Interview: Taye Diggs of Daybreak
Actor explains allure of acting same day over for 13 episodes
How is Daybreak different from Groundhog Day? And will viewers tune in to see the same action week after week, even with hunky Diggs leading the way?
Taye Diggs’ new series Daybreak premiered last night. At first glance the drama is a cross between Groundhog Day and Shawshank Redemption, as the same day repeats over and over and the lead character is physically and emotionally stressed. Specifically, Diggs’ character, Brett Hopper, who is a narcotics undercover police officer, has to figure out which steps to take to avoid terrible outcomes to himself and his loved ones. And then perhaps time will resume its normal course through history We spoke to the model-turned-actor earlier this year at The Critics’ Association press tour in Pasadena.
Question: Are you going to explain the phenomenon of what’s causing all this or are you just going to leave it like Groundhog Day and not explain it at all?
Taye Diggs: Do you really think I’m going to tell you right now? Like, honestly?
Question: I won’t tell anyone
T.D.: The fun about this series is that it allows the viewer – do you remember those books, Choose Your Own Adventure? I’ll pretend like you do. Well, it allows me as an actor, because I only get maybe – they only tell me so much about the character’s storylines. But we all get to figure it out together. So I think that’s something that’s pretty exciting.
Question: There are so many serialized dramas on TV right now. How will yours be different? How will you hook viewers especially if they miss the crucial first episodes?
T.D.: When you ask a question like “How do we get somebody to view in who hasn’t been watching regularly?” You know, how do you get anybody to view in? I watched the first two seasons of 24 and then I turn on the TV and it’s the fourth season. I watch one episode and I’m in. Why am I hooked? I didn’t need the beginning of the fourth season to get hooked. The acting, the storyline, whatever it was, got me hooked. And I think that this show will possess that. We’re not dumb. I’m Taye Diggs!
