Were you a fan of the original? Is that why you got involved with AMC's Prisoner series?

No, I never knew anything about the original, I had just read the six screenplays that were brought to me and I was actually going to shoot another movie and I was able to get out of that to do this. What got my attention first was Ian McKellen.

The second part of that was AMC and what they were doing, but I didn't really fully understand everything AMC had been doing with Mad Men. I hadn't seen Mad Men yet, and I became a huge fan of the network because I really got to see the ins and outs of what they were doing in The Prisoner. But what truly brought me to The Prisoner was the first two screenplays... I had no idea where the story was going, at any time as an actor when you get a role like this, it's kind of like one of those little trophies you can put on your mantle and be proud of. I'm definitely very proud of this.

One of the interesting things about AMC and their shows right now is their attention to detail in their production design, it's really evident in The Prisoner, it's sort of "sandy sleek". What was your favorite little world-building moment that AMC or the production crew created?

Well, I can be more specific to you, and in fact when I see movies like Giant, when I see George Stevens or any classic fimmakers, or when I see Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston but it [The Prisoner] reminded me of classic Hollywood great fimmaking... Every time I get a movie I think, "oh I'm never gonna be working in this town again if I don't get this one right," and I certainly felt that way making this because of the rapid fire of all the screenplays that were there and also the reediting and rewriting the scenes literally right there but I think we were able to pull out something pretty special here.

I'm so focused on the story and just trying to survive and the frustration of wanting it to be good and not knowing if it's going to turn out and in fact I remember one day we got to one particular scene with Ian McKellen and myself and we realized in that moment that I'm not supposed to be in this scene. So there's an element of running around like a chicken with your head cut off. So I'm sitting here acting, thinking what did I take away from that, I think the most valuable thing I got from it is I can work in some of the most extraordinary circumstances and be able to pull up performances in dire strait situation and I really kind of like that.

It was roughing the elements out there, wasn't it?

Yes, the lack of sleep, number one. Last night watching it [The Prisoner screening] and talking to Bill Gallagher [the writer], for me, it was a bit of a surreal experience, it looks so easy but knowing that what looks easy is usually rather difficult, there were hours and hours of rehearsing and then saying let's throw that out and try something else and being able to have a director come in with literally very little time... it's really a six hour film with two intermissions.

How many on site rewrites do you think you guys did?

Thousands, I can't even… at the last minute we'd say, "Do I need that line?" "Yes you do." "okay, what about this?" Then we'd try but you know for the most part, I thought that we were able to. It's like putting a square peg into a circular hole and that's what we do, and we get paid well for it and part of it is you gotta be a little bit of an adrenaline junkie.

Now your character, one of the things that's different abut him in the new series is there's a little bit more revealed about his life before The Village. Do you think that you're still "every man" even though you go into specifics running around in the desert?

I knew what Patrick McGoohan did. I knew that he was a legend, I knew who he was and I didn't totally understand the whole Prisoner thing, I never watched any of the episodes but wanted to bring something to my own performance that was original, that I wouldn't be compared to, and even I was I could say well it was a coincidence because I never watched any of his previous stuff. I remember talking to Mel Gibson one time about Patrick McGoohan and I said, I happened to ask him about Longshanks in Braveheart and he says "Well that's McGoohan" and he told me the whole story, he tried to have a run at making The Prisoner.

Mel Gibson tried to make The Prisoner?

Yeah he looked at it. Yeah, it's been attempted by several people.

Finally the political undertones in The Prisoner, do you think it's more like a friendly Gitmo, or a warning sign?

JC: Absolutely. You know its how you look at mornings. Mornings can either be a good thing or a bad thing sometimes. Some people just get disturbed and would rather be an ostrich and put their head in the sand. And you know, this is an allegory for peace...Nowadays you have one guy walking around who's willing to exchange his life for millions and for an ideal. And I think people can relate to that. At the same time, very much juxtaposed to that, this is Disney Land, the music, the way they feel, it is a bit of a ride and there's a romantic element to it too, and I hate to go too far to the right and say well understand from the left here you also have this romantic undertone, you're also going to be drawn to these characters, you're going to love these characters.

Not sure what's happening, but damn that hospital is nice. Plus, it looks like AMC is going all-out with set design yet again, check out those classic cars and the rest of the amazing details in this interactive Village map. The attention to detail in this city is insane, right down to the "village white" and "village red" wine bottles.

The Prisoner begins its three-day run on Nov. 15.

We're all really excited about Ian McKellen in this role, you really couldn't ask for a better new Number Two. The miniseries premieres on AMC November 15 and lasts three nights.

Ian McKellen plays the devious Number Two, leader of "The Village" a place where retired agent Number Six (Jim Caviezel) is sent to against his will. The Village is made up of exiled a exotic collection of folk, each with a secret past with numbers for names.

Can't wait until November? Right now AMC is hosting the entire 60s show on their site. The reboot will air at 8 PM.

[Variety]

After talking to Quaid earlier today, we couldn't help watching him as the 1960s Queens everyman in Frequency, where his grown-up son starts babbling at him over the radio about baseball scores and who's going to die when. The son (played by Jim "Outlander" Caviezel) manages to save Quaid from dying in a warehouse fire, but through a kind of twisty movie logic, this leads to Quaid's wife being killed by a serial killer the following week. It never fails: You mess with the timelines, you get serial killers. It's all worth it for the above clip, where Caviezel has to explain the situation to Quaid. Who just takes it on board, because he's a mensch.

More clips at the link. [Outlander via Shocktillyoudrop]

Variety's Derek Elley says Outlander's, "screenplay hardly makes a convincing case for being set in the Viking Age rather than any other period," and that, "Hardcore genre fans will turn out, but word of mouth is likely to be pic's biggest enemy."

French film site Cinema also called the film slow and is bored by the monster hunt. Besides the slow moving plot Cinema also accuses Outlander of having an easy guess plot and that, The love story is obvious... and the actors' dialogues are filled with testosterone." Critics also said the film only picks up in the second half, when we finally see more of the monster.

The only one who had a positive thing to say about Outlander was The Hollywood Reporter, which called it, "entertaining nonsense."

These negative reviews hurt my heart. How could they mess this up? It's Vikings versus an alien, just let it happen! Or maybe people actually went to this movie to see something other than vikings fighting an alien? I know that I won't be going looking for the love story from Pride and Prejudice, but there had better be a whole lot of horned-helmeted Viking bluster, and alien gnashing of fangs.

[Outlander]

Six of One, the Prisoner fan page claims that Ian McKellen will play one of the men in charge of The Village, Number 2. Also shooting starts the first week of August in Namibia, South Africa. There will be total of 6 one-hour episodes written by Bill Gallagher (scribe for Conviction).

The original Prisoner followed a former spy known only as Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan) who's imprisoned inside the futuristic town-prison named The Village. Everyone who is taken to this remote location was brought there to keep their knowledge away from the public and to have their secrets discovered by the mysterious jailers. Number 6 can't escape and doesn't know why he's there, and he ends up spending a majority of his time trying to uncover who his captors are.

Yay, finally a new scifi remake that deserves some attention. It's a simple idea that can easily be translated and updated without butchering the plot or ideas of the original. Bring it on I say, especially with McKellen as the crafty Number 2. [Six Of One and Wired]