From: waynebro@romeo.caltech.edu (Broughton, Wayne Jeremy)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.northern-exp
Subject: John Corbett Interview & Turner in Chevy Ad
Date: 10 Oct 1992 17:59 PDT
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: romeo.caltech.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

Sorry if this has already been discussed but I don't remember seeing
it here......

This afternoon I was sipping an espresso and munching a blueberry
muffin in our local "Vroman's" bookstore, when I suddenly saw Corbett's
sea-green eyes gazing calmly out from a magazine cover.  It was the
Fall '92 issue of "In Fashion", and featured a two-page interview of
Corbett.  Some details from it: (from memory; I didn't want to buy a 
whole fashion magazine for such a short article :-) ) 

-he gave some biographical info: was a steelworker in hometown of 
Wheeling, Virginia, since that was one of the few union jobs there;
went to Cerritos Community College in California, almost dropped out
after a few weeks, but fortunately took up acting classes; appeared in
some 50 commercials including one where he pilots a flying van around
the Empire State Building (?); and then landed the part in NX, somewhat
reluctantly since he thought the title "Northern Exposure" sounded a little
lame, like some Arctic expedition

-he said the Chris persona existed before he was on the cast, but it's
remarkable the overlap between Chris and Corbett (riding Harleys, etc.)
considering the writers don't know him all that well

-he says playing Chris has increased his appreciation for literature
(he only remembers reading Macbeth in high school and says much of 
the latter is "blurry"), but admits that it hasn't increased his 
reading any;  however, he says he listens to more serious and cultural
radio stations now ("below 90 on the FM dial")

-he has developed a liking for some of the Seattle bands, particularly
mentioning Queensryche which he saw last New Year's Eve

-last book he read was an anthology called "Cathedral" by Raymond 
somebody-or-other

-he feels his current fame and "sex-symbol" status are temporary, and
will fade out after NX wraps it up

-he said men/women relationships are hard in the 90's; he doesn't even
know what he's thinking and so can't figure out what somebody else is
thinking;  he said he ends up playing games and ego-trips, and altogether
sounded dissatisfied with that area of his life....

-when asked "what do we need to change?", he launched into a short but
fervent pro-environment tirade, calling humanity "...money-grubbing, 
polluting, luggage-stealing (?!?), two-time convicts (??)" among other
things, who need to change their lifestyles: no more selfish 15 minute
showers or leaving behind half the food in a $50-a-plate restaurant

Overall his tone was (surprisingly un-Chris-like) self-deprecatory and
even somewhat depressive.  The article also included two cool black-and-
white photos of Corbett, one where he looks like he's in meditative
rapture, the other where he has his head in his hand as though despairing
(my descriptions may suffer from an overactive imagination).


And yesterday I finally saw the much-mentioned Chevy (?) commercial
in which our favourite Alaskan mail-carrier appears.  Having just
read some of the previous posts on it, it looks like we have two
versions of this commercial, folks; one in which both car and full-
length-dress-attired Turner are seen, and the other with just her 
pretty face.  I saw the former.  And I agree that she is not really
helping to sell the car.  Her speech was stilted.  Actually, I was
intrigued when somebody (sorry, forget who) pointed out recently that
Turner's acting seems to suffer from a lack of credibility in her line
delivery;  I hadn't thought of this before, but it struck me as  
plausible, and I will be watching for it in future.


Finally, I preferred "Northwest Passages" to the "Midnight Sun"
episode. :-)

Regards,

Wayne.
**********************************************************************

Wayne J. Broughton                 Take the road less travelled by.  
waynebro@juliet.caltech.edu    
Department of Mathematics,
Caltech, Pasadena, CA  91125

Caltech has no idea what my opinions are;  
they think I'm working right now...
Newsgroups: alt.tv.northern-exp