Here’s a great interview that Paul recently did for Media Blvd Magazine. In it he gives a real nice shout out to The Invisible Man and its fans. He, also, talks about his new movie Should’ve Been Romeo. After years of development, it’s great to hear that Paul has secured financing for the movie, so it’s a go! Awesome!
A couple of years ago I was approached by author/journalist Mark Phillips who, along with his writing partner Frank Garcia, was writing the second in a series of books on science fiction TV series. Their first book, Science Fiction Television Series, was published in 2006 and covered TV series from 1959 to 1989. Their second book was to cover series from 1990 to 2004. So guess which series that we all know and love fits into that date range? Yep, The Invisible Man.
When Mark approached me asking for help on an Invisible Man chapter that he was writing for the book, I was happy to help. Hey, I’m a fan. How could I resist? So I provided information about the show and helped edit the chapter, as well as arranged interviews with Vince and Paul.
Now, after all this time, the book has finally been published! Mark did a really nice job with the chapter. There are maybe one or two errors that crept into the chapter, but for the most part, it’s pretty accurate.
Mark starts out with a quote from writer Leslie Stevens who said, “Invisibility sucks.” Leslie wasn’t referring to the power of invisibility but, instead, was complaining about the difficulty in creating a successful series about invisibility. Is it any wonder? Virtually every invisible man series created before our invisible man series has performed poorly. But when you consider that film is a visual medium and invisibility is, well, invisible, you can begin to see the difficulties that filmmakers have making invisibility work.
This makes me appreciate the brilliance of Matt Greenberg even more. Not only did he not skimp on the invisibility aspects, but he created a way to do invisibility that we hadn’t seen before, what with the gland and Quicksilver. However, he wisely didn’t put the focus on the invisibility. Instead, he created fun, flawed, and fascinating characters that we could fall in love with and care about. In fact, it was the “show’s emphasis on characterization” that attracted Vince to the part of Darien.
Mark writes about several of the episodes such as the pilot (good choice), “Catevari,” and “Legends.” In hindsight, I probably should have suggested that he include something about a few of the stronger episodes. I would have liked to have seen something in the chapter about “Flowers for Hobbes,” ”Brother’s Keeper,” or “The Other Invisible Man.”
Subjects Mark writes about in the chapter include the casting process, the chemistry between Vince and Paul, the visual effects, the addition of agent Alex Monroe, and the cancellation. There’s some interesting stuff there that you may or may not know about.
The book is definitely a must have for I-Man fans, as well as lovers of science fiction TV shows. You can purchase a copy for yourself by clicking on the link below. That will take you to a website filled with all kinds of information about both books as well as ordering info. (I bought my copy from Amazon.)
Note: I’m not making any money plugging this book. My only rewards have been being able to help with promoting I-Man to more people and getting a very nice acknowledgment in the Acknowledgments section of the book.
Sunday’s post would have been too long and unwielding, which is why I decided to split it up into two posts.
Let’s start with another interview. This one is from Hollywood 411.
Paul’s Pad
Paul’s Santa Monica home has been featured in a couple of publications and websites. There’s good reason for this too. Paul has excellent taste. According to Statement magazine Paul “probably could have distinguished himself as an architect or a designer” — and I have to agree. So take a look at Paul’s place and maybe you’ll get some decorating ideas for your own home.
First up is a brief video tour of his home on the Modern Home & Living website. Just scroll down a bit to watch the video on the lower right side of the website. Paul’s home is the very first one shown in the video.
Next up is an eight-page spread in Statement magazine. A digital version of the magazine (No. 5, 2008) can be found here. But you’ll have to scroll to page 96 to get to the article. It’s a bit of a pain. You can also download a PDF version of the entire magazine from the website if you wish. It’s a pretty cool magazine. To make things a bit easier, however, I pulled out just the article from the PDf download for you.
But before I go any further there is a very newsworthy piece of information on the first page of this article that you might be interested in, namely, that Paul is engaged to actress Julie Austin Felder. Yes ladies, Paul is officially off the market. I want to give a big huge congratulations to Paul and Julie and wish them much happiness!
A few weeks back I told Paul that I would get a blog post up and let all of you know about his new Facebook fan page. Well, I have to apologize to him and you for the delay. Things have been really busy for me and I’m just now getting it done.
Not long ago, I scoured through the I-Man pictures that I’ve collected over the years and sent a whole bunch of them to him for his new Facebook fan page. However, I only sent him pictures that he was in. Hey, after all this is his fan page. But you’ll also see plenty of the rest of the cast in those pics.
The fan page is run by a friend of his. So, if you’re a Facebook user, or if you want to be, go join Paul’s new Facebook fan page and show your support. Check it out!
In Plain Sight continues its second season on USA. Recently the show was nominated for a Prism award. It didn’t win, but Paul was one of the presenters at the awards ceremony.
Paul Ben-Victor at the Prism Awards
Season One DVDs
If you’ve been wanting to buy this series on DVD, wait no more. Season one of In Plain Sight is now available, and it happens to be on sale right now at Amazon.com.
Interviews
Paul answers the question: What was it like filming in Albuquerque?
Paul answers the question: Why are viewers going to watch the second season?
Paul answers the question: How does it feel to be part of a successful show?
Paul answers the question: What is in store for Stan this season?
Paul answers the question: What are your favorite parts of filming last season?
