It's not about ghosts, it's about hallucinations.
That's an important distinction according to Jeff Goldblum, star of the new TV series Raines.
"In researching the role, I focused on people with mental episodes and disorders and hallucinations," the veteran actor said. "It had nothing to do with anything paranormal or ghosts or seeing ghosts. That has nothing to do with us.
"I'm this guy who has these hallucinations. I didn't really focus on the ghost thing at all."
In other words, Raines is not just another Medium, or another Ghost Whisperer. Which is a good thing, because Goldblum doesn't have the figure for either of those shows.
Goldblum stars as Michael Raines, a Los Angeles policeman who interacts with deceased victims in an effort to solve their murders.
Raines is not haunted by ghosts, though. The dead people he talks to are the products of his own mind.
Raines has rejoined the police force only recently, after an incident in which he was shot. And now other officers are seeing him talking to himself on a regular basis.
So is Raines merely employing some creative crime-solving techniques, or is he outright crazy?
"(Raines) has been unconventional in some ways, very intuitive, original and different," Goldblum said of his character. "But now, add to that, he is having a real episode. That's why it's such a dilemma.
"You can't carry a gun and do this kind of work if you tell people and they know that you're hallucinating. And you can't go on medication to help that and still be on the job.
"But I think there's another aspect in that he's losing his mind, but maybe it's not such a bad thing. He's discovering new parts of his identity which are a little more spacious."
Raines was created by Canadian screenwriter Graham Yost, who is the son of TV Ontario legend Elwy Yost. The younger Yost was asked why the pilot episode does not spend more time on an upfront explanation of why and how Raines is able to do what he does.
"I didn't want to belabour the whole thing," Yost said. "We sort of deal with it early on and run with it. The dynamic between Raines and his hallucinations is what's going to be entertaining, and that's what we're staking our bet on right now.
"It was never to be supernatural. I thought the hallucinatory aspect of it, the delusion, was more interesting because it ultimately becomes a conversation between someone and himself. There are questions we want to get to. Who is he really talking to? What does that represent in himself? Why does he do this?
"If in fact you're talking to a ghost who actually was the person who died, I don't know why you wouldn't just say, 'Who killed you?' And then you're done. In this case, the hallucination, the victim, only knows what Raines knows. And the victim ends up being Raines' partner on each case."
Yost said he's confident audiences will tune in for Goldblum and then fall in love with the concept. And it's the unique concept that attracted an actor of Goldblum's stature to the rigours of a network TV series.
"This guy (Raines) has been effective all his life and confident about his place in the world as a cop, and then these bad events happen," Goldblum said. "And we find out in a later episode that his marriage broke up a couple of years ago, too.
"So his mind starts to play tricks on him. And it's disturbing, but I think it has an interesting, adventurous, very lively effect on him.
"It's a real inside odyssey that really intrigued me."
The ghost-free Raines debuts a week from tonight on CH and NBC.
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