Interview: Jack Cutmore-Scott & Chris Fedak Talk ‘Deception’ Scene!

villainmediacom
Deception Scene,Chris Fedak, Jack Cutmore-Scott,

(Courtesy of ABC/Giovanni Rufino)

From our set visit into ABC’s newest crime drama, Deception,Villain Media has an exclusive interview with actor Jack Cutmore-Scott, creator Chris Fedak, and magician/consultant Francis Menotti discussing the magic behind Cameron Black’s tricks. Take a behind-the-scenes look at how a scene is made featuring magician Cameron Black (Scott) and FBI agent Kay Daniels (Ilfenesh Hadera).

As we previously mentioned, the career of superstar Las Vegas magician Cameron Black (Jack Cutmore-Scott) may have been ruined by scandal. But he’s found another place to put his skills of deception, influence, and illusion to use; the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As a consulting illusionist, Cameron uses every trick — even while inventing new ones as necessary — to help the government catch the world’s most elusive criminals and solve crimes that defy all explanation.

The ABC drama comes from the minds of Chuck co-creator Chris Fedak (Chuck) and magician/consultant David Kwong (Now You See Me). Blending action, drama, and spectacle all together, Blindspot creator Martin Gero and Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon) — who has just about dominated the superhero genre on The CW Network — serve as executive producers on the show.

Before the third episode, Escapology, airs March 25, 2018 at 10pm, actor Jack Cutmore-Scott, creator Chris Fedak, and magician Francis Menotti discuss how an integral scene in the second installment came about. I love actor/director’s commentaries on Blu-Rays and DVDs; so I’m going to try and replicate a roundtable discussion here. We’re going to look at the same scene told from three different POVs.

In the second episode, entitled Forced Perspective, Cameron continues to focus his energy on helping his brother. Meanwhile, Cameron and Kay stumble upon a case that involves unsuspecting tourists. Will they be able to save the tourists in time as they participate in a deadly reality show?

Deception Scene, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Chris Fedak,
DECEPTION – “Forced Perspective” – As Cameron continues to focus on helping his brother, he and Kay get to work on a case that has unknowing tourists participating in a reality show – yet it’s anything but real, it’s deadly, on “Deception,” airing SUNDAY, MARCH 18 (10:01-11:00 p.m. EDT), on The ABC Television Network. (ABC/Giovanni Rufino)
ADAM KAPLAN, JACK CUTMORE

[Spoilers: In case you haven’t seen the episode, please read our recap and watch the first two episodes On Demand. From this point-on, we’re diving deep into the second episode.]

During Forced Perspective, Cameron realizes the shooter doesn’t realize he’s being played; he thinks it’s all part of a game show. The shooter thought they were being filmed, but there was actually poison in the water gun he fired from.

From the point-of-view of the actor, Scott had just finished working on the pilot. With the tone and premise established in the pilot, the second episode is actually the first really where the cast and crew get to explore what the series is about.

Scott remembers, “In Episode 2, it’s such a big thing! Every relationship is new. You’re figuring it out as you go along. Coming back for episode two, six months later, I felt like I knew where the show was going and what it was going to be. I was excited! I had a  pretty good idea of where I was going with it.”

He continues, “When you get on set, the crew doesn’t know. They know about the show, read the scripts. In theory, they understand it.”

Halfway through the episode, Cameron and his magic team have a plan to take down gangster Mikhail. Not only does Daniels need Mikhail to squeal on his boss, she needs him to reveal the antidote behind the poison. In a shocking twist, Cameron and Mikhail end up being being sprayed with the same poison.

Showrunner Chris Fedak explains what it’s like to watch a scene he wrote come to life, “There’s a moment in our second episode our magicians built a simple bed. As a writer, I’m like we’ll just cut around that piece. For David [Kwong] and Francis [Menotti], they don’t want to cut around it. Let’s see how they do this. They built a table with our art department.”

All of a sudden, Mikhail witnesses Cameron die from the poison. One of the nurses throws a sheet over his entire dead body.

Scott adds, “On the first day of episode 2, it was a magic beat, where essentially there’s a body swap. I’m in a hospital bed and I’m dying essentially. They switch me out for a mannequin. There’s a sheet that covers my body.”

Fedak explains how the scene went from script to production, “Essentially, Cameron is lying on the table; something happens. Sheet comes over and all of a sudden, he has to come out the bottom. You see his form lying beneath that sheet. We built this whole thing. It’s one of those moments, where you’re working on the first episode of the show, the crew is trying to figure out how it’s all going to work.”

In an elaborate stunt, Cameron slips out from underneath the hospital bed and a cadaver is put in his place. Cameron sneakily walks out of the hospital room into his magic room, where Gunter (Vinnie Jones) is removing his mask.

Scott mentions the jitters he felt while having to perform the scene in one take, “It involves me falling into a ball, going through he hospital bed, and rolling out, and vanishing around the corner before the baddie sees me. I’m like, ‘This isn’t going to work! We’re going to have to shoot around it. We’ll do a special take and cut; do all this kind of thing!’ We set it up in a wide shot and just did it. It worked it the first take! That for me was big moment!”

With the magic beat pulled off, Fedak describes the moment of seeing everything work together, “There’s the thing, the sheet comes up, he flies beneath the table. You see the body beneath it. He starts running down the hallway; all in one shot. And the crew is like, ‘Oh! This is the show we’re woking on!’ You get a feel for it!”

From the perspective of the magician, Menotti explains the meaning behind the episode’s title, “There’s only one trick in the second episode that we actually really expose. Such a silly little thing! Something you’d probably guess as you’re watching it; how it’s being done. The whole point, the allegory, the magic is angles. If you see it this way, it’s magic. If you see it this way, it’s another way.”

[Writer’s Note: Links are highlighted in bold. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]

Airing March 25, 2018 at 10pm, in the third episode of Deception, “Escapology” follows Kay Daniels (Hadera) being called upon when an art museum is held hostage. Daniels enlists Cameron and his magic team to help rescue the hostage. How will Cameron and his team use the art of escapology?

Right after American Idol, Deception continues Sundays on ABC at 10pm.

By Jorge Solis

Close