Apparently Noah met press people recently. I just found two new interviews:
www.tvchoicemagazine.co.uk/interviewextra/noah-wyle-falling-skies-0Former ER heart-throb Noah Wyle has sent pulses racing in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi thriller series Falling Skies. It’s set on an Earth which has been invaded and almost destroyed by aliens, but Noah’s character, Tom Mason, and his band of survivors are determined to save the human race. TV Choice caught up with Noah for a natter as the series returns for its fifth and final season…
Do you believe in UFOs and aliens?I haven’t given it that much thought. I’ve been asked that question quite a bit, and you would have thought I’d have crafted an answer by now!
What’s the feedback been like on social media and in the street?I’m a dinosaur living in a 21st century world so
I’m not on social media much, mostly because I’m afraid, but I have had a lot of wonderful exchanges with people over the years telling me why they like this show. The reasons vary and I love hearing what draws people to it. Some really like the guns, battle sequences and the war film aspect, while other people really hook into the family drama. Some fathers say watching Tom Mason grappling with these big life issues as he tries to keep his family safe and intact has had a profound effect on the way they approach parenting, which is gratifying.
What have you enjoyed most about making Falling Skies?Like any show, the people become the most important thing about it, since that’s who you spend your time with. Falling Skies is about a group of very disparate people having to come together to forge a common bond and tackle obstacles. In a lot of ways our cast reflect that. We’re very different ages, backgrounds, work ethics, having to come together and negotiate all that in an effort to make a TV show, and when I look back on Falling Skies, that’s what I’m the most proud of. Year in, year out, whatever the difficulties were, we managed to push through them, we all grew as people and artists, and by the end we all had a tremendous amount of respect for each other. We left with a nice feeling of closure having finished the mythology for the audience and also having had the opportunity to say goodbye to each other.
So much has changed since the series began. What have you liked the most about how Tom’s character has evolved?Initially, Tom is the conscience to the brutal decision making of Colonel Dan Weaver [Will Patton]. Tom is the humanist, and Weaver is the militarist. When the series finishes, not only have they eventually found common ground but they switch roles. Tom is much harder and more determined to succeed at all costs. Weaver becomes much more his compassionate conscience and reminds him that victory without humanity is not a victory at all. That sense of transference which the characters have gone through is something Will and I really tried to map out methodically.
Will the ending wrap everything up nicely?I just profoundly hope that the final season is satisfying to all the viewers that have been so incredibly loyal to, and supportive of, the show. It’s had six different show-running writers in its five seasons, so in a lot of ways the show’s a Frankenstein's monster, it’s got a lot of different people’s DNA all over it. I hope that when viewers see the conclusion it’s worth their investment.
You’re currently filming the second series of The Librarians, but we’d love to see you on stage in London. Is there any chance?Oh God, I hope so! It’s been an ambition of mine for years and years. I have so many friends who have come over and spent a season or done a show, and just raved about the experience. It’s definitely on my bucket list of things I want to do. The first time Eriq La Salle [ER’s Dr Benson] and I went on a publicity trip to England, we landed in London and as we were pulling out of the airport Eric saw ‘ER’ painted on all the mailboxes. He thought you’d really laid out the red carpet for us!
Are you most recognised for Falling Skies or is it still ER?It really depends on where I am. For some reason just recently there’s been a whole spate of Donnie Darko fans. ER is of a certain generation, Falling Skies is of another, and The Librarians is a third. But in Europe it’s usually ER.
Fox, Tuesday
Natalie Dye
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and
www.scifinow.co.uk/interviews/falling-skies-season-5-noah-wyle-on-the-final-series/FALLING SKIES SEASON 5: NOAH WYLE ON THE FINAL SERIES
by Poppy-Jay Palmer, 22 June 2015
Noah Wyle on finishing off Falling Skies and working with Steven Spielberg
After five seasons, Falling Skies is drawing to a close
Did you envisage Falling Skies lasting this long when you first signed up?No. I really didn’t. There were certain things about this show that we set that I hadn’t really given much thought to best the pilot. [Laughs] It was one of those things where I wanted to work. I was itching to work because I’d been taking some time off to be at home with the kids. I had a couple of really good opportunities being offered to me, and I left the choice up to my son. I asked him if he wanted his father to be a policeman, a lawyer, an insurance investigator or an alien fighter and he chose alien fighter! It seemed like a good choice until three months in when I realised that I was shooting in Canada in the middle of winter in rainstorms just to satisfy my six-year-old son! It wasn’t the best career decision necessarily. But it turned out all right.
Do you think the fans are going to be shocked by the ending?I think there are shocking things in the final season, for sure. We have some of our best episodes this year. I hope that the audience find the finale more satisfying than shocking.
The show is very family-oriented. Are you close with your on-screen family in real life?Yeah! Well, I’ve seen these boys go through unbelievable changes over the years. When Maxim Knight first started on the show I think he was nine or ten years old, and now he’s 15! Drew Roy was in his early 20s and now he’s pushing 30. Connor Jessup was a teenager and now he’s in his early 20s. So watching these guys grow, not just as young men but as actors, was pretty cool and incredibly rewarding. We’ve also spread out but we have kept in touch. The show ended already, in February, so I’m curious to see where they all end up in their lives and their careers.
Where does Season Five start? Does it pick up straight from where we left off in Season Four?
We left Tom Mason on the spaceship with something we didn’t recognise, staring at something we couldn’t see, going. ‘My god, you’re beautiful!’ And that’s where we start?
Season 5 will see Tom and the 2nd Mass take the offensive
Did you get a lot of contact time with executive producer Steven Spielberg?No, I didn’t when we were filming. His involvement was mostly through reading the scripts and making notes on the scripts, and watching episodes and making editorial suggestions. But with all the crew and directors that we had and all the visual effects, his present on set with not often, but everybody knows who they are working for and everybody knows who is watching. But I got a very nice note from him when the whole thing wrapped up, and I hope to work for him again.
Do you have a favourite moment from the show?
Favourite moment… um… Oh! Yes! Absolutely, absolutely! This season I got to wear a different hat for the first time: I got to direct an episode! The director was having a personal issue so I threw my hat into the ring and made my directorial debut in episode eight of Season Five, and I just loved every second of it. I really enjoyed the experience – it was challenging and engaging on every level, and I’m about to go and do it again! I’m going to direct the first episode of The Librarians Season Two in about two weeks. It’s opened up a whole new career possibility for me that I found really, really exciting.What can fans expect to go down in Season Five?
Well, because we were successful at the end of Season Four destroying the power supply on the moon, this is the year where we get to see the humans have a tactical advantage for the first time, where they no longer have to worry about playing defence so much. More aggressive, more bloody-lusty [feelings] come out this year. They enter the final push to [get rid of these] unwanted creatures, and Tom Mason is the spearhead of that. He comes back more focused and more determined and more inclined to put his moral and ethical [compass] on the shelf until the job is finished, which we’ve never seen before.
What do you think you’re going to miss most about the show when it’s over?
Um… a few of the people. It has a strong cast and crew so I learned a tremendous amount from the experience. It wasn’t always a fun experience. I tend to want to have fun when I work, which is why I chose to become an actor [laughs]! You can sort of just skip through life. Sometimes there’s great chemistry and the work is easy and natural, but sometimes it’s a lot of effort. The work they we did was rewarding but it wasn’t always as fun. I’m really happy that we got to finish it the way that we did, and I’m really happy to be able to move on and do something else now.
Season Five of Falling Skies is airing from 30 June at 9pm on FOX.