From UnderGroundOnline - September, 2005
Tyler Labine of Invasion
Interview by Daniel Robert Epstein, contributing editor
Tyler Labine is one those actors that people know as "Hey, that guy!" That may all change once Invasion begins its season following Lost. Labine plays Dave, a conspiracy theory nut who may finally be right as some weird lights have fallen into a lake in a small Florida town.
UGO: I have been a fan of yours since Antitrust, believe it or not.
TYLER LABINE: Oh God.
UGO: I remember how evil you were in it.
TYLER: I was a pretty evil guy. I have gone through a few anger management courses and some therapy so everything is in order.
UGO: I also recognized you as John Belushi in the Mork and Mindy movie [Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy].
TYLER: So you are one of the people who watched that thing.
UGO: So for someone like you who is a bit of a bigger guy, what's it like to get to play John Belushi? Were you a fan of his?
TYLER: I wasn't actually. I have been told that I'm a Jack Black, John Belushi type, which always pissed me off. I have been doing this since before I even knew who Jack Black was. I didn't really know who John Belushi was when I was a kid. I was more of a John Candy, Chris Farley kind of guy. Originally I auditioned for the Robin Williams part, so that lead to playing John Belushi, so then I went out and I researched him. Then I realized I really liked him and he was a really talented guy. For me what he did in the '70s is all kind of old hat now but then you realize that when he was doing it, it was unheard of. I gained this whole new appreciation for him and now I'm a fan. But since it's an unauthorized biopic about Robin Williams, I have all these nightmares of Belushi's family telling me that I should leave him alone and why am I dredging this up.
UGO: In Invasion, you get to play the conspiracy guy who ends up being right.
TYLER: I do indeed. I get to say, "I told you so."
UGO: Are you a conspiracy buff at all?
TYLER: I wish I was but I know quite a few people who are. Ever since I started working on this character I try to watch the Discovery Channel and the UFO shows. I am trying to lock in on totally bizarre conspiracy theorists and try to pick up on their brainwaves and mannerisms. It's hard to get into that mindframe, but it's fun to do.
UGO: As you research all these conspiracies do you ever agree with them or is it just too out there?
TYLER: If you give them a chance and really try to get into their space almost all of the conspiracies out there are plausible. They make such a convincing argument and they believe it so wholeheartedly. I don't think my character is crazy but he thinks he is the smartest guy.
UGO: Well now he is.
TYLER: Yeah, just imagine if something like this actually happened to how many people out there would be like, hell with you. They would make a little love and get raped by aliens.
UGO: I have only seen the first episode of Invasion and your scene in the water scared the hell out of me.
TYLER: It's funny because I know it's coming so I watched it with a lot of people and everybody in the room were jumping out of their seats, so desired effect achieved. Then I watched it with my mom and she was sitting beside me and she dug her nails so hard into my leg when that happened. I was really happy with how that whole sequence turned out.
UGO: Would you call yourself a character actor?
TYLER: I definitely take myself as a character actor.
UGO: Some character actors get on a TV show and they'll be on it for years and years, is that a good thing for a guy with your acting resume?
TYLER: I just think with the way I look and since I have a broad range I ended up becoming a character actor. But you start to really enjoy that, if you are successful. You get to charge out on almost every character. Doing one character for like seven years or whatever may get really boring. We'll see if this still goes for a few years, I'll talk to you then.
UGO: A lot of character actors lament about how much they have to work, like five or six movies a year. If the show is successful, would not having to work as much be something you want?
TYLER: I don't know. Invasion will be my fourth television series that's been on the air. I have done five television shows and four of them have gone for a full season and some of them haven't seen the light of day. It's great because you make money and you get to work every day. I don't mind doing like five or six different projects a year. I like to just really create as many characters as I can. If I am playing Dave for five years, I could have end up really falling in love with this character and never want it to end.
UGO: How was it working with Shaun Cassidy?
TYLER: Shaun's a wicked cool guy. I didn't know he was Shaun Cassidy of Cassidy fame when I first met him. He was so open in talking about the character and he was taking notes from me and I would take notes from him. He was very cool and then I realized who he was one day when he was explaining how he came up with the logo for Invasion. He wrote it down when he was on a beach in Hawaii. Once I figured it out I started behaving differently around him and I don't know why because he never made me or anybody around him feel like that or anything. Long story short, Shaun Cassidy is awesome.
UGO: I know you can't reveal too much about what's coming up on the show, but does Dave take charge at some point when all of his crazy information becomes valuable?
TYLER: I can't tell you too much about that, but what I can tell you is that Dave does become relentless in his pursuit for the truth. He's got this thing in his trunk and only him and his brother know anything about it.
UGO: Who you most excited to be working with, actor wise?
TYLER: The obvious answer is William Fichtner because he is really talented and he is such a creep on the show but not in real life. He is a very nice guy.
UGO: I've heard he can be pretty intense.
TYLER: Yeah, he is an intense guy and I think I pissed him off in the beginning because I kept telling him how creepy he was. Then he had a couple of words with me and was like, "You've got to stop telling everybody I'm a creep." Then I got a little intimidated by him so I decided that the best tactic was to just keep calling him a creep. But we're good buddies now. Also, Eddie Cibrian has been a surprise because I didn't know him. But we're having a great time working together. We do most of our stuff together on the show. He is wicked and a very talented and confident actor.
UGO: I see you were in an alien movie called Evil Alien Conquerors.
TYLER: That's the most screwed-up character I will ever have the privilege of playing in my life. It is such a ridiculous movie. Chris Matheson, who wrote the Bill and Ted movies, was the director. When I read the script I laughed so hard. I played Croker The Destroyer, who is a 100-foot-tall alien giant who comes to Earth to behead everybody. But he gets shrunk down to six feet tall in the transporter but he's in straight denial so he won't admit that he is not 100 feet tall anymore. I got to walk around making my own giant sound effects and try to crush people between my fingertips wearing this purple jumpsuit.
UGO: Do you like alien invasion movies?
TYLER: Yeah. I definitely like sci-fi stuff. I love Star Trek and Explorers is one of my favorite movies. I even have it on DVD.
UGO: What's the best concert you have ever been to?
TYLER: The best concert ever been to might have to be the AC/DC Ballbreaker tour in 1994. I camped out for two nights for it. I was like 15 years old.