Kevin MacDonald

The director of Black Sea and executive producer of 11.22.63’ s genre faves...

Favourite SF/ fantasy TV show

I’m not into any of the big sci- fi shows, like Star Trek or Doctor Who. I liked Battlestar Galactica, the reboot, the most. To me, that’s the gold standard of intelligent science fiction on television.

Favourite SF/ fantasy book

I was always very into fantasy. I’d say that my dream books to turn into films – I don’t know why it never happened – are the Earthsea trilogy, which I loved as a kid. I still remember the physicality of the world and the specificity of the fantasy elements. Just the world she [ Ursula Le Guin] creates. It feels like she’s really created a world you can touch and the psychology seems familiar and understandable.

Favourite SF/ fantasy film

A film that I loved is Silent Running. I haven’t seen it for a long time, but there’s something for me that’s so beautiful about that combination of plant life, biology and space. I’m also a Starship Troopers fan. I rewatched that a couple of years ago. It is sort of genius, actually. The tone that Verhoeven manages to capture is just fantastic and ironic. You’re never quite sure when your leg is being pulled and when it’s not.

Favourite SF/ fantasy character

I’m going to be really unimaginative and say the wizard from the Earthsea books, Ged. Unlike most books which you go back to, which you read as a teenager and go back to and just seem really thin and disappointing, that really stood up for me. I was really impressed by it. It was almost better as an adult.

11.22.63 is currently airing on Fox UK.