V Files: Book 1: The Arrival
An Interview with Marc Singer
By Wendy Rathbone

	Although his major successes have come from television, Marc Singer’s career began in the theatre.  “I was in a videotaped adaptation of the American Conservatory Theatre production of Cyrano de Bergerac.  I played Christian.  That was with Marsha Mason and that received national attention.  It was done by the Exxon Corporation, a Theatre in American Great Performances.  That was a fabulous thing.  They’d go around the nation to repertory theatres everywhere.  If they say something they liked, for example, Cyrano, they would take the entire cast and the production and they would videotape it and then they would put these on the air.  So Cyrano was really my first role on film.  I’d done stage work for nine years before that.

	“My major attention came, however, the next year when I starred in The Taming of the Shrew.  This was in ’75.  I played King Lear, also, one summer.  So I have a classical background and education.  With The Taming of the Shrew and the Los Angeles Drama Critics award it was picked up by the Theatre of Great Performances and broadcast nationally.  With the success of those two projects, I came to L.A.”

	Singer’s entire family is in the entertainment business.  But that does not necessarily mean they encouraged him to become an actor.  “They knew how hard it was.  My father was a symphony conductor.  My mother is a concert pianist.  My younger brother is currently playing in the orchestra on Broadway for The King and I.  My sister, Lori Singer, is a concert cellist and has also starred in many films.  You may have seen her in Footloose or in Fame on television.  My other brother is a writer.”

	Singer says he first became interested in the stage in the fifth grade.  “My father took me to see a film version of Laurence Olivier’s Richard the Third.  The first third of the movie I remember I understood nothing.  They talked and walked and looked and dressed funny.  But the second two thirds of the movie I understood everything...religion, politics, social stuff.  That was all so great that I went home and memorized the opening soliloquy of the play.  I guess that was my earliest introduction to the theatre.”

Roles Before V
	With the current role as the hero rebel of V and past roles in The Beastmaster and portraying the blind singer songwriter Tom Sullivan in the film If You Could See What I Hear, Singer has had his share of playing the hero.  But he has played the villain as well.  “I was in Roots: The Second Generation.  I played Henry Fonda’s son, Andy Warner, a redneck dixiecrat.  In 79 Park Ave., I’d have to say my character was a villain.  He ended up with Mob connections.  When I first came to town I did a lot of episodic television and that’s all there are in guest star roles: crazies, villains and bad guys.  It’s not bad to play bad guys but it’s nicer to play good guys,” says Singer with optimism.  “I think everybody would rather be good than evil."

	When the character Mike Donovan came along he jumped at the chance to play him.  “We’re very, very much alike.  The dividing line between reality and fantasy when you’re an actor is a very tenuous one.”

	He plays the role as a very real part of life.  “I do my own stunts usually.  I think it involves the audience that much more.  I can do them, so I can add that value to the show.  In that way, pretending comes very close to real danger and in many instances they are one and the same.”  Though he has been hurt occasionally while doing a stunt, he says, “the bruises I’ve received are minor by comparison to really serious injuries I may have done to myself had the professionals not guarded me and protected me with their expertise.  These are sacrifices that I willingly make for the show.”

	As an actor, Singer has had to stay in shape in order to get the roles he seeks.  “I had to get ready for The Beastmaster, but I’ve said this before, the day I became a professional actor, I became a professional athlete.  My usual regimen is five miles at least of running through the hills, doing a little boxing and practicing the martial art of Kung Fu.”  Fortunately these are his hobbies as well as his routine for maintaining his physical edge.  He also skis, scuba dives and reads for personal pleasure.

	Growing up in a family of musical geniuses, Singer learned to play several musical instruments.  “I tortured several instruments.  I tortured the piano for awhile, and then the cello for awhile, and the trumpet.  I finally ended up with the piano again.  What I most like to do in terms of mental exercise is practice the piano.  I’m currently working on a piece by Mozart.”

	Doing a series, however, it is impossible to stick to any kind of schedules for exercise or practice.  “It’s really grueling work because if you’re the lead in an epic like this it means day in and day out, week in and week out, you’re carrying on your shoulders the story and the action.”  It all takes it toll; but, insists Singer, it’s fun.

	Does he have a special diet to keep in shape?  “I used to have a special diet.  I used to have that luxury before I got into this.  Now, it’s donuts in the morning.  Sometimes you can watch what you eat, sometimes you can’t.  I still try to.  I’m not a vegetarian.  I try to stay away from sweets.  I don’t drink.  My body just simply would not stand it.  I hardly party anymore because I don’t have the time.  On weekends I’m either trying to glue myself back together or sawing wood (sleeping) if I’m not publicizing the show and making special appearances and things like that.”  He was in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York and caught the flu because his resistance was down.  But that didn’t stop him.  He came back and “did a fight scene for eight hours and then continued acting with the cast for at least 12 hour days.”

Publicity Goes With The Job
	“Doing a series is very much like a presidential campaign.  You go travel the country as much as possible and speak to as many people as possible through the media to get them to understand something of the personality of the project you represent so that they will invest their time in it and begin to ask themselves, Is this something for me to spend my time watching?  You have to do that because there are so many shows on the air.  There’s no rest for the wicked.”

