By ANIKA VAN WYK --
Canada's RCMP are famous for the musical ride, but Canada's most beloved Mountie, Due South's Constable Benton Fraser, is going to take fans on one heck of an action ride.
Despite disinterest from U.S. networks, Alliance and CTV decided to go ahead with a third season. And judging from the first action-packed episode, which airs Sunday, the series is going to be better than ever.
"The season opener is like a bullet, isn't it? We've patterned the 13 shows so there are three big ones and some others that are more typically Due South and lower-keyed," says Paul Gross, who not only returns as the charmingly polite Fraser but has also taken on writing and executive producing duties.
The Calgary native admits wearing multiple hats has dramatically cut into his sleep time, but says it's more fun than tiring, thanks in part to a well-organized crew. Besides, he's mastered the art of power naps.
"It's been an extraordinarily educational thing. I'd never looked at a budget before, never mind being involved with the signing off on one," he says.
"Planning the overall direction of the season has been fun. The only disadvantage to the job is that everything lands on your desk. I can see how it could be a relentless nightmare, but we haven't encountered that."
An added bonus of not having American partners is having more control.
"Because we're not on a U.S. network, we have little interference and we don't have to worry about always getting approval from Los Angeles -- it's been freewheeling that way," says Gross.
Getting back into the role of Fraser was as comfortable as putting on a favorite pair old slippers; however, with the departure of David Marciano as Ray Vecchio and the addition of Callum Keith Rennie as the Mountie's new American partner, a new twist has been added.
"It's such a different energy," explains Gross. "The basic dynamic of the show and relationship remains the same ... but it is a different kind of thing and the humor is a little different.
"You can't replace David but Callum is completely insane -- he's fantastic.
"Suffice it to say that somebody went into his brain at an early age and rewired everything and, as a consequence, he brings unpredictability to the show that has provided us an enormous amount of excitement."
Despite the fact that Rennie is also an Albertan -- he's from Edmonton -- he and Gross had never worked together before.
After looking at many actors for the new character, they chose Rennie, whose previous acting credits include the Bruce McDonald movie Hard Core Logo.
Gross asked him if he thought he could do it.
"We were in a restaurant and we flipped a coin. He called it but we had to do the best two out of three," laughs Gross, who hopes to return to Alberta to direct a western feature film he has written.
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