6.0) Interviews and Articles

6.1) Cast Interview (July 13, 1995)

     Fox Summer Press Tour, July 13, 1995

     Karl Schaffer (Creator and Executive Producer) 
     D.B. Sweeney (Star) 
     Frances Fisher (Star) 
     Cynthia Martells (Star) 
     Pamela Gidley (Star) 

Premise:

     As a young child, Chance Harper was the only survivor of a plane
     crash that counted the rest of his family among the victims. Ever
     since, he has been blessed or cursed - depending on your
     point of view - with the ability to be the right man in the right (or
     wrong) place at the right time.  Each week, he becomes intricately
     involved with the lived of the people he happens to bump into.

QUESTION: How much of Eerie,Indiana, the show, not the city, do you
feel there is in Strange Luck?

SCHAEFER: I think a lot of it. I think some of the same world view
sort of comes to this show. I see life as really unpredictable and
interesting and scary and weird and beautiful and sexy. And I think
all those things are going to come to this. And that same kind of
twisted sense of sensibility. Not quite the fantasy aspect that we had
in Eerie, Indiana, but I think a lot of that - the way Marshall was
against the world in Eerie, Indiana, I think Chance is a little bit
against the world here, trying to find his way and figure things out.

QUESTION: I'm curious, too, about the idea that he is a plane crash
survivor and has this gift now, if we can call it a gift. Or strange
luck or whatever. Jeff Bridges in Fearless. I think of that
character. He had what he felt that he'd been imbued with this certain
something that he was suddenly impregnable to anything.  What was it
about that aspect, specifically, this character surviving a plane
crash that kind of gave you the idea to give him that background?

SCHAEFER: Well, I think, unlike the Jeff Bridges' character, Chance
doesn't feel impregnable. I mean, I think just the opposite. When he
goes up onto the roof to talk the woman out of committing suicide, he
knows he could get hurt. He's not armed with that sort of defense
mechanism that we all go through life with - of thinking bad things
don't happen to me. Or that wasn't a woman screaming I heard, that was
a cat meowing. I think he is stripped of that, but still feels an
incredible responsibility. Because he survived a plane crash, he
believes he's in this time and place for a reason. And the reason must
be to intercede in the situation. If he is in a bank and it's being
robbed, his world view says, "I survived that plane crash to be at
this time and place at this moment. That must mean I need to interject
myself in this situation." It's sort of that kind of obsession that he
has about having survived, which I think is a key part of his
character.

QUESTION: Is he going to be torn between two women?

MARTELLS: Three.

D.B.SWEENEY: At least.

PAMELA GIDLEY: Thank you,

MARTELLS: Thank you.

QUESTION: Well, I didn't see a romance blooming with the third woman,
but maybe three or four. But is he going to be is that going to
happen?

SCHAEFER: Yeah. I think the key thing about this show is anything is
possible. We really tried to set the parameters up so that we can go
anywhere and do anything. We're going to have a lot of fun with
this. And we've got a wonderful cast to do it with. I don't think
D.B. would let me get away with anything short of that. We're going to
explore all those possibilities.

QUESTION: D.B., guys who are in TV series want to get out of it and be
movie stars instead, 'cause they say it's so much work to star in an
hour-long series. 'Cause you had the movies, you could have kept
making the movies, what interested you in doing this? Did you really
want to jump into a series like this?

SWEENEY: I wasn't looking to jump into a series at all. It wasn't even
something I was entertaining. One of my agents said to me, "You don't
want to do a series, but you really have to read this script." And I
got a hold of Karl's script and I read it and I thought this is a
great character and it's limitless possibilities here. I think that
whatever sort of barrier there was between being a TV actor and being
a movie actor was completely eradicated by Jim Carrey, now being the
highest-paid guy in Hollywood. Three years ago, he was a supporting
player on a TV show. Now to mention George Clooney and Anthony Edwards
and -

FRANCES FISHER: Tom Hanks.

