Trevor Hogg chats with Branko Tomovic about hanging out with Jack Bauer on the streets of London, England…
“It’s definitely an exciting time for TV and even film stars, who only did exclusively movies before, are now on television as well,” notes Branko Tomovic (Remote Control). “It’s all about the material. Our cinemas seem to be occupied with comic book films, sequels and franchises; it’s almost impossible to see an interesting beautiful independent movie outside of film festivals. Those character driven films are so rare these days which is really a shame. TV nowadays offers great storytelling, the time to have a great character arc, and room for development.” Before being cast in a American television series starring Kiefer Sutherland (A Time to Kill), Tomovic had appeared in British TV programs A Touch of Frost (1992), Whitechapel (2009) and Blood Foreigners: The Untold Battle of Britain (2010). The trailers are bigger if you work on an American one! There is not much of a difference to be honest. You certainly have great, innovative and brilliant shows from both. It’s cool to have the US 24 experience in London now as 24: Live Another Day is completely set and shot in London. Our cast and crew is a great mix of Americans and Brits; it’s one of the nicest sets I have ever experienced!”
“I was a fan of the show – great storytelling, inventive ideas, brilliant and moving performances, and entertaining action,” remarks Branko Tomovic. “It’s one of the shows that changed the whole TV landscape. It’s great to see that it’s still relevant today. The new series is current and the characters have evolved. Chloe [Mary Lynn Rajskub] is now a punked-out underground hacker, Heller [William Devane] is now President and Jack Bauer [Kiefer Sutherland] is harder and angrier than ever!” Tomovic recalls his audition for the role of Belcheck who has a mysterious past connection to Bauer and is an expert in vehicles, demolition, and firearms. “The wonderful Amy Hubbard [The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug] is doing the casting in the UK; I met her in January. It’s quite common these days with high profile projects not to receive the whole script in advance, but only your scenes. They are watermarked with your name and usually the character names are changed as well, so I didn’t know that I would be having scenes with Jack Bauer at that time. You can tell right away that Amy, and also her family who are all casting directors, love actors and really work with you in the audition room; their interest is to bring out the best in you as an actor. We did six to seven takes, all different variations of how the scene could be played.”
“What it was in the end why I was chosen, I have no idea!” admits Branko Tomovic. “It was even only for one episode in the beginning. I was just about to fly to Los Angeles for five weeks for pilot season for the first time and had just paid for flight, hotel and car. Three days before I was supposed to fly out, I received the offer for 24 and cancelled the L.A. trip as the new season is completely set and shot in London. I was thrilled and excited to be part of this series, but it’s the first time I accepted a part without really knowing what the character really was. But because I was a fan of the show before, I trusted that 24 will be something great and cool, so really wanted to do it.” The experience has been a rather wild adventure. “On my first filming day of 24 already, I suddenly found myself holding this rocket propelled grenade launcher in my hands and blowing things up. We have specialists for every department on set, and the armoury guys came up with some really cool and inventive stuff. I also met the great stunt team. I have done quite a few action projects recently and really enjoy stunt driving! The make-up team and I decided to keep my red birthmark which works great for Belcheck, and to extend the scars that I already have on my eyebrow and the back of my head, and roughen him up a bit more. The tattoo with the slashes for each killing is fake, of course. He is very mysterious, silent but deadly, only opens his mouth when he has something important to say and is only loyal to Jack.”
“Belcheck is like a Swiss Army knife,” reflects Branko Tomovic. “He is good with weapons, explosions, vehicles, demolition, speaks different languages… probably much more than we have seen yet. Belcheck is very useful. I have been told that some people tried to reach him and call the number which was listed on his van in episode 1, but sadly it’s out of service!” In regards to the evolution of the character, native of Muenster, Germany remarks, “We receive the scripts as we do it, so we don’t know what will happen. Each time I’m scared to read the next script because I don’t want my character to die! Anyone could die at anytime in such a series. It’s exciting to work like this. It’s like real life. You never know what’s around the corner. The whole 24 experience has been nothing but fantastic in every way for me and I’d be thrilled if they asked me back for more.”
Many thanks to Branko Tomovic for taking the time for this interview.
To learn more make sure to visit the official website for 24.
Role Playing: A conversation with actor Branko Tomovic
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
