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| USA Today: 'Touching Evil' cop is the Willis type |
Touching Evil's David Creegan is a tough cop with a quirky side - a Bruce
Willis-type character.
So Willis' involvement with Evil isn't a surprise;
what's surprising is that he's the executive producer - and not starring as
Creegan. The role might have fit him better if he were a few years younger, he
says.
Instead, Willis and his production partner, Arnold Rifkin, are
counting on Jeffrey Donovan (Sam and Joe, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2) to
carry the cop-with-an-attitude banner in Evil, their adaptation of a popular
British series. The USA Network drama premieres tonight at 9 ET/PT with a
two-hour episode directed by Allen Hughes (Menace 2 Society), and moves to the
10 p.m. ET/PT slot March 19.
"Before there was Bruce Willis, there were
other guys playing this kind of character. I certainly didn't invent the
wisecracking law enforcement officer. I had my version of it," Willis says.
"This is Jeff's version of the archetype."
Creegan has his humorous side,
but it's less philosophical than physiological. The investigator is just
returning to work at an elite San Francisco unit that deals with serial offenses
and organized crime after a near-death experience from a gunshot wound to the
head.
The injury to Creegan's brain results in a loss of shame; he often
behaves inappropriately. That can manifest itself as an awkward hug when he
greets his police supervisor, or as a physical assault on a scientist suspected
of abducting three boys.
USA Network, seeking to burnish its programming
reputation, liked the concept, its pedigree and the business partnership with
Willis, Rifkin and company. "We love the idea of a hero with flaws," says Jeff
Wachtel, who oversees USA's original programming. "It links together with Monk
and The Dead Zone."
Evil veers from the British original by emphasizing
Creegan's departure from social standards - he can walk away from people in
mid-conversation or start stripping on a jet flight. The investigator's wilder
behavior also better fits the actor's nature, Rifkin says. "There's an element
of Jeff that would do that," he says. British star Robson Green "would never
have done that."
Acting as a partial restraint on Creegan is by-the-book
partner Susan Branca (Vera Farmiga), but she has her work cut out for her.
Also because of the brain trauma, Creegan "gets too involved" in his
investigations, Donovan says. It makes him the flip side of the detached
investigators of a CSI or Law & Order. "His injury removes a filter that
protects us from empathizing with a killer. He uses that to identify with
killers and get in their heads and figure them out."
Eventually, Creegan
must deal with the pain of directly confronting that evil, compounding his
suffering from the damage his injury has done to his family life (he's divorced
with two daughters) and career.
Donovan, acknowledging that Creegan can
go only so far, says he will face repercussions for his excesses. "That's the
balance we're going to have to find, (but) we will push the envelope," Donovan
says.
END
March, 2004 - article courtesy of USA Today
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