North of 60 Interview: Lawrence Bayne

PW: I hear that Chief Raymond is up to no good again in the new movie! Something about a hydroelectric project?

LB: Pro-gress! Pro-gress! Pro-gress! Screw the fish--I want a microwave oven! [all laugh]

FH: "And Brad Pitt needs a hairdryer." That's a great line! Such a Rosie line. "Brad Pitt needs a hairdryer."

(c) 2002 Fran Humphreys (Click on photo for larger image.)

PW: That's in the movie?

LB: It's in the movie.

PW: Well, it'll be interesting to see whether Chief Raymond gets his way. Before I forget...Lawrence, would you like to say hi to the fans?

LB: Yes I would. And I'd like you to look at the Lawrence Bayne message board. You can type it up on Google and find out the charities you can support there as well. And catch me in "My Dad the Rock Star," a new animated series coming out. I'm Dad, the rock star.

[Click here to hear that excerpt.]

PW: You have information about charities on your web board? Tell me a little about that.

LB: Well, for the three seasons that I was on "La Femme Nikita," I was invited to one of their fan conventions. I was invited three times and I refused, because I was scared, 'cuz I thought the whole thing was kind of surreal.

And then one year I was reading a book which sort of got me thinking about a charity, and I thought, hmm, now there's a way to use that kind of energy. So I agreed to go to conventions so long as there was a way to raise money for my charity. And since then, they've gone and built this message board for me. And I go on every now and then, just enough to say hi. And I'm going to be doing an online auction for stuff that I've got, like a "Nikita coat" and some other stuff.

PW: And that's for which charity?

TLB: It's ECPAT, End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism, something I'm just absolutely furious about. I played a secret agent on "Nikita"--a rather ineffectual one. But if I was a secret agent, this is what I'd be doing with my time. I wouldn't be worried about borders; I'd be worried about what they're doing to children in other countries--and in this one. Not more than six years ago, there were actual pamphlets on some airlines advertising the sale of sex with children. This just appalls me. Right now even I can't get my head around it. So always, always, this is my charity of choice. If you go to outlying villages in Thailand, there are no children there, because they've been sold. That infuriates me. It makes me more than sad. So, that's what I do with the fans. I get them to give money to this thing. And in turn, I talk to them and hopefully spread this little bit of a thing.

[Note: ECPAT's name now stands for "End Child Prostitution, Child Pornograpy, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes" to reflect its global scope and a broadened agenda covering a wide range of issues around the commercial sexual exploitation of children.]

PW: That's great. Thank you for that information. It sounds like a great group. I'll put a link to their web site with this interview. Before you leave, do you have a minute to talk about "My Dad the Rock Star"? When will that be on, do you know?

LB: I'm not sure. We just did the pilot. Don Franks was part of that, as well as some other stellar talents. The whole series was created by Gene Simmons from KISS. The guy with the tongue. It was his little brainchild. It's the story of a rock star who's been on the road for his entire family's life, and now they're finally settling down in suburbia, and all his son wants to do is be normal, and it's hard when you're living with a flamboyant, flame-breathing, long-tongued rock star dad. [all laugh]

(c) 2002 Fran Humphreys (Click on photo for larger image.)

PW: So it's based on him?

LB: I think it is based a lot on him, 'cuz in the first pilot series I'm doing things with my tongue.

PW: Or at least your character is!

LB: Yeah, my character is. It still requires my actual tongue, though!

PW: So you say the show hasn't been picked up yet?

LB: It got piloted, but it's almost surely a lock. It's gonna come out.

PW: Do you have any idea what networks it might air on?

LB: It'll be on Teletoon [Canada] for sure, it'll be on The Cartoon Network [U.S.] first off. And other than that, I've been doing a lot of voice. I picked up Tom Jackson's old job, as a matter of fact--"Great Canadian Rivers." I'm now signed to do that for the next two seasons.

["Great Canadian Rivers" airs on a number of Canadian cable/satellite channels, including CTV Travel, Discovery Channel Canada, and APTN.]

PW: Are you on camera, or just voiceover?

LB: It's just voiceover, 'cuz I have a great face for radio. [all laugh]

PW: I'll tell everyone to look for that. Thank you, Lawrence.