Rob Tapert
The Chakram Newsletter: Issue 18
In the fourth episode of Hercules, called “Ares,” the character was a bubbling pool of goo. We had used Kevin Smith in the part of Iphicles, Hercules' brother. He was good in that role, but it didn't allow him to shine. It was a supporting role and Iphicles was a bit of a whiner because he was the brother who didn’t understand why he didn't get what Hercules had.
Then we did “The Reckoning” on Xena. It was among the early episodes that established the bad boys of Xena’s past. That was the first time Xena and Ares had actually ever seen one another.
Diana Rowan, the casting director, was a tremendous fan of Kevin Smith. And I had seen him in Desperate Remedies with Michael Hurst, Jennifer Ward-Leland, Lisa Chappelle. I filed away Kevin’s performance in that movie for future reference. Because Ares was a wild, sexy character, Diana recommended him.
Because we had used him as Iphicles, we decided to give him a beard. We came up with the mustache and goatee. That suited Kevin’s face and personality perfectly. Over the course of the years, we had various paste-on sideburns, but Kevin's one of those men who can grow a beard or a mustache overnight.
When we first started Xena, we didn’t know if we would go past one season. But during “The Reckoning,” Charlie Siebert, the director, had only the kindest of words about working with Kevin. And Lucy praised him as well. Once we saw that episode, we knew there was a chemistry there worth revisiting. When a character played by Kevin Smith is beckoning Xena, that’s a real hard call not to answer.
I had research done on Kevin's “Q” factor. That charts people’s awareness of an actor. He had a very high “Q” rating. At one point, we were working on possibly doing a show starring Kevin. We put together a clip reel of his work for the studio and the distributors and they loved him. Everybody thought that sooner or later the proper part was coming that would establish him as a star.
Over the numerous hours of television we did, he got stronger and we realized his incredible talent to be a Cary Grant type of leading man. He was sultry and sexy. Yet he could be self-deprecating. In a moment, he could go from threatening to funny and be totally believable. Kevin was like a fine wine that finally found the proper time to open the bottle.