Homeland is where his heart is
Nova Scotia actor doesn’t take anything for granted
Diego Klattenhoff has been working on Homeland long enough to know not to take anything for granted.
“You think you might know the truth,” says the man better known to fans of the TV series as straitlaced Major Mike Faber, “but then wait a few months.”
Playing Faber, the Nova Scotiaborn actor should know a thing or two about unexpected surprises. The closest thing Homeland has to a moral compass, Faber has spent the majority of the show’s two seasons playing a good family friend, while secretly pining for his marine buddy Nicholas Brody’s wife, Jessica, with whom he’d shacked up when the world assumed Brody had perished overseas.
However, with occasional terrorist-cum-American hero Brody finally realizing that Faber was a better father to his children than he ever was, Faber finally appears set to resume his place as the head of the Brody clan as the yell-at-your-TV thriller wraps up its contentious second season this Sunday,
Postmedia caught up with Klattenhoff to discuss Homeland’s critical reception, his character’s fate and what Sunday’s finale has in store.
Q: What can you tell us about the finale?
A: I really can’t tell you too much. Expect big things but it’s definitely going to raise some questions.
Q: In the episode description it says Mike and Brody share a drink.
A: We reconnect as former best friends and lovers (laughs). Whatever happened in Iraq stays in Iraq.
Q: Mike Faber’s role has always been to be the polar opposite of his consistently inconsistent best friend.
A: I think Mike’s motivation is pretty simple: I try to do the right thing in as many situations as possible. I think I’ll always be there for the family because I’m still in love with Jessica. There’s a certain code that comes with being a marine and I think that’s a good way of looking at it.
Q: With that in mind, this season Mike began to see that Brody wasn’t exactly the American hero that both he and the government wanted him to believe. More specifically, he began digging into the death of Brody’s fellow marine turned terrorist Tom Walker. Do you think Mike is done with that search?
A: I don’t know to be honest. I think it was pretty much dead in the water when (CIA operative and Brody paramour) Carrie (Claire Danes) came to Mike and said, “Stand the f--- down. If you want to do right by the family this is the right thing to do.” I’m not exactly sure how much Mr. Faber bought that but we’ll see in the future.
Q: This season has come under fire, especially from critics who feel the latter has felt more like creators Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa’s previous series, 24. Do you ever feel the need to defend the series?
A: I don’t feel a need to defend the show. I’m not blogging, I don’t have a Twitter. I just kind of sit back and watch. It’s one of those things where it’s going to play out the way it’s going to play out. We know it’s not 24. That was a different type of show. It’s definitely easy to compare them. There are definitely some similarities but it’s definitely a different show. It’s one episode or a couple episodes but the show is going to go on for a little while longer so I’d rather save those judgments till the end.
Q: What about all those British (Damian Lewis, David Harewood, Rupert Friend) and Canadian actors playing Americans?
A: There are a lot of similarities and differences. We’re always breaking bread and drinking tea together. Everyone thinks that Canadians are very similar to Americans or we’re America Ju- nior, as some like to say, but if you come from Canada you realize that’s really not the case. You realize how many things we actually share with the British. I find them kindred spirits.
Q: What can viewers expect for Season 3?
A: The writers are off right now hashing out the possibilities for Season 3 and you wouldn’t be able to get a straight answer out of them if you started water boarding or shocking them. They’re a pretty tight knit group.
Q: Do you get a heads up about your character’s future?
A: Not really, no. It’s a Choose Your Own Adventure. This week you’re going to get assigned a new task and you didn’t see it coming or sometimes they give you a little heads up of something that may be happening in a few episodebut I think quite a bit of it is on the fly. As far as acting on the show, it’s pretty compelling stuff to get the script and everybody is trying to figure out what’s going on and who’s the mole? We’re in the dark almost as much as you guys are.
Q: So can you confirm that Mike is not the mole?
A: I’m pretty sure Mike is not the mole. Q: Mike’s coming back for sure? A: I’ve heard that. Q: And Brody? A: To be honest, I have no idea who’s going to be coming back. It’s one of those things that you just cross your fingers and hopefully someone is going to give you a wink and a nod one of these days and let you know that you’re safe for next year.