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Patrick Bauchau: TV Guide Online

PATRICK BAUCHAU
AKA: Sydney on The Pretender

From TV Guide Online -- April 15, 1997

If there is one constant in Patrick Bauchau's life, it is variety. The son of a Flemish writer and a Russian finishing-school mistress, Bauchau was raised in Belgium, England and Switzerland, and along the way became fluent in five languages. He left Oxford University to pursue film acting, and soon came under the wing of French New Wave director Eric Rohmer. Since starring as Adrien in Rohmer's 1967 La Collectioneuse, the urbane actor has enjoyed a variety of roles. Fans of the late Fox TV series Kindred: The Embraced will remember Bauchau as Ventrue paterfamilias Archon, while others may recognize him as a Bond villain. He now brings his cool air of mastery to NBC's The Pretender (Saturdays, 9 p.m./ET) as Sydney, head of a shadowy think tank known only as the Centre. Jeanne Wolf was nervy enough to match wits with him in a recent set visit. --  John Walsh

With all the range of things you've done, have you been a sci-fi fan?

I wouldn't call this series exactly sci-fi, you know. This is more applicable to everyday life, you know, in the sense that I think that in every one of us there is this ambiguity that Jarod, the Pretender, feels toward his family -- his Centre family -- as opposed to his real family that he always hopes that he will find. All of us occupy somewhere in our soul that position of being sort of an extraterrestrial on the planet, you know. I think going through all this heavy, disciplinary drilling early in life has caused Jarod to resent Sydney. But at the same time it has created a very strong bond between the two.

Would it be fair to call your character a manipulator who believes he's manipulating for good?

Definitely, yes. I would say before anything else he's a scientist. But as the subject of his investigation, the Pretender himself has run out on him, so that program is put on the back burner obviously, and he becomes a man of action. But also he becomes an organization man in the sense that, suddenly, his position is challenged inside the Centre.

Has this series changed your ideas about the limits of human endurance or the limits of potential?

As Sydney, as a scientist, I'm unhappy that Jarod has brought our program to a stop. But as a surrogate father, I'm very happy that he's run away from the Centre, and I'm very intrigued about how he's dealing with the outside world for which he was never meant. I have a phrase at some point -- "You were never meant for the outside world" -- you know, in other words, "The sort of education that I gave you gives you no weapons to deal with the world outside of the Centre." And so I'm thrilled every time he comes up. He's a real computer expert and he has all these ways of communicating with me without anybody else tuning in, really. So in each episode Jarod calls me and tells me about some aspect of his latest discoveries. And I'm always thrilled by that, you know, to see how he's able to manage this and that.

As yourself, how has working on this changed your notions of potential? Of course it's an imaginative show, and we don't take it too seriously, but still....

I would say that it's kept me constantly interested. I do read the papers and so on and I'm familiar with the issues we raise. But the series hasn't made me into a Machiavelli, if that's what you mean [laughs].

Do you think you would have benefited from having a Sydney in your life?

Well, what made me choose the life of acting, I would say, is the fact that, you know, today I play a king and tomorrow I can play a bad guy, and I can investigate these different points of view on the experience of life. I don't have to cling to them, you know, the way that most professionals have to a certain extent to cling to them. Politicians have to cling to what they have said yesterday, because somebody is going to remind them. But as an actor, you're given two or three different propositions a year, where you can espouse a totally different life and a totally different viewpoint. Metaphysically speaking, it is the most interesting profession you could possibly envisage. You're really invited to be nobody and everybody.

So if somebody called you a Pretender, how would you react to that?

I would say you're right on [laughs]. It's a compliment of sorts, in the sense that you're seeing in me a capacity to remain open to what reality or life or whatever you call it brings every day.

Sydney can be seen as a coldly manipulative character, yet women's hearts beat over him. Are you aware of what you bring to the character, to counter the negativity, or is that instinctual?

You're being excessively flattering, I think. But inevitably, as an actor you're always defending your character, you know, even when you're exposing him in very unfavorable situations. But you have to show his reasons. You have to advocate him. You have to understand Sydney's point of view, which is that there was no other way but to do this. I treated Jarod that way because it stimulates his learning capacity and I think he's gonna come out as a more interesting person in the long run.

It's hard to analyze why an audience likes a show, but what do you think an audience wants from a show like this? What stimulates and provokes them?

Well, I think it's just the fun of the situation, No. 1. You know, this is a running, jumping show. And it's very well put together, so you don't have a second to get bored or anything. No. 2, I think there is a subliminal aspect that, for any series to make it, must be present. The audience must identify with the different characters because you're in people's kitchens and bedrooms. So they have to find human beings they can identify with. And I think on The Pretender, there's a relationship among the three protagonists, which is at the same time a family relationship and not a family relationship.

Why does Michael T. Weiss, who plays Jarod, work so well?

Oh, I think he's got tremendous charisma, you know. He's really got that "ET" thing, you know, that extraterrestrial charm -- quiet, relaxed and yet very vivacious. This acute interest in everything that happens to him, you know. He projects that very well. He's just escaped from sort of a scientific prison, and he's given access to everyday life -- which to us is a little boring, you know, because we're all the time dealing with it -- but which to him is "Wow! My god, this is fascinating!" And I think this is an opportunity for the audience to also, you know, look at their own lives in a different perspective, and I think that's very exciting.

Isn't Sydney kind of proud that he makes it out there and does all these things?

Sydney is very impressed with Jarod and thrilled with him. It's like the winning moment in life, you know, when your daughter or son leaves home at 16 or 18. You're unhappy and you're happy at the same time. Because they're gonna discover something else and hopefully they'll keep in touch with you and let you know a little bit of what's going on in the wild world out there. And I think Sydney rejoices in that way and has more reasons to rejoice as the series goes on because he realizes that Jarod is getting into more and more communication with him. The resentment phase is dying out.