While cycling around Victoria in springtime is worlds away from raising hell on Madison Avenue, Mad Men’s newest cast member says both experiences were blissful.
Paul Johansson, the ruggedly handsome Canadian actor who made his debut on AMC’s hit series on Sunday as no-nonsense McCann Erickson executive Ferguson Donnelly, said working with series creator Matthew Weiner was as cool and rewarding as expected.
Johansson, 51, felt even more at home shooting the Hallmark Channel movie Last Resort opposite Teri Polo (Meet the Parents) at Sooke Harbour House and other locations.
It’s not just because the Kelowna-raised actor, writer and director got to return to Canada to make the romantic-comedy that just wrapped here. The actor, born in Spokane, Washington, plays a middle-aged family man on the brink of divorce who realizes his marriage might be worth saving when he and his wife work together to help their daughter (Gracepoint’s Chloe Babcook) plan her wedding.
Last Resort also marks the fourth time Johansson has filmed here since 2003, when he appeared in Victoria native Corey Large’s feature debut Window Theory. Johansson returned in 2013 to shoot Kid Cannabis, another Large production, and Jason Bourque’s disaster flick Stonados. Johansson’s plans to direct The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie from his own screenplay here in 2001 went sideways “when 9/11 happened,” however.
“We lost all our German financing,” recalled Johansson, who later relocated his coming-of-age drama — starring Gena Rowlands, James Caan and Kevin Zegers — to Calgary with Alberta producer Chad Oakes (Fargo).
While Johansson has become a familiar face through notable roles in She’s So Lovely, Soapdish, John Q, Alpha Dog and Lonesome Dove, and as scheming fraternity brother John Sears in Beverly Hills 90210, he’s best known for playing Dan Scott, the villainous character in the CW’s hit series One Tree Hill.
After shooting One Tree Hill in Wilmington, North Carolina, for nine years, Johansson said he felt as if he were starting over when he returned to Hollywood.
“Not a lot of people in the industry were watching that character I developed. They were too busy watching Mad Men and The Walking Dead,” the Los Angeles-based actor said. “So for two years I said: ‘I’m going to educate people about who I am, what I look like and what I can do.’ ”
Since the TV landscape had changed so dramatically, Johansson had to start auditioning again.
“We’re at a time in the entertainment industry where the rules have changed. You’ve got Matthew McConaughey, Vince Vaughn, Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright all doing series work,” he said. “TV is a great way to work that muscle and the writing is so good now. You get to evolve your character over 22, 36 or 48 episodes. It’s very cathartic and fulfilling for an actor.”
Johansson’s Mad Men character is not a particularly nice guy, which makes you wonder whether playing villains in One Tree Hill and 90210 gave him a leg up.
He said he had no idea, but added he would never forget something Larry Hagman once told him. “I said: ‘I’m universally considered one of the most evil men on TV,’ ” he told Hagman, who played ultimate villain J.R. Ewing on Dallas.
“Everybody forgets the good guys, but nobody will forget you,” Hagman replied. “Thank your writers.”
Describing Weiner as a particularly “gracious and intelligent” writer and producer, Johansson said the Mad Men creator thoroughly researched his contenders and asked a lot of personal questions.
“It was two weeks before I found out I got the job,” Johansson recalled. “It wasn’t like I walked out of the room saying: ‘I nailed it.’ ”
The avid athlete has found it refreshing to play “a good guy” again in Last Resort in such an idyllic location, and spending time cycling and hanging out with his four-year-old son.
It contrasts sharply with one of his most unpleasant showbiz experiences — directing 2011’s Atlas Shrugged: Part 1, the first of a proposed movie trilogy based on Ayn Rand’s dense celebration of capitalism.
It was for good reason he has declined to discuss it until now, said Johansson, whose disputes with the film’s producers prevented him from talking.
“As an actor of 30 years, I had some issues with a story that wasn’t making sense if I were to shoot it as-is,” said Johansson, who walked off the critically reviled project during post-production.
“I refused to do press, because they were adamant about certain things. The financier was rewriting dialogue — Ayn Rand’s words! — and it didn’t work structurally,” Johansson said.
“They didn’t like that I didn’t want to turn it into a propaganda piece for the GOP [Republican party]. It’s an ideological movie, not a movie about politics.”
Despite the producers’ concerns about his then no-name star, Johansson successfully fought to cast Taylor Schilling before she found stardom in Orange Is the New Black.
“I went into director’s jail for a couple of years to let my heart heal from that,” Johansson said. “They weren’t interested in collaboration, but I’m the director, so I have to take responsibility.”
Johansson’s other directing credits include several episodes of One Tree Hill and he’s developing a studio feature and a TV series he hopes to shoot in Canada.
“I just have to make it known again I’m Canadian,” he said. “All you have to do is call me and I’ll come. I love Canada, I miss it, and the wine has improved.”