LOS ANGELES – “Farscape” fans that haven’t seen Ben Browder since his Sci Fi Channel series closed up shop for good in March can catch up with him Monday at 10 p.m. EDT, when he has a guest-starring role on CBS’ freshman hit “CSI: Miami.”
In “Tinder Box,” Browder plays Danny Maxwell, a doorman and bouncer at a South Florida nightclub where a fire kills 16 patrons. Lead forensic investigator Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and his team then sift through the evidence to find out what happened.
Although he has auditioned for many TV pilots and shows, this is Browder’s first acting gig since returning to Los Angeles after four-plus years in Australia shooting “Farscape,” in which he played U.S. astronaut John Crichton, who was shot through a wormhole into uncharted space.
“Let’s be honest,” Browder says, “auditioning is hard. And the other thing is, after 4-1/2 years, who the hell remembers how to audition? What’s that about?”
Asked if he’s a suspect on “CSI: Miami,” Browder says, “I don’t disclose any future plot points. Isn’t everybody a suspect? I’m not a cop, and if I’m not a cop, and I’m not part of the science team or anything, I’m a suspect.”
Along with the difficulty of auditioning, Browder has found the choice of roles disappointing. “It’s hard, coming off any show, but a show like “Farscape,’ it’s very difficult. The majority of roles that are available are, he’s a cop, he’s a lawyer, he’s a cop who used to be a lawyer, he’s a lawyer who used to be a cop, he’s a retired cop.”
“You see a lot of procedural stuff, and “Farscape,’ it was heavily character-oriented stuff, a lot of funky, cool twists and turns. It’s hard to look at the pilots and go, “You know, what are we going to do with the character?”‘
After years of dealing with puppet characters, outer-space effects and all manner of aliens, working on an Earth-based crime drama was a bit of a switch.
“First off, there were no aliens,” Browder says, “and it wasn’t like there was a lot of green-screen activity going on. But it was intellectually stimulating to be in a different kind of environment.”
Because the episode involves a fire, there were pyrotechnic and makeup effects. This made Browder happy.
“The minute there were special effects,” he says, “I felt right at home. When we were standing around talking, that was like, “We never do this! At the end of the scenes, we hit somebody. Should we slam them against the wall? Should we shoot them?”‘
“On “Farscape,’ if you talked, you were pointing a gun at somebody, right? You were knee-deep in a vat of ooze, but the idea of actually just talking in a scene, wow, that’s weird.”
“I felt really at home as soon as the special effects started breaking out and burning things. I thought, “I’m home.’ Isn’t that wrong? That’s so wrong.”
Browder also found himself hanging around with the technicians applying prosthetic makeup to people playing burn victims.
“I went in to watch them apply the latex and the blood and the goo and the ooze, going “Ah, smells like home, feels like home.”‘
As to the future of “Farscape,” which still has a loyal and vocal fan base, Browder says, “Well, oh, hell, we may yet see it again. Whether there’s more “Farscape’ or not is dependent on people with lots of money, or people with access to money to make the project.”
“The topic arises occasionally, but usually it’s a discussion about what form we would do, not anything concrete.”
Browder is even a bit surprised that a reporter cares that he’s on “CSI: Miami.”
“I’m used to living in a bubble,” he says. “I’m used to being in Australia, where nobody knows, nobody cares. I’ll have to make an adjustment in my mentality.”
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AP-NY-05-02-03 1428EDT
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