SIMON MACCORKINDALE IN 'COUNTERSTRIKE', ELITE CRIME-BUSTERS TAKE ON
INTERNATIONAL THUGS
@Interview with Simon MacCorkindake about Counterstrike
It won't win any awards for plausibility but
Counterstrike (CTV, Saturdays) is just
what the action fan ordered — a
combination of James Bond, Mission:
Impossible and Charlie's Angels with the
accent on pryotechnics. The plot spins on
the exploits of an elite strike team of
international crime-fighters.
Christopher Plummer gets star billing,
but 39-year-old British actor Simon
MacCorkindale is the series' power-
source. Although he has plenty of stage
experience, MacCorkindale is best known
to Canadian audiences for the movies
Death on the Nile and The Sword and the
Sorcerer, and for TV roles in I, Claudius,
Falcon Crest, and Dynasty. He brings a
natural credibility and depth of personality
to Peter Sinclair, the dashing team leader
recruited because of his savvy as Scotland
Yard's youngest-ever inspector.
MacCorkindale infuses the Sinclair
character with a keen mind and persuasive
leadership qualities as well as a refreshing
international perspective.
Sinclair has the ability to be re-sourceful
and at ease just about anywhere in the
world, as the Counterstrike team flies from
one caper to the next in the lavishly
appointed aircraft provided by billionaire
industrialist Alexander Addington, played
by Plummer.
Along with Nikki Beaumont (Cyrielle
Claire), a danger-loving sophisticate who
is equally adept at disarming intricate
alarm systems and charming the jet-set
brigade; Luke Brenner (Stephen Shellen),
a go-anywhere-and-do-anything-for-the-
right-money con man;
and Suzanne (Laurence Ashley), the
billionaire's computer-whiz daughter —
Sinclair masterminds the missions ordered
by Addington, who is determined to rescue
his kidnapped wife while fighting tyranny
around the world.
MacCorkindale became involved with
Counterstrike at the invitation of Robert
Lantos, whose Toronto-based Alliance
Communications is coproducing with two
other companies in France.
"Robert and I had talked about
working together, and he phoned me in
England to say he had a part he thought
would be right up my alley."
The call came at the right moment:
MacCorkindale was giving serious thought
to returning to acting after having set up
Amy International, a production company
with his wife, actress Susan George (Straw
Dogs).
"We spent nearly three years producing
films (including Stealing Heaven, a
steamy retelling of the Abelard and
Heloise legend), writing screenplays and
doing the whole business side as well,"
says MacCorkindale.
"Counterstrike appealed to me because I
could do some performing and get my
company involved in the production at the
same time," he continues. "I had been
making progress in the European film and
television market, and Alliance had made
a deal with the USA Cable channel, which
has already aired some episodes. So this
project has a lot of mutual benefits."
Initially, MacCorkindale was content
with acting in Counterstrike but, as the
series unfolded, he felt the scripts were
too plot-driven rather than character-
driven. Lantos agreed to let
MacCorkindale participate in the writing,
and also to have more say in the overall
production as executive production
consultant.
"With my background, I know I'm a
storyteller, and I tend to have a good
overview. I can back off from a scene I'm
acting in, to see which roles should be
emphasized or played down a bit," says
MacCorkindale. "In performing as
Sinclair, who leads the team and
disseminates information and orders, I
found that if I stilled that leadership aspect
or impulse, the scenes didn't have the
drive and center they needed."
"It became perfectly logical mid-season
when I suggested it may help the show a
great deal if I had more authority on the
set, so that I could make quicker
judgments on behalf of the production.
The other performers readily agreed, since
some had already been seeking my advice
on their parts. So I think everyone's
pleased now — we're actually shooting the
second season.
"I'm happy because I'm totally involved,
creatively, in the production, and they're
getting their money's worth out of me." It's
a double Counterstrike.
--Gary Toushek
TV Times, November 2, 1991
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