Kieren Hutchison – Monarch Cove

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

A.  I was on the show “Wildfire” for season two, I played Kerry Connelly the sports agent.  That was fun because obviously my wife Nicole is on it and we got to work together.  Our characters really didn’t meet that much but we were on the same set.  Then after that I was cast in “Monarch Cove,” which is the most recent one.  It was shot down in Australia for the last four months and it just started two weeks ago on Lifetime. 

Q.  What can you tell us about the premise for the show and about your character?

A.  Well, my character’s name is Jake Preston and his family owns hotels and resorts so he’s kind of like the heir to the fortune.  He meets a girl named Bianca and they have an instant connection; they kind of fall in love.  The complication is he is already engaged to be married to somebody else.  So, we sort of follow the path of fourteen episodes where they are trying to work through these complications.  It’s a very fast paced “Dynasty” type of show, the story will be concluded in fourteen episodes so it’s like a tele-novella.

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

A.  I really like the idea of the conflict of it finishing in fourteen episodes.  It becomes more like a mini-series rather than setting things up for future seasons.  So, I’ve never done anything like that before and it’s kind of the new thing people are doing in America.  Even though they’ve been doing it in South America forever. 

Q.  Do you have a memorable moment from your time filming?

A.  I am originally from New Zealand so I was really close to home.  We shot on the Gold Coast of Queensland which is paradise.  My mom actually lived a couple hours north so I would visit her.  I got to go back to New Zealand for a while and Nicole would come down and visit me.  So, all of those things were really fun.  The show itself, we shot with two different crews, one crew would be in the studio and one crew would be out on location.  The actors would go in between so we were really, really busy.

Q.  What about the role has been challenging for you?

A.  The challenging part can be the more romantic scenes.  That is kind of the idea of the series, the amazing romance between Jake and Bianca.  He has a strange relationship with the girl he’s supposed to marry, Elizabeth.  I think the most challenging parts were trying to play some of the romantic situations and some of the more outlandish situations.  Whether the baby is yours, whether you’re getting married to the right girl, or it turns out this week where Bianca ends up with his friend Eddie.  These are some pretty big high emotional scenes that you had to try and find the truth in.  That was difficult sometimes so that was the challenging part that I enjoyed.

Q.  Why should people be taking the time to tune in?

A.  I think it’s fun, it’s fast paced, you certainly don’t get bored.  Because we are only doing fourteen episodes rather then stretching these stories out over years.  I think it’s kind of a different viewing experience then you have with other shows.  Beautiful locations as well!

Q.  I know that you and your wife are involved in various charities.  Which charities are you extremely involved in?

A.  There isn’t any charity that I think we’ve really chosen to be aligned with right now.  We did Project Cuddle, we participated in the Fun Run that they had earlier this year.  We are doing one right now for Juvenile Diabetes, so that’s always nice to be involved in.  I don’t think we have anything that we’re personally championing right now.

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

A.  I am pretty busy with the show right now, I go back on Saturday to Australia.  There aren’t too many hobbies going down in Australia.

Q.  What would you like to say to fans and supporters of the show?

A.  I hope that people are enjoying it and that if they did see me on other shows that they’d enjoy me on this.  Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy how things develop over the next few weeks because it’s a bit of a wild ride.