"Towards the end it got a bit uncomfortable," he commented. "In fact it got to be too much." The toll it took ensured that however realistically he played the role, it is not a character he plans to take on again.
"I did a movie a few years ago called Out of Bounds in which I played a heroin dealer who happened to kill a bunch of people trying to find his heroin again and that was different. I had respect for that man and I understood what his sense of honour was. It was hard to find a sense of honour in this man because he was strictly focused on power rather than in any kind of self fulfillment.
"As an actor I have to do my work in such a way that I believe it. If I make my part in it believable, that transfers to the audience."
Preparation for a role such as this was probably the most difficult aspect. Unlike Lou Diamond Philips, who plays a police detective in The First Power, Kober could hardly visit the local police station for research purposes. Instead he delved into the mystic arts to attempt to create a reason for his character's system of beliefs.
"Spiritually, it was a very wearing on me. Only a small part of it made it into the film but there's one scene in which I recite the Lord's Prayers backwards and in the shooting, I did that scene all the way through in a single take. I actually memorized the Lord's Prayer backwards which is supposedly very powerful in a Satanic sense. I do not believer in that, but being raised with certain beliefs and then taking them and turning them on their ear like that has an effect on you. You have to work against letting that bring you down."
Jeff is committed to China Beach for a while yet, however, he is looking forward to the freedom or being available for film roles again. In the meantime, Kober spends his time writing scripts with his wife - they have sold one script to Village Roadshow. Currently he is penning a detective thriller, although drama is what attracts him most.
"Drama attracts me more than comedy. I like films which show people going through certain personal kinds of changes. That's what attracts me, the depth of emotional investment and to the passion involved. I'm just more comfortable there. Left to the devices of my own head, I'm kind of afloat without a paddle, but when I can tap into passionate, heartfelt king of place, then I can let myself be guided to where I need to go - my system knows where to go rather than me trying to manipulate it there."