SWEENEY: Yeah, I mean, it just goes on and on. I looked at this as a
good opportunity to maybe be sort of a veteran ballplayer getting
traded to a team with a chance to win the whole thing. And I think
that if CBS or ABC or NBC had come to me, I would have said, "That's
okay guys. Maybe when I'm 50."

QUESTION: Frances, can I ask the same question to you? You've been in
some very-high profile movies the last few years, and obviously you
have come from TV also. Did you plan to return to series work at this
point in time, or was it just the offer happened to come up?

FISHER: I don't plan anything. It's the same thing with my agent. She
called me up and she said, "I know you don't want to do a series, but
I think you need to read this script, because there's something in it
that's different. It's not just your regular run-of-mill material for
television. I read it and I agreed with her, and I enjoyed all the
different changes that the pilot had in it and I also looked at the
character and thought that there were limitless possibilities with
her. And that would be an interesting place to be right now.

QUESTION: Seems like a really hard character to play because he
himself doesn't know his own back story. Do you find it difficult to
do?

SWEENEY: No, I think that's one of the great liberating things about
this character and it's one of the joys to play it. Not only do I have
these three beautiful, talented people to react to every week, but the
structure of the piece is that anything can happen to me. The most
boring scenes that I've ever been in as an actor are the ones where
from the first or second line of dialog you know where the scene is
going to end. In this case, that burden is completely removed from
me. I don't have to worry about creating something of interest to then
react to. There will always be something going on that I can react to
and I think, as an actor, you can do your best work when, instead of
having to initiate some kind of a momentum to then deviate from, you
can just react to the thing that the script has presented for you to
react to.

QUESTION: I'm curious about the style of the program. Even though it's
clearly contemporary, there's a strange sort of anachronistic feel to
it that adds to D.B.'s character's sense of isolation, whatever. Kind
of a noirish thing. Is that deliberate?

SCHAEFFER: It was very deliberate. I think the show is kind of low
tech by design. There's so much cyberspace, internet - I think people
are a little tired of that. And this is about people and
reality. Nothing happens in this show that couldn't happen in the real
world. It just happens with more frequency to Chance. And I think the
noir style just lent a kind of that dangerous world that he moves
through and that unpredictability and the shadows and the darkness of
it. The style was definitely something we went for and are going to
continue with. Absolutely.

QUESTION: Karl, will this be a companion piece for The X-Flles? The
creative aspect of the show was a single show. But in terms of being a
companion on Fridays to The X-Files, obviously Fox has been aiming in
that direction to want to find a show that will do it for that
night. Clearly, you couldn't pick your time slot, but did you have any
thoughts about where this might be placed, when you were developing
it?

SCHAEFFER: When I went to Fox to pitch it originally, the thing I
started out with was Ý I said, "You guys have created an audience
that I think I can write for; that is very demanding and likes an
ambiguous world and doesn't like everything tied up in a neat little
bow at the end. And pays attention to detail. And is a little bit
paranoid and into the strange." And I thought that would be the
perfect audience for this show and the type of stuff that I
write. Oddly enough, since that time, I've met Chris Carter, and he
and I grew up in the same neighborhood here in Los Angeles, in
Bellflower, California. He lived about a mile from me. He's a year
older than I am. And the fact that the two of us are on the same lot
in Vancouver making two shows about sort of the strangeness of
life... I don't know what was in the water back there but evidently it
affected both of us. I think we'll be an excellent companion piece for
that and we're really looking forward to it.

QUESTION: Karl, how much of the series' focus is going to be on
Chance's search for Eric?

SCHAEFFER: It's going to be a continuing thread but not necessarily
hit on in every episode. The show is not going to be serialized. He
won't be following a clue from week to week. At the end of the next
episode, there's a plot device where he is Ý the Westin character
has run a story about him in the paper and the search for his brother
that's going to result in a stream of clues that come in that we can
use to pick up the story line when we want to. But it'll be very
occasionally. The parameters are really open as far as storywise what
we'll be doing and whether or not we continue with that.

