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Gibson Takes on 'The Lost Empire' LOS ANGELES - Thomas Gibson will soon be seen sliding down the gut of a flying serpent. Not on ABC's ``Dharma & Greg,'' where he plays a straight-arrow husband to free spirit Jenna Elfman, but on ``The Lost Empire,'' based on the Chinese legend of a Monkey King. The Hallmark Entertainment miniseries, laden with more than 500 special effects, is scheduled March 11 and March 12 on NBC (9-11 p.m. EST). Gibson plays Nick Orton, an American scholar and businessman who is lured into a magical world. What does an actor think about when creating the fantasy of a journey into the belly of a beast? The smell, perhaps? ``Yes, well, we've all stepped in things we didn't necessarily want to step into,'' Gibson says with a laugh. He explains that all sorts of sensory memories were brought into play during the sequence because much of the time, he was looking at a blank blue screen (special effects were added later). Gibson is talking over a pizza and salad in his spacious trailer, parked alongside the ``Dharma & Greg'' set on the Fox Studios lot. Recently there's been a slight blip in the couple's marriage, caused by Dharma's flirtation with a cute teacher, played by Kevin Sorbo, best known as TV action hero Hercules. What accounts for Sorbo's presence on the show? ``Sweeps,'' explains Gibson, acknowledging the sort of casting that occurs during those special rating periods when networks set their ad rates, including the month of February. But he found the story line valid; as ``something we had not explored yet. ... And I think things like this do inevitably come up in relationships.'' He likes the way the Tuesday-night series, now in its fourth season, gives the cast something dramatically realistic to do ``besides just telling jokes.'' Gibson, 38, describes his character Greg Montgomery as ``one of those guys that you'd love to have as a neighbor because you know that he's conscientious and dependable and he has integrity. ``It's very apparent he wishes the world worked according to a logical plan that he has imagined that it needed. ... When the round peg that is supposed to fit in the round hole doesn't, it makes him crazy.'' Gibson has a refreshing sense of a world beyond himself, and that's one of the things that attracted him to ``The Lost Empire,'' filmed last summer on locations in Malaysia, Singapore and on sound stages in Prague in the Czech Republic. He admits that he doesn't know much about the Eastern religion, philosophy and culture of the story, inspired by a Chinese novel about traditional legends. Playwright David Henry Hwang, author of the play ``M. Butterfly,'' adapted it to the screen. ``I still wouldn't consider myself any kind of expert, but I know a little bit more now than I did before,'' Gibson says. He found the research and travel involved put ``one's own life and one's own culture into a more global context which I think is an extremely important perspective to try to give yourself.'' In ``The Lost Empire,'' Orton is transformed into an action hero by his love for the beautiful Kwan Ying, who turns out to be the goddess of Mercy. She's played by Bai Ling, who was the young concubine in the 1999 film ``Anna and the King.'' Scantily clad and in love with a human, the goddess is depicted in a way that Gibson believes might ``raise a few eyebrows if not a few tempers'' in China. ``The overarching theme is the triumph of the spirit of the individual against an oppressive authoritarian government, which makes it a valid modern story, too,'' he says. Gibson, who lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Cristina and their young son, J.P., is happy at ``Dharma & Greg,'' a job that keeps him close to home. But he's keen to stay versatile as an actor, so he enjoyed conjuring up Orton's fantastic adventures. It involved the sort of ``evocative work that you have to do in the theater,'' he says. Born in Charleston, S.C., he studied at New York's Juilliard School. He made his professional stage debut in David Hare's play ``A Map of the World'' and appeared in several Shakespearean productions at New York's Public Theater. His film roles include ``The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas,'' in which he played playboy Chip Rockefeller, and a small part in Stanley Kubrick's ``Eyes Wide Shut.'' On PBS, he played Beauchamp Day in Armistead Maupin's ``Tales of the City'' and ``More Tales of the City,'' about San Francisco's gay community. Before ``Dharma & Greg,'' he starred for three seasons as Dr. Daniel Nyland on the CBS medical drama ``Chicago Hope.'' He credits his desire to become an actor with ``being the youngest of four children and fighting for the attention.'' AP-NY-02-15-01 1200EST ------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE LOST EMPIRE,
Part I THE LOST EMPIRE,
Part II Robert Halmi, Sr. ("Jason and the Argonauts," "Gulliver's Travels") and Robert Halmi, Jr. ("Arabian Nights," "Lonesome Dove") are the executive producers and Steve Harding ("Cleopatra") is the producer. Peter MacDonald ("Rambo III," "Young Indiana Jones") directs from a script by Tony Award-winning playwright and co-producer David Henry Hwang ("M. Butterfly"). The miniseries features special effects by Cinesite ("Mission Impossible II," "Animal Farm"). |
