McKenzie Had Nightmare In Oz
Jacqueline McKenzie, who co-stars with William H. Macy in a segment of TNT's upcoming limited anthology series Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, told SCI FI Wire that she shot the show in her native Australia in the hiatus from her regular series, The 4400. (McKenzie is best known for playing U.S. federal agent Diana Skouris in the USA Network show The 4400.)
"I was lucky enough to be cast in Nightmares & Dreamscapes, a television miniseries from an anthology of Stephen King short stories," McKenzie said in an interview. "It plays on TNT later in the year. Being an anthology, each story was completely autonomous. Mine was one called 'Umney's Last Case.'"
Nightmares is based on King's 1993 anthology of 20 short stories. McKenzie's episode "is about a writer of detective novels, Landry (played by William H. Macy), and his wife, Linda (me), coming to terms with the death of their young son, ... trying to forgive each other, trying to forgive themselves, seeing if it's possible to find joy in life again after such a tragedy," McKenzie said. "Stephen King is such a genius. The way he tells a story is so unique. ... His story was adapted by April Smith, and between them both, our story crosses two realities: the here and now and the fictional world of film-noir crime drama, [about] which Landry writes."
McKenzie added that the role was a departure from her regular work on The 4400, which recently began production on its upcoming third season. "From the look and style of the piece to the age [and] place my character was/is at in her life," McKenzie said. "They do share one thing: the enormous love they have for their child. We got to shoot in Australia. (Quite ironic, as I'm from there, and yet I was playing an American!)"
Rob Bowman (Reign of Fire, Elektra) directed McKenzie's episode. "I'd love [him] to come and direct us on The 4400!" McKenzie said. "He knows how to work fast without losing the intensity of the scenes. ... He's super prepared and also great fun. I also got to work with one of my idols, William H. Macy. Seriously, if there is acting royalty, then he is surely it! No suprises as to how extraordinary he was to work with as an actor. His talent is boundless, but ... a joy for me to discover is how generous he is as a performer. Incredibly humble, ensemble-driven, all about realizing the story, and one of the nicest guys you'd meet. Hilarious. And plays a mean ukulele!"
McKenzie is now back at work on The 4400, which returns to USA in the summer. Nightmares & Dreamscapes premieres on TNT in July. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.