CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

It's not always easy to see when you're supposed to be taking The Invisible Man Joel Bissonnette seriously. In the midst of what appears to be an earnest conversation, the Canadian actor will suddenly pull a face or say somethiing outlandish in a manner that leave you unsure where exactly he's coming from.

Bissonnette's mercurial quality was something that helped convince The Invisible Man creator Matt Greenberg to cast him in the role of the series' central villain. As the larger-than-life Dr. Arnaud de Fehrn (a.k.a. Arnaud de Thiel), Bissonnette plagues the show's title character, Darien Fawkes (Vincent Ventresca), as he tries to discover the secrets of the invisibility-inducing quicksilver gland inside Fawkes' head.

"I love playing the bad guy," says Bissonnette as he meets dreamwatch in San Diego, just a short distance away from The Invisible Man's production base. "It's a scream, for sure. I think it's hard to play the hero. I think Vince has the hard job playing Fawkes. Although he's sort of an anti-hero, he still has to save the day at some point. Villains can do whatever they want."

"I think everybody wants to play the villain, because you cut the invisible cord of morality," he continues. "It's all about ego - and, of course, you can do comic turns."

As the first season of The Invisible Man progressed, de Fehrn assumed some of the attributes of a wisecracking Bond villain. But by the end of the climactic two-oart episode Money for Nothing, it appears as if his quest for the secret of invisibility has finally driven him mad. While de Fehrn's development has intrigued viewers, it has created some potential problems for Bissonnette.

"I'm starting to have some concern about being bad all the time," he reveals, "and that I'm making bad moments too funny. Even though the show takes tremendous liberties with reality, I guess I'm beginning to feel a little bit responsible, doing some kind of mugging take just after I've shot somebody. But it always seems to happen. Yesterday, I shot my assistant - and then I turn to Fawkes and say, 'That's the best way to win an argument. You should try it sometime.' But I'm not going to let it get in the way too much."

THE INVISIBLE RICKMAN

De Fehrn was originally conceived as a 'Doogie Howser-type character' - a whizz-kid who constantly showed up all the other scientists involved in the invisibility project. That concept was changed, however, when Bissonnette attended his audition and filmed a subsequent screen test for Matt Greenberg and the pilot episode's director, Breck Eisner. Noting that Bissonnette had "an Alan Rickman-esque quality," Greenberg adapted his initial view of the character to suit the actor - and even ensured that de Fehrn lived on into the weekly series despite his apparent death in the show's opening adventure.

"I was talking to Matt Greenberg during the pilot, and he said that I had to come back," recalls Bissonnette. "I pointed out that they had just blown me up with nine hand grenades. 'We'll work it out,' Matt said, but they never have. Nobody has ever told me how I survive!"

Speaking of Greenberg, Bissonnette is happy to offer his view of The Invisible Man's creator. "The thing about Matt Greenberg is that he doesn't know what he wants until I tell him," he says deadpan. "He needs me to be pulling his strings. He's got a good vision, but he needs me to shape it and refine it!"

On a more serious note, Bissonnette continues: "He's a good guy, Matt. It's his baby. We had a lot of fun, and he gave me so much freedom. Literally to this day, I get to do whatever I want, which is a strange thing.:

Bissonnette believes that because of the speed at which episodes of The Invisible Man are made, the directors are forced to concentrate on the effects, and leave the actors to use their own knowledge and experience to make their parts work. "With new directors, the come and ask me what I think Arnaud should do," he explains. "They're more concerned about leaving space for invisible shots. They assume that I know what I'm doing - and I do, which is the amazing part!"

THE PLAY'S THE THING

When asked to outline his approach to playing de Fehrn, Bissonnette makes it clear that he has a specific vision of the Swiss-French villain.

"I wanted him to be so unlikeable, so 'smarter-than-thou'." he reveals. "He's the guy at high school that you just want to best, but he wins anyway. You beat the crap our of him, but he gets the hottest girls. He's the kind of guy who's going to win. So you detest him for that — but I also wanted Arnaud to be likeable to the audience. I didn't want to make him so repugnant that people couldn't somehow get behind him."

Although de Fehrn is famed for his apparently intricate schemes, Bissonnette has an unusual theory about the real motives behind his character's behaviour.

"It almost seems like he makes up these super-complicated plots, not because they are the best way of achieving his goal, but because they give him the opportunity to put on these plays! I think he's a closet actor in one way, and maybe one day he'll realise the error of his ways, and stop killing people."

At this point, Bissonnette stand and exclaims: "For God's sake man, stop killing everyone, and put on a play!"

Bissonnette himself fell into acting by mounting plays in the street when he was a youngster growing up in Montreal. Inspired by his early experiences, he went on to appear in such films and TV series as Fight Club, Darkman III, Psi Factor and TekWar, before being cast as de Fehrn. Most recently, he starred as a betrayed husband in the independent movie Suspicious River.

While he prefers film acting to television, Bissonnette says that he has been pleasantly surprised by the quality of The Invisible Man. "It's really good," he states. "The show has discovered its feet, and now it's got something going on that's unique and funny. Normally, I like sci-fi movies that are film noir. Special effects don't thrill me - I like the stories.

"It's nice to be able to be on a show that is cool. I wasn't annoyed by the effects, and I wasn't just being mercenary and looking for my own good moments."

ON THE EDGE

In common with his Invisible Man colleagues Vincent Ventresca and Paul Ben-Victor (Robert Hobbes), Bissonnette also appreciates the fact that the series takes risks. "The internet is forcing television to be more niche-oriented," he explains, "so they can do something more original. It's okay if only a million people like it. They're not competing against NBC - the big networks are kissing off a certain amount of viewership. I like shows that are less restricted in terms of structure - that don't have to be defined as a comedy or drama. The cast can change. Things can be more surreal. There's some other sort of focus that keeps the same show coming back."

Joel Bissonnette suddenly bursts out laughing again, unable to maintain the seriousness of the moment any longer. "It's such fun," he states. "It's a gas!"