Why it’s good to be bad
Neil Patrick Harris says the chance to play pantomime-like villain Olaf in A Series of Unfortunate Events was too fun to say no to, writes Michael Idato.
For actor Neil Patrick Harris, who has played clean-cut roles like Doogie Howser and Barney Stinson for most of his career, the chance to dress up and play the pantomime-like villain Count Olaf in Series of Unfortunate Events was too fun to turn down.
‘‘There is something freeing in being disguised,’’ the 44-year-old actor says. ‘‘When you’re hidden and look unlike yourself, you’re almost able to be more complete as the other person because you’re not seeing much of yourself.
‘‘With Olaf, when I have all of that stuff on, it allows me the opportunity to play out different scenarios in ways that I wouldn’t. I think if Olaf looked like me I would be more guarded in protecting myself. But looking like him, as horrific as that is, has actually been fun.’’
The TV series is based on the book series of the same name, 13 children’s novels by Lemony Snicket (American author Daniel Handler. At the heart of the series are the Baudelaire siblings, Violet, Klaus and Sunny, who are placed in the custody of the sinister Count Olaf after their parents’ death in a fire.
The first season adapted the first four books into eight episodes; the second season adapts the next five books – The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital and The Carnivorous Carnival – into eight more episodes. A third season has also been commissioned.
‘‘We were all very pleased with how season one turned out artistically, given that we’re doing content that’s as much for young adults as it is for grown adults,’’ Harris says. ‘‘So we wanted to keep that momentum alive for season two. It’s been full steam ahead, a lot of work.’’
This is the second time the series has been adapted for the screen; the first was the 2004 feature film, starring Jim Carrey as Olaf and Australian actress Emily Browning as Violet.
‘‘Now season two has started we are in new territory ... nothing has been filmed before with these books in mind,’’ Harris says. ‘‘With the first four books the movie had been done before [and] there was a sense of comparison. Now we’re in brand new territory so it’s been exciting.’’
The series is also unusually complex, a reflection of both the detail in the books and of the way young audiences
Spookers, Thursday, 8.30pm, Rialto
Florian Habicht’s most-recent look at some of New Zealand’s more alternative communities focuses on the popular North Island theme park. Occupying the former Kingseat psychiatric hospital, Spookers is designed to scare the crap out of visitors (in some cases literally). In his usual genial, affectionate style, Habicht not only showcases the eclectic people who work there but also delves into what former patients and nurses think of the new use of their former home.
Bancroft, Tonight, 8.30pm, TVNZ1
ABroadchurch‘s Sarah Parish stars in this four-part contemporary thriller from the creator of Mr Selfridge. She plays have evolved in the past few decades.
‘‘I question that often because our kids are turning 7,’’ Harris says, referring to his son, Gideon Scott, and daughter, Harper Grace, with husband David Burtka. ‘‘They’re so instinctively adept at screens and swiping right. It’s just intuitive. They’re getting to watch and observe things at a much faster pace.’’
The answer? More knowledge is better, says Harris. ‘‘I think information is crucial and information is power [and] I feel like it’s more important for us to disseminate information in appropriate ways than it is to be kept from information. How that plays out to 6- and 7-year-olds is tricky as a parent because I don’t know.’’
His children have seen him in costume as Count Olaf. ‘‘I want to Detective Superintendent Elizabeth Bancroft, a woman detective with an explosive secret. The main plot sees her trying to bring down the vicious Kamara drug gang, but then she becomes distracted by DS Katherine Stevens (Faye Marsay), who is investigating a cold case make sure that they know what I do for a living, not that I go away to another country, and working as an actor, but knowing what that means,’’ Harris says. ‘‘Plus in our technological age, we Facetime daily. So I’m usually at lunch when they’re eating dinner [and they] never know who I’ll look like when the screen comes up.
The show’s second season, like the first, is driven by Olaf’s desire to capture the Baudelaire children, though Harris is not certain that Olaf would be happy if his perpetually unsuccessful plans ever unexpectedly turned his way.
‘‘He assumes that if he gets what he wants, then he’ll be happy, but it seems that what’s driving him is a vendetta that can never be solved,’’ Harris says. ‘‘The fact that [the Beaudelaire parents] end up dying in a fire, you’d think that would be vengeance enough. But it doesn’t seem to be. I’m not sure what he really wants – their fortune, which is what he’s claiming, or disruption.’’
Within the story framework, too, Harris is cautious about permitting Olaf any redeeming characteristics.
‘‘We kind of intentionally don’t want to do that,’’ he says. ‘‘I think that if you realise halfway through the series that Olaf could have been a good person,
in which Bancroft was involved some years earlier.
Mind Over Money, Monday, 8pm, TVNZ1
This second series of the Nigel Lattahosted financial advice show mixes social experiment, psychological insight and interviews with real Kiwis trying to get to grips with their Money Personalities, along with simple tricks we can all use to be better with money. It tackles questions such as: how is it possible that merely handling money can make you feel invulnerable?
The Resident, Monday, 8.45pm, TVNZ2
New American medical drama that focuses on a young doctor’s final years of but he was damaged in some way in his past, it makes you empathise with him in a way that doesn’t seem appropriate to the younger audience that’s going to watch it.
‘‘He’s just an awful person, and he prides himself on being successful, and handsome, and talented. And he’s none of those,’’ Harris adds. ‘‘So it just continues to fuel him to do bad things.’’
❚ A Series of Unfortunate Events
season 2 is on Netflix now.
"He's just an awful person, and he prides himself on being successful, handsome, talented. And he's none of those." Neil Patrick Harris
training. The Good Wife‘s Matt Czuchry, Revenge‘s Emily VanCamp and Mad Men‘s Bruce Greenwood star. ‘‘With wellplaced touches of humour, interesting storylines, and a special cast, The Resident is a prescription you should have filled,’’ wrote Colorado Springs Gazette‘s Terry Terrones. Also screens Tuesday night at the same time.
One Strange Rock, Wednesday, 7.30pm, National Geographic
Hosted by Will Smith and co-produced by Mother! director Darren Aronofsky, this new 10-part natural history documentary series aims to tell the story of our planet from a different perspective. ‘‘Never thought you’d tear up over a nature show? Think again,’’ wrote New York Observer‘s Emily Bicks. – James Croot