Dennis Christopher

by Summer Seay Zap2it.com Dennis Christopher is an actor whose life and career have been affected by the Internet. Dennis has had fans since the beginning of his long stint in showbiz, but they never had the power that they have now.

Dennis played a character called Jack on the TV series, The Profiler. Neither his characters face nor his identity had ever been reveale in the show. And yet, when he was replaced by another actor, the fans of the show were so livid they took to the Internet, bombarding the network and demanding that the real Jack be put back on the show.

The network listened. Dennis also had a part on the series Freakylinks, a show with wobbly ratings from the get go, but a sturdy fan base keeping it afloat. When rumors about the possible demise of the series surfaced, the web was abuzz with fans of the show working up plots to save it. Zap2it spoke to the chatty and animated Dennis Christopher about the power of the web, one small town sheriff, and addictive personalities.

Zap2it.com: Were you this aware of your fan base before the Internet was available?

Dennis Christopher: I knew I had fans, they used to write to me.

Zap2it.com: Does there seem to be a difference between the fans that would send you mail, and the fans that you have online?

Dennis Christopher: Yes because the fans online now communicate with each other which is the biggest difference. They also seem to have more power.

Zap2it.com: Why do you think that is?

Dennis Christopher: I was brought back on to the show Profiler, directly because of the Internet fans. I may have fans of my whole body of work or fans of the show Profiler, and they can all be linked together. The Internet links actors to other actors who are on the same project, its more information, which sounds sort of stupid and redundant to say, but thats just what it is, this never ending source of information.

Zap2it.com: So obviously its a pretty great promotional tool for actors.

Dennis Christopher: Oh definitely, but actually Im never online at all.

Zap2it.com: Youre never in contact with any of these fan pages?

Dennis Christopher: No, I answer my fan mail thats sent to me. Right now Ive been working on this show called Kate Brasher, so fans write me care of CBS.

Zap2it.com:Its funny, it seems that a lot of actors and performers in general have an aversion to the Internet. Why do you think that is?

Dennis Christopher: Too much information, not enough time in life. If youre an actor so much of what you do is what you glean from life, and if youre sitting in front of a screen youre not going to get anything. Also its addictive and a lot of performers have addictive personalities. Im ignorant of the whole thing I didnt grow up with this at all and to teach myself a new skill right now is difficult. Im learning a little bit at a time, and of course I use a computer, but when I understand the mechanics of it more, then I will, or will not reward myself by availing myself to the Internet.

Zap2it.com: In that respect, does it at all seem dangerous to you?

Dennis Christopher: No, nothings dangerous its just life. I mean, you get a job at a pastry shop probably the first two weeks youre going to have an upset stomach and your going to gain weight. You can either go down the tubes because of it or you can say, wait a minute! And if you let it rule your life and it becomes dangerous to you then youre a casualty. I hate to be so pragmatic about it, but life is about making choices and taking responsibility for those choices and if you make stupid choices bad things may happen to you.

Zap2it.com: You also had a part on Freakylinks, another show that garnered huge Internet buzz, it seem to follow you.

Dennis Christopher: We were all under contract until June, but we never filmed more than the initial thirteen episodes, which is too bad really. I just think the show seemed to loose its direction.

Zap2it.com:You played a villain on The Profiler in which nobody ever saw your face, and yet, as you mentioned, when the show replaced you with another actor, the fans were outraged and used the net as a tool to get you back. How did all that go down?

Dennis Christopher:I was totally put back on national television because of fans on the Internet. We always used disguises for Jack, on The Profiler, always keeping my identity unknown. To foster that I took billing as the character so you had the whole country guessing, which kept it very compelling. New producers and writers were hired for the show and they decided in the third reason that were going to show Jacks face and they cast another actor to play Jack, dont ask me why. There is nothing that people dont talk about on the Internet, so there were rumors that Jack was me but fans didnt know for sure, but when they pulled off that mask and it wasnt me the fan base were irate. They went crazy, writing to the network, How dare you do this to us? Do you think that were stupid? That man does not move or speak like Jack. They were just up in arms and the ratings really took a hit.

Zap2it.com:And it made a difference?

Dennis Christopher:At the end of that third season the network told the new producers that they had to get the real Jack back. They had to write a story line where it appeared as if I was mind controlling the character; they had to reintroduce me into the show as someone behind the scenes manipulating this man that was in jail for being Jack.

Zap2it.com: So there were no more disguises for you when you came back?

Dennis Christopher: No, I came back as a goofy, small town sheriff. Slowly it was revealed in the two-parter that I was controlling this man, and that was the season finale. The fourth season Allie who played Samantha decided she was not coming back to the show so they decided, and Im not really sure why, that it was in their best interest to end the Jack storyline at the same time they ended the Samantha storyline. So in the fourth season Jack kidnaps Samanthas daughter, and Samantha kills him and decides to quit the FBI. Personally I think it would have been a better idea had they let the Samantha character leave and kept Jack. It seems to me that if your going to pull out two teeth, you should do them one at a time.

Zap2it.com: What was your reaction when the producers told you that the fans were going crazy and that they wanted you back?

Dennis Christopher: They never tell you anything, nobody will ever tell you youre right when they have to admit that theyre wrong. There is spin on everything that completely clouds the truth so that no one never really made a mistake. But the network was very generous in getting me back and once I did come back and established a relationship with the new producers it was very amicable, and the last two shows with the real Jack were the highest rated of the series. We were all happy to go out on a high note.

Dennis Christopher can currently be seen in a reoccurring role as Jesus on Kate Brasher, and in The Side Man at the Pasadena Playhouse May 13-June 17.

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