Fox Makes a ‘Roar’ Out of Myth

Shaun Cassidy’s last television creation was “American Gothic,” the dark, controversial 1995-96 CBS thriller that featured a lead character who was the devil.

Ron Koslow was responsible for the passionate, romantic cult classic, “Beauty and the Beast,” which ran on CBS from 1987 to 1990. An update of the beloved fairy tale, it chronicled the relationship between a New York attorney and a poetic man-beast.

Despite such disparate backgrounds, these two innovative executive producers have joined together to create “Roar,” Fox’s ambitious new action-adventure series that premieres Monday.

Teaming up with the former teen dream Cassidy, reports Koslow, has been a “terrific meld. I basically had worked on my own most of my life. Happily, it has turned into a terrific partnership. It’s sort of a wonderful blend of sensibilities.”

Their “Roar” is a lavish, epic adventure--filled with romance, action and magic, and set in a mythical land (think Ireland), circa 400 A.D. Australian hunk Heath Ledger plays Conor, a 20-year-old reluctant hero who must rise above personal tragedy and take up the sword of his late father, the king, and lead his people to freedom from the Romans.

Lisa Zane also stars as Queen Diane, a diabolical Roman ruler; John Saint Ryan is Fergus, a legendary warrior who becomes Conor’s big-hearted protector; and Sebastian Roche plays Longinus, Diane’s evil sorcerer, who actually is a 400-year-old Roman Centurion. Longinus is based on the actual historical figure who threw the spear that pierced the side of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Cassidy first met Koslow during production of “American Gothic.”

“He had come in about possibly working on the show and it didn’t work out that time,” Cassidy says. Koslow’s name was brought up again when Universal approached Cassidy about creating a series on an epic scale.

“The studio was interested in working with Ron, as was Fox,” Cassidy recalls. “When I started developing ‘Roar,’ they suggested he might be worth talking to again, because unlike ‘Gothic,’ this has a lot of the same romantic feeling and texture as ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ ”

Koslow quickly became interested when he learned the series was set in the 5th century. “How could I refuse that?” he says, laughing.

“Shaun had just read a book called ‘How the Irish Saved Civilization,’ which deals in part with life in the 5th century,” Koslow says. “Very little is known about [that period] and I knew practically nothing coming into it. I started doing some research. It was really interesting stuff. We got together and started sort of hammering out the series.”

Because so little is known of that era, it gave Cassidy the freedom to “create a world we haven’t seen [on TV]. Ron loved that. We came up with this story and these set of characters, a very mythic, magical and very romantic and passionate [series]. Fox loved it and gave us a 13 [episode] on-the-air commitment.”

Though the series is set 1,500 years ago, Cassidy believes that in many respects “Roar” doesn’t feel like a period piece.

“There are a lot of stories that are analogous to gangs, for example,” he says. “[The warriors] were very young. If you lived to be 30, that was a long life. The issues they were dealing with, of home and turf and fighting for survival--you can go to South Central and see that.

“There are also analogies to the Native American experience, when the Europeans showed up and said, ‘We are going to give you a better way of life,’ and they said, ‘Hey, we like our life. We are connected to the land.’ The Celts were very nature conscious. They viewed the world in a very magical way.”

Cassidy and Koslow chose Australia to shoot “Roar,” but not primarily for economic reasons. “We canvassed the globe, literally, starting in Ireland, of course, and then going to England and Canada and even Hawaii,” says Cassidy, “trying to find a place that would not only be accommodating weather-wise, but would give us the kind of scope and magic I imagined in 5th century Ireland.”

Ledger is enjoying doing his first American series. “It’s extremely hard work, but it’s extremely hard not to have fun. We are almost getting paid to play. My character has journeyed from every emotion under the sun, which has been hard, but on the other hand, we are sword fighting, horse riding and jumping. We have amazing fun off set.”

The actor good-naturedly acknowledges that he had never ridden a horse before the series. “I turned up on set three days before the first day of shooting because I had just finished another show. They quickly sent me out for horse training. I got on the horse and pretty much slid off on the other side. I couldn’t ride a horse to save myself. For two weeks, they used a double for the horse riding. Now I can canter and gallop. I have chopped a pumpkin off a stick while riding. I love horses now.”

Both executive producers are upbeat about the future of the series--after all, “Melrose Place” and “Northern Exposure” both bowed during the summer.

“In TV there is no guarantee of anything--like life,” Cassidy says. “But [Fox Entertainment Group President] Peter Roth believes summer is not something that should be handed over to cable. In the case of ‘Roar,’ they are launching it with more hoopla than a lot of the fall shows, which we appreciate. I am sure that if we have any kind of success we will find a place [on the schedule] in the fall or midseason.”

*

“Roar” premieres Monday at 9 p.m. on Fox.