National Post (National Edition)
THIS IS THE DIRECTOR YOU’RE LOOKING FOR
Victor Garber says the force is strong with J.J. Abrams.
On Victor Garber’s song sheet the other night: faux-concern for J.J. Abrams. The ubiquitous Canadian actor was talking about his old director-pal‚ specifically about the news that hit, boulder-like, last week, when Abrams was revealed to be the director attached to the next Star Wars flick.
“Yes, I’m so concerned about J.J.’s career,” Garber furrowbrowed on the SAG red carpet in L.A. on Sunday while talking to The Associated Press. Rath- er than asking Abrams to take a sci-fi side, as was the reaction of some when the news broke — what’s it gonna be, J.J., Star Wars or Star Trek?! — Garber trotted out a number of compliments for the man who once bossed him around on the TV series Alias.
“For one thing, it’ll be original,” Garber began, looking into this Star Wars- instalment crystal ball. For another: “thrilling” and “a joyride.” For yet another: “It’ll be amusing,” because “J.J. is really funny.”
The picture of magnanimity, indeed, considering that Garber did do a turn as a Klingon interrogator in Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek film, except his scenes were deleted and left on the cutting-room floor.
The Toronto-trained thespian isn’t exactly desperado for work these days, though. Besides being a go-to for every TV show imaginable — his credits range from Glee to Nurse Jackie to Damages to Ugly Betty to a big new role on NBC’s Deception — Garber has popped up, big-screen-wise, in
everything from Milk to The First Wives Club to Legally Blonde. And, these days, as he follows his pal Ben Affleck around from awards show to awards show, red carpet to red carpet, the Argo co-star is a stark reminder of his ensemble mojo. With the undeniable success of Argo — with critics, audiences and statue-givers — one is reminded of the last time that Garber was part of an awards season steamroll. Titanic, of course, in which he went down with the ship, and came up with a movie winning oodles of Oscars.
After this past weekend, with Affleck double-triumphing in the lead-up to the Academy Awards — the director grabbed both the prestigious Producer’s Guild Award and SAG’s “Ensemble Award” — Garber might be yet again be proving his lucky charm-ery.