Entertainment, Television, Film:
Canadian
character actor Fulvio Cecere is happy struggling in the trenches
By John McKay
TORONTO (CP) Fulvio Cecere is the quintessential Canadian journeyman actor.The
resume of roles he's played on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border runs three
pages, everything from major Hollywood films to those low-budget,
made-in-Canada sci-fi series designed for export syndication. No one knows his
name but his face is maddeningly familiar to anyone who watches TV with any
regularity. With his bald pate and rugged features he is, at 43, much sought
after for supporting roles, usually as a villain. A little bit of Michael
Chiklis, some John Malkovich, with a touch of Ed Harris. "Yes, I'm very
content," he says in a telephone interview from his mother's home in New
Jersey. "But I'm so close to breaking into the next level." Cecere
was upset this week with news that his latest character role, that of a
violent, vengeful police detective in the WB series Tarzan, may be in jeopardy.
Tarzan is being put on hiatus by the network right after the current November
sweeps period, although the remainder of episodes in which Cecere appears will
still air, it seems. Hiatus usually means a death sentence for a series but the
axe hasn't fallen officially yet. "I know that there's a few 'Save Tarzan'
campaigns in the works," he says. "I hope they don't get rid of it
yet. . .it just needs time to find its legs." But having his meal ticket
cut out from under him isn't new for Cecere. He recalls his first speaking part
in a U.S. soap opera never aired back in 1991 because the first President Bush
declared war on Iraq. More recently, his recurring role in the Nero Wolfe
detective series died with cancellation. The same happened with Dark Angel and
then with Witchblade. "I hope it's not me that's causing all this!"
he says with a laugh, adding that he is optimistic about the prospects for his
next film, the John Woo thriller Paycheck starring Ben Affleck, coming to
theatres this Christmas. He grew up in an Italian family in Montreal, just like
the recent film Mambo Italiano. "Except for the gay part," he
stresses, adding hastily "Not that there's anything wrong with
it!" Cecere is perfectly
positioned to appreciate the strange contradictions of TV production in Canada
and south of the border. In the U.S., it's dog-eat-dog as huge sums of money
are spent on pilots and new series, most of which are killed off by the
networks if they fail to perform right out of the gate. In Canada, producers
have to develop a show months before they can even apply for financial
subsidies much less get the money. As a result, series proceed for their duration
whether or not there's an audience because too much has already been invested
to waste them. Cecere says the difference reflects the differences between the
Canadian and American character."Like, the Americans would take a chance
on a spec stock, for example, while Canadians would invest money in mutual
funds, a very conservative approach. Now the rewards are much greater if that
stock soars, right? But if you keep those mutual funds, you survive, you do
OK." But he remains baffled by the insistence in Canada on churning out
indigenous stories that seldom have a payoff. "Why don't Canadians make
more movies just for the sake of entertainment? I mean, what is wrong with car
chases? People live vicariously through the actors, right? "What is it about Canadians that we
have to watch some slow, meandering historical episode?" Cecere would like
to see his career proceed along the lines of, say, a Jeff Bridges or Gene
Hackman. "Hackman is in the stratosphere now, but he was the kind of actor
that everybody respected, made his money but you don't see fans stalking him
and tearing off his clothes at public events. That's what I want. I want the
respect of my peers and I want to work. I don't have to be on the cover of
magazines. That's OK."