QUESTION: Ms. Martens, what's it like, the transition from stage to a
television series? I mean, after Two Trains Running did you decide
that you didn't want to stay in New York anymore? What brought you to
Los Angeles and a series?

MARTELLS: Trains was such a fantastic experience for me, to be a black
woman.

SWEENEY: Are you black?

MARTELLS: I am. We didn't discuss this afterwards because, you know,
that's one of the episodes coming up, we're going to let that out
there.

SWEENEY: I need to get the scripts.

MARTELLS: Yeah, I know, I know. But I've got, like, I've got ties that
you don't, so. To be on Broadway and have all that happen to me, the
way that it did, I couldn't see that happening again, within the next
five years. So I decided that the next step was definitely LA. And LA
was definitely Ý my dragon, you know. I had to go slay it. And got
here the day before the earthquake. And so it's been Ý

SCHAEFER: So it was your fault.

MARTELLS: It was my fault, yeah. It was my fault.

SCHAEFER: I've been looking for that person.

MARTELLS: So I've been sort of run around ever since. And this script,
this opportunity to work with such fine actors. We're, like, if you
haven't gotten it already, we're like real family up here. And to be
able to do what we're doing, in this venue is a real blessing. I don't
know if I exactly answered your question.

QUESTION: How does your character repeat every week?

MARTELLS: Well, I can't speak for every week. Karl and I have yet to
have dinner and money has yet to be exchanged for that. But from my
point of view, Ann Richter is sort of the voice of reason. But I'm not
even married to that, because I think there's a little bit of that can
be claimed by all the ladies here. But she really is a heady gal. And
a no-nonsense gal. And I think that that adds to the attraction
between these two characters.

QUESTION: Karl, people always say when you have a premise like this
that you really have to ground the mundane operations of the story to
make the outlandish premise work. I don't know if this was on purpose
or not, but it just seemed like throughout the show, there was this
Ý maybe it was dreamlike or thought maybe it was just kind of
sloppy sometimes. Things like the arrest. They think he shot two
cops. And he's just kind of walking around. And when the fire happens,
there's not a guard outside the door. I mean, just kind of Ý when
you have an outlandish premise or a slightly supernatural premise, I
always thought you kind of had to ground the rest of the show in a lot
of realism. And it seemed like this was, I don't know, dreamlike or
something. Is that on purpose?

SCHAEFER: Uh, yeah, sure. (laughter)

GIDLEY: Whatever!

SCHAEFER: Yes and no.

QUESTION: It's just how I feel.

SCHAEFER: I think the thing, when you have a premise like this, is -
the show has its own reality. And life is messy. I meant real life is
messy. All you have to do is read the paper and you see that things do
not happen neatly, the way they do on television. And there's a lot of
ambiguity in every day fife. And a lot of times, there isn't a guy
outside the door, who should have been there. And things that should
be cut and dry, don't turn out that way. For me, it's about the
movement of life and the unexpected turn and the fact that people
don't always act in a motivated fashion. And that their private
behavior is a complete mystery to other people. And that, the things
you are worried about in life are never what come up and get you from
the sides. And to have a lot of fun with it too. This is like an 8:00
show on Friday night. People are going to come home and want to go on
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and not get hung up on the details of, well, was
that proper police procedure there? The audience just doesn't care
because they're so involved with Chance and they want to keep the
story moving forwards. They want to go to that next point. That it's
built into the premise, that strange things happen and what's supposed
to happen isn't what's always going to happen. It's a very fine line
you have to walk before people are just going 'Wait a minute. What the
hell's going on here.' But I think we're going to do that quite
successfully as we go along.

QUESTION: Given that the question I'm asking is sort of beside the
point then, can I just follow up on one thing? We saw, if I'm correct
in what you are implying, that sort of a portfolio of his photographs
there at the beginning? With a portfolio of photos like that, and this
luck he's had at being at all these incredible news events, why is he
unemployed? Why isn't he the most famous news photographer in the
world?

