Article content When Rossif Sutherland found out he got the role of police chief Karl Alberg in the /Fox TV series Murder in a Small Town, he shared the news with his dad, . It turns out, they both had a connection to the story, which is based on the late L.R.
Wright’s series of mystery novels set on the . “I described the character, and I was quite excited about this character because he was a detective who gets the truth out of people through his humanity. He was a modern man who has his heart on his sleeve,” said Sutherland during a recent Zoom call from Quebec.
“So, I described that to my dad and he recognized the character. And he asked me what it was, and I told him it was the Alberg series. “And that’s when I heard the story.
” The story was one that goes back three decades to when Donald Sutherland was attached to the movie version of the first Wright book, The Suspect. He worked with producer Nick Orchard and writer Ian Weir but, unfortunately, it never happened. Decades of back and forth later, the film morphed into an eight-episode series, which premieres Sept.
24 at 8 p.m. on at with a 90-minute opener.
The series then moves to 9 p.m. on Oct.
8. The senior Sutherland was going to play the significant guest role of George, but his health was failing. James Cromwell stepped in to play George in the first episode.
, just a month or so after filming on the series wrapped. “I became an actor because of my dad, very much because of him, out of a fascination of trying to understand that other place he called home, which was a movie set,” said Sutherland, who was born in Vancouver. “As my father was in the hospital and I was doing the job that he wanted to do — another character on it, but a story he wanted to tell 30 years ago — it was all quite surreal.
“He was calling all the time asking ‘How’s the work, son? How’s it going?’ He called once, we were shooting and generally I’m disciplined enough to turn off my phone, but my phone wasn’t off, and it was him. The crew was so sweet, they just let me take the call. He cared so much to know that I was doing it and that the story was being told.
” That story follows Alberg, a big-city cop who moves to the quiet coastal town of Gibsons (but in this case it’s , U.S.A.
) hoping for a slower pace. But, as mystery novels and series have all too often revealed, small towns come with their fair share of murder and other nefarious going-ons. New to town, Alberg ventures into the online dating world and meets the local librarian Cassandra, played by Vancouver’s Kristin Kreuk (Smallville and Beauty and the Beast).
The pair hit it off and a relationship is formed. “Usually, detectives are quite happy to let you know they are a detective. They exercise their power, and they try to get to you through intimidation, that is one way to go about it.
He’s different,” said Sutherland when asked about Alberg. “He used to work in a big city. He probably didn’t fit in with all the other people who did his job.
He went about it with humanity and heart and always tried to make people forget he was a cop because what better way to tell the truth than to tell the truth to a friend.” Sutherland says there is another aspect to Alberg’s character that he found attractive. “I get to play an American cop who doesn’t like guns.
I think that’s nice,” said Sutherland whose credits include Reign and The Handmaid’s Tale. “It’s about time.” Kreuk describes Cassandra as driven and very community oriented.
And she laughed when asked about that awkward first date scene. “The way I imagined it as, she has gone out with every eligible man in town. There’s not a huge dating pool and I think she’s exhausted.
And I think that’s the sense you get when you meet her,” said Kreuk, who also worked on the recently released Alberg series Audible books. While there is obvious chemistry between the cop and the librarian, it becomes evident right away that Cassandra has some reservations about dating the police chief. “For her, there’s that struggle that he is lovely, and I’m attracted to him and I like him, but he is a cop.
And for Cassandra, that runs through the entire first season,” said Kreuk. That reticence, says Kreuk, is directly related to her job at the library. As is the case everywhere, libraries are safe places for marginalized people and people on the fringes of society.
People, as Kreuk points out, who “don’t love having cops around.” “I think for her it’s yes, it’s his job and it’s dangerous and it’s all encompassing and I’m sure she’s watched every TV show with cops in it. She knows they are all traumatized, at least that’s what she assumes.
But there’s also this idea she has a community to protect. The cops are helpful, but they’re also harmful and I think she struggles with that. But they share the same values and they ultimately want their communities to be better.
They are just looking at it from different sides.” Murder in a Small Town was shot last February through to May in the Gibsons area. The production uses local landmarks and takes full advantage of the area’s beautiful natural scenery.
“The scenery and the area are definitely a character: the atmosphere created by the misty oceanfront setting, as well as the verdant and mysterious rainforest set the tone, while the picturesque seaside town of Gibsons creates an intriguing, aspirational setting for our drama to unfold,” said Kim Roberts, Sepia Films co-CEO and producer, in an email. “And for Canadians of a certain age, they will also recognize the iconic Molly’s Reach sign immortalized by the CBC series Beachcombers.” Kreuk, who moved back to Vancouver a handful of years ago from Toronto, says a chance to work on location is always a bonus for her.
“I love location shows, I really do,” said Kreuk. “I love to go to an actual location and when you are on the Sunshine Coast those locations are particularly stunning. The library Cassandra works in is the Gibsons Library.
It’s a functioning library. It’s a vibrant library. There are people there all the time, which made it special.
Being able to work in Molly’s, being down at the dock, it’s a gorgeous place to work and it’s way better than being on a stage, for me.” Sutherland, who had never been to the area before, said he immediately connected with the coast. “It was such an idyllic dreamy, gorgeous place to be our playground,” said Sutherland, who hasn’t worked in B.
C. before except for recently shooting the new Osgood Perkins feature Keeper. “What a joy to be on a set and just look around and just be reminded of the wonder of nature.
It was all around us. It is a part of the world I have never visited. I was born in Vancouver but I only stayed there for three days.
“I fell in love in Gibsons.”.
