Ford Flannagan is one of several Richmond actors who was cast for HBO’s “John Adams” miniseries. Though his part—as an unnamed smallpox doctor—took only a total of three to four days to shoot, there was much he enjoyed about the experience.
First of all, he said, “I think the film is great, very well done. Anyone who enjoys history will get a kick out of this.“ Like Laura Linney, who plays Abigail Adams, he hasn’t seen the whole series yet. But he has seen the first three episodes.
Flannagan spent some quality time with Linney. If you haven’t seen Part 2 of the miniseries, in which the two are featured together, here’s a sneak preview: Go to http://www.hbo.com/films/johnadams/index.html, click on Part 2, then click on Behind the Scenes.
That’s Flannagan in the poofy gray wig!
Although the costumes were heavy, he says—not to mention all that extra hair—“The food was incredible. I 
wanted to screw up every day so they’d bring me back.“
Waxing enthusiastic, he noted that the set chefs grilled fish one day. Other times, actors would find whole tables of beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, even desserts.
Once, he said, they had “Italian Day” with four different pastas. So—despite all you hear about how boring people often say it is to wait around on set—at least they eat well.
Flannagan said filming the smallpox scenes was a fairly lengthy process because of the special effects. No, not those nasty pox all over the kids’ faces, but the blood that erupted when he cut them to “bleed” them as part of their treatment.
“It took longer to set up than to shoot the first scene,“ he said. “They had to work out the kinks.“
Basically, he had a tube running up his sleeve from his wrist, down his back, down his pants and across the room to a man with a little squeeze bottle of “blood.“
One problem was that if people weren’t aware of the tubing and stepped on it, unexpected blood would spurt from Flannagan’s hand.
“In the first take,“ he recalled, “I felt my hand getting wet. It was dripping all down my arm, and I was dripping blood all over the medicine bag.“
Apparently the tube had taken a big hit.
“Then it was dripping all down my arm, and I was trying not to drip on Laura!“
Fortunately, said Flannagan, it was fixed pretty quickly. “Those props guys were amazing.“
Flannagan’s next big adventure is playing Peter Pan—for the third time since 1996—at Theatre IV’s Empire Theatre, beginning April 25. He’s been fully wired for the flying parts . . . and what a far cry from 18th-century doctor. For details, visit http://www.theatreivrichmond.org.
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