SCHAEFER: Because he purposely shuns attention. He's got to fly below
the radar. Because for him, even being an anonymous guy trying to stay
in the shadows trouble finds him. If he were to become famous in any
way, shape or form, it's going to cause him big problems, I think,
character-wise. And it's not about that for him. It's about
understanding this luck, and moment to moment the way his life goes,
and not about becoming a famous photographer. He's only a photographer
because he happens to be in the right place at the right time and is
able to get these photographs.

QUESTION: Carl, I wanted to ask about the relationship between Chance
and Audrey. Why are they not going to be a couple other than
professionally?

SCHAEFER: I don't know if I would rule that out at all entirely. I
think it's because he's a scary guy to be around. I mean, you know his
-

GIDLEY: It takes a certain kind of woman, you know. (laughs)

SCHAEFER: Which you are. (laughter) Definitely. And, you know, I think
it's very difficult for him to form permanent attachments. She's
certainly attracted and they would both want that to happen. But, you
know, again it's hard to hang on for that ride for any length of time
and not have to get back to the real world. I have to get back to my
world where things are safe and predictable, and I know what's going
to happen ten minutes from now.

QUESTION: Pamela, let's follow-up on Carl's quip why you were the
special woman to play Audrey, why Pamela is.

GIDLEY: Why is Pamela playing that special woman? Well, I think that
Chance is sort of Ý if I could describe him as a tornado. And if
you could think of Audrey Westin as a hurricane, and sort of waiting
for the day when the two could meet. Well, anything's bound to
happen. So I'm sort of waiting for that day to come too. We'll see,
who knows?

QUESTION: The pilot was packed pretty tight; even for a premise like
this there was a lot going on. It seems like he can't get across the
street without an earthquake or something happening. I can see down
the road it could exhaust the audience. Although ER maybe has proved
that, you know, audiences don't get exhausted anymore. What's your
feeling about balance down the road, in terms of how many strange
things are going to happen per episode with this?

SCHAEFER: The individual episodes are hopefully going to be so
different in their nature. Sometimes there's just a moment of luck in
meeting at the end of the episode, in resolving the story or
unresolving the story. And in between, it's just a journey about two
people going along together. It's not always going to be cars blowing
up, because that stuff can get old and the audience will get numb to
it pretty quick. It's more about the unpredictability of human
behavior and the characters that move through Chance's life. And the
way he goes, you know, like a pinball through these people and off of
them. It's the little twists and turns of life that are just as
interesting, and fascinating and affordable on the television
schedule. Like all TV, it eventually comes down to the people and how
these guys interact with each other, and with the guests characters
that they run into each week.

QUESTION: Sort of more like a big, noisy attention-grabber pilot kind of thing?

SCHAEFER: (laughs) Sure. I think that was by design. You know, not
sort of do everything where that's all the action you're ever going to
see in the show is in the pilot, there's no need to see next week. We
wanted it to be exciting, and dramatic, and scary and to have some
scale to it. And to make sure the audience knows what the parameters
are. That, you know, people will get killed in these episodes. It's
not always going to tie up nicely in the end. Hopefully, they will
never be able to guess what's going to happen in the next minute. And
maybe not even know what the story is about entirely, until the very
end and it wraps up and you go, oh, my god, that's why Chance was
here. Because Chance doesn't always know why he's here and he doesn't
always do the right thing. It's like Michael Landon in Highway to
Heaven, and here he is to help somebody and it goes completely south
on him, and has tragic results instead of having a nice warm hug at
the end of every episode.

QUESTION: For each of the actors, starting with D.B., could you please
mention what qualities you share with your character? Do you think
you're as lucky as Chance or any other really neat quality that you
share with the character?

