Alphas - Starry Constellation Magazine: Warren Christie and Zak Penn Interview

Source: Starry Constellation Magazine [follow link for complete interview]



ALPHAS - STARRY CONSTELLATION MAGAZINE: Warren Christie and Zak Penn Interview

by: Jamie Steinberg


... Q) Zak, can you talk about the Alphas and how they’re a metaphor for tapping into your true potential as opposed to superheroes?

Zak Penn: "Well interestingly, I mean, obviously when you do a superhero movie usually that is working on a metaphorical level, right, because no matter how Jean Grey’s struggle with turning into Phoenix is obviously so extreme but it’s operating on a metaphorical level. I think with Alpha’s part of the point is these people’s abilities and problems are so close to reality that sometimes it’s not only not metaphorical, it allows us to actually tell the same human story. You look at Hicks’ story. It’s pretty close to the story that any of us would have who have a talent that kind of we have trouble managing. Even look, there’s a long history of writers who have an instrument that they can access occasionally but when they can’t they turn to drinking or turn to other things to manage that problem. And Warren can speak better to this but we really tried to keep both the upside and the downside of their problems so close to human that we end up writing stories that are, I mean, I don’t mean to get all semantic and a lecture about semantics versus metaphorical but it’s actually a real - it’s fun. I mean, on the X-Men it’s pretty hard to write a story about Wolverine’s problems, paying his rent and working in a grocery store, whereas with Hicks those are real issues."

Warren Christie: "And byproducts from what has led him up to this point in his life. Like Zak said, I think Hicks sees this as much more of a curse than a gift because he has known there has been something different about him but it seems to always have failed him at the biggest times. So because of that, like Zak pointed out, because Hicks is so agile you can have something like a professional athlete. Professional athletes go through a lot of different things where they have these highs and then because of that they have these very big lows. And I think it’s that fine line and that balancing at that is what makes each of the characters so rich in the show..."