James Wolk and Eloise Mumford, the stars of Fox's new drama Lone Star [premiering Sept. James Wolk and Eloise Mumford, the stars of Fox's new drama Lone Star [premiering Sept. 20) are both far more attractive in person than they are on the TV screen. 20) are both far more attractive in person than they are on the TV screen. That's the first thing. Lone Star follows a man named Bob Allen (Wolk) living out a double life in Texas. Mumford plays his unsuspecting small-town girlfriend, Lindsay, who's blithely unaware of his marriage to a ritzy, uptown woman...and her powerful oil tycoon family. While the two were in town earlier this summer for a press junket, we got a chance to talk about their love of Mumford & Sons (no relation), how Jon Voight is one bad-ass dude, vampires, Wolk's secret love of Dawson's Creek and the fact that Betty White is pretty damn awesome. Among other things.
Phoenix:So, what drew you both to the project?
Eloise Mumford: The script itself is so well-written. Kyle Killen, who wrote it, from the first scene he draws you in and I was really excited about the writing in particular. It was an unusual sort of subtlety. There was a grit and a heart in it that wasn't in a lot of the other pilots that I was reading. And also the team who was involved ... Jimmy and Marc Webb, who directed the pilot, just everyone involved was so wonderful. So that's it for me.
James Wolk: I felt similarly when I read it. The character was originally in his late 30s and I was thinking 'Ok, this is great writing, the writing is on the page, it was really wonderful, but I can't play that old of a character.' I'm not that old and I don't want to "play up" for that many years. But I came in, and I read it and I was really a fan of the director Mark Webb who, as Eloise said, is a really great director. I was a fan of what he'd done, and I was a fan of the writing and I thought the character was a really multi-dimensional character that you could take a lot of places. And with TV you can be tied to a project for several years. It could be for 3 months or 7 years, but you have to be prepared. So you want to choose something that's going to challenge you.
Phoenix: I know Mark Webb directed 500 Days of Summer, which had a really great soundtrack. The pilot already has featured a few cool indie bands. Do you think Webb is going to take the show in a direction where it's going to be a platform for up-and-coming bands?
Mumford: That's so funny — we were literally just talking about that! We were listening to Mumford & Sons, which there's a lot of in the pilot episode.
Wolk: We love Mumford & Sons.
Mumford: We were talking about how he [Webb] really set a great tone with the music in the pilot, as far as unusual music or a little bit more unknown music ... which, really, we love, goes. So we hope that continues.