SWEENEY: I think I'm pretty lucky to be having these three Ronnettes
behind me here, that's for sure. (laughter) But otherwise, based on my
last trip to Vegas I'm not very lucky at all. In that sense I'm like
Chance, I guess. But no, my life's pretty boring. You know, it's
pretty much cable TV for the sports, and going to a movie. I don't
have this kind of exciting life. But I'm excited to play the guy,
because now I can sort of vicariously take care of all my Walter Mitty
fantasies of saving women falling off buildings, and maybe not saving
them very cleanly, but attempting to save them. I think that it's a
fun character, so I feel lucky to be able to play the guy.

FISHER: Well, I think that the qualities that I share with Angie are
that she's pretty grounded. She's service-oriented. (laughter)

SCHAEFER: She makes a damn fine cup of coffee. (laughter)

FISHER: And she has a big bag of tricks.

MARTELLS: Her strength I think I share. I definitely share her
strength. I don't know that I would go to the extent Cynthia always
goes to say exactly what I feel, when I feel, how I feel it. I think
she's a little bit more curious than I am. I kind of take things as
they come and go. She goes after it a bit more.

GIDLEY: I think I'd have to say I share with Audrey a sort of wacky
sense that's bubbling right underneath the surface. I think that's
mainly what attracted me about this character. In the pilot he wrote
something that said something about my voice on the telephone, can't
wait to see what she looks like, and just a little belt crazy. I think
that's really appealing. I think her ambition, her need for focus and
movement is also a reason that I feel attracted to her, and probably
vice versa. That's why I get to play Audrey.

SCHAEFER: They're all troublemakers, too.

MARTELLS: It's true. (laughs)

SWEENEY: I got a taste of what the show's going to be like the other
night at a photo shoot. We're all sort of standing around trying to be
political about who should stand where and do what. And Pam said, "I
know, D.B., why don't you lay down and we'll sit on you!" (laughter)
Okay, welcome to my life.

SCHAEFER: That's the cover of "TV Guide".

QUESTION: Carl, as the creator, have you thought all the way through
about what this gift / curse / whatever is and whether or not, if it
arrived when he thought he'd lost all of his family would it go away
if he found his brother? I mean, can you have the series go on while
he's not still searching for the brother.

SCHAEFER: Absolutely. I mean, I think Chance believes, with no real
reason to believe this, that if he finds his brother his luck will
change. So he's probably not going to find that brother until the
final episode. (laughter) But no, I mean, I refuse, actually to put a
name on why, what his luck is and what the nature of it is. I think
everybody's going to bring their own belief system to that and have
their own view. And that that's a very important mystery that drives
the show. I mean, I think that's one of the fascinating things about
it, is why does this stuff happen to this guy? Why does anything
happen to anybody? Why does some guy's car get hit by a meteorite as
he's driving across the desert? These things are impossible to
explain. I think the second we put a name on it, it sort of loses it's
power and becomes less interesting as sort of a driving force of the
show.

QUESTION: So you really don't, in your heart or mind, you don't have a
suspicion of what's at play here? Does it have a more sinister or less
sinister tinge to it in your mind when you think about it?

SCHAEFER: No, the premise of the show in a strange way is a little bit
autobiographical. I mean, things happen to me all the time, weird
stuff. And I have no reason that I can put on it, other than I think
I'm looking for it. I think that's what Change does. If you go through
life, there's a million little coincidences that we all swing through
everyday; and if you take every one and spin it towards yourself and
say, is this something I need to get involved in? Is this something
I'm responsible for? Then, you know, you're going to get involved in a
lot more strange occurrences and incidents. I might have something in
my mind as to why these things happen to Chance, but I would never
tell you.

QUESTION: The premise and the mystery is designed to provoke a lot of
conversations on the internet and in the chat rooms.

SCHAEFER: Oh, sure. I think the whole show is like a game of "what's
wrong with this picture?" And there's going to the millions of small
details and things that aren't followed up on, and dead
ends. Characters that appear in an episode, and then disappear. You
don't see them for another two or three episodes, and they come back
and you're wondering what does this mean? Absolutely. I hope there's
some great chatter on the internet about it. I mean, I was shocked to
see there's like a 70-page user-net file on Eerie, Indiana on the
internet. Where people went into the most arcane details; things I
don't know about the shows. And arguing very heatedly about those
small details and things like that. I think this show lends itself to
that kind of cult fun and we're going to give them plenty of fodder to
be talking about.

