's believable based on truth but also from a filming point of view that's interesting and captivating to an audience.

How would you describe Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

It's very difficult to describe both of them because we've tried to not make it black and white, to make it very ambiguous a lot of the way through the film to see what his motivation was, how attached he was to the dark side of himself and how much he really wanted to get away from it. I think Jeykll's an upstanding member of the community, he's a doctor, he's a neurologist, he's in the business of saving people's lives, not taking them. Jekyll is disgusted by what his alter ego has been doing. Hyde is a strange, off-kilter, slightly intriguing character who really is a sociopath, who's moral center is to enjoy the dark side and to really let out the imagination of a lot of people. So you have on the one hand a supposedly good doctor who really wants to do good in the world and someone who wants to destroy all that.

What were some of the challenges you faced in this acting assignment?

I guess changing from Jekyll to Hyde and trying to find a way because we didn't go down the route of the monster, the hairy hands and the eyebrows and the hair. What we did was we tried to make a real psychological change that was a physical change as well, but really just the color of the eyes and the pallor of the skin. You kind of set yourself up for a big acting job in terms of having to morph this character from inside yourself so it's just a physical challenge, you know how's the voice different, how's the physicality different, what's his physiological outlook on life and how to portray someone who you know is cold and calculated and entertaining at times as well.

What is it like working with Tom Skerritt and Krista Bridges.

Both Tom and Krista are terrific. Krista is Claire the lawyer, she's really just great, you know she's come up with a wonderful character and Tom Skerritt I've been a fan of for years and he again is an actor who you can just go with the flow, you know improvise around the scene and he was a joy to work with, lovely man as well, both he and Krista are terrific.

You had a starring role in 19 episodes of Desperate Housewives. What was that like?

It was great, I loved doing "Desperate Housewives", it was fun, it was good to do comedy which is very different from this, and I had a great time with Teri Hatcher. We had a good working relationship and it was just a different kind of acting, old Hollywood style of slap-stick comedy, at times. So yeah I loved working with Terri, it was great. It was nice to do just one season, I was only ever meant to do half a season and then they asked me to come back for more.

What are some of your fondest memories on that show in playing your role as Susan's love interest, Ian Hainsworth?

I mean just, you know being able to do the comedy really and play this slightly kind of, uptight sort of very English publisher who's life is, like a multi, multi millionaire and that was fun, his house is great, I loved filming in that. You know just the atmosphere is great, I had a great time.

No secrets about Desperate Housewives?

No secrets. I can't think of any secrets.

What's Teri Hatcher like?

She's great, I mean she's really a terrific actress, we got along very well, all the girls were great. Really, really nice and all the guys as well. Working with Kyle (MacLachlan) is, I've know Kyle for a few years. We're both golf freaks, so we talked about golf a lot.

You started out in theater and that's something you return to frequently, what do you find appealing about theater opposed to film and television?

Well I think in theater you kind of flex your muscles in ways that you don't when you're on movies, not to say you can't flex your muscles but there's a different kind of feeling and energy that you feel when you're on stage, I find it very liberating and I think that when you come back to theater you always come back refreshed and rejuvenated as an actor. The last time I did a play was back in the West End and I just got offered a play on Broadway, which I desperately would love to do but I don't think I will be able to. It always excites me when someone says you want to do a play, I'm like ah, yeah I'd love to do a play. It's what I started doing and it's something I feel very comfortable with, it's kind of nerve racking as well because you start a journey every night and you really don't know what's going to happen, with film and TV you can always go back and do it again until you get it right. With theater it's like once you've sort of jumped off that building there's no stopping until you hit the ground.

You've had a really good career to date, which acting jobs and projects stand out in your mind and why?

I think "The Ten Commandments" stands out a lot because that was just an extraordinary journey to take, wonderful cast we had you know, Omar Sharif, Linus Roache, Paul Rhys, Naveen Anderws, Mia Maestro. You know Robert Halmi, Sr.'s passion for this project was huge, so it was very interesting having him on the set because you could tell how much he wanted to tell the story. I loved it, it was a great character to play. Ron Hutchinson wrote a wonderful script so I had a great time even though it was in the desert, like a hundred and fifty million degrees! Films, I enjoyed "Enigma", "MI-2" was great, Ripley's Game with Malkovich was great you know there's always something you get out of most films that you do.

You've played both the villain and the romantic lead, which do you prefer and why?

I don't prefer either. I think both are appealing for many different reasons. It depends who the actresses and actors are and the director is. It's the change to be able to do both and not just villains or romantic. And I don't really have a favorite, I'm just attracted to good scripts and good stories.

Any interest in directing?

Yes. So many people have asked me that, you know say when are you going to direct, I'm like well, when I find a project I feel that I can tell the story better then anyone else can.