Tom Mison “Sleepy Hollow” Interview

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TOM MISON “SLEEPY HOLLOW” INTERVIEW
By Abbie Bernstein

For those who have previously formed mental images of Ichabod Crane, protagonist of Washington Irving’s novella THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW and earlier film and TV adaptations of it, English actor Tom Mison probably doesn’t match. Ichabod is generally portrayed as a scrawny, nervous and shy schoolteacher, whereas Mison (rhymes with Bison) is a buff, brash and determined American War of Independence soldier as the hero of Fox’s new Monday-night series SLEEPY HOLLOW.

In SLEEPY HOLLOW, Ichabod still tangles with the Headless Horseman, but here both are swallowed by an opening in the Earth, kept in stasis by a spell, and awaken in the present. The Headless Horseman wastes no time in claiming more victims, while Ichabod first has to convince local law officer Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) that he’s a genuine visitor from the past, then enlist her aid in helping him thwart the Horseman and his minions before the Apocalypse is brought about.

Mison is at the Fox Network portion of Television Critics Association press tour, appearing at a question-and-answer panel during the day with fellow cast members Beharie, Orlando Jones (who plays Sleepy Hollow police chief Frank Irving) and Katia Winter (who plays Ichabod’s wife Katrina, a witch who in the present is trapped in the Netherworld), along with series creators Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Phillip Iscove, director/executive producer Len Wiseman and executive producer Mark Goffman. At night, Mison is available for further questions at a party Fox is throwing at the Soho House.

Given that he’s an English actor working in the U.S. on his first American series, Mison says he can relate Ichabod’s sense of cultural dislocation.

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“Constantly,” he laughs. “Right now. None of what you see from Ichabod is acting. I’m genuinely that baffled constantly. Even more than it being different from British television is just it seems to be different from any television. Being on this is much more like being on a film set. And I think you can see from the results that it looks much more like a feature film than something on television. At the moment, we in England are looking over here [at the U.S.] and seeing amazing television being made. And it’s nice to be part of something that is taking that and just ramping it even further and really testing everything that you can do in this medium.”

The Television Critics Association voted Mison most likely to be the breakout performer of the new fall season, but even though he seems ideally suited to play Ichabod, the actor says he still had to audition. “It was the first year that I said to my agent, ‘Maybe let’s have a look at some thrillers, because American TV is really strong at the moment.’ And so I got lots of pilots. This one in particular stood out as one that I’d gladly move three thousand miles away from home for a long period of time for this, because I think it’s going to stay exciting for a long time. So I put myself on tape in London, and a week later, I got a phone call saying, ‘Come to Los Angeles,’ and so I came here and read with Nicole, and two hours after that, I was offered the part.”

How does Mison see Ichabod as a man and as a character? He turns out to have quite a bit to say on the subject. “He’s a man who doesn’t belong here. He shouldn’t be here. And he shouldn’t be surrounded by these people and these things, and he shouldn’t have to find his wife, but he’s too proud to back down. [Ichabod has] lots of plates being spun at exactly the same time. He’s trying to familiarize himself with his surroundings, he’s trying to get the only person [Abbie] who he met who might be on his side to stay on his side, he’s trying to save his wife from the Netherworld, and he’s trying to stop the Apocalypse. So have your pick. He’s proud, he’s arrogant, he’s cranky, he’s frighteningly intelligent and he’s good, a good person. I’ve always thought of Ichabod as, he thinks he’s the only sane person in the room. Everyone around him is a maniac. And then he finds this one girl [Abbie Mills] who has a similar secret to him [she’s had some supernatural experiences of her own] so they kind of have to bond with each other very quickly. And I think that’s going to be really interesting to follow through the season, that yousee people who are put together out of necessity and then they start working for a common aim, even though they’re two hundred and fifty years apart.”

There’s very interesting chemistry between Mison’s Ichabod and Beharie’s Abbie. Might any romantic sparks eventually strike between them?

“Ichabod’s a married man!” Mison exclaims in mock-indignation. “What are you suggesting? He’s married to a witch in the Netherworld, but – I don’t know. I think [Ichabod and Abbie] thrown together. They need each other, rather than want each other. It will be fun to see how it acts out.”

Mison points that Ichabod’s spell-casting missus Katrina is a character in the original novella, though her role has been altered. “We still have her in this. She’s Ichabod’s wife in this. I seem to remember in the book that he just sees her at a party and quite fancies her.”