QUESTION: Could you elaborate on some of those strange luck
experiences you've had? Have you won the lottery or anything like
that?

SCHAEFER: Well let's see Ý on the way driving from the airport into
the office, upon arriving in Vancouver the first day I got in an
accident. I've: been attacked by a naked psychopath and battled with
him for 45 minutes while on the phone with Grant Tinker. (laughter)
Pulled a woman off a bridge who was trying to jump onto the Santa Ana
Freeway. Saw a woman drowning in the Los Angeles riverbed, some
friends and I. We weren't able to save her but we saved a companion of
hers. Just, you known things happen to me. I've probably dialed 911
more times than just about anybody in L.A. I have an office on the
corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga that is actually in the building that
Raymond Chandler put Phillip Marlowe's office in. It looks right down
Hollywood Boulevard, and I wrote at night for years. Sometimes, I
would call 911 two or three times in a night, just going, "Yeah,
there's another woman screaming out there on the corner." I think
that's what drove me to write this idea, is like wondering why does
anything happen to anybody. What is that about? The whole notion of
when you get in a car accident, and you think to yourself, if I had
just been taking ten seconds more getting out the door, I wouldn't
have been going through that intersection at that moment. What is that
about? Why was I there at that instant? Then when you find yourself in
a situation like that, what's your responsibility? I think everybody
has those moments in their life that make them think about why am I
here on this planet? For Chance, those moments just come up every
episode. That's sort of the snapshots of this life that we're taking,
when things get really interesting.

QUESTION: How hard is it to create unpredictable television? It must
be awfully hard, otherwise we would see more of it.

SCHAEFER: I'd be working a lot more, that's for sure. It's very
hard. Because it's difficult to promote a show like this. I mean, the
wonderful thing about this opportunity is we do have this incredible
cast that attracts attention, and can get out and really make the show
come alive and promote it. We have a great time slot, and a network
that knows how to promote the heck out of a show. And thank god, The
X-Files has created an audience for unpredictable, interesting,
different television. I feel quite fortunate to be in this time and
place doing this.

QUESTION: D.B., it seems like some of these strange situations can
give you quite a physical workout. What kind of perilous situations
have you yourself been in, whatever effects have been involved up to
this point?

SCHAEFER: Don't mention the bluescreen fiasco.

SWEENEY: No, I won't mention that. Everybody asks me all the time are
you concerned that you're going to sort of invite some of this
karma. No, I just hope that we continue to kind of keep up. I thought
that the pilot was a lot of fun to watch, and I think the challenge
for us now is to try to equal or top that every week.

6.2) D.B.'s own "strange luck"

ACTOR D.B. SWEENEY HAS STRANGE LUCK

     Real life imitated art for actor D.B. Sweeney last Wednesday
evening in Vancouver when a routine ride home turned into an adventure
straight out of his FOX television series STRANGE LUCK (Fridays,
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT).

     While driving home from the set last Wednesday, Sweeney saw a car
sliding out of control into a lagoon. He immediately called 911 on his
mobile phone and instructed a woman bystander to alert the police
before he ran to the car that was quickly sinking into the
water. Sweeney found the driver swimming from the wreckage, as the car
submerged, and assisted him to shore.

     When he was sure that the driver was unharmed, he returned to the
woman bystander to retrieve his phone and check the status of the
police's arrival. It was at that point that he realized the woman, who
was thoroughly confused, did not speak English and was not
communicating to the 911 operator. By this time, a passing police
cruiser had stopped to assist. After Sweeney was assured all was well,
he left in true "Chance Harper" style and resumed his journey home.

