If you love comic books, you’ll love these stylized villains from NBC’s new superhero drama, The Cape. James Frain (Tron: Legacy, True Blood) and Vinnie Jones (Wanted Dead, Chuck) play two of the show’s regular big bads, named Chess and Scales respectively. What’s behind the stylized portraits of these villains? What makes them tick?
Frain (above) broke the show down to its basic elements:
“It’s a superhero show and I play the supervillain. It’s not that big a stretch. No one has any real powers. It’s all about cunning and skill. It’s very serious in its intent. But it’s also light in the way it’s played. It is closer to Batman in that the people don’t have powers.”
[Above: Vinnie Jones]
Vinnie explained his character’s strategic plan for domination:
“Scales is the main boss, trying to take over, and he will be trying all different angles to do that. He’s going to be teaming up wherever he can to try to take over Palm City. I think there are lots of things there, with Rollo (Martin Klebba) [and] with Chess (James Frain), that are going to be evolved into the storyline.”
Even though the main character played by David Lyons fashions himself after his son’s favorite comic book character, this show isn’t based on a real comic book. Frain explained what creator Tom Wheeler had in mind:
“It is a completely new story. It is not based on a comic book or an old character. It is a completely new and inventive mythology. The show creator Tom Wheeler has the whole first season mapped out. He has the whole thing in his mind and he is slowly revealing it to us. And it’s cool. I really hope people will give it a chance to reveal itself to them.”
The Cape stars David Lyons (ER), Summer Glau (Dollhouse, Serenity), Jennifer Ferrin (Life on Mars), Ryan Wynott (FlashForward), and James Frain (TRON: Legacy, True Blood). This one-hour drama is set in a fictional Los Angeles and follows a former cop who after being framed for a crime becomes a masked superhero called the Cape, fighting to clear his name and reunite with his son.
The two-hour premiere episode of The Cape airs on NBC on Sunday, January 9th. The show then shifts to the time-slot right after Chuck on Monday nights beginning January 17th.
Watch promos for The Cape here!