	All this publicity for V was another more personal change as well.  “There are places that I just can’t go.  It is new to me to this extent.  I’m used to being recognized, but not mobbed.  There are certain public institutions that I just can’t go in.  I can’t go get hamburgers at my favorite hamburger stand anymore.  I miss it.”

	Luck is with him, though.  “I’ve never had a terrifying experience as far as notoriety is concerned.  I always approached it this way from the very beginning as something that I was seeking, and it goes with the territory.  Part of the beauty of the work is the fact that you’re recognized.  Your face becomes your passport.  I used to read interviews with people and they would discuss the loss of privacy and what a great loss that is and I used to not understand it, but I do understand it now.  It is an enormous price that you have to pay for this kind of work.”

	Singer admires the talents of several actors.  “There’s no question that Laurence Olivier was my inspiration to become an actor.  As you become more experienced, you grow and begin to realize that different actors have different strengths and different weaknesses so there’s no longer the sort of hero worship or idolization that you used to have as a child.  It’s more of a mutual appreciation as to what they’ve achieved and how they’ve achieved it.

	“I certainly admire the work of Sean Connery, an exquisite actor who embodies many of the finest qualities in the profession.  I’d say Michael Caine is very much in the same category as far as I’m concerned.  And then you can’t mention acting without mentioning Marlon Brando.  He is the sine quo non of technique and skill.  There are also actresses that I have been inspired by but mostly I’m concerned with male role models.”

	How old is Marc Singer?  “I never tell.  I always say an actor’s job is to remain unidentified.  It’s the script that tells.  If you give yourself a numerical quality some audience members somewhere in the far reaches of the theatre or in some household watching the program might be thinking that numerical value more than the event itself so it would be a distraction.”  Most would say that Singer embodies that ageless quality of heroes which general audiences place anywhere between 25 and 45.  Age does not matter as long as the hero and the actor do the job.

Projects and Series
	With the role in V, Singer has little time for his personal life and hobbies.  And yet the popularity of the show has given him opportunity for more roles in the future.  “I have a desk full of projects that I should be studying and making decisions on.  It’s very difficult to do that at the same time you’re doing a series.  Because of the open-ended nature of doing a series you don’t know whether the series is simply going to float along or whether it is going to sink.  We don’t even know when hiatus is for this show so I can’t commit to anything yet.  But that’s another one of the beautiful aspects of doing a television series; the exposure is so constant that you’re able to use it as a basis within the industry to seek out other projects.”

	For Singer, a series show is more of a challenge than a movie.  “You can compare and contrast them in several ways.  In terms of the consistent energy level, a movie is like a quick burn.  You do four months of a movie if it’s a long shoot...Beastmaster was three and a half...it’s an intensive burn and when it’s over it’s like being over with a season of football.  You’re exhausted.  You have to put yourself back together and get ready for your next gig.  But the drawback to that is that you only have three and a half months of performances to work on specific characterizations.  There’s no guarantee that there is going to be a sequel.  But with the series, you just reverse those drawbacks, and the drawback becomes that it’s an open-ended proposition.  It may be three and a half months or three and a half years.  It’s very difficult to pace yourself.”

	It takes eight to nine working days to film an episode of V.  “It becomes a grueling schedule.  You never get enough sleep, you never get enough exercise, you never get the right nutrition.  Your body is never in peak condition and you can’t see the end in sight because you’re shooting and will continue to produce the series as long as the Nielson numbers warrant it.  That’s the drawback, but it’s also the plus.  The plus is that the three and a half years you may have in a series gives you more time to get the characterizations straightened out, and the relationships straightened out.  It gives more time to build exciting and fascinating storylines.  It gives time to get a continuum of public interest.  Their interest in the show sparks an interest in the creative process, and the creative process in turn turns out more interesting shows so the public is enthralled by it.  That long relationship you have with the public is enhanced in a series and that’s a real value.”

V: A Morality Tale
	Singer was impressed with the script of V for many reasons.  One part “that intrigued me so much was the human response to world takeover.  People find themselves responding in ways we’ve seen historically, for example, many people turn their backs on their friends and neighbors.  Others courageously help and befriend people in trouble.  The strongest comparison was drawn to the Third Reich because it is the clearest example of moral cause.  We would have to make a decision.”

	Another aspect of V Singer philosophizes on is of humanity doing such a bad job of taking care of the Earth.  “We’re really making a botch of this Earth.  We’re hashing it up so badly, poisoning our resources, treating each other so shabbily most of the time that if somebody were to invade us, what moral right would we have to say this is our Earth and we’re taking care of it?  Because we’re not taking care of it very well.”

	Could the events in V actually some day happen?  “Sure,” says Singer.  “Maybe somebody else will come down out of the skies and say, ‘Excuse me, but you people just aren’t responsible.  We’re just going to have to take you out.’  Now, that would be interesting.”

	It is fitting, since of Singer’s favorite authors is Arthur C. Clarke, that his favorite quote is this: “The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it’s stranger than we can imagine.”

	“I’m very fond of this quote.  That’s an aspect in V that we have to deal with.”