`Would you say no to playing a clown who is the focus of all fear in the universe?” asks Michael McKean. “Am I really going to say no to that?”
“Come on!”
So it is, then, that the ubiquitous McKean, best known to audiences for “This Is Spinal Tap” (1984), “The Brady Bunch Movie” (1995) and television’s “Laverne and Shirley” (ABC, 1979-1983) and “Dream On” (HBO, 1990-1996), will be the main guest star in “The Thaw,” one of the most colorful and ambitious “Voyager” episodes to date.
More Top Picks How We Test
McKean is feeling chatty, eager to discuss the episode, which is scheduled to air April 29, in a telephone interview from his home in Santa Monica, Calif.
” `The Thaw’ refers to people called the Kohl who are in a deep sleep,” McKean says. “To keep themselves from losing their minds while they were in stasis, they rigged a program of entertainment, a virtual-reality world of fun, of a carnival atmosphere.”
“During their sleep, all of their fears started creating a character who is this clown, who is Fear itself. `Fear the Clown’ was actually the show’s alternate title,” he adds.
“In the midst of all this color and atmosphere, the clown is gray and white and very scary.”
McKean describes the clown as sinister and a bit over-the-top, as all good clowns should be. Clowns, he adds, don’t behave like regular folks, which is why people are supposed to laugh at them . . . and why some people find them so incredibly frightening.
“It was Lon Chaney who once said that the scariest thing he could think of would be opening his door in the middle of the night and seeing a clown standing there,” McKean says.
“I thought of that in the back of my mind when we were doing the show.”
The Voyager crew enters into the action when Torres (Roxann Biggs-Dawson) and Kim (Garrett Wang) try to help the Kohl people by entering their stasis world.
There, the clown takes the duo hostage, threatening to kill them if Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) doesn’t acquiesce to his successively ridiculous demands.
“It was a great experience,” McKean says.
His many pre-“Voyager” genre credits include the films “D.A.R.Y.L.” (1985), “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” (1992) and “Coneheads” (1993), as well as television’s “Lois and Clark” (ABC).
“I wasn’t a big Trekkie, but I’ve always loved science fiction, and I’m old enough to have watched the original `Star Trek’ when it was on first-run, though I’m sure a lot of people think `Trek’ started in reruns,” McKean says.
“Kate is fabulous, and I enjoyed working with Roxann and Garrett,” he adds.
“Marvin Rush, who is the regular director of photography for the `Trek’ shows, was our director, and he was just wonderful.
“He’s a man of great imagination and a very lovely person. I think we’ve made a very interesting, thought-provoking and scary episode.”
As much as McKean enjoyed his “Voyager” visit, it was just a blip on the actor’s jam-packed dance card.
Over the next few months, the 48-year-old divorced father of two sons will be seen in at least a half-dozen feature films and TV programs.
First, he plays a self-pitying bar patron in “Jack,” Francis Coppola’s drama about a boy (Robin Williams) whose body ages rapidly.
Then, there’s the comedy “Edie and Pen” (with veterans Scott Glenn and Louise Fletcher), the thriller “No Strings Attached” and the romantic comedy “The Pompatus of Love.”
Finally, there’s a remake of “That Darn Cat,” starring Christina Ricci, and the CBS TV-movie “The Sunshine Boys,” with Peter Falk, Woody Allen and Sarah Jessica Parker.
“I like to keep busy,” McKean says in a considerable understatement. “I just look for good roles in projects that seem interesting.”
More Top Picks Cluster Headaches Vs Migraine Key Differences
TREK/SCI-FI ALERT: If you have Trek or science-fiction news or trivia to share–or if you have questions relating to “Star Trek”–write to Ian Spelling, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 122 E. 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 10168. Be sure to enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you would like a reply.