"Princes of the Universe"
by Grant Kempster
Xposé
48
August 2000
[excerpt]
... I was here to witness something that fans of Highlander
would kill for — the filming of what many are calling the final
chapter of the franchise, and the transition of its TV star to the
big screen. In particular, the scene they would be shooting today
is one where Connor and Duncan MacLeod meet again after 10 years.
It would also include two of the TV show's other main characters,
Methos and Joe. Dictaphone at the ready, in-between takes, I approach,
interview, and where possible, keep warm.
"I never thought there would be a time when I pined for the
calmness and organizational skills of the French," quips Peter
Wingfield, known to many as the oldest Immortal still alive,
Methos. "It's just very confused here, you have many different
people talking in different languages and it just makes the simplest
things really difficult to happen."
Within the confines of the story, Methos and his Watcher buddy
Joe Dawson are included as a bridge between the two worlds of the
series and the movies, supplying both recognition and plot exposition.
"He is as ever the provider of great wisdom and depth,"
Wingfield confirms with a twinkle in his eye. "[He] gives the
movie a bit of class and the usual stuff. Duncan comes to see him
because he's concerned about Connor, so Methos listens in his sympathetic
manner because he always likes it when MacLeod has a problem. Then
Methos and Joe just bail him out of trouble, the ususal deal, his
friends bring up the cavalry."
So no change there then, Methos is the same old enigmatic character,
and is Joe still getting involved in things he shouldn't?
"Oh yeah, he's still a busy-body," Jim Byrnes, who plays
Dawson, admits, "breaking all the rules, you know, he's just
being the same old guy."
For all intents and purposes, watching the scenes played out time
and time again in the first half of the morning shoot with Adrian,
Peter and Jim, you'd almost imagine you were watching an episode
of the incredibly successful TV series being filmed. In the short
moment that they all spend in the same scene, the chemistry which
has been built up over the last eight years is clearly evident.
"We had dinner the other night," Byrnes recollects, "and
it was just like, you know, when you haven't seen someone in five
years or 20 years and you sit down with them and you're right back
in the middle of the conversation, so we haven't lost a beat really."
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