A few episodes into the series, all of you fellow Falling Skies fans are nearly caught up with me in enjoying this exciting season. Those of you who know me know I work very closely with the Falling Skies cast, and it was a pleasure and a blast to interview my friend (online and off), Mr. Connor Jessup. Connor plays Ben Mason on Falling Skies, a character who spent most of last season separated from his family, only to step up into the main show spotlight this season. The studio has some amazing things planned for Ben this season, and below is a transcript of my interview with the man behind the middle Mason boy, if you’d like to learn more about him. -N

Nicole Sixx: Hey, Connor! How have you been?

Connor Jessup: Good! How are you?  How have you been?

NS: I’m good! Alright, I’ll get started since we’ve only got 10 minutes. I only have a few questions, and I will work them into a full transcribed piece.

CJ: Wonderful!

NS: Awesome! So, first, by the way of banter, you just had a birthday.  Did you do anything fun for it? It was a big one. 18, right?

CJ: It was. Yes. Yeah, Saturday. I didn’t really, um, didn’t really do much of anything big. Except, nothing. Which is in itself a form of celebration, because I’ve been doing school work pretty much solid for the past four months and trying to catch up on all of this stuff, so I happened to graduate the day before I turned 18.

NS: Wow.

CJ: So yeah, my 18th birthday was just my first real day off. In fact, if you factor in Falling Skies, it was pretty much my first day in a whole year of not having anything to do, so that was an amazing birthday present all in itself. I kinda just, I hung around the house . . . watched TV.

NS: Hahaha! That’s great. That is awesome. I’m glad you got some free time then. Okay, um, then moving on. So, what was some science fiction that you were raised on, as a fellow fan?

CJ: My bookshelves were kind of overflowed by my passions when I was young and just full of Harry Potter books, and various sci-fi and fantasy sagas and trilogies. I grew up watching movies like E.T. and Close Encounters. Older movies like Alien and Blade Runner, and you know Dune. The book Dune! And, all of these sort of interesting television shows like Firefly, Twin Peaks, and Lost. I’d watch all these things without even really thinking, so I guess, yeah, I was a big sci-fi nerd.

NS: Haha! That’s good! I figure you kinda have to be to be a member of the Falling Skies team.

CJ: Well, you don’t have to be, but it sure does make it more enjoyable!

NS: Hahaha! Fair enough. Next question, what actors do you respect and admire?

CJ: Daniel Day Lewis, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep . . . people who aren’t really typical actors. When you watch them, you feel bad and happy at the same time; you’re happy because they’re amazing and you’re sad because they’re amazing, and then you look at yourself and go, “Oh, God.” So yeah, those kinds of actors are inspiring. Any of them. Working on our show has been incredibly helpful, because so many of them are so experienced, and I’m so non-experienced. Like Will Patton, I grew up watching a lot of his movies before we met, and then getting to meet him and work beside him was all just kind of surreal. So yeah, just lots of different people.

NS: That’s good. That’s great. I’m glad you have that going for you guys. So, moving on then back to the series.  In this season (without spoiling anything) was there anything, performance-wise, that you got to do as an actor that was just really amazing for you?

CJ: Yeah! Well, you know, all the action stuff. It was really interesting because I’m a really non-physical person. There was always something new for me do this season, like the swimming and the push-ups. And, every episode just had me skipping and running around and carrying guns. Acting like that was very energetic and different for me, because it focused on what you have to do with your body. You’re not doing lines and such, but at the same time you still have to be in character. Doing that was a huge challenge and painfully awful for me and very, very rewarding, because I didn’t think I would like it and I’m still not sure I like it. But, I feel that I’m better off because of it. There are some scenes where I ended up doing a very good job of staying in character and feel well off for it.

CJ: Thank you, I appreciate it!

About Nicole Sixx:

Freelance Artist, Journalist, and Horror Writer. Womanthology Author, Artist, and Correspondent. Author of the Carousel Boys novella and contributing gallery member at Hyaena Gallery in Burbank. Dark Horse Comics are the Batman to my Vicki Vale!