Taken from XPose issue 58. cpywrite to the relivent people
Please feel free to copy and paste this article onto your own webpage or take the scans for your own use. Enjoy - Marie
Back in the early Eighties, British actors Michael Praed set many a fair maiden's heart fluttering with his portrayal of the dashing and heroic Robin of Loxley in the TV series Robin of Sherwood. He then stepped across the pond and into the royal shores of Prince Michael of Moldavia on the night-time American soap opera Dynasty. Still as handsome as ever, Praed can now be seen as Phileas Fogg on the Sci-Fi Channel series The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne.
An ex-government agent who likes to gamble, drink and has quite and eye for the ladies, Fogg spends a great deal of time travelling the globe in his airship, the Aurora. Despite his vices, he is fiercely loyal to, and protective of, his friends and family, especially his beautiful second cousin Rebecca Fogg, who is a British Secret Service agent. It is due to her charming and persuasive nature that Fogg often finds himself taking part in some dangerous mission to help Queen and country. Together with Rebecca, his valet Passpartout and their friend Jules Verne, Fogg does his best to make sure good triumphs. Unfortunately, he is not always entirely successful, which suits Praed just fine.
"I suppose you could describe Phileas as sort of a 19th century James Bond, in that he's involved with the secret service and is pretty handy with his fists, guns, swords, etc," says the actor. "His father was the founder and head of the British Secret Service and Phileas had been groomed to take over that position. So he's intimately aware of what it means to be an agent. Having said that, one of the inherent problems when you have a 'heroic character' is that they always get the girl, they're always right and they always win - eventually.
"Well, the interesting thing about Phileas, and one of the more delightful aspects of the character, is that he isn't always an archetype and isn't always right. He treats people monstrously on occasion, particularly his manservant Passpartout [Michel Courtemanche], someone he truly adores and whom he couldn't possibly do without. Phileas is mercurial and his temperament sometimes gets in the way of rational thinking. He's stubborn, pigheaded and, yes, bullish, but beneath all that he really does mean well. It's too bad he occasionally thwarts himself and shoots himself in the foot, figuratively thinking, of course," laughs Praed.
"I'm so glad the show's producers decided to take some risks with Phileas. If you looked at, let's say, just one episode, you might come away thinking, 'He's a bit of a bastard,' and you'd be right. However, if you watched the entire series you'd realise, yes, he's a bastard, but that's merely one facet of the man. I think his faults make him a more interesting character, not only for me to play but also for viewers to watch. He could have been portrayed as a James Bond type, and that would've been okay. I'm not for one minutes trying to insinuate there's anything wrong with playing a very straight 'heroic character,' but if you're able to do more then that, then go for it."
Born Michael Prince on April 11960 in Gloucestershire, England, the actor was only two when he moved with his parents and elder sister Hilary to Iran. It was there that his baby brother Richard was born. When he was eight years old, Praed's parents sent him back to England for a public school education. When it came time to take his O-levels, he had to decide whether to pursue a career in the arts or sciences.
"It was then that I remembered my father's very salient words of advice, which were, 'It doesn't actually matter what you do for a living, Michael, as long as you pick a profession you absolutely think you're going to enjoy.' My dad was an accountant, and I think what he was guardedly telling me, although I never really quizzed him about it, was, 'I wish I'd been anything but an accountant!' So I thought, 'Okay, what do I really love?' and the answer was acting."
Praed had been appearing in a West End production of The Pirates of Penzance for 12 months when Robin of Sherwood creator/writer Richard Carpenter and producer Paul Knight approached him about starring in the show. For the actor it was a whole new experience, literally. "I went to theatre school where they teach you very little about acting in front of a camera. So I knew next to nothing about the technical side of film when I began working in Robin," notes the actor.
"One day, Ian Sharpe, who directed the entire first year of the series, sat me down in the editing room. He had me watch three close-ups of myself and then asked, 'Which one's the best?' Without hesitating I pointed to the second one and he said, 'You're right. Why?' I told him, 'I have no idea why. It just is.' Ian said, 'Okay, I'll tell you why it's the best.' He proceeded to explain to me why the shot I chose was much better than the other two, and from there taught me all I needed to know about film. I'll never be able to thank him enough for that."
