We'll Always Have Paris
An Interview with Robert McNeill - contiune
by Michelle Erica Green
A motorcycle aficionado who's known for having so many videotapes in his trailer that the other actors use it as a rental outlet of sorts, the former heartthrob of All My Children has a substantial resume of theater credits, but is trying to move into directing. His first efforts, the Voyager episodes "Sacred Ground" and "Unity," were extremely well-received; "Unity," which featured a colony of ex-Borg, was one of the highest-rated episodes of the third season. He will be directing a Voyager episode late this season, but he's particularly excited about the work he's been doing for Nickelodeon's Allen Strange. "What happened is that my daughter watched Alex Mack, a big hit on Nickelodeon, so I started watching with her. It had special effects like Star Trek, it had a lot of the same elements of a fantasy show, but it was really well made." So he set up a meeting with the production company, and learned that Alex Mack had wrapped. "And I was so disappointed, because I really wanted to direct that show!" The producers told McNeill that they had a new show coming up, Allen Strange, which is very similar "but a little more sci-fi oriented." McNeill started observing, "checking out what the show's about, and now I will be directing." The young director is excited about working for Nickelodeon because they permit a wide range of styles. "The Nickelodeon shows tend to have sort of that MTV hip-ness, they like sort of edgy things, so that's one reason I approached them: it's a way to be creative as a director. Visually, they like things that would never go over even on Star Trek." Citing the difficulty of making a living as an independent filmmaker and the frequent tedium of being a network episodic director: "I like to live in a house and have food to eat, but I don't want to go do something that is just cookie-cutter, the same shots, the same scenes." He's interested in commercial work, which "can be really creative, especially visually - it's really like a work of art how they tell the story in thirty seconds." "I like to be creative, but it's hard sometimes - you're torn between being creative and trying to be responsible and make a living, and trying to be smart in the business," the Juilliard-trained performer continues. During his hiatus this summer, McNeill went to New York for a workshop of a new play by Peter Schaffer of Amadeus and Equus fame. "It was me and Juliette Stevenson and William Hurt, it was a really classy, very nice company, Scott Ellis who got nominated for a Tony this year was the director, and it was very creative. But afterwards everybody said, 'Well, would you be interested in doing this on Broadway?' And I'd love to do a Broadway play, but the risk, the idea of coming to New York and being a stage actor, is kind of scary, so sometimes you try to figure out what the best business move is. It's still really nice to be asked. I'd like to, but it's like starting over ... is that where I want to invest my time? I don't know." McNeill has frequently invested his time in charity work, particularly with children; his fan club, RanDoM Flight (rdmfanclub@aol.com) raises money for pediatric AIDS research. While they lived in New York, he and his wife (a professional dancer and choreographer) founded Real Play Productions, an organization which used creative outlets to help inner-city children express and deal with the problems they faced. "It was so powerful to see how open and how expressive they would become about these issues when it was in a creative environment. Sometimes when you sit down and say, 'How do you feel about drugs?' it's too much, they can't handle that, but when you say, let's do a dance about peer pressure, and you start being creative, they become more expressive." With the help of friends from Juilliard and All My Children, the company worked with the Fresh Air Fund and with homeless shelters. "I think it's a really powerful tool with kids to use the arts to express issues that are on their minds, divorce or drugs or sex." Robert Duncan McNeill is frequently asked about his lengthy name, and the fact that he worked in soaps and on The Twilight Zone as Duncan McNeill. "It's a boring union thing," he explains. "I was just Robert McNeill in Actors' Equity. Then I got into AFTRA, which is the soap opera union, and there was already a Robert McNeill, so they said, you have to change your name. So I used my middle name, I became Duncan McNeill for a brief while. But I felt like I ought to be talking in an accent, it was a little too ethnic. Then I got into SAG [the Screen Actors' Guild], and I just decided to have three names." Genuinely fond of his co-stars, the actor tells stories on the convention floor about them, including Tim Russ's legendary nude stunts, Robert Beltran's flubbing lines, and Garrett Wang's affection for Las Vegas. "I haven't been to the Star Trek Experience - the opening was a couple of weeks before my son was supposed to be born - but Garrett lives in Las Vegas. Actually he wins a lot of money, he'll probably be producing our show soon. I think we're going to go this summer, we're going to take the kids." The creator of the Star Trek Experience, Gary Goddard of Landmark Entertainment, directed McNeill in Masters of the Universe, as he points out: "It's nice to run into the same people in this business." A devoted reader, McNeill brings books onto the set with him: "Very often if we're on the bridge, I'll have a book up there and literally at the last minute I'll throw it underneath." Though he doesn't read much science fiction, he likes Jonathan Lethem's futuristic noir and "a lot of contemporary fiction, character-driven fiction, quirky, offbeat kinds of stories." He also reads a lot of plays: "I was reading this 17th-century comedy of manners last week, and everyone was going, 'What are you reading?' I do have a little library at work: we have these kitchens in the corners of our trailers at work, and the stove is covered with books." McNeill did have to sacrifice some down time this year to working out to lose the 25 pounds he says he gained during his wife's pregnancy. "I actually got up to 217 pounds, which is a lot for me. This year I went back to a Star Trek outfit from two years ago when I was a lot thinner, so I was very happy about that. I hate working out, sometimes that shows, but the roles I play, a lot of times they want guys who are really buff. This hiatus I discovered spinning, it's basically a bicycle class where you go in like an aerobics studio where they have the old-fashioned stationary bikes with the big heavy flywheel, and they put music on really loud and talk you through as if you're going on a road race. You end up sprinting and racing and climbing hills. For the first time in my life, I want to go." The reality in his line of work is that the actors must be "at least acceptably fit, and they'd like you more than acceptably fit." He jokes that the B'Elanna and Tom storyline is restricted when she's pregnant, and he's overweight - "she and I both feel like we have to get in shape so they have the option to do those kinds of scenes if they want, rather than feeling like they have to hide us." And if Voyager does get home this season, assuming Tom Paris doesn't end up in jail, McNeill thinks there might be some exciting options. "I think the obvious thinking is that if we get back to the Alpha Quadrant, then next year they'll have a show that's got Klingons and Romulans and Cardassians and all those favorite bad guys. Which would be fun - then we could have guest stars and crossover actors." Mania Magazine is TM & © 1997 American Entertainment Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mania Magazine, 7/31/98
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