CSI goes into cyberspace
ames Van Der Beek rose to fame in the late 90s as the floppy-haired star of teen drama Dawson’s Creek, in which he played aspiring filmmaker Dawson Leery.
In recent years Van Der Beek has made a name for himself in comedy with starring roles in Friends With Better Lives and Don’t Trust the B.... in Apartment 23, in which he played a critically acclaimed, fictionalised version of himself.
We’re about to see Van Der Beek in his most action-packed role yet, as Elijah Mundo, an FBI officer tasked with hunting cybercriminals in CSI: Cyber. It’s the fourth show in the hit franchise and the only one remaining after the recent axing of the original, Las Vegas-set series. CBS has already commissioned a second season.
“I wanted to get into some more action stuff, so for the last, maybe four years or so I have been proactively training in martial arts, working out at a stunt gym,” says Van Der Beek by phone from the US.
“It turns out CBS offered this out of the blue. I don’t think they knew I was training but it was nice I got the offer and we very quickly started shooting and I was able to bring a year’s worth of preparation.”
Expect to see Van Der Beek doing plenty of running and jumping as he chases bad guys who have used their computer hacking skills to disable a rollercoaster, almost derail a subway train and target a ride-sharing service.
“I think the entire world is more technologically savvy than we have been in the past,” he says. “The slob, nerdy, loser sitting behind a desk locked to a computer I think is outdated, you can’t generalise.”
Van Der Beek respected the CSI franchise for helping bring forensics into the mainstream and thought making the new series about technology crimes rather than crimes in a specific city was a smart combination.
Another attraction was the chance to work alongside Boyhood star Patricia Arquette, whose character Special Agent Avery Ryan is a head of the FBI’s cybercrime unit. Ryan was inspired by real-life cyberpsychologist Mary Aitken, an international cybercrime expert, researcher and lecturer.
“They know how to make an entertaining, satisfying hour of television, take it into this brave new world and that sounds like a winning combination,” Van Der Beek says. “And that’s not even taking into account, the lead actress shot my favourite movie this year. It was a pretty attractive package.”
Van Der Beek says he was “technologically proficient for daily life” before making CSI: Cyber.
“Now I think unfortunately I know enough to be pretty wary of this ‘internet of things’ people talk about with such wide-eyed optimism,” he says.
“Really what I learnt is if you can connect, it’s vulnerable. If it goes online, it can be hacked. I look at things a little bit differently.
“Do I really need to be able to control all things remotely from the internet? I decided no. Keep the coffee maker offline.”
Aitken is a producer on the show and Van Der Beek says she has been on set and in the writers’ room to educate and offer advice.
“Some of the scariest conversations I have had have been with Mary Aitken and what is possible. She is just incredibly intelligent and it is really fascinating to watch her work. How would you, one question at a time, be able to paint what ends up being a very clear picture of the human being behind the various cyberattacks?
“The hook of the show is these crimes take place in cyberspace but they are committed by real flesh-and- blood people.
“They have issues and weaknesses and tendencies, that are real. We exploit those, as Mary does, to try to bring these people to justice.”
Does Van Der Beek think the show could end up scaring people?
“Our goal is to entertain people. Part of doing that is to scare them a little bit but we don’t want to make people terrified of engaging in any of the technology because a lot of it does make our lives easier.
“I think the goal really is, right after entertaining people to educate them, let them know there are ways to protect yourself, there are things to be aware of as we connect more and more devices.
“We have made episodes about certain things and between shooting them and airing them, the things have actually happened in real life.
“People will say ‘oh it’s ripped from the headlines’ but the writers are gnashing their teeth behind the scenes saying ‘it’s not ripped from the headlines, we thought of it first’.”
CSI: Cyber starts on Sunday at 9pm on Ten.
