Music: {allcanada} T.O. teen in Spielberg's 'Skies'

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

{allcanada} T.O. teen in Spielberg's 'Skies'

Four words changed the professional life of Toronto teenager Connor Jessup.

"Steven loved your audition."

That would be Steven, as in, Steven Spielberg.

"It was a phone call that I obviously still remember," Jessup said. "I'm a bit of a film buff and I've always been a huge fan of (Spielberg). So it was kind of like someone saying, 'God loved your audition.' "

Divine intervention notwithstanding, Jessup has a key role in Spielberg's sci-fi TV project Falling Skies, which makes its Canadian debut Wednesday, July 6 on Super Channel. Falling Skies made its American debut in mid-June on the cable channel TNT, which is not available legally in Canada.

Falling Skies is set six months after an alien invasion and follows Tom Mason (played by Noah Wyle), who is part of a small group of human resistance fighters. As well as taking care of his remaining family, Tom is searching for his missing son Ben (Jessup), one of many young people who has been captured by the aliens and placed in a debilitating harness.

In fact, in the first episode of Falling Skies, we get only a brief glimpse of the enslaved Ben. But he is the "golden child" of the narrative, so to speak.

"Yeah, the light at the end of the tunnel," Jessup said. "In the first episode, as you know, I have a very minimal part. But after that, they try to rescue me and my part expands significantly."

Speaking of parts expanding significantly, that's ultimately what forced Jessup to have to win the role of Ben not once, but twice.

"This came to me as every part comes, as an audition on my computer," Jessup recalled. "It was fall 2009, and at that time it was called, 'The Untitled Steven Spielberg Alien Invasion Pilot,' which was very long-winded, in my opinion."

Assuming his chances were slim, Jessup auditioned for the pilot, and then received the surprising phone call proclaiming that "Steven loved your audition." But six months later when Falling Skies officially got picked up as a 10-episode series, the role of Ben got way bigger and Jessup had to re-audition.

"That was stressful," Jessup admitted. "I can't imagine how upset I would have been had the show gone forward and I hadn't gotten it again."

Falling Skies was shot in the summer and fall of 2010. Between then and now, Jessup has been working on other projects, but he credits the Falling Skies experience with making him a better actor.

Jessup understandably was very nervous when shooting for Falling Skies began. But he said he eventually relaxed due to in large part to the "assured, quiet, confident air" of Wyle, who is best known for his long-running role on ER.

"After the shoot it stayed with me," Jessup said. "I'm a much more calm and confident actor than I was before."

Of course, hearing that Steven Spielberg "loved your audition" doesn't hurt one's confidence, either.

"Yeah," agreed Jessup, still awestruck by the memory. "Tell me about it."