Adrian Paul, who played the iconic character of Duncan McLeod in the 90's fantasy-adventure cult hit series “ Highlander” , still oozes exotic romanticism. And he has kept himself busy with doing several film and TV projects (“ Code Hunter” / “Tides of War” ) and is quite active in charity work.
Recently, Adrian lent his voice to "War of the Worlds: Goliath” (WoTW:G) - a 3D animation film on a Mars vs Man alien-invasion by Tripod Entertainment and creative talents from the USA - director Joe Pearson (Epoch Ink Animation), writer David Abramowitz (Highlander) and executive producer, Kevin Eastman (Heavy Metal).
To catch up with Adrian and find out more about his involvement in "WoTW:G", Red Dot Diva shot him a few digital questions:
Red Dot Diva: How did you get to hear about the "WoTW: Goliath" project and what made you decide that you'd go for it?
Adrian: I was approached by David Abramovitz who said I should take a look at the project since the graphic were looking really good and it wouldn't take a huge amount of time. After seeing the great looking artwork that had been done it was a no brainer.
Red Dot Diva: What were the most fun parts about working in this project? Did it ever feel like nostalgic "Highlander" reunion of sorts?
Adrian: Doing an Irish accent and being able to go into work and see my buddy David Abramovitz shouting at me from the control booth. Actually I never saw any of the other cast during the recording since we were doing them at different times.
Red Dot Diva: Having been working in the industry for so long, has there ever been times you felt jaded, and what are the things that made you start looking up again?
Adrian: Yes there are many times that one can feel jaded in this industry. It is an industry of personal rejection. You are not tall enough, ugly enough, smart enough, good looking enough etc etc and once you have had that many many times over you can't help but think there is something wrong with you. Then when you suddenly hit something good you forget all this because the rewards are so great. Rewards that sometimes can be monetary, but often enough because you are now able to do something that you love. I think also it changes as you get older. What was important when you are twenty changes drastically when you are thirty or forty or even fifty. We live for the priorities in our lives and those change with the years.
Red Dot Diva: With more advanced technology used in film-making (e.g. motion capture used in recent "Planet of the Apes", CGI, etc), how do you think the future will be like for aspiring actors? Have you personally felt the impact significantly?
Adrian: Aspiring actors don't have to worry. The times change, so will the people who work on, and in the new technology developed. Motion picture storytelling has changed drastically over the past 100 years yet we have adapted with it. Those are the people who will survive as technology dictates how we, the actors, are used to tell stories. Storytelling has been around for hundreds of years and the many forms are still around today yet although some are not as popular. Plays are still a fantastic way of seeing a story unfold yet the mass market now never go to a play. Silent movies were the way for people to escape reality yet hardly anyone now watches a silent movie (except for "The Artist"). Films too were slightly pushed aside at one time, with the advent of television. Now television is a medium that may be even stronger that most independent movies. So you see the trend and yet we have a thriving acting community all over the world.
Red Dot Diva: You have worked on the convention scene for many years, what is the best thing about these events? Is the "geek world" your kind of thing?
Adrian: The word "geek" has changed. People (the so-called geeks) who attend conventions are no different than fans of a football match, or hockey, cricket or rugby competition, they are interested in their own form of entertainment. Just because conventioneers were a smaller group of people, until the last ten or 15 years, the word geek followed them because they were not in the mainstream. Well guess what? ALL the major studios attend some of these conventions because they realize that they’re not just dealing with a small group of people anymore. They realize that these are their main audience and if they don't cater to them they won't make the millions in revenue that the "geeks" bring in. Bye bye geeky.
Adrian: I think the passion that everyone associated with it has, from the storytelling, to the acting, the visuals and the post production. The hard work and great visuals in this project show in the quality of the excerpts that I have seen so far. I am excited to see the finished product (which I will see at Comic-Con for the first time).
And Red Dot Diva is super-excited too!
Adrian Paul and Highlander fans take note! The premiere of "WoTW:G" will be held on Saturday, 14 July and the bromancey "immortal" duo consisting of Adrian Paul and Peter Wingfield will be at San Diego for the event!
Red Dot Diva has the exciting scoop about the "WoTW:G" premiere from director Leon of Tripod Entertainment awhile ago. Check out the details about "WoTW:G" premiere at Comic-Con from this blog post!
Details about how to get those premiere tickets and signing sessions will be posted in a separate blog coming up soon!
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Thanks to Leon Tan - "WoTW:G" producer and executive director of Tripod Entertainment - for helping liaise with Adrian Paul for this Red Dot Diva interview!
Leon has been rockin'-awesome so far and Red Dot Diva can't wait to say hello to him at the SDCC! :)
Nice interview. I love the way you got that "surge"---this is a man with sex appeal to die for.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! I'm glad I found my way to your blog. Have "liked" your FB page and will continue to follow.