6.3) Article in USA Weekend

D.B. Article in USA Weekend
     by Mikie, 2/6/96

     A friend just gave me a one page article on DB and Strange Luck
from the January 26-28 issue of USA Weekend ("Straight Talk"
section). Some "new" info from the article included the fact that DB
owns two racehorses, one of which is named "Strage Luck," he buys
lotto tix every day, and he likes to play poker - in fact, he has sat
in a game with Hollywood legends Mel Torme and Elliot Gould. Growing
up, his nickname was "Danny Boy." Also from his youth, he fondly
recalled a sign in the locker room that said, "Luck is when
preparation meets opportunity." His lucky break in acting came in 1984
from an Army commercial in which he was featured. It aired just before
the Superbowl and prompted major directors, including Francis Coppola,
to call his agent.

     Further philosophizing on luck, and with a typical sense of
humour, D.B. advised, "Push your luck. If you see a pretty girl in a
bar, say something. If your luck is good, magic can happen. And if
it's bad? You deal with her boyfriend when he gets out of the
bathroom."

     Also with respect to good luck, he said, "You have to set the
table for it. To have a great party, it's important how you light the
room, where you put the chairs. The same is true if you want good
luck. The room of your life needs to be in order if you want magic to
enter it."

     There's more to the article, including a good picture. Good luck
in finding a copy! And tragically, for all you interested ladies,
there was an opportunity to either talk to or receive a letter from
D.B., had you written in to USA Weekend by last Sunday (Feb. 4)! They
were going to pick one letter to which D.B. would have responded!
Bummer! I missed it too!

     Additionally, D.B. also recently did an AOL chat session. There
was a post up above where you can get a copy of this. In this session
he said that Fox is happy with Strange Luck on a creative level, but
because the show is co-owned by Fox and New World Communications,
there could be a problem as Fox wants to focus on its own shows
(remember, this is the network that is bastardizing televised NHL
hockey with the so-called "Superpuck.") Anyway, the February ratings
will be important! And oh yes, his brother will be back in an episode
scheduled to air at the end of Feb. and there will likely be a
cross-over between SL and X-Files in the future.

     Other info from the chat session included the fact that D.B works
between 13 and 16 hours a day five days a week, that he plays
basketball with David Duchovny to keep David humble, that he had to
learn to skate for "Cutting Edge," but is now learning to play hockey
and loving it, that he would like to travel more for SL, but can't
because of budget restrictions, that he will be making a new movie
beginning in April (doesn't know which one yet), and that kissing
Moira Kelly in "Cuttin Edge" was "one of the singular pleasures in
life.. like the sip of cold beer in a softball game, like slipping
under a comforter at the end of a long day, or a spoonful of a perfect
tiramasu."

6.4) Article in Vancouver Sun Newspaper (Feb. 9, 1996)

Article in Vancouver Sun newspaper
     by Gillian, 2/9/96

     I found this in the Vancouver Sun today under the column titled
"Critics Choice".

     Yes, that was Pat Quinn as a bad-tempered hockey coach on STRANGE
LUCK last week (sample dialogue: "Can you believe this? I pay this guy
to fight."). Tonight, down on his luck photographer Chance Harper
(D.B. Sweeney) wakes up to find an unexplained $2 million in his bank
account. Turns out it was transferred there by an "info-terrorist"
known as the Unahacker and - wouldn't you know it? - the funds were
stolen from the Mob. At it's best, the locally made STRANGE LUCK is a
small charmer - whimsical, quirky and good-natured. It isn't anything
like the hit THE X-FILES is. But it is doing better than any previous
show in the same time period, and it's looking increasingly likely
that it will be renewed for a second year. - FEB. 9, 1996

6.5) What is it like to work with D.B Sweeney?

(Editor's Note: The following is taken from Jamii's Unofficial Strange
Luck Web Page.)
 
