I wanted to talk a little bit about your audition for your role. When did you know in the process who exactly you were playing, in terms of the character’s parentage?
During the initial audition, I didn’t have a clue, really. I was given some pseudonym, some working title, something that was linked to one of the producers. But also, you know who was involved, so quite quickly you read between the lines. Once there was interest, my agent told me what was really going on, and then I had really lengthy chats with [“Picard” season 3 showrunner] Terry Matalas about what was going to take place, who this role was, and the significance.
When you found out explicitly, how did you prepare for that? Did you look at Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden’s past performances of the characters? Did you try to capture any other mannerisms? How did you take that and bring it into your character?
Yeah, I mean, I did assess certain things. I was given a long list of episodes from “The Next Generation” to go back and watch, and I was given very specific films to go and watch, but that wasn’t necessarily with the mindset of, “I need to emulate certain mannerisms and create something that’s already been there.” I feel that I was given some free rein because the character had the luxury of having no affiliation with his father. As a result of that, that gave me the opportunity to make my own mark.
That said, the scripts were very enriching and allowed me to pick moments to show, actually, that there are similarities between these two in particular, between Jack and Picard. They are quite different characters, but there are certain things they do — there’s a fearlessness to both of them. There’s a real grounded moral compass understanding of trying to do the right thing. The only difference is Picard has the protection of Starfleet. Jack will always do it in a bit more of a rock-and-roll nature. He will ruffle feathers in order to get what he wants. And maybe that comes a little bit more of Beverly coming into him there. Beverly introduces also a slightly more sensitive side; she’s a very strong woman, but I feel that she wants to help others. She’s a doctor, and I feel that desire to help others and see the best in others is something that Jack inherits as well.
