Patrick Flueger – Man With A Mission

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

A.  I did a movie this fall called You Are Here, and another one that I think is coming out some time this fall, I hope sometime this fall.  It’s about a couple of friends that recall the night before and it’s from everybody’s different points of view.  It’s kind of like the movie Go and my character falls in love with his best friend and she’s in love with him too.  He chases her around for a night and everything gets screwed up.

Q.  We know the show “The 4400” will be returning soon.  What can we expect from this season?

A.  One of the greatest things is that they have all of these characters coming back and also small characters as well.  Characters that maybe came in for an episode in the first or second season and they’re coming back and playing a more pivotal role.  Which I think is really rad for the fans because it’s kind of like this living, breathing universe that people actually exist in.  They don’t just come in for an episode and then leave.  They’ll see a lot of that, a lot of familiar faces playing different roles for the storyline.  Everything is a lot more dire, there is a 4400 terrorist based group that emerges in the first episode.  The others don’t know how to deal with them, everything is that much more dire.

Q.  How has your character Shawn evolved?

A.  He just is growing up, that’s been kind of the main thing all season.  I feel like being twenty-two, I’m growing up and becoming the man that I hope I’m going to be for the rest of my life.  Hopefully he’s got a lot of that going on with him too.  He’s making a lot of big decisions professionally and personally.  I think that they both intertwine in a lot of ways, he’s making a lot of moral decisions that pertain to the center.  What’s good for the center and what’s good for the greater good may not be necessarily good for his conscience.  So, he’s just really becoming a man and at the same time I think he’s fighting it a little bit.  As much as he loves it, and the center has become him and his life, I think he’s twenty and I think he wishes he could be twenty a little bit more.  You’ll get to see those moments; it’s becoming a bigger person.

Q.  What is a day of filming like for you?

A.  I have to be quite honest with you; being on set is quite boring.  It’s great when you’re working but it’s a lot of hurry up and wait.  There is a lot of hurry up and wait but when we get to act and really play the scenes out, when they do that first wide shot, that’s the greatest moment.  The first wide shot, because that’s kind of when you can do whatever the hell you want.  That’s what establishes the rest of the shots after that moment.  You have to remember to put your hand up to your chin here, put your hand on the book here.  Those first couple of shots, when they pull back really wide, you can just act your heart out and have a great time with it.  Those moments are moments to live for.  You just get to do whatever we want, that establishes what we do for the rest of the shoot on that scene.

Q.  Why do you think the show has continued to be such a cult favorite?

A.  Well, Sci-Fi on the one hand, Sci-Fi fans are good at making shows cult-worthy.  God bless them by the way!  I really think the characters are really good.  It’s interesting because there are kind of “X” many things going on with powers and stuff.  At the same time these are real people and I’d like to think that they react in very real ways.  They’re going through real things, it’s not supposed to be fantastical or out of this world, it’s supposed to be real.  Look at these human beings having to deal with it.  Like oh gosh, this woman came back after thirteen years and her daughter doesn’t know she exists.  Her husband has moved on, she blinked her eyes and woke up thirteen years in the future and all of this has happened.  It’s literally like she blinked her eyes and everything has changed.  One moment he loves her and they have a new born baby child and the next her child is thirteen years old and he’s married to another woman.  That’s a horrible thing to have happen, I think that people relate to that.  It’s the human moments and the human characters, that’s what it is.  I trust that’s what it is, I’m happy that is what it is.  I really like our audience; they are willing to go on the roller coaster ride with us.  A lot of stuff on TV is kind of simple and I like those shows just like the rest of them, but I like that people will sit down and invest in fictional people’s lives for a while.  See how it effects their own, how it effects them.

Q.  Do you have a most memorable moment from working on the show?

A.  I just knocked over a bunch of walls on the set a couple of weeks ago.  I was trying to hoist myself up off of the wall and the set fell down.  That was pretty memorable!

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

A.  I play a lot of video games and I have the greatest friends in the entire world.  I suppose everybody feels that way about their friends.  But, I truly have these people that make me feel like a better person to be around.  I know that sounds so cheesey, but it’s just the truth.  We do everything together; that’s what I do. I spend time with my friends, as much time as possible!  We just went to a concert last weekend.  We just have so much fun together, just go on adventures every day.

Q.  What would you like to say to all of your fans and supporters?

A.  I appreciate it, I hope they like this season.  We’ve been working hard and I think they’ll be in for a treat.  There is stuff that literally I have read, I’ve been reading and I am like, “Wow, this is such a treat for people who have been watching the show and have kept up on it and invested some time in these people’s lives.”  I think they are really, truly in for a treat.  There is a lot of interesting stuff that is going to happen.