Before tonight’s finale of Sullivan’s Crossing, I had the opportunity to talk with actor Scott Patterson about his role as Harry “Sully” Sullivan and the experience he had in what he calls a “very supportive” set.
“It’s a very professional crew with very supportive directors. You feel safe doing your work [and] exposing yourself emotionally, with such raw and naked emotions. It’s a wonderful opportunity,” he recalled.
That opportunity was given to him by showrunner Roma Roth. Scott echoed co-star Morgan Kohan’s words about Roth being highly collaborative and that she recognized the caliber of actors she had and was open to the ideas as seasoned actors that they had to bring. In Scott’s experience, he had never been a part of a production before that had been as collaborative to such an extent. “I had a million ideas about storylines. Some were preposterous, some weren’t so preposterous. Roma’s classy enough to humor me with considering them,” he said. He goes on to say, “We can’t make miracles on screen without the basis, the architecture, and that’s what Roma provides us. We’re very lucky in that regard.”
Sullivan’s Crossing is based in Nova Scotia and the land Sully owns is a part of Mi’kmaq territory, a First Nations tribe of indigenous people within Canada’s borders. Throughout the show we see that Sully is extremely respectful of that culture and those people, and that is something Patterson related to and part of what drew him to the role. Hailing from a very academic family, Patterson was raised with a knowledge and respect of the Native American traditions and he was steeped in the culture in his early days. That stuck with him throughout his life. When he read the first script sent to him by Roma Roth, “I rubbed my hands together [and thought], ‘Oh boy, this is right up my alley.’ [The role] appealed to me greatly,” he said.
Patterson especially appreciated how the show represented the indigenous people of Canada through the backgrounds of characters Frank and Edna, portrayed by Tom Jackson and Andrea Menard, respectively, and he delighted in getting to work with two actors he classifies as icons. “I’ve often described working with Tom as working with a mountain; a large, natural and breathtaking force of nature that is immovable. He is one of the most beautiful souls I’ve ever met and he’s already, in the brief time that I’ve known him, influenced my life in really positive ways, as well as Andrea. A wonderful opportunity to really get close with people who have had a much different experience in their journey than I have,” he praised.
Jackson and Menard are both indigenous people of Canada, with Jackson being from the Cree people, and Menard being of Métis descent. While not the focus of the show, the creators of Sullivan’s Crossing have shown some of the language and traditions of those peoples through the characters of Tom and Edna. “It’s a great way to depict this community that was once masters of their own destiny that have come under the thumb of a different culture,” Patterson said, adding that he was eager to be a part of honoring those traditions.
With the changing of the world and globalization affecting different cultures, often under the guise of “progress,” Sully’s own culture and way of life is being threatened. Financiers are pressuring him to sell as his guest numbers dwindle, with people more interested in a fast paced world and have lost their reverence of nature. Sully has described Sullivan’s Crossing as a “sanctuary,” and, even as foreclosure bears down on him going into the finale, that is something he is determined to protect. “At the end of the day, he’s a conservationist,” Patterson said. “That’s his responsibility, to take care of that chunk of Earth, and he’ll defend it to his dying breath.”
Watch the season finale of Sullivan’s Crossing tonight (December 13) at 8/7c on The CW, streaming free tomorrow on The CW app, and return to KSiteTV later in the week to read the second part of my interview with Scott Patterson, where he talks about the finale’s shocking revelations!