Donald Faison has a fascination for sci-fi flicks, so it’s no surprise the 36-year old actor jumped at the opportunity to fight extraterrestrials in the independent thriller “Skyline”.
“Ever since I was a kid that was all I really wanted to do. I am a huge fan of Star Wars, Star Trek and Blade Runner,” says Faison, who is more known for his comic roles than his dramatic choices.
“I thought when I first got into acting, that I would be doing stuff like The Goonies my whole life. I never thought that I would be considered funny, and didn’t think I was going to be a comedic actor,” Faison adds, “I am the least funny of all my friends, so it’s really bizarre when people tell me how funny I am.”
A familiar face from the Emmy-nominated hit series “Scrubs”, where he starred for nine seasons as Dr. Christopher Turk, Faison’s been getting in great physical shape for the past couple of years in hopes of snagging an action role.
“I was doing Scrubs for a long time, and when you are on a grind you get comfortable, so I got lazy and ballooned up to 220lbs. I have since dropped most of it, and I would like to be 190lbs ripped — specifically for action adventure,” adds the actor, who performed most of his stunts in Skyline.
“Everything that you see me do in that movie I did. You will see me rolling around, grabbing things and jumping onto things. I did all of that, and I am glad I got in shape for the movie, for couple of years ago, I won’t have been able to do it.”
Directed and produced by the visual-effects duo Greg and Colin Strause, “Skyline” presented an opportunity for the Strause brothers, whose company Hydraulx has done visual effects for “Avatar,” “2012,” “Iron Man 2” and “300,” to craft an in-house alien-abduction movie without any studio constraints. For Faison, fighting extraterrestrials which swallow the entire human population, presented an opportunity to “jump into a fantasy world.”
“When I was a kid, I played with my toys and imagined I was in a galaxy far away fighting a bunch of monsters, and as an adult it’s a great way to tap into that inner child again,” Faison says.
Starring Eric Balfour and Brittany Daniel, perfecting the part for Faison, who plays a special-effects wizard called Terry, meant hanging out with the directors, who the character is loosely based on.
“This movie is about people, who are not larger than life, trying to survive a catastrophe that’s larger than life. Greg and Colin are very tall and big men. Kind of intimidating men,” adds Faison “And by hanging out with them, I picked their brains and it all developed into a friendship with these guys that wrote and directed the movie.”
Faison, who recently played a pot head in the stoner comedy “Next Day Air”, opposite Mos Def and Mike Epps, still has an affinity to comedy, but hopes to snag more action and sci-fi roles with the success of “Skyline”
“Next Day Air was completely different from anything I had ever done before at the time. I had played such a goodie two shoes in Clueless, Waiting to Exhale and Remember the Titans and the character had a dark edge to him. He was a slacker and was really lazy, but I would like to do more action adventure or sci-fi movies,” says the actor. “I would love to kick butt, get the girl, and shoot a couple of bullets at somebody and at the end of the day save the earth.”
“Skyline” releases in theaters Nov. 12
Samantha Ofole-Prince is an entertainment journalist based in Los Angeles and contributes to Trendy Africa Media. She can be reached on [email protected]
photos courtesy of Rogue pictures
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