James Tupper – Wild Life

Q.  What are some of the recent projects that you’ve been working on?

A.  I just starred in a couple of movies for the Lifetime channel where I play a cowboy named Henry.  They were directed by Michael Landon Junior.  We shot them out on a ranch very close to where they show “Little House on the Prairie.”  I think one of them has been released and one of them is about to be released I think in January but I’m not sure.  So, they are a series of movies based on the Janette Oke novellas.  I think they have planned seven or eight of them, I don’t know if I’ll be available for the rest.

Q.  What can you tell us about the premise for “Men in Trees” and about your character?

A.  I play a fish and game biologist who has kind of been living on my own up in Alaska.  Upon our small town comes a New York relationship coach, Dr. Phil type character.  She’s written all of these relationship novels and she’s about to be married.  She discovers that her fiancée has been cheating on him.  She’s humiliated and decides not to go directly back to New York but to spend some time in Alaska and recover.  She finds herself in a town full of a men and she decides that she wants to write something about the male species.  It’s written by Jenny Bicks who was one of the main writers for “Sex and the City” so it’s funny.  She encounters my character Jack accidentally several times.  Always at the height of her personal embarrassment and she ends up at one point falling through the ice.  I have to rescue her and the only way to survive hypothermia is to lay together in a cabin. 

Q.  What made you want to be a part of this show?

A.  When I read over the pilot I just thought it was my favorite.  Jenny is such a wonderful writer, she’s hilarious.  The material was great and it was directed by James Mangold who just directed Walk The Line with Joaquin Phoenix.  He’s so wonderful and so detailed with the actors. 

Q.  Do you have a most memorable moment from filming?

A.  When I was working on it, I really felt I was awake in a dream.  I felt that my whole life had built up to this moment and I was ready to do it.  But, it was so exciting to be surrounded by all of these people.  I didn’t know what to expect working with Anne Heche and just found her to be the kindest, most humble person I had met.  She spends her life being just so happy to be alive today and working.  It was one of the great discoveries I made on the pilot.  I don’t know if it was a most memorable moment, but discovering she is a really special and beautiful actress.

Q.  You play a fish and wildlife biologist, how did you get yourself into character?

A.  It’s funny I have an uncle who is a fish and game wildlife biologist.  I had some help from him and I grew up in the forest.  My brother did a lot of carpentry when I was a kid.  When I was in Los Angeles struggling as an actor I worked as a carpenter.  I feel like I’ve had a lot of really good experiences hands on and working hard.  I love to go out for walks in the woods, I’m a bit of an amateur ornithologist.  So, all of those things contributed to it.  That’s probably why I loved the script when I read it.  Jack is a guy who has been living on his own for quite a while.

Q.  How has it been starring opposite of Anne Heche?

A.  I knew of her but I’m a fan of hers now.  I feel like I get front row seats to a really fantastic performance every time I work with her.  She’s a really special person because she has that kind of light and kindness that shines on everybody.  She’s got a little narrative or funny thing with every single person. 

Q.  This is your first big role, how did you feel landing the show?

A.  This is my biggest role that I’ve done.  You know, we went through probably two weeks of a series of auditions but they got larger and larger.  I started meeting with the directors and producers and then the studio and finally the network executives.  I was on the fifteenth floor of the ABC building and there was an amphitheater full of people in suits when I was doing my audition.  After all of that pressure was gone and I got the part I was so elated.  I was so excited that I had gotten the part.  I think I wish that for everyone in the world, that they can experience that feeling.  Having worked for something for so long and kept hope alive and then suddenly to have such an amazing thing happen, to have this wonderful opportunity to unfold. 

Q.  What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

A.  In my spare time I like to go camping.  I like birds, I’ve always been like an amateur ornithologist.  I have projects that I do when people have things they need done to their house.  I have a standing offer with my friends that I’ll just do it for free.  I’ll come over with my tools and I’ll do it and they just feed me and we have fun doing it.  I just helped a friend build a sound studio in his backyard in Los Angeles. 

Q.  Do you have a latest obsession?  Are you into any particular sport, activity, book or music group?

A.  Yes, there is something I am really into.  Abraham Benrubi and I are going to see some concerts in Vancouver, we just bought some tickets to Zero Seven.  I’m also really into Nick Drake.