Winnipeg Free Press: Alien Invasion – Brendan Fehr

Thanks to Michelle for this. I’ll post the second next:

Since Brendan is in town [Winnipeg] to co-host the Blizzard awards there are tons of article about him in the paper. Here are the ones from the 2 major news papers.

Winnipeg Free Press [03/02/01] ‘Alien’ invasion
Roswell star happy to come home to Blizzards
Fri, Mar 2, 2001
By Dinah Clarkson

IT’S the little things — like snow and outdoor hockey
rinks — that Brendan Fehr misses about Winnipeg.
And unlike the majority of Winnipeggers, who by now
are longing for spring, the actor and star of the WB
TV-series Roswell (8 p.m. Fridays on Space) says he’ll
enjoy the blustery cold when he returns to his home
town this weekend to host the aptly named Blizzard
Awards.

Though Fehr admits he’s not entirely familiar with the
nominees for the awards, which recognize the best in
Manitoba film and television, he says he’s a “fly by
the seat of my pants” kind of guy anyway.

“I’m comfortable and confident enough to just work
through it,” he says breezily via telephone from Los
Angeles, his home of two years.

Not to worry; Fehr will have his co-host,
MovieTelevision’s Terry David Mulligan, to back him up
should he falter. The two have known each other for a
few years now and it was Mulligan who, after agreeing
to host the Blizzards, suggested Fehr would make a
good sidekick.

“I’ve worked with him on a couple of things and we’re
both involved with World Vision Canada,” says Fehr.
“He was offered the Blizzards gig and I’m not sure how
exactly it came about, but at any rate, he threw out
my name and with Winnipeg being my home town and me
being involved in film, it just worked out.”

Being able to spend a couple of days with his family,
half of whom still live here, was an added bonus for
the Mennonite Brethren Collegiate grad.

“It’ll be a squeeze because I’m only in town Saturday
and Sunday,” he says. “But I’ll get to see them.”

Free time has been a rare commodity for the busy
23-year-old since he left Winnipeg four years ago.
These days, he’s nearing the end of his second season
as a teenage alien on Roswell — a gig, it seems,
that’s getting tiring.

“The politically correct answer is yes, I’m still
enjoying it,” Fehr responds when asked about the show.
“I don’t know, it’s all right, it’s basically fun.
It’s hard not to have fun when you’re doing this job.
Some days are a drag — you get episodic burn-out
playing the same character all the time. But the end
of the season’s coming up and I’ll get a break and a
clearer perspective on it when I’ve torn myself away
from it for a month.”

By then, Fehr will be busy promoting his new movie,
The Forsaken, in which he plays a vampire hunter on a
mission. The film is scheduled to hit theatres April
27.

“People get a certain idea when they hear vampire
movie,” he says. “But it’s great and I don’t really
care what everyone else thinks anyway. The movie is
dark and it’s like Lethal Weapon in terms of a buddy
movie. It’s nothing like I Know What You Did Last
Summer or those movies. It’s loud and it’s fast and
really the coolest thing I’ve done in my short
career.”

Undoubtedly, the film — which co-stars another
brooding young heartthrob, Kerr Smith of TV’s Dawson’s
Creek — will continue to raise Fehr’s status with
teenage girls, who, as fans of Roswell and Fehr’s last
teen thriller, Final Destination, revere him most.

The adoration, he says, strikes him differently
depending on his mood. Often times, though, it’s
simply “weird.”

“Two years ago, I could walk through malls and no one
paid attention to me,” he says. “Now, I’m suddenly
better looking — like TV has made me better looking
or something. Meanwhile, I’m as good looking now as I
always was, whether that’s a one, a five or a 10 on a
scale of one to 10. My physical appearance has never
really changed. So I end up thinking, ‘Hey, ladies, I
was always this good looking! Why didn’t you notice me
then?'”

But, he says, there are always the humbling
experiences — especially in L.A. — where he’s
reminded there are much brighter stars in Tinseltown’s
constellation.

“I went to the Traffic premiere and was just getting
to walk down the red carpet when Catherine Zeta-Jones
walked down,” he recalls. “And it was unbelievable,
everyone was screaming for her, ‘Catherine!
Catherine!’ and going nuts, and the cameras were
flashing. Then it was my turn and a couple of people
were like, ‘Hey, Brendan!’ and like three pictures
were taken. That puts you in your place.”

Though he says acting is something he wants to pursue
as long as he can, Fehr — who originally planned to
attend the University of Manitoba in the hopes of
becoming a teacher — is decidedly realistic about the
fickle nature of Hollywood and the way it dictates
success.

“We’ll see when my star runs out, when the wave
crashes,” he says. “If it does, I don’t think it will
be because I suck, but just because that’s the way it
goes.”