For all his conviction, Ichabod is also afraid, Mison adds, with a caveat. “Of course he’s scared, but his pride won’t let other people see that. I think that’s actually the thing harking back to the source material, the novella. He’s not terrified of his own shadow, he’s more curious about things. That’s what I remember getting when I read the novella years ago, and I think that’s a particularly interesting thing to explore in our version of the story.”

There’s a sense of humor within SLEEPY HOLLOW, but the actors can’t acknowledge it, Mison relates. “The thing is, it all has to be played straight. It’s a funny balance, because I don’t think this show would work if it was very earnest and humorless, but equally, it wouldn’t work if it was winking at the camera – ‘Here’s the gag.’ It’s [about] finding the balance.”

There’s also a balance in how much Ichabod acclimates to the year 2013 and how much he’s baffled by contemporary customs and technology. “It’s fun to play the balance. It’s fun to find what he picks up. The show can’t dwell too much on, ‘What’s this? What’s this phone? Why is there a man in the picture in the phone?’ Because we could get lost in that forever, the modern technology. It’s fun to find the things that he does pick up on – which I imagine, for a man like Ichabod, are the things that are useful, rather than the frivolities, which is why in the scene the first time he’s in a car, apart from trying to work out the mechanics and the workings of a combustion engine, it’s bingo, you can press a button and it goes down, and you can press a button and it goes up. It’s fun to find those things. It’s fun to find the balance between the seriousness of the situation he’s in, along with the humor that the show tries to push, because it can’t be very earnest and humorless, but neither can it be sending it up. It has to be strictly serious for the characters, but the show itself gets the joke, which is a gorgeous balance, and it’s a testament to the writing staff.”

Does Mison have any feelings about the supernatural and mystical elements of the series? “Yeah. I mean, that’s timeless. That’s been exciting people and frightening people for forever. And it will continue to.”

Although SLEEPY HOLLOW is set in upstate New York, the series is actually produced in Wilmington, North Carolina. “I’d never been to this part of America before,” Mison says of the location. “It’s a real treat. This Southern hospitality we keep hearing about in England is actually there. It’s true. And it’s a lovely town. I’m really happy there. And also, it’s perfect for the show.”

Like many other British actors, Mison has a healthy stage career in the U.K. His other film and television credits include the miniseries PARADE’S END, which aired earlier this year in the U.S. on HBO, VENUS, LOST IN AUSTEN, ONE DAY and SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN. As far as what he has coming up, Mison relates, “There are a few films coming out – a film that’s a very, very low-budget indie called DEAD CAT by a brilliant new English director called Stefan Giorgiou. There’s a film called JADOO, which is an English film about the Asian community in Leicester, which is the very center of England. That’s a cool one – that’s a love film to curry. You’ll watch it and you’ll just leave and go for a curry. And a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it part in a film called POSH, which was a play that I did in the West End last year, and it’s directed by Lone Sherfig [of AN EDUCATION]. She said, ‘It would be really fun. Why don’t you come along and prance about in my film?’ And I can’t say no to Lone – I think she’s a remarkable director. So those you can watch out for.”

Back to SLEEPY HOLLOW, Americans have a propensity for bestowing nicknames on friends and acquaintances. Will anybody call Ichabod “Icky”? Mison bestows a level stare on the questioner. “You’re the first. I sincerely hope you’re the last.”

Is there anything Mison is particularly looking forward to in SLEEPY HOLLOW? “I’m looking forward to the quest to try and rescue my wife from her purgatorial netherworld, which is something I’ve never done in my career to date. And you know, you’ve got that one aim, but suddenly there’s the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse trying to get in your way. That’s exciting. I can’t wait to find out how you bring someone back from the afterlife.”

This is Mison’s first Television Critics Association press tour. He says he hasn’t had any similar experiences. “We don’t have this in England. Actually, funnily, lots of people had warned me about the TCAs. You know, ‘Brace yourself, it’s going to be hellish.’ I’ve had a lovely day. It’s so nice watching Bob [Orci] and Alex [Kurtzman] – they’re used to things like this, and [SLEEPY HOLLOW] is a show that they really believe in and they’re really proud of. And just watching them talk about it – I love it. I could listen to them talk about this show for seven series.”

By Abbie Bernstein