Shrink-wrapped inside a plastic second-skin and sporting an Andy Warhol fright-wig,
Tom McCamus is permanently ready for a Halloween closeup as the villain in Global's new
sci-fi series Mutant X. And the former Winnipegger couldn't be happier with his freaky
visage. "It's lots of fun, actually. If you're going to play these kinds of guys it's
nice to have that kind of look," McCamus says. Halfway through shooting the first
season's 22 episodes -- the Global series show got a two-season pickup even
before it went to air Oct. 20 -- McCamus, 45, plays bad-guy Mason Eckhart
in the series, which comes off as a cross between X-Men and Dark Angel.
Eckhart, whose immune system was compromised as the result of genetic
experimentation, killed off the head of the genetic technology conglomerate
and took over as top dog in the series opener.
Now, he's intent on hunting down mutant do-gooders who have extraordinary powers.
A Genie Award-winner for 1995's I Love a Man in Uniform and a nominee for The Sweet
Hereafter, McCamus grew up in Silver Heights but moved away at age 10. Based in Toronto,
he's got a long list of stage credits, including work at Stratford at Manitoba theatres.
McCamus was working in Winnipeg just this summer, playing the ghost father to the title
character in local writer/director Jeff Erbach's coming-of-age feature film The Nature
of Nicholas. But he's no stranger to the bad-guy role. McCamus has guest-villained on
Due South, Friday the 13th and other TV series, and Mutant X marks his first extended walk
on the evil side."I like playing bad guys, especially for television. I'd never done a long
long-term series before, so I was interested to see what that was like, " he says.
"I'm having a very good time, I'm really enjoying doing it." |