A bizzare experience for Jason

Thanks to TVFilm411 for sending this article in. It appeared in national syndication last week.

Dec. 10, 1999, 12:40PM

Behr, star of `Roswell,’ has alien experience at bus stop
By IAN SPELLING

Jason Behr had a close encounter. Well, sort of.

Driving to work a few months ago, the star of the WB hit sci-fi series
Roswell experienced a sudden rush of fame and recognition. And it blew him
away.

“I’d heard the rumors about Roswell billboards going up, about Roswell
posters at bus stops and on buses,” he said. “And all of those things had
our faces on them. But I was coming to the studio at 6 or 8 in the morning
and not leaving until 10 or 12 at night, so I wasn’t getting a chance to go
out and see much of anything. Even on weekends, most of my time was spent
with family or friends, or by myself, just relaxing.

“Then I was on my way to work one time,” he said, “and I was late, speeding
through the streets. I didn’t quite make a yellow light, so I stopped. I
looked to my right, and I saw myself on a bus stop, staring back at me.”

Behr smiles at the memory. “It was a pretty bizarre and surreal moment,” he
said.

“So that was the big moment,” he said, “but I’d say it wasn’t so much a
defining moment as surreal. It was bizarre because, two years earlier, I was
sitting at that bus stop.”

Behr is sitting in his trailer on the Paramount lot after a long day of
shooting Roswell. He’s still full of energy, however, and eager to chat.

And he’s ready to chat about the series, which casts him as Max Evans and
Katherine Heigl as Max’s sister Isabel, with Brendan Fehr as their friend
Michael. Max, Isabel and Michael are aliens residing in Roswell, N.M., and
they’re desperate to keep their identity a secret.

Recently, however, Max complicated matters by using his powers to save Liz
(Shiri Appleby), a human teen he’d long adored from afar. Max and Liz now
share a special connection, but they don’t dare act on their feelings for
one another.

“We’re still finding ourselves, but I think the show is good,” Behr said.
“Episodes like `285 South’ and `River Dog,’ our two-parter, were really
good.

They had a nice mix of relationships, character studies and development.

“I just thought those two episodes were probably as close to what I
envisioned Roswell to be as we’ve done so far. It’s important to stay on
that track, and when I talk to people who watch the show, they seem to feel
pretty much the same way.”

Behr has a knack for hooking up with popular shows. The Minneapolis native
counts among his credits guest spots on Dawson’s Creek, 7th Heaven and Buffy
the Vampire Slayer, in the popular episode “Lie to Me.” But Roswell
represents his first stint as a series lead.

“I don’t think it’s ever quite how you picture it when you’re thinking about
it. This has been a lot of long hours, but it doesn’t really seem like work
because of the people I’m surrounded by every day.

“We’ve got a great cast, a great crew and great producers,” he said.

If Roswell sustains its popularity, Behr may remain in the company for the
next several years. That possibility prompts the actor to contemplate the
end of the series, specifically the last episode.

Do Max, Isabel and Michael return home? Get caught by Sheriff Valenti
(William Sadler)? Figure out that they’re descendants of the aliens that
crashed in Roswell in 1947, or that they themselves actually are the Roswell
aliens?

“I don’t know,” Behr said. “I don’t have the answers, because there are so
many other questions that remain unanswered. Are our parents back there? Are
our parents alive? That would be a big factor in my decision to stay or go,
assuming we’re given a choice.

“Could Liz come with me? Would Liz want to go with me? Could I ever come
back, or go back and forth between home and Earth?”

Behr pauses in thought. “Dramatically, to make it a more weighty issue, it’s
probably got to be this or that — I’ll have to choose. Max can’t have his
cake and eat it, too.”