The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec)
October 16, 2001
For kicks, go with La Femme Felicity
by Peggy Curran
The Agency and 24 are the new CIA-based series this season that have
been stealing headlines for their eerie, true-to-life plots about
terrorist attacks, hijackings and anthrax scares.
But in this anxious, post-Sept. 11 world, TV viewers who prefer art
that doesn't imitate life will get more kung-fu kicks from the
cartoonish Alias, with its Get Smart shoe phones, lipstick cameras and
pop soundtrack.
"People in L.A. are calling it La Femme Felicity," Jennifer Garner, who
plays coed-turned-spy girl Sydney Bristow, told TV critics at a press
tour in Toronto to launch the new fall shows.
Alias is the brainchild of Felicity's creator, J.J. Abrams - he wrote
and directed the pilot, composed the theme music and serves as
executive producer. The series is reminiscent of Nikita, without
benefit of Roy Dupuis but with a sense of humour, a less sullen heroine
and a silly comic-book intrigue.
Thanks to the appealing Garner and a strong supporting cast - my
favourite is Kevin Weisman, who plays Marshall, the bumbling gizmo
wizard - Alias is proving to be a ratings hit, especially with young
adults. It's action-packed and entertaining, provided you can buy a
ridiculous premise, follow the convoluted plots and accept frequent
leaps of logic.
Garner is Bristow, a bright, beautiful grad student recruited on campus
to work for SD-6, an ultra-covert branch of the CIA. Anyway, that's
what she thinks, until she makes the mistake of telling her fiance she
doesn't really have a part-time job at the bank.
She goes away on business, the boyfriend's the victim of a particularly
grisly murder, and she discovers that she has been duped and has
actually been working for enemies of the state. Now she's a double
agent, working for the CIA from inside SD-6, alongside her cold and
unresponsive father (Victor Garber), who just happens to be a spy, too.
Naturally, none of her civilian friends has any idea what's going on,
although her moonstruck pal Will (Bradley Cooper) might soon begin to
wonder why she won't let him get beyond the first ice-cream sundae.
Despite the gimmicky spyware and the frequent changes of hair colour,
sculpted evening gowns and lethal stilettos, "the show is rooted in
reality," Garner claims.
"This woman does fight her own fights, and she does shoot her own gun,
and she's not genetically engineered or superhuman. She's a very
vulnerable real woman."
Maybe, but what makes Alias much easier to watch than the more earnest,
solemn and fact-driven The Agency is that it doesn't feel the least bit
like what's happening out in the world these days.
While there is a stunt double for action sequences, Garner takes pride
in doing most of her own stunt work. "Luckily, I was a ballet dancer
growing up, so I was used to flailing around." However, to prepare for
the role, Garner decided she needed professional help.
"When I was auditioning for the show, I was so invested in getting the
role and so determined to play the character that I started training
with a 9th-degree black belt named Master Yu that I found out of the
Yellow Pages.
"My husband (Felicity star Scott Foley) was terrified that they would
ask me to punch, because I punch just like a girl," Garner said. "They
did ask me (at the audition) to kick a couple of times and I was very
glad I'd worked with Master Yu, because I had no fear. Once I got the
job and the ball was rolling I had a fight co-ordinator who trained me
every day, and we worked out with a trainer to buff up."
© CanWest Interactive, Inc. 2001
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