Steve Bacic
A familiar face to TV Sci-Fi/Fantasy fans, Canadian Steve Bacic has guest-starred in numerous genre series including Smallville, Andromeda, Dark Angel, Earth: Final Conflict, Jeremiah and Stargate SG-1, The handsome actor was recently in Toronto shooting an episode of Adventure, Inc. titled Bride of the Sun. He played Stefan George, the ex-business partner of the show's hero Judson Cross (Michael Biehn).
"Compared to Judson's life, Stefan's hasn't been that great," explains Bacic. "In his mind he's always felt that Judson got all the glory and that he was never given his fair share of the credit. This ate him up inside and in due time they ended their partnership. Stefan saw it as betrayal but, in fact, he more or less left of his own accord. He became an alcoholic, got arrested and spent some time in jail. When he got out, Stefan began drinking again and eventually returned to the mercenary treasure hunting business. You could say he's the dark side of Judson, and that makes him very much the evil doer."
"I saw Stefan as not being 100% there, do you know what I mean? When a person abuses drugs or alcohol they usually end up in a bad way. Sometimes, though, they're able to pull themselves together. Stefan managed to do that, but not totally. He continued to focus his energy on his envy and jealousy of Judson. At the same time, Stefan had to try to maintain a civil relationship with his former friend. Trying to balance both sides of his emotions was a great acting challenge for me. I especially enjoyed the scenes between Stefan and Judson at the climax of the story. It's then that you see a spark of the old friendship they once shared."
Bacic had nothing but good things to say about the show's leading man Michael Biehn. "I was very pleased to find out that Michael was starring in Adventure, Inc. because I think he's a great actor. When you look forward to working with a person and then actually do, you're sometimes let down because they're not like you imagined they'd be. That wasn't the case with Michael. He's a very solid and grounded performer as well as true professional. He's going to give the show a lot of credibility."
The actor also enjoyed working with the episode's director, David Wu. "He has a great sense of humour and a real eye for action," says Bacic. "David has a certain style when shooting the bad guy as opposed to the hero insofar as using particular lenses, angles, etc. So I can't wait to see the final cut. I've heard that the show's producers were pleased with the dailies so that's a good sign."
After filming Adventure, Inc. Bacic remained in Toronto to work on a made-for-TV Sci-Fi movie called Threshold. In it, an astronaut infected by alien DNA returns to Earth and unknowingly releases a parasite into the atmosphere. "My character, Frank Hansen, is infected and because he has a blood type serves as a host for the aliens and, ultimately, becomes their leader. Once he's infected, Frank loses all sense of fear, which doesn't bode well for his sister-in-law, who hates him. She ends up being the first one he kills," jokes the actor. "So it was yet another interesting and fun part to play."
This month, the actor returns home to Vancouver to reprise his role to Nietzschean Gaheris Rhade in the third-season Andromeda episode An Unconquerable Man. I was surprised as well as pleased when I heard that they were bringing my character back," he enthuses. "It's a well-written script and I'm really looking forward to doing it."
Companion article on Michael Biehn
© 2002 TV Zone Visual Imagination Ltd
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