Bearded Eccleston: I Didn't Want To Play The Bad Guy

By MICHAEL HINMANJan-18-2007If Christopher Eccleston had a choice, he'd most likely hope that his former persona of the good Doctor on "Doctor Who" would be invisible to fans, but instead, it's his character of Claude that will have that ability when "Heroes" returns Jan. 22.
"What attracted me to 'Heroes' is that they came in for me, and I appreciated that," a bearded Eccleston told HeroSite.net. "We talked about two roles, and it was Claude that I decided on, the second role."
The first role Eccleston was offered actually came as a villain, but that was something he simply wasn't interested in. "I think that it's somewhat of a cliche for European actors to play villains in American culture, and I didn't want to be part of that," he said.
Eccleston said nothing about his previous work, "Doctor Who," which he starred in for a single season, but he wasn't asked about it either. However, it was "Heroes" on his mind, and "Heroes" that he was talking about, even though most of his character will be a special effect with voiceovers.
"When you play a character with super powers or whatever you would call it, I think the most important thing is to concentrate on making the man or woman itself naturalistic and truthful," Eccleston said. "The more you can do that, the more the audience will buy the more extreme behavior which comes from having super powers. So it's an acting exercise, as every character is."
Claude, as has been previously described by showrunner Tim Kring, is actually an older hero, and will step in as sort of a mentor role, Eccleston said.
"I think Claude has a conscience and a very good heart, and I think there is a kind of strain of psychology, almost, called the 'guilt of the survivor,' and I think those three things are the main motivators for Claude," he said. "I think it's reasonable to say that Claude belongs to a previous generation to our present heroes. He functions as a kind of paternal figure."
For more of the interview, check out HeroSite.net.
"Heroes" returns Jan. 22, and also will feature the debut of another popular genre actor, "Star Trek's" George Takei.
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