V-A Day Speech

No, that was a very astute answer. I can see what you're talking about.

Thank you. If you keep watching, there is an episode where they celebrate V-A Day which is the day that the war ended. Again, if you strip away all the Nazi stuff, it could be Thanksgiving. It could be an Independence Day. It is really chilling by how closer it is to the American Dream than not at all.

I'm still in season one, but I plan to keep watching. I did get to interview Lini Evans who appeared on the show and had wonderful things to say about it.

Oh, she's a lovely person!

She told me how wonderful her experience had been on the show. And there are also some kids from When Calls the Heart who have appeared in the show. They were the first people to tell me about
this show.

I really hope you enjoy it. We've all been talking it up, and you might go in with expectations and come out saying, "Actually, this is garbage." {laughs}

Oh, I know it won't be garbage. I know the first episode was a little slow, but I think the first episode of the first season of any show is slow because they are establishing everything. But I was intrigued, and it was so chilling from the very beginning. Even the song choice--having them sing Edelweiss and just thinking that if the Nazis had won...this is why we fought.

It's haunting.

I was looking at the places that you filmed. Is it true that some of the show was actually filmed in Washington state?

They filmed the pilot in and around Seattle. And they also do some of the filming on location, so they did do some filming in Germany.

I'm asking because it's so rare to see anything filmed in my state.

I think they would have loved to have stayed in Seattle, but they weren't allowed to have Nazi insignia--which is understandable--so they were having to add it all in post-production, and it was becoming quite expensive to CGI all these swastikas.

Photo: Liz Rosa
MKU: LucyAnn Botham
Styling: Heidi Farnola
So in addition to The Man in the High Castle, do you have any other current/upcoming works you can mention?

I've worked on a couple plays.
One of them is with Mayumi Yoshida who plays the crown princess in The Man in the High Castle. I did do a small stint on The Romeo Section, and that was a very popular show here in Canada. I also shot a pilot called Ask Will, which is this quirky dramedy in the style of Arrested Development or Curb Your Enthusiasm. We are hoping to get a series pickup with that one. That would be absolutely amazing. I also shot a Canadian feature called Prodigals which stars one of my The Man in the High Castle co-stars, Kaniehtiio Horn (Hemlock Grove). But it's true that The Man in the High Castle truly does consume my time. I shoot a lot of indies on the side when I can. But they are "super-indies," like they'll probably never see the light of day outside of
YouTube.

One last question. What do you like to do in your free time?

The truth is I'm a terrible workaholic. Free time is really still work time. I still work as a lawyer sometimes. I own a distribution company called Emerging Pictures, and we do a lot of indie stuff. I am a big supporter of indie films. I meet with indie directors and producers and try to help them get their work out there. With everything that I'm shooting, my schedule is like this. I work. I go to the gym. I eat. And then I'm working on actor stuff. {laughs} I'm the most boring person alive, to be honest.

No, you're not the most boring person alive. I promise. {laughs} I would call you a workaholic who loves what you do. I fully understand because I'm that way too.

Well, that is the benefit--I do enjoy what I'm doing. I like to read as well. For the show, I do a lot of reading about Japanese history, but I like history anyway. So it's nice to indulge in things you like that also feed your work. I say I'm a workaholic, but I think I'm only a workaholic because I like what I do.

While the vast majority of the people over the past year that I have spoken with are immeasurably kind, courteous, and supportive, Lee is one of those rare individuals who exudes warmth from the moment you meet him.
I realize I only "met" him over Skype, but all of his interactions with me have been considerate, uplifting, and overtly hospitable from the moment we began interacting. While the preponderance of people I meet through my interviews are humble and benevolent, Lee took such a genuine interest in me that reviewing this interview was an especially sweet experience. Having music in common probably established a quick and mutual foundation for our exchanges, and the fact that he actively listened to my responses and questions is a quality that resonated with me on a profound level. Lee is an actor and professional with unrestricted depth, but the fact that his interactions with me were so authentic explains exactly why, in my opinion, he has had such success in this business, especially with recurrent roles. He doesn't go out of his way to network; some people have to make a conscious decision to do that until it becomes "second nature" in this business. But with Lee, it seems that he is able to seek and find connections with ease and relate to people on a sincere level. I would say that like me, he has an insatiable desire to know and understand the people with whom he comes in contact, and I, for one, find that refreshing. While I interviewed him and attempted to
direct the conversation to be about him and his work, in so many ways, he regularly turned the conversation towards others in order to feature and highlight them rather than himself. And that IS a remarkable quality, not just amongst actors, but amongst humanity as a whole. I would invite everyone to be sure to check out all his links below and follow him on social media where you can. Furthermore, if you are able and willing, be certain that you check out The Man in the High Castle, as the show is continuing to break records and produce fine, entertaining shows that have the potential to cause us to pause and consider "what if" and hopefully make us proud and relieved that in spite of all of our problems and disagreements as Americans, we live in a democracy that is rooted in the concepts of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.