Ron Moore’s virtual-reality-gone-amok new space show Virtuality has nabbed its leading man in actor James D’Arcy, a mostly British TV actor who has had a couple of big movies, including “Master and Commander” with Russell Crowe and last year’s “Rise” with Lucy Liu. Virtuality, for FOX, is being described as a “back door pilot” — that is, FOX will foot the bill for a 2-hour movie, and if the movie does well, then they’ll make a TV series out of it. If not, they’ll write it off as a loss and move on.
The Hollywood Reporter has more on the casting:
The sci-fi project, to be directed by Peter Berg, is set aboard the Phaeton, Earth’s first starship, on a 10-year journey to explore a distant solar system. To help the crew endure the long trip, NASA equips the ship with advanced virtual reality modules, allowing them to assume adventurous identities and go anyplace they want.
Brit D’Arcy (”Churchill at War”) will play the ship’s psych officer, who produces the virtual reality shows.
D’Arcy was also the lead in a FOX science fiction show called Them that never got greenlight. I’m still hoping to see the show one of these days, but it doesn’t look like it. The show also co-starred Tricia Helfer of Battlestar Galactica fame.
