Harry Hamlin and Susan Dey, who starred opposite each other in the long-running dramatic series L.A. Law, are reunited in the TBS original movie Disappearance.
Disappearance tells the story of a vacationing family who, while traveling through the Nevada desert, decide to take a side trip to a ghost town called Weaver. Upon arriving in the town, the family immediately senses something is wrong. They find a video camera that reveals that a previous group of visitors were taken by some unseen, malevolent force. Worried that they too might become victims, the family decides to leave, only to discover their car has disappeared.
Here’s what the lead couple had to say about the making of Disappearance, what it was like working with each other again and being scared.
A Conversation with Harry Hamlin
What attracted you to this movie?
Harry Hamlin: They sent me this story and told me it was going to be shot in Adelaide. I’d been here before, and I have such fond memories of it. And the story is unusual in that it doesn’t wrap things up as neatly as most genre films do. It’s more open ended, kind of like The Twilight Zone.
What’s it like working with your L.A. Law partner, Susan Dey, again?
Hamlin: Susan and I go back 14 years now. We started working together in 1987. From what people have told us, we had a lot of chemistry and a relationship that people responded to. So it feels like we’re just picking up where we’ve left off.
Was she part of the reason you decided to make Disappearance?
Hamlin: I’ve seen Susan a few times over the past 10 years socially, but it never occurred to me that we’d be working together again. But it’s great. When I heard she was cast, I was thrilled.
Has making Disappearance been difficult?
Hamlin: It’s very ambitious what we’re doing with this film. We’ve come all the way to the Australian Outback to shoot, and we’re far away from any services. It sometimes takes us hours just to get to the set, and sometimes the trucks get stuck in the sand. And of course, there’s lots of heat. But because the crew works so well and writer-director Walter Klenhard is so clear on what he wants, it’s really been pretty easy for us.
Why do you think people like to be scared?
Hamlin: I think people like to be scared because our civilization has created a buffer zone between us and a lot of real visceral experiences. We don’t have to go out and kill a woolly mammoth on a daily basis, so we get our thrills in the comfort of our own living rooms. Philosophically and sociologically, I think it really just comes down to feeling alive.
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A Conversation with Susan Dey
How did you come to accept your role in Disappearance?
Susan Dey: When they said that Harry Hamlin was going to be doing it, I was really hoping that I would feel a connection to the screenplay the way he did. Then when I read the screenplay, I was very excited about doing something that was such great entertainment, that wasn’t sensationalized. It was just pure entertainment, very cleverly written.
What really grabbed you about the screenplay?
Dey: It’s a wonderful screenplay in terms of constantly turning corners and finding something even more frightening. It also has the aspect of how we humans have the ability to rationalize things. You just watch the adults in this movie rationalize themselves into their decisions, even though you know their decisions are going to turn out badly for them.
What do you think of Walter Klenhard?
Dey: Walter Klenhard not only wrote this screenplay, but he’s also the director. And he’s as great a director as he is a writer. The difficulty of this piece is that, even though it’s really well written, the filmmaker still has to maintain the suspense. It’s almost like fishing. He has to know how much to give out to the audience and when to pull back.
What scares you?
Dey: The things we are most afraid of are the things we can’t see. And that’s the deeper element of this movie for me.
What’s been the worst part of filming in the Australian desert?
Dey: I hate sun, and it’s been very sunny here. So I’m using umbrellas and hats and 40,000 pounds of sunscreen. Plus, we had to deal with the flies. But I think they bothered Harry more than they did me. They would be shooting one of his scenes, and flies would just literally be everywhere. But when we did my scenes, the flies just seemed to stay away from me. It must be his charisma.
How has it been working in