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David James Elliott, star of the hit series "Jag," returns for the highly anticipated fourth season of the show that will bring a new dimension to his character Harmon. We quizzed David about what's in store for the new season and dug up some steamy details about his budding romance!
Entertainment Tonight: What really stunned me was the fact that you guys
had an episode that involves the bombing of the Sudanese embassy.
David James Elliott: Yeah. There's something about this show. I mean this has happened a lot. You know, we touch upon something and it happens in the news, or we'll be filming something or you'll watch the show and it will happen. So it didn't strike us as being weird. We were just saying,"wow, one more time, another kind of, what they call synchronicity thing happening." But it is a little odd.
ET: When things like that happen do you go, "Cool, that is something that could end up on Jag"?
David: Yeah, you know Jag tries to be topical. Now, see I think stories like that are really interesting and they're interesting to present them in an unbiased fashion. I'm not writing them, I'm just playing what's there. But I don't think anyone's there to make any great sweeping judgments on the military or any of that. And I know that we have military cooperation and that has been growing year to year. Obviously that is something that we want to garner. And you know, to their credit they go on a television show to show basis so if they find anything slightly controversial they would not be likely to cooperate on it. That does not seem to severe the tie forever you know. But I think those issues are interesting. I know the writers are always constantly looking at them, but we do approach every season with a game plan for the characters. Things can change but they try to remain fast to the treatments that they have. You know, we're doing 24 episodes and I think they have 24 treatments and probably a lot of almost finished scripts this season. We're really on top of the ball so it's kind of exciting.
ET: Did it feel good to be back?
David: Yeah it feels great to be back. It was a short hiatus though.
David: Yeah, I think we have three carrier shows, so we'll be down in
San Diego. And I heard in the news yesterday, there will be three nuclear
carriers arriving, so we get to--they'll let us shoot some episodes on the
carriers. We're going to Washington D.C. and we're going to do a lot of second
unit stuff there and we're going to shoot two episodes there.
ET: When you're on the carrier, what does it add?
David: The kind of production value that the Navy in their cooperation
lends to the show. That is something that we couldn't possibly buy. Now this is
a pretend set, and it has a lot of you know runways and hallways and little
rooms and things, which are great, but how do you, buy those exterior shots?
When you're standing on those carriers, you can really zoom in and play it up.
You can't buy those kinds of things. So it's fabulous that they let us do that.
We've already shot on some active Marine Corp bases throughout the first three
seasons, and in this season too. We get to shoot their teams taking off and
landing the F14s, and a plethora of different aircraft. We had one producer who
would just view footage from films and we'd steal shots like that. And that was
great but sometimes film stock wouldn't match the stock we were shooting and so
we'd be slightly off or too grainy. But now we get to shoot our own stock
footage and it really adds so much to the show.
ET: I also understand you were on location here in the Angeles Crest
(forest) for part of the story line and some people forget, there are little
critters and big critters in the Angeles Crest.
David: The Angeles Crest, oh yeah. There were bears. One night, you
know after - every time it got dark the bears would come out. On the last night
we were there, there were eight bears on the parameter. We had all of these park
rangers that were shooting them with rubber bullets to keep them at bay because
they could smell the food and they wanted something you know. Apparently they
were like garbage bears. They eat a lot of it. And I know that the caterer had
this baby bear that kept trying to come into the truck all day when she was
around. So you know the mother wasn't far. It got a little hairy going into the
woods to answer nature's call because there were no restrooms around. We had
some trepidation about that you know.
David: Yeah, it is. The plot line has been something this character
has followed from the beginning. It's something that has haunted his
relationships. Most of his emotional center he denied and just focused on work.
When bits of information came up about his father he kept digging and digging
and digging. Now that that is resolved this year, we're sort of looking at the
effects of a life in the early thirties and being pretty much a workaholic and
how does he move on from having resolved this thing. So we're looking at his
relationships and I think we'll have him involved with someone romantically
midway through the season. And you know, the quirks that his character needs to
address. We're looking at his private life and what kind of friends he has.
We're going to continue to explore the lives of the main characters.
ET: You mention romance, there's always been a sort of subtext between
Mac [CATHERINE BELL] and Harmon [DAVID JAMES ELLIOTT]. As he
explores his private life, might we see those two people get a little closer?
David: I don't know, writers are a little tight lipped about some of
these things, and they go, "Well, wait to read it! There's something great
coming a long this line." You know, along those lines. But whenever that
happens the show dies and people stop watching. So you wanna keep the tension
and give a little and pull back.
ET: Now in the fourth season, you're starting to get more recognized.
When they come up to you, the fans, is there something you hear most often?
David: I've been on a lot of shows. This is my fourth series. People
used to come up and you'd be doing a series and they say, "I like this, but
I gotta tell you." You know, they always had a criticism. On this show,
oddly enough, I've never had anyone criticize the show. More often than not,
people tell me it's the only show worth watching on TV. This is a constant thing
that I hear. People love the show. I guess the numbers are reflecting, more
people are seeing it and it's growing and the numbers keep getting better and
better. Hopefully we'll continue to grow and maybe we'll break into that Top 10
this year.
David: Absolutely! It's nice to know that your hard work is being
recognized. We pretty much clawed our way to where we are now. I mean the show
has changed, gone through cast changes, gone through different producers and writers. And
I've always believed that the show had great potential you know. And TV is a
different terrain these days. There's a lot of programming out there. There are
a lot of options. It's not like in the old days. You could be a hit in the old
days when there were only three stations. Now to be a hit, it's a tough deal.
ET: You earned your stripes.
David: Hey, hey. Thanks.
ET: Thank you.
ET: I also understand for this season, some exciting locations were already
shot and there are some exciting locations to come.
ET: Okay, let me just ask you, the question posed in the cliffhanger
season finale, will it be answered in the season premiere?
ET: It's gotta be flattering to hear that type of response.