Airing Mondays on NBC is the new urban superhero drama, The Cape. The titular character is in reality Vince Faraday (played by David Lyons), a police detective working in the crime-ridden and corrupt fictional locale of Palm City, CA. When the new police chief is murdered by a criminal known only as "Chess," Faraday and his partner, Marty Voyt (Dorian Messick) investigate. Unfortunately for Faraday, his partner is a dirty cop who delivers him right to Chess. Chess turns out to be Peter Fleming (James Frain), a billionaire businessman and owner of a private security firm that is seeking to privatize Palm City's police force and public security operations for his own evil ends. Chess frames Faraday for the murder of the police chief and after a chase by Fleming's security teams that is televised on the local news that ends in an explosion, Faraday is believed dead by everyone including his wife (Jennifer Ferrin) and young son (Ryan Wynott).
Of course, Faraday survived and is taken in by the so-called Carnival of Crime, a band of bank robbers operating as a traveling circus as a cover. The leader of the circus, Max Malini (Keith David), provides Faraday with training and a special cape. Faraday allows everyone to continue to think that he is dead so that he can fight Chess and clear his name without endangering his family. Faraday decides to operate as a masked vigilante called The Cape, which is the name of his son's favorite comic book superhero. Helping The Cape carry out his mission is Orwell (Summer Glau), an investigative blogger who has her own secret reasons for joining Faraday in his battle.
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DAVID LYONS as Vince Faraday/The Cape [Photo Credit: NBC] |
USTOWNHALL SPEAKS TO DAVID LYONS:
USTH: What attracted you to this type of material in the first place? Are you a Sci-Fi or comic book fan at all?
DAVID LYONS: I wasn't a Sci-Fi comic book fan, and what attracted me to it was knowing that [while] it was a Sci-Fi comic book genre, at the heart of it was a very, very real family. And so the way I approached the script was the same way I approached the character – was not in terms of being a superhero. It was in terms of being a family man that's torn away from everything that he loves and he's using this last vestige of hope in order to get it all back.
So it's kind of been a really interesting and steep learning curve for me in terms of the genre of the world and the mythology of these worlds, but one which has been incredibly enjoyable and quite a huge eye-opener and quite a thrill.
USTH: What is it like for you to anchor a television show? Are you feeling any sort of pressure at all on a personal level?
DAVID LYONS: I think that, you know, you feel pressure regardless of what role you play. Just in terms of the fact that when you work on something and – like anyone whether it be a painter or a cook or – when you prepare something for other people to view, there is trepidation involved.
But what we've been doing is just focusing on the characters themselves [and] getting into the storyline so that that concept of leading a show, whatever, is not at the forefront of my mind, and I can't afford to let it be. It does start getting in the way of the work, and at the very end of everything, the work is what you're there for.
USTH: What's been the most fun aspect of working on this series?
DAVID LYONS: The cast – without a shadow of a doubt – the cast. We've assembled not only just the most fantastic bunch of actors right through every single role, they're also an incredibly fun, humble, awesome bunch to be around. So we've managed to create a really beautiful family environment that is a lot of fun to work in. And so coming to work creating this world, which is so rich and textured, it's only embellished by the fact that everyone around is having such a great time.
USTH: Thank you, David, for speaking with us today, and good luck in the future.
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Disgraced police detective VINCE FARADAY becomes the
comic book character, The Cape [Photo Credit: NBC]
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The Cape airs Monday nights at 9pm Eastern on NBC.
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