Throughout the Eighties and Nineties, the actor divided his time between London and Los Angeles, appearing in a number of film, TV and theatre projects. He also found time to work on writing and recording music in his studio at home. Praed was cast as the adventurous Phileas Fogg in The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne after enduring what he calls "the hateful auditioning process." Fortunately, it was not a long one, and he was soon in Montreal with the show's cast and crew to begin filming the series.
In the show's pilot episode, Queen Victoria and the Giant Moles, Rebecca (Francesca Hunt) is assigned to protect Her Majesty from a plot being hatched by the League of Darkness. Naturally, Phileas and Passepartout become caught up in the intrigue. At first, Phileas suspects that a young student and visionary, Jules Verne (Chris Demetral), is helping The League. In fact, they want to capture Jules and force him to reveal his scientific secrets. When Phileas realises his mistake, he sets out to save Verne, who has been taken prisoner by one of the League's agents (Tracey Scoggins).
"There's definitely a fraternal or, indeed, parental bond between Phileas and Jules," says Praed. "Jules possesses all kinds of skills that Phileas doesn't. he recognises that Jules is a visionary and truly admires his ability to see the nature of an argument from a practical or rational viewpoint. So he's incredibly useful to have around because he has the facility to resolve a problem in a way different then, perhaps, Phileas or even Rebecca would. With all these assets, he quickly becomes a valuable team member and friend.
"Filming that first episode was a glorious experience and a great way to kick things off," he continues. "Jules was the first TV series in the world to be shot using Hugh Definition [HD] format, and that was exciting in itself. The studio we worked in was this vast 100,000 square-foot building that was divided up into five or six sound stages. Inside one of them was an enormous 19th century Paris street that was built by the production team. You would not believe the attention to detail they paid to it. We had some marvelous special effects in that first story and, indeed, the entire programme, all of which were done in-house. Apparently, we had the biggest green screen in all of North America, and we certainly made good use of it."
Of the 22 first season episodes he appeared in, Praed has two favourites. "I loved playing the duel characters of Phileas and Cardinal Richelieu in the two-part story we did [The Cardinal's Design and The Cardinal's Revenge]. That was a great deal of fun. I also enjoyed working on The Victorian Candidate, for many different reasons. First off, my dear friend Ian Sharp directed it. It was a joy to be on set again with him. This was a very challenging episode for me too, when it came to portraying my character. Phileas goes through a very slow and calculated emotional journey. It was interesting trying to figure out how to pull that off. Then there was a massive great fight at the end of the story between Michel Courtemanche and me, which I adored doing.
"Working with Michel, who is, by profession, a comedian and mimic, was an extraordinary experience. His rubbery face and comedic sensibility can often be a complete nightmare," chuckles the actor. "He has the ability to reduce you to fits of laughter. If you couple this with his talent for creating mayhem at a whim, it makes a recipe for total catastrophe, but with the most delightful results. I mean, he'd halt shooting with such abandon and regularity, but do it in such a glorious way that you could never get cross at him. Actually, in many respects it's a terrific psychological boost to have someone around who you know is going to not only delight you with his work but off-screen antics as well."
Currently, Praed is back in the UK and touring in a stage production of Not Now Darling, which he hopes will eventually settle in London's West End.
As for a second season of The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, the show's cast and crew will have to wait to see how well the series performs in syndication. If the programme is renewed, the actor will be more then happy to reprise his role of Philias Fogg.
"I'd be back on that set in a shot," he says. "We were so lucky in that our production evolved into one huge fraternity, and I mean that in the best sense of the word. Given that we worked together for almost a year, you can imagine we all became very, very close. You got to know people terribly well and many firm friendships were fashioned and formed over those months. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all fun and games. We worked bloody hard, and I'm terribly proud not only of the work itself but also thw way in which it was done. It really was a special time."
