I talked to "Fringe" costar Mark Valley for a future piece I'm writing about the
upcoming Fox series "Human Target" (which, I have to say, is going to be great,
judging by my advance copy of pilot, shown in photo above) and the subject
turned to Captain America. As you might recall,
Valley was the No. 1 choice to
play the star-spangled hero in an Internet poll of fans.
GB: Apparently you are the man that fanboys want to see carrying the famous red,
white and blue shield of Captain America.
MV: Yeah, I know! Somebody showed me that. I was kind of blown away. The power
of the Internet, you know? And there might be another reason: I’ve just been
walking around in Captain America suits every once in a while on weekends. I
didn’t really think it would really go anywhere you know. That’s just a personal
hobby of mine.
GB: So you're taking a Sean Young approach to landing the role, the way she
tried out for the Catwoman job in "Batman Returns."
MV: Oh she did, yeah. She made it herself or something. It didn’t work out.
Yeah, I made my Captain America costume at home too. I don’t know if people
recognize me as Captain America, though. It’s kind of this weird Uncle Sam thing
now, some guy wrapped in the American flag.
GB: After watching Robert Downey Jr., Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale take
superhero roles to such success, it must be somewhat tempting to think of
playing one of the truly iconic characters, especially since he hasn't been seen
on the screen in a major Hollywood production ... or is it a sector that holds
no interest for you?
MV: Seriously, yeah, the whole thing -- that’s pretty flattering that my name
comes up at all. That’s kind of amazing with the names that pop up like that. I
think sometimes 'Oh my gosh, wow that’d be fun.' But I don’t think it’s really a
movie yet. I think it’s just an idea for a movie.
GB: Well, actually, they have a director in place, it's Joe Johnston, who did
"Jurassic Park III" and "Jumanji" and "The Rocketeer." I believe it's scheduled
for 2011. I mean, you might want to have your agent call if you're serious...
MV: Oh, OK. We’ll see, maybe I’ll be too busy with "Human Target." But you never
know how these things go...
