Make no mistake, Robin Dunne is happy with his acting job on Sanctuary. But he has a passion for baseball.
"I'm a diehard fan, I'll watch the Blue Jays, up or down," said Dunne, a native of Toronto.
"And with J.P. Ricciardi gone as general manager, maybe I could put myself up for the job.
"I don't know if I'd be able to be the Blue Jays' GM and also do Sanctuary, but maybe I could swing it, even though it would be busy. Any word you can put in for me, please do, because I'm definitely interested."
Dunne also hopes that TV watchers will be "definitely interested" in the second season of Sanctuary, which debuts tonight on Space. The Canadian-made sci-fi series, which also stars Amanda Tapping, is known for its innovative green-screen technology and its aggressive plot lines.
We mentioned to Dunne that in a certain way, Sanctuary is the sci-fi 24. Sanctuary even is utilizing a split-screen from time to time, similar to what is employed on Kiefer Sutherland's famous series.
Tapping's character -- Dr. Helen Magnus -- is kind of the Jack Bauer of Sanctuary. And Dunne's character -- Dr. Will Zimmerman -- perhaps is a combination of 24's Chloe O'Brian and Renee Walker.
"I've never heard this before, but now that you mention it, the Sanctuary could be, what is it, the CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit) -- it's an abnormal CTU," said Dunne, warming to the idea the more he thought about it.
"You could be on to something.
"We'd love to have the viewership of 24. That would be very nice. So hey, from your lips to God's ears.
"We've also heard comparisons to The X-Files, but the roles are switched, right? Basically Amanda's character is Mulder and I'm Scully."
Wow, Robin, your character is a combination of some pretty hot babes.
"Hey, and for some reason they keep making me take my clothes off on the show," Dunne said. "So maybe the whole world is flipping around, it's like Bizarro World."
Dunne has been living in Los Angeles for several years now, but since Sanctuary is shot in Vancouver, that city has started to become a second -- or third? -- home for him.
"I grew up in Toronto and I miss it -- my parents still live there," Dunne said. "But even though I technically live in L.A., when you start spending more than half the year in a city, you kind of have to say, I guess I'm making Vancouver my home.
"And I really like Vancouver. Being from Toronto and living in L.A., Vancouver is sort of the perfect middle ground. It's a West Coast city, so in that way it kind of feels like L.A. But it's my home country, so I can get Swiss Chalet if I want it. My mother doesn't have to send me the packages of the powdered dipping sauce, I actually can get it for real.
"And I can watch the Blue Jays. The games usually start at 4 p.m. out here, so that's pretty good."
Another mention of the Blue Jays, of course, opened the door for Dunne to do some more campaigning.
"Look, I don't want to harp on it, but I'd love that GM job," Dunne said. "Even if you wanted to play a few games, if you help me get that job, I might let you pitch a few innings."
Well, when Robin Dunne puts it that way, we really couldn't be any worse than B.J. Ryan.
