TORONTO -
"Welcome to Mutant X."
John
Shea gets up from behind a desk, smiles and extends his hand
in greeting. It's a busy Monday on the set of Mutant
X, and Shea's Adam Kane -- leader of the Marvel-created
team -- is in almost every scene for the "Meaning of Death"
episode.
"Something, isn't it?" Shea asks rhetorically, letting go
of the handshake and turning his head. Behind him and through
an archway, two dozen extras dressed as medical attendants
mill about the set, a high-tech lab where Adam is forced to
work with agents of the enemy Genomex to try to save new mutants
infected with a virus. Twenty-seven patient beds, attached
to scifi-ish monitoring devices, neatly line up in three rows,
with airbag-like canvas walls against red and yellow tarp
backdrops.
You would never guess it's really an indoor soccer practice
field on an old air base in northern Toronto.
Dressed in a silver lab coat and looking very much the doctor,
Shea excuses himself. He's called in for the scene, a heated
exchange with Genomex associate Marlowe, played by Anthony
Lemke, an invulnerable new mutant who saw his family die and
struggles with his seeming immortality.
As an infected new mutant goes into cardiac arrest, Marlowe
leans over her, sickly fascinated by her imminent demise.
"What's it like? Tell me," he pleads, grabbing her face.
Alerted by a flatline signal, Adam races to her bed, and
confronts Marlowe. The two shout each other, raising their
voices with each line. "You get outta here!" Adam finally
screams.
As Marlowe leaves, Adam looks down at the mutant, now dead,
and pulls a blanket over her head. Another death on his hands,
and his steely-eyed rage turns to sorrow. Adam hangs his head
in grief and guilt, and the director cuts the shot.
Guilt. It's not a feeling Shea had to display much as the
suave, deadly Lex Luthor in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures
of Superman,
the television role for which he is probably best known.
But that was five years ago. This is a different world and
a different character. And it also raises the question: Where
had Shea been and how'd he return to the comic-book world
with Mutant X?
We'll let him explain.
"After being part of that team that created Lois and Clark
and having been involved in that creative team for a period
of over four years and having seen it go global, and become
a global phenomenon, I waited five years," Shea says.
"I retreated into the independent film world, to the New
York theater world, and I didn't want to come back into the
mainstream television world until I knew that I could come
onto something that was equally good and not be embarrassing.
I knew I wanted to do something different and that was going
to be a hit.
"I read a lot of pilots. I was offered lots of TV series,
and I waited until Mutant X came along. It was the perfect
place, it was the perfect series, at the perfect time in my
life."
Seth Howard of Tribune Entertainment, which produces the
syndicated Mutant X in association with Marvel Studios, agrees.
"Everyone involved had their own opinions as to who should
play Adam, and we were submitted every actor that was out
there," Howard says. "This was the hardest part to cast because
no one was sure how to see this character. When John's name
came up, everyone's eyes lit up. His stage work, movie roles,
and of course his unforgettable portrayal of Lex Luthor in
Lois and Clark, made him the perfect choice. From how well
the series has been received, you have to agree."
Shea says he was struck by concept of Mutant X, where genetic
tampering, based on Adam's research, has created thousands
of emerging new mutants. Disgusted with where his work has
gone, Adam heads underground to form Mutant X. His initial
mission was simple: locate mutants, help them and protect
them from Genomex and its government guise, the Genetic Security
Agency.
"This show should not be really confused with the X-Men,
which is a very different kind of show," Shea says. "The writing
here is making these characters very different and very human.
One of the best things about Lois and Clark is that we tried
to make those comic-book characters human and bring to them
all kinds of emotions you might not read in a one-dimensional
or two-dimensional comic-book style. We're creating a drama
here."
While Shea says it's fun to be a hero, he considers Adam
to be more of an anti-hero.
"It's complex, a very human being, not a one-dimensional
superhero by any stretch," Shea says.
"Adam is a tortured soul," Howard says. "This is a character
that feels so much guilt and responsibility, his actions become
a direct reaction to those feelings. Not every actor can bring
that much to the table and still be able to kick some ass.
There are so many guys out there that could have been cast
but there are only a handful of actors. John is one of those
actors. We are lucky to have him on the team."
The second season of Mutant X opened the world up more than
just its struggles with Genomex.
"What
you discover about Adam is that things are not what they seem,"
Shea said. "This guy who is always sort of noble and heroic
and always this kind of purer-than-life, charismatic leader,
has some hidden sides as well. It turns out that he wasn't
just in genetics, but he also had his fingers in all kinds
of parts of the military industrial complex. He's working
with the government, he's working with CIA, he's working with
Interpol."
Despite the popularity of Mutant X, some people will always
associate Shea with Lex Luthor, a character first brought
to life by Gene Hackman in the Superman movie series and now
being continued by Michael Rosenbaum in Smallville.
Even as production of Mutant X started, rumors swirled about
a possible Lois and Clark reunion -- the show remains a fixture
on TNT these days. At a comics convention the previous weekend,
fans approached Shea about returning as Luthor.
"There are no Lois and Clark projects that I know about
that are planned," Shea says. "If there were to be, I would
probably be part of them. Teri Hatcher, who played Lois, was
just in town shooting a film. She and I stay in touch all
the time. We talk about doing something maybe down the line,
but at the moment there is nothing planned."
Besides, with a third season of Mutant X on the way, Shea
will be plenty busy.
Rob Allstetter, Deputy Sports Editor for The Detroit
News, has been a comics journalist for the past decade, having
written for numerous publications. He currently publishes
The Comics Continuum.
He can be reached at RobAlls@aol.com.
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