Vanished star Gale Harold talks FBI, Deadwood and QAF

Like 24 and PRISON BREAK before it, VANISHED is FOX’s latest serialized series hoping to attract viewers with complex storytelling and non-stop action.

Gale Harold is part of the ensemble cast, playing FBI Agent Graham Kelton. Many fans know Harold as the licentious Brain Kinney on Showtime’s log-running gay drama QUEER AS FOLK. iF Magazine chatted with Harold about FBI values, being on DEADWOOD this season, and surprisingly not much about QAF.

iF MAGAZINE: I have to warn you before we start that I recognize you most from playing Brian Kinney on QUEER AS FOLK.

GALE: What was that you said? Something about some a**hole named Brian Kinney. But let’s not talk about him. Ok? [Laughs]

iF: How much research did you do for this role…was there FBI training that you were offered?

GALE: We did have the opportunity to do training. We worked with the LA field office, and interview a couple of agents there. There was one agent there that was our point person; one of the counselors there, a senior agent who was in charge of helping other agents. It was someone who helps agents involved with cases in which lethal force was used or cases that had gone wrong.

iF: There are some discussions about overreaching conspiracies on VANISHED how much have the actors been appraised of?

GALE: We’ve been given some glimpses of the text, that’s come out of the scripts. We’ve been given a few pieces, but it’s a mystery that’s unfolding. In working with this character everything is a conspiracy, even who you eat lunch with is a conspiracy. The bureaucracy of working with a government agency with all of the forces shifting and moving within it; for someone like Kelton who comes from a military background that joined the bureau as a way to continue to do what he’s good at. He wants to continue to defend his country but still follow orders.

iF: Do they give you any sort of story arc for this character that let’s you know what they intend to do with him?

GALE: Not too specific. They give me general arcs, and there is some interest in dealing with someone who is losing or has lost their faith. Their belief and value system has been shattered and they’re trying to get that back or to accept that it’s gone forever. My character is a real law and order guy who believing in his country and his duty. Some of the things he’s dealing with are the consequences of following orders in a system where something nefarious is going on. This is a challenging part for me to play, and FBI agent. That is not something in my life. Ideologically and politically we are very different, but I already really like Kelton a lot. That has a lot to do with the agents I met here in LA and the research has given me a different perspective into the worlds of liberal and conservative. These people look after law and order at what ever means necessary, and I don’t really believe in that. To hold onto those beliefs and stay true to them and do a lot of work that most people in their lives will never ever have to get even remotely close to; you see it and respect it. When you try to embody it, it teaches you new ways to look at life. That’s why I love Kelton, he is such a new character for me, and has taught me so much.

iF: Did you have to learn how to shoot a gun for this?

GALE: No, I wasn’t trained. I have some learning, some shooting experience in my past.

iF: And, you just came off of DEADWOOD where you carried a gun, what can you tell me about that experience working on the series?

GALE: It was the real high point in my working career so far. I was as is, as far as looks. I wasn’t on the level of Calamity Jane, as far as level of profanity and earth. We rode in, my brother and me, and we were dirty from the trail. There are not a lot of baths being taken in that time period. Going to DEADWOOD is like going to Neverland. It’s the period piece, it’s the honesty of the material, and it’s the mind of [David] Milch [Creator of DEADWOOD], which is like being in whole other wonderful place to be at. I love the language of the show; just the savage repetition of the word f**k is sort of a mantra.

iF: The language on DEADWOOD has been called Shakespearean by some critics.

GALE: There’s a lot of profanity in Shakespeare, more than people are aware of. Which one of the greatest writers of all time would be able to pass the standards and practices bar for television now? We would just have to wipe out the best writing that’s ever been done to get it on TV. Thank God for HBO and Showtime; where they are able to do what they want. Watching DEADWOOD this season, there are such strong lyrical archetypal themes created with the characters and how they interact that it is so fascinating to watch. It’s inspiring and overwhelming to watch. Hopefully, we have to ride back through town the other way and stop again for a few moments.

iF: If DEADWOOD goes into the three HBO movies, will you be returning?

GALE: I have no idea. I hope so, and I’ll be there in a flat second. It is a real place out there on a ranch. As ten or twenty years go by I think the show will only establish itself more and more, and I think the series was big surprise to everyone that watches it.