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Michael T. Weiss

THREE years into NBC's hit Saturday night show The Pretender, and viewers have learned very little about Jarod, the enigmatic fugitive played by Michael T Weiss. Now approximately 40 years old, we know he was born at the NuGenesis clinic to parents Charles and Margaret. At four years of age he was kidnapped by the Centre, raised by Sydney (Patrick Bauchau), and his genius was exploited for profit.

Thirty-four years later, Jarod escaped his prison and experienced the outside world for the first time. Using his incredible skills as a Pretender, he moves through society assuming different identifies and professions with ease, searching for his family, and helping those who justice has failed. Deprived of their greatest asset, the Centre is never far behind - and Miss Parker (Andrea Parker) and Sydney are charged with Jarod's return...

When Xpose visited the set, filming was underway on Parole, episode six of season three, in which Jarod pretends to be an ex-con. The scenes being shot today are dark and dramatic, as Jarod forces a confession of murder out of his parole officer Jack, and it's obvious that the series is moving into more adult territory.

"It's going great," enthuses a tattoo-covered Michael T. Weiss, when we meet in his trailer. "I think the show this year is much more solid than we've ever done. Jarod's grown up a lot, the show's grown up a lot, the visuals have grown up a lot so I think it's a really wonderful year for us. If anyone's been a fan of the show from the beginning, they're gonna be in for a nice surprise.

"I think the first year of any TV show it's starting to find itself, but when you get three years to run you get to work out all the kinks, and see what works and what doesn't work. We have more money, it's just more quality television than we started out with. We're doing the best work we can do.

"It's much more mature, it's more edgy; it's darker... it's not as family-oriented, It's more adult oriented. Which I think is kind of fun, because the stories are allowed to be more interesting." While The Pretender still follows Jarod's learning process as he continues to discover the outside world, Weiss insists that the character is growing up fast. Back in season one he was learning about Ice Cream and Mr. Potato Head... now Jarod's discoveries run a little deeper.

"The things that we're going to have him discover might be human foibles or betrayals or things that aren't as obvious as a cookie," says the actor. "He's just much more adult. He's been out in the world for three years now so he's grown up a lot, realizes he can trust some people and can't trust some people. He's seen ice cream, and like yesterday we shot at a strip joint. That's the first time he's seen a strip joint - so he's kind of gone into his adolescent phase!

"The thing about Jarod you'll see this season is that he's much subtler than he was in the first year. Some edges are refined a bit. I get older, and you have to let that come through in the character. "He still plays the innocence, it's just another kind of innocence. He's seen a lot of stuff, but I think his naivete will come through." When asked how he approaches playing the character's ingenuousness, the actor smiles playfully.

"I'm just really innocent!" He laughs. "I just work all day and I never see anything in the real world! I fashion him after how I would be if I looked at the world for the first time," Weiss continues. "You watch kids, and they're full of wonder. Plus I was in Berlin when the Berlin Wall opened. I remember the day the East Germans came over to West Germany and I watched their faces, and they were wandering around with a wide-eyed look. That's how they looked at the world, and that's how I play Jarod."

The Pretender is loosely based on the life of Ferdinand Demara, a man who successfully pretended to be a doctor, a lawyer and worked in a host of other professions before being caught by the authorities. Demara's life story was told in The Imposter, which Weiss read before taking on the role of Jarod. That research was the easy part; on a weekly basis Weiss must convince viewers that he could be a doctor or a cop or a musician...

"We usually have an Intendent on set that is of the profession who can help us," he reveals. "Like if I'm on a SWAT team they'll have a SWAT team member, or a doctor if I'm a doctor. We try to do it as real as possible within the confines of eight days to shoot it in. I'm very much oriented to trying to make it as realistic as possible, but it's still a fantasy based television show so we allow a little artistic leeway. While this aspect of the series provides Weiss with difficult challenges, it does help maintain the show's freshness.

Are there any professions he has played in the series that he has found interesting? "I think I'd be a doctor - doctors are cool," he responds. "Holistic doctors, who try and heal people in a healthy way." The many facets of Jarod are just one aspect of the series that has attracted excellent viewing figures and a solid fan base. As the show has developed, has the back stories of each of the leading characters - their dark pasts and deepest secrets revealed when you least expect it.

How much of the show's mythology was Weiss aware of when he first began filming the pilot episode? "It´s just sort of developed," he explains. "I think the world at the Centre is pretty defined. I probably started understanding Jarod about eight episodes into the first season. The thing that's hard about this show is that unless you're a hardcore fan, some of the lore is lost on you. Hardcore fans know every little intricate bit of lore about the show. They have hundreds of websites - they're like the Trek fans."

While Weiss's enthusiasm for The Pretender is evident, he admits that playing the leading role in a network series has taken over his life. Dramas like E.R., Ally McBeal and Law and Order spread the workload over a large ensemble of characters; Jarod, however; appears every episode. "I spend more time during the day playing Jarod than I do being Michael," he offers. " Somedays I wish that the focus would be on somebody else. Today would be one of those days I would like to be at the beach, but you can't. I'm sure the President feels that way sometimes - his life must be horrible. I can't imagine someone having the focus on them 24 hours a day every day. But you get used to it; it's just that sometimes I can't wait to go home at the end of the day to be by myself.

When I'm playing Jarod I have a whole set of memories; a whole separate set of thought processes. He thinks in a different way than I do, which usually takes long time for an actor to develop, but I've had three years of history with this guy. So there's a whole big rich history, so it's real easy for me play him. He's kind of alive now."

Ironically, Weiss rarely even gets to meet his co-stars. As Miss Parker and Sydney are usually exploring their own storylines or following Jarod's trail, they are unlikely to share scenes with him. "That's the hardest part for me," Weiss concedes. "We're really blessed, for such a wacky show, to have such a talented ensemble of actors. The crew kind of become my compatriots because I don't see my co-stars very much. But when I do, it's fun. The rare challenge and the fun thing is that I get different actors to work with every week. Sometimes you bond, times you don't, but you get to work with an array of talent. It makes you push, because you're working with different energy all the time."

An accomplished playwright, having completed his script "Streams of Consciousness", Weiss intends to complement his on-screen work on The Pretender by working behind the camera. "I hope to direct a couple of episodes," he reveals, before adding that he has joined forces with executive producers Craig Van Sickle and
Stephen Long Mitchell in pitching a new series to Fox Television. "We're developing that which is exciting. It's not a SCI-fi show. If it goes, I will produce, so I'll be involved in creatively shaping. Obviously my first [commitment] will be to this show. I love to write, it's just hard to find the time."

An outspoken environmentalist, Weiss is on the board of directors for the Earth Communications Office and serves as their director of public service announcements. Where possible, he has tried to incorporate these belief sees the character as "a really good example."

" I do the best I can do with parameters of my world and remind people that the environmental crisis isn't over," he says. "We've switched to recycled products on the set, which is great. My next battle is to get them to print scripts on both sides, but it takes a long time to retrain. But we recycle everything else now."

Blessed with a broad format, a talented ensemble and an inventive team of writers, The Pretender should continue to enjoy a long life with NBC. Weiss says that he is unlikely to get bored with the role, simply because it offers so much variety.

"There are billions of professions and there are billions of worlds that Jarod is going to go into. The worlds are getting subtler too - it's not like a fire chief or a doctor any more. It's gonna be more subtle things, like I'm an ex-con today. We're playing with different levels of society. I can play a different character every week. He's such a multi-faceted character just as Jarod: he's dark and he's malevolent and he's innocent. I think he's the best character on television truthfully."