One of the nicest things about setting up a fan page is that you get
lots of mail from interesting people.  Recently I got a note from
Mitch Kosterman. He was the bird watching cop who appeared in both the
"Trial Period" and "Over Eposure" episodes. I asked him what it was
like to work with D.B. Sweeney and this is what he had to say about
it. (It's nice to find out D.B.'s a nice guy in real life, too)

When we shot the Bird Watching Cop scene Chance was up on a high stone
wall with a hedge on it. It (the real wall) was about 6 feet high with
a 5 foot hedge on top of that. D.B.'s shots were of him peeking
through and over the hedge while standing on the wall. Because there
were a few longs shots he had to actually be on the wall. The shot
wasn't cheated.

After we were finished with D.B.'s shots the camera was turned around
and the scene was relit to shoot my shots. One of the A.D.s said to
D.B. something like, "You can relax now, Sir". Which meant he wasn't
needed and could retire to his dressing room. I sighed inwardly and
resolved to saying my lines to the matt box on the camera.

To my surprise and delight D.B. said, "No, get me a ladder." And up he
went and stayed there giving his lines to me the whole time; several
angles. It helped me out a lot and played a big part in making it a
memorable scene.

D.B. is a great guy to work with. 

Mitch

6.6) Strange Luck Article in the New York Times (Nov. 30, 1995)


D.B. SWEENEY: A VICTIM OF 'STRANGE LUCK' 

BY JOHN N. GOUDAS 

One of Fox Broadcasting's slow-building hits is "Strange Luck''; it is
a unique series in many ways. They say if you can't describe a show in
one sentence, it will never appeal to a mass audience. "Strange Luck''
may be the exception to that rule.

The show has a complex premise. D.B. Sweeney plays Chance Harper, a
respected photojournalist who was the lone survivor of a plane crash
when he was a kid, which left him with special intuitive powers.

He is always around when someone is in trouble, and he often rescues
people from dire situations. He is not a Superman by any means, but he
is definitely a victim of "strange luck.''

Sweeney, who has enjoyed a successful movie career, mostly in offbeat,
low-profile films, had turned down many series offers before "Strange
Luck'' came his way.

According to Sweeney, his agent often calls with doctor roles. He
agreed to read the script for ``Strange Luck'' when his agent assured
him that the role was not that of a doctor, a cop or a lawyer.

The script blew Sweeney away. He said it was very well written and had
such a different feel from most TV series.

"There was a great deal of resonance to the story,'' says Sweeney,
"and Chance Harper was such a unique character, a hero and a victim at
the same time. He reminded me of the classic heroes of the old movies
in many ways.

"His 'strange luck' isolates him when he realizes he has to live his
life as the bearer of such a strange fate. I was hooked and decided to
take the series and flesh out the character as much as I could.''

Sweeney had heard that doing a TV series was hard work, but he wasn't
prepared for just how hard it really is. Because he is in almost every
scene, he often works 14-hour days and endeavors to keep his energy
level up.

"It's hard work,'' the actor admits. "Since this is my first series, I
had to go through the growing pains. Luckily, the cast is so good,
they spark me.

"Frances Fisher, who plays a waitress in the show, is a nuclear weapon
as an actress. She makes scenes work that seem ordinary before we
start shooting them. Then there's Pamela Gidley, who plays my
assignment editor. She also brings a lot to the party.''

Another aspect of working in a series that Sweeney says requires a
great deal of adjustment is the corporate nature of creative
responsibility.

"In films, I usually went to the director if I had a problem,'' says
Sweeney, "`but with a series there are so many cooks. You have to
figure out the chain of command in a TV series. Once you know who the
decision maker really is, you then go to him.''

Sweeney's movie credits have been diverse. He played a baseball player
in "Eight Men Out,'' a marine in "Gardens of Stone,'' a World War II
soldier in "Memphis Belle'' and Peter Falk's grandson in
``Roommates.''

"I was doing all right in movies, but I still wasn't being considered
for the roles that usually went to Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. My films
were budgeted at a moderate 20 million, and this began to frustrate
me.

"When 'Strange Luck' was offered to me, I realized I could be playing
a very challenging role rather than wait around for the next movie
part to come my way.''

c 1995 by TV KEY 

Distributed by King Features Syndicate 

AP-DATAPORT-NY-11-30-95 2134EST