North of 60 Interview: Timothy Webber

"Taken"

TW: Well, I did another season of "Tom Stone," of course--which has not been renewed.

PW: Yeah, I heard about that. That's too bad.

TW: Yeah, I was kind of sad to hear that. It was good work. But sadly, it's gone the way of many shows.

PW: I think last time we talked, "Taken" hadn't aired yet. Now it's been shown in both the U.S. and Canada. Your character in that miniseries reminded me of Harris Miller in some ways--rough-hewn, but a good guy.

TW: Yeah, well, I'm a fairly rough-hewn guy! [all laugh] I don't tend to get the judges and lawyers.

(Click on photo for larger image.)

PW: Where were your scenes filmed?

TW: Those were shot outside Osoyoos, [British Columbia]. It's up near Kelowna, in the wine region.

PW: Would that be near the Okanagan, or maybe even in it?

TW: Yeah, it's right at the south end of the Okanagan Valley.

PW: And was that movie an enjoyable experience for you?

TW: Oh yeah, very enjoyable. It was great, and it was great country to be in. We were there early enough in the year that it wasn't hot, because that's the hottest place in B.C., and I'm not one for the heat. We were there in April/May, for about four weeks or five weeks. It was a pleasant crowd to work with. A lot of people coming and going. People would be there for two days and then gone, there for a day and then gone. I was there through the better part of a couple or three weeks. And then we shot some of it right outside Vancouver.

PW: Were those the scenes where we saw you in a town?

TW: The town, that was near Vancouver. We shot that out near Chilliwack, in Aldergrove, I believe. And then we shot some other stuff in a gravel pit up in the Pitt Lake area. That was all blue-screen stuff for the spaceships.

PW: Oh, the scenes where you're looking down into the valley with the farmhouse and the spaceship lands? That was near Pitt Lake?

TW: Yeah, in a gravel pit near there.

PW: And the scene where you're leading the young couple through the mountains?

TW: That was over near Osoyoos. And actually the bar was shot in Vancouver, also.

PW: On a set?

TW: No, in a bar, right near the airport. One that I went to once a long, long time ago when I was early for a plane. It used to be a strip joint. I think it's a sports bar now.

Other projects

TW: So yeah, I did that, and then "Tom Stone," and then things have been dreadfully slow since then. There's still a fair bit of production going on in Vancouver, but it's a tough business, acting. Sometimes you get lots of work when no one else is working, and other times everyone else is working and you're not. Other times it seems to be divvied up fairly evenly. But you do go through droughts, and I'm definitely going through one of those pretty much since December.

PW: Has there been a cutback in U.S. productions shooting in Vancouver?

TW: Some. It slowed down earlier in the year because the dollar sort of evened out. I mean, you hear all sort of rumors and conjectures of why things get busy and why things stop getting busy. If there is as much production--and I don't think there's more--there's also more American actors in Vancouver looking for it, so that tends to take a little bit out of the potential for Canadian actors getting the roles.

(Here's a closeup of the hat that Timothy was wearing. It was one of the Lynx River souvenirs being sold at the general store to the new groups of tourists visiting the town in "Distant Drumming." Click on the photo for a larger image.)

PW: Americans who've moved to Vancouver, or what?

TW: Well, they move up for a couple of years and get a bunch of stuff on their résumé, and then they go back to L.A. It's a lot easier to get work up here. And also, like it or not, 99 percent of the shows in Vancouver are American produced, and they do tend to prefer to hire Americans.

PW: Anything coming up for you, though?

TW: I have something in an upcoming episode of "Peacemakers." I haven't even seen it yet. I didn't audition for it; they just offered it to me. I just found out about it yesterday; it's one day next week. Apparently it's a good scene, but I have no idea what it's about or what the character is or anything.

PW: Anything else lined up that you know of?

TW: No, nothing at all. Waitin' to see what happens.

PW: Spending your time fishing?

TW: A little bit of time fishing, but a friend of mine's building a house, and he dragooned me into helping him out. It's turned into pretty much a fulltime job.

PW: Is this something you've done before?

TW: Yeah, I've done it off and on. It's just right now where I live there's quite a building boom, so it's hard to find carpenters. So I offered to help him out for as long as I was free. So that's what I've been doing. And enjoying it, too.