Music: {allcanada} How 'The Flash's' Tom Cavanagh keeps Reverse Flash and Harrison Wells straight

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

{allcanada} How 'The Flash's' Tom Cavanagh keeps Reverse Flash and Harrison Wells straight

Zap2it: Are you enjoying playing both the benevolent and scheming sides of Dr. Harrison Wells on "The Flash"?

Tom Cavanagh: Since we were children, getting a chance to do this stuff is actually fun for me, personally. And Grant (Gustin, who plays Barry Allen/The Flash), we have a lot of fun. And how could you kind of not, when you look at what we get to do?

And so that carries most of the battle, I think, in terms of keeping things loose. And we're proceeding from gratitude. We know it's a good job and a fun job, and we're grateful for it. Which I think, probably, there's some ephemeral translation to that on the screen.

Zap2it: What's the biggest challenge of playing a character who is two people at once, especially when the audience is in on it?

Tom Cavanagh: When you've got sort of a dual purpose for everything you say, dual goals, all those kinds of things -- all that duality, as an actor, it's a joy to play, because you're trying to approach it from different levels. And sometimes you succeed, and sometimes you don't.

But one of the tremendous things is to have lines that go, "I look forward to seeing you soon." You know, like stuff like that, which is layered with all sorts of different things, because he's also ... he's the Reverse Flash, but also Harrison Wells. And his agendas don't necessarily make him a bad guy, in the way that [he's] not a mustache-twirling bad guy. He needs Barry to do well, and essentially, Barry needs him to further his own powers. And so the fact that he's got certain complications, for me, is a joy to play.

"The Flash" airs Tuesdays on The CW at 8 p.m. ET/PT.