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Tuesday, June 9, 2009
'Harper's Island's' deceased Black Sheep
speaks
Dean Chekvala discusses JD's apparent demise and his own theory on
the 'Harper's Island' killer
By Daniel Fienberg,
HitFix
Oh brother.
Even in the anything-can-happen world of CBS' "Harper's Island,"
Henry (Chris Gorham) and Trish (Katie Cassidy) still seem pretty
safe, thought their nuptials may be postponed indefinitely. But just
because "Harper's Island" doesn't seem quite ready to kill off its
biggest stars doesn't mean that the mystery serial is opposed to
making them suffer, emotionally.
Trish has now spent the past three episodes puffy-eyed and mourning
for her late father, bastard though he was. Similarly, while Henry
had little trouble believing that his disturbed brother JD might
have been a serial killer, he's still going to be a little worked up
over the events of this past Saturday's (June 6) "Harper's Island."
R.I.P. JD.
Played by Dean Chekvala, JD was half brooding loner with a psychotic
streak and half misunderstood child. So perhaps it's appropriately
that the killer appears to have tried to bisect him with a sharp
object. Or maybe that's what he (or she) did. In fact, viewers
didn't get much of a sense of what happened to JD, only that Abby
(Elaine Cassidy) stumbled upon him at the docks and that Henry,
hands covered in blood, was nearby. Grieving sibling or exposed
killer? We don't know for sure.
Days after his character's apparent untimely demise, Chekvala got on
the phone with HitFix to try to explain what happened to JD and who
he thinks may be behind all of the mayhem.
HitFix: I feel like I need to ask. Is JD really dead?
Dean Chekvala: Yes.
I'm just trying to cover my bases in case one of these "Harper's
Island" corpses ends up not really being dead and being the killer.
I think it's safe to say that he's dead.
So how'd you
watch the episode?
I actually watched it with Matt Barr, who plays Sully. We
watched it at one of his pals' places. There were four or five of
us.
Presumably
Matt knew that you didn't make it past the episode. Did anybody else
know?
No. We pretty much don't tell any of our friends. But you
know what, though? One of them might have found out, because I think
he went online to check something right before it started and
because it airs earlier on the East Coast, it was already on the blogs and he might have seen something. He gave me this look right
before it started and then I saw him get off his computer and
somebody said, "Oh, did you look" and he said, "No, I didn't look."
But it seemed like he did. I want to say he knew.
But you'd done a good job keeping the secret?
Oh yeah. I'm watching the other people watch it. They're
so into it. They like that factor of not knowing, that built in
suspense. I didn't want to ruin it for them.
How have friends and loved ones responded since?
Oh, they're bummed. Some are like, "Oh man. I can't
believe they did that to you" and I'm like "I know!" But I think for
the story it's probably a good thing, because I feel like over the
last couple episodes they built JD up enough that people got to know
him a little, so it was more devastating or more of a surprise that
they were willing to kill him.
At the end, it was hard to tell what actually happened to JD So what can you tell me?
Well, I think it was on purpose to be left open-ended
that way, just to keep all of the suspects in the pot still.
Basically, he was stabbed or cut, cut open. I don't know if you
noticed, but it was all in the stomach area. There were several
versions we shot with guts and more guts and no guts. And I think
they chose a no guts one, because it might have been too graphic. It
didn't seem like there was stuff hanging out, but theoretically
there were guts all over the place.
Oh, they clearly went with the "no guts" version.
There were guts versions. Or there were polish sausage
versions, that's what they were.
How much make-up time was required?
You know, not a lot at all. Underneath the shirt, where
there was the opening, there was this prosthetic they had already
made, like a belt almost, that just velcroed on and that just shows
the open wound and the gash and then on top of that, they put the
guts for some of the takes and then they poured blood on it, so
actually the makeup, outside of just laying there and letting them
pour blood on you, wasn't bad at all.
So you never even shot a version of the killing, just the
aftermath?
We just shot what you saw, the aftermath.
Does that mean you don't know exactly what went down or who was
responsible?
As far as who or what or why? I don't know any of that.
All I know is that I was stabbed, basically. But who did it or why
or if there was a confrontation or anything, I don't know, because
that actually wasn't in the script. It was nothing that got cut and
there was nothing that was ever written. It was just like, she comes
down and she hears these sounds and she looks over and he's there
holding his guts in. That's basically what it said. So I've had to
guess that he got stabbed or macheted or who knows what. Something
to that effect. He probably wasn't shot. He probably wasn't shot
with a bow and arrow or a gun or anything. It was something pretty
close, like a hatchet or something.
Since JD had been put out there as a major suspect, or at
least a red herring. In your mind, how troubled was he?
There is that scene where they find his medication and
it's revealed that he's probably not taking it. I felt like, doing
the research, there were several reasons why people who would stop
taking them. It really does make them foggy, if you're on
antidepressants. It does, kind of, in a sense, not numb you, but it
does something to your energy level, where it makes you foggy and
down. I can understand why somebody would stop that and at the same
time be mad at themselves and at the situation that they had to
stop, because it wasn't working. In that sense, he's troubled, but
outside of that, I feel like he's more troubled with the fakeness of
the world. The island, to him, is definitely this symbol of, "This
isn't who I am, but this is who he tried pretending to be" and that
probably got to him over the course of his life. So is that
troubled? Probably, because he takes it to the extreme. He doesn't
know how to deal, so he cuts himself and he tries to commit suicide
and just doesn't know where his place is in the world. But as far as
"troubled" in terms of psychotic? I never thought so, but that's
probably because I was playing him. Somebody watching would probably
be like, "Yeah, this dude is a psycho." But I don't know. I feel
like there were a lot of endearing qualities about him.
What was the process to figuring out just how far you could push
the character to leave that doubt on just how psychotic he might
have been?
I really let the writers and, in a sense, the director
and editor worry about that. For me, I never thought he was... Well,
actually, there was a point when I was like, "Oh!" They didn't tell
anyone who the killer was, so as far as I was considered, it could
have been me. There were definitely points where I was like, "Oh.
I'm probably the killer." You know? But then more stuff came out and
I thought, "This stuff is so interesting," like with Cole, the
burned man, and how he relates to people on the island. I was like,
"Maybe he's not." Then once the idea came into JD's head like, "I
see Wakefield." And I had to think, "Is that his delusion? Does he
want to believe that? Or is it real?" I made the choice that it was
real for him. So I was like, "In that case, then I'm not the
killer." So I played it that way and if they wanted to push me as
the killer, I felt like "Well, I'll probably be vindicated
eventually." As long as I really focused on, "I'm not lying," then
it would play better at the end.
A few other cast members have talked about what a great group
dynamic it was, like actually being at a long wedding party. Because
your character was the outsider, did you miss out on some of that
dynamic?
Oh, not at all. We definitely were a tight-knit group,
especially since we didn't have anybody else who we knew or could
hang out with. We were away from home, most of us. And then the
people that lived in Canada were great hosts, took us around and
showed us what they do and where to go and hang out. Eventually I
got into that group. But yeah, the first time I arrived, I didn't
know anybody and most of them kinda knew each other from before, so
I kinda worked in my favor in that aspect of "I don't belong here"
or "This character doesn't belong here," just being distant and
feeling your way out. That helped in the beginning, but that quickly
turned into loads of fun off the set.
Did the steadily dwindling cast cause the atmosphere to change as
the show progressed?
A little bit, because we'd no longer see some people. It
was really sad to see people go every week. It was never personal.
It was never like you got fired, which is a whole different
atmosphere. Nobody ever felt like they were in trouble. Everybody
felt like it was for the benefit of the story, that this is going to
make the story stronger, so everybody's like "Yes, I'm willing to do
that and let's make this as awesome as possible." But then they're
not around and you're like, "Ah, I miss so-and-so" or "Oh, I wish
so-and-so was here."
Since it sounds like you're in the dark on where things went
after you left, what's your hunch? Give me some theories...
Oh, I've blamed that little girl, from the beginning. Not
to be trusted. I've always thought it might have been Abby, you
know? Every week, we'd be like "Who do you think it is? Who do you
think it is?" and talk amongst ourselves and try to convince each
other on who we thought it was and from the very beginning, I
created my own scenario, based on new evidence whatsoever, but I was
like, "I think it's going to be Abby, because that might be cool." I
don't know how they would tell that story, but it might be her. Then
I switched every week, like "Oh, it's the sheriff!" and then "Oh,
it's Jimmy, the native kid." So I'm kinda anxious and really
interested to see what new information they're going to start
revealing about these peoples' relationships that will make it more
clear. That's where the story is at now. You definitely know the
premise, but what you always constantly learn are the secrets that
they hold. They're not necessarily out-of-nowhere secrets, where
sometimes you're like "Well, if I'd know that, of course I would
have known." But in this case, it works because the people involved,
seeing it through their eyes, have to earn those secrets being told,
they have to discover them. And that changes the game plan for them
and for the audience. As long as they keep that consistent, it
should be really interesting.
Do you think viewers paying attention might be able to figure out
the clues, or will there be a lot of explaining done in the finale?
I think a little of both. Let's say, after the finale,
you're like, "Really? Does that really work?" Then I think if you'd
go back and rewatch them, you'd be able to see the clues. But to
remember the clues? I don't know. I probably won't be able to . It's
way too much information, since you don't really know what even is a
clue. At this point, every move that someone makes, you could be
like "That's a clue!" There are clues all over the place, I'm sure,
but I'm not that good at figuring out what's a clue and what's not.
They're doing a really good job of, not tricking you, but making you
believe something else is important, while you miss the important
thing. I feel like you could figure it out and you probably will by
the end, but if you go back, you might see more clues from the
beginning. I'm hoping that they put that in there.
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