Pic from Comics Continuum
Excerpts from Visimag's Xpose #67: Victor Webster, on Pink Hearts V.W.M.X. Pages 1, 2 and 4 *Property of the former Pink Hearts website
Live Wire
Mutant X's Victor Webster tells Bryan Cairns why he doesn't want his character to become a sex symbol. Some hope!
Unlike his Mutant X co-star Forbes March (Xpose #64), Victor Webster is a bit of a comic fan. "Ever since I was a kid, I was into Mad, Archie, Groo the Wanderer, Spider-Man, Batman, and Alpha Flight," he says. "I was huge into comics. I used to love them! I would buy a whole bunch of them so I had something to read at school, slipped in between my books. Then I would draw a lot. My notebooks were covered with doodles."
Some things don't change. As he sits on the sidelines of the Mutant X set while his co-stars take their turn in the limelight, Webster is engrossed in the comic book The Tenth. In fact, his backpack is full of four-color titles. This is obviously a guy capable of reciting the Justice League of America roster from A to Z or distinguishing Black Canary from Black Widow. This passion for the superhero community not only makes Webster a shoe-in for his charged-up character but also gives him some insight into what fans want--and what works onscreen.
"This isn't a comic book script," he says about Mutant X. "It is very dramatic in its approach. It's more of a serious, darker show. It can't be too comic booky because I don't think the appeal would be that broad. The action has to be comic booky because that is what people are looking for, an escape from realism, but the actual drama has to be something that people can relate to."
Drama such as the dark past of Webster's character Brennan Mulwray, who can pump out enough electrical juice to keep Disney World alight and manifests his talent in the form of lightning balls, streams of electricity and high voltage currents through metal objects. But Brennan did not always fight for the side of good....
...career. Ranging from construction worker and shoes salesman to bouncer and stockbroker, he was the proverbial jack-of-all-trades before breaking into modeling. Though he worked with such fashion big-wigs as Versace, Armani, and International Male, Webster says of the catwalk game that "It wasn't fulfilling enough," so numerous commercials followed, before his first big acting break came in fairy-tale fashion when a customer at the restaurant where he was waiting tables in Orange County recommended sending in a resume and portfolio for the daytime soap Sunset Beach. After a reading, the casting agents said, "'We really like you a lot,'" recalls Webster. "'We're going to cast you.' And I go 'Really? What's that?'"
Webster didn't get the part he'd been recommended for, but instead nabbed a recurring role as Roger the bartender before the show went under. His presence, and no doubt good looks, then caught the attention of NBC's Days of Our Lives where he remained for a year before notching up roles in the AMC's series The Lot, the recent TV movie The Chippendale Murder, and the feature film Gangland.
"Acting always has been a fantasy of mine," explains Webster. "I used to watch James Bond wishing I was a secret service agent or a superhero. I used to jump off the roof thinking I was Superman but I couldn't fly and broke my leg. My Mom used to call me Mr. Dress-Up when I was a kid because I used to have this trunk of towels, robes, hats, and stuff. I would go around pretending I was a pirate or army guy. I was always fascinated with who I could be at anytime I wanted."
But one thing he doesn't want to be is a sex sypmbol, though he doesn't have much choice. As Nicholas Alamain on Days of Our Lives, Webster had his fair share of seduction, lip-locking, and steamy bedroom antics. Tack on his modeling gigs, a Playgirl layout, and choreographed bump and grind movies in The Chippendale Murders and you've got a guy with a growing female fanbase. But despite the success it has earned him, Webster would like to be known more than just a hunky poster boy.
"I don't know about Forbes, but I try to play mine down," he says about his sex appeal. "I'm really trying to get away from that. That's why I like the shaggy hair do, the cut off jeans, the who-gives-a-crap attitude, and the funny stupid faces. To me, I want to draw them in and get them involved in the story so any kind of thing that will make me look pretty, I don't want. I don't want to do scenes with my shirt off. The very beginning we had to because it really fit in the storyline but I don't want to do anything gratuitous unless it is necessary. I don't want to be the guy who gets involved with a bunch of girls all the time. I want to be the guy that flirts, is very charismatic, but doesn't screw around 'cause that's really now what he's about. He likes the girls and the attention, but he's kind of a serious guy."
In that sense he's a lot like Webster himself, who explains that with this cast every character mirrors some aspect of the actor portraying them. Now since Webster also describes Brennan as "smart-ass, funny, very confident, and a joker," it's easy to draw parallels. During one scene where fellow mutant Emma's life depends on a machine restoring her to normal, team mate Jesse Kilmartin (Forbes March) demands the equipment work "Harder! Harder!" As soon as the director yells cut, Webster jests about the dialogue. ["You'd think this was Mutant XXX," he quips.] He later notes his character's witty combacks are what he would usually say in real life so the writers tend to let him run wild with some of the lines.
He's also able to let loose during the fight scenes, as the 28-year-old actor acquired one skill which has proven especially handy on Mutant X during his earlier wild days. On a show where fighting is the norm, Webster stands out as the pro. He's professionally competed in martial arts, has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and an undefeated record as an amateur kickboxer. So when the cast enrolled in hand-to-hand boot camp, Webster felt it was like returning to kindergarten.
"It was all running around, flipping, putting on wires then doing back spins and kicks," he says. "But the skills pay off. One, for the ability to see it's a real deal. You see a lot of people that try and it looks cheesy. Second of all for accuracy, for not kicking someone in the face accidentally or punching them."
Another unreleased projet which relied heavily on the action department was the upcoming horror flick Wishmaster IV. Although Webster's character may be the one responsible for finally corking the series' supernatural menace, he didn't walk away from the shoot unscathed.
"I play this really crazy hunter who fights the djinn at the end," he reveals. "I think they synthesized my voice to make it weird and cool. I have the sword from it and I sliced my finger open using it. I still think I have the scar from it. Pretty much all my scenes are fighting and chopping people's heads off."
When Webster isn't battling mutants or duking it out with demonic genies, he enjoys hitting the gym, watching TV or movies and of course, reading comic books. However, it's his involvement in various children, animal, and abused women charities that earn him top marks. Any Superman or Spider-Man fan can tell you it's not the clothes or even the super-powers that makes the man. Instead, it's the unselfish good deeds and kindness. In real-life, as in fantasy, deeds talk louder than words.
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