The career of Stuart Townsend has more bumps and twists than a shillelagh. The native of Howth, County Dublin, currently stars in the Canadian-made show XIII: The Series, but is likely better known for the ones that got away. After turns on the British stage and small parts in independent films, Townsend's profile rose by portraying the vampire Lestat in the 2002 film Queen of the Damned, which he promptly followed by playing Dorian Gray in the big-budget feature The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Perhaps more famously, Townsend was cast to play the pivotal role of Aragorn in Peter Jackson's epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but was mysteriously replaced by Viggo Mortenson a week into filming. Townsend was also booked to play Fandral in this week's big-screen rendition of Thor, but left the project three days before shooting began. In recent years, he had a guest role on the sitcom Will & Grace and played the paranormal reporter Carl Kolchak in ABC's short-lived 2005 remake of The Night Stalker. He also drew notice for writing and directing the 2007 feature Battle in Seattle, about the protests at the WTO conference of 1999.
The affable Irishman has been handed rich material in XIII. The series is based on a graphic novel and was previously made into a miniseries starring Val Kilmer. In the new series, Townsend plays the title role of XIII, an amnesiac secret agent who tries to unravel his past and ends up unravelling a government conspiracy on a global scale. Townsend spoke to us recently from Los Angeles.
Which came first for you when cast in XIII: Reading the graphic novel or watching the miniseries?
When it first came to me I didn't know anything about the graphic novel, even though part of the story was set in Ireland. My entry point was reading the script, which gave a very clear sense of who this guy was, even though he didn't know who he was. Only afterward did I get into the graphic novel and watch the miniseries.
Did the timing for a conspiracy-themed story feel right to you?
Right around the time we were shooting the series the whole WikiLeaks story was breaking in the news. Without giving too much away, we were right on top of that. The first few episodes are about my character finding out about his past, and as it goes along he realizes this conspiracy is much bigger than him. It's global and it's bad. The last few episodes became very current to what’s going on in the world today. It felt like a living, breathing show as we were making it.
Was this your first time working in Canada?
I had filmed a pilot there once in the summer and I had been there for the Toronto film festival – all very nice and lovely weather. This was different. We started in September and went right through the grisly Canadian winter. There were days I don't even want to remember. The problem was my character couldn't wear a goose-down parka; he had to wear his little leather jacket – in minus 25 temperature. I would call it a character-building exercise.
Do you enjoy acting more than directing?
I love both, really. They're both difficult, to be honest, but at least in acting you're walking into something predesigned and everyone else has to do the work. With directing, you always have three or four things constantly on the go. It's a tough industry and a tough time, particularly if you're doing things a little outside the box or independent features.
Where is home for you?
