FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)
Scott Wolf might forever be known for his portrayal of Bailey Salinger on “Party Of Five.” But there’s no denying that he’s jazzed about his character of ambitious journalist Chad Decker on the new sci-fi “V.”
“I originally auditioned for a different character,” Mr. Wolf, 41, recently told Entertainment Weekly.” “They were seeing lots of folks. I couldn’t put the script down when I read it, it had this intensity and suspense and momentum, and I can be pretty distractable. But I read this from start to finish. And I picked up the phone right away.
“So when I heard their interest was me for the role of Chad Decker, I was really excited. It was the first role to jump out at me. It seemed like fun, but it also seemed to be tapping into some personality stuff that I hadn’t explored yet.”
Growing up in West Orange, N.J., Mr. Wolf loved sci-fi shows. “The most seminal moments in my childhood were based on the ‘Star Wars’ movies coming out, and I was a huge ‘Star Trek’ fan growing up,” he said. “I always loved how inventive the storytelling was — stories that sweep you out of your everyday life.”
And how soon until there’s more alien visitors on “V”? “[In the pilot] we saw a couple of cracks in the veneer. We already have reason to believe there might be something else going on,” Mr. Wolf said. “The first chapter of our story is being told in November, so by the end of November there’s a clearer picture of what the visitors intend to do here.”
Playing a journalist, as it turns out, comes naturally to Mr. Wolf. “I studied broadcast journalism for a year in school, so I’ve always loved it,” he said. “In high school, I did some “point-counterpoints” on our high school news show. I was always intrigued by it, so in a way I feel like I’m having the career I never got.
“One of the interesting challenges for me is that when I’m doing Chad’s news broadcasts, I can’t use a teleprompter to read the news. I’m having to memorize. Memorizing lines isn’t particularly difficult for me, but sometimes there are two pages of intricate verbiage. Still, it’s really been fun, and I also like the hair — the newsguy hair.”
Most importantly, does Mr. Wolf himself believe that aliens exist?
“I believe they could. I don’t not believe,” he said. “I think we keep telling and listening to this story because we’re really curious. Because in some ways it’s more far-fetched to believe that nothing else lives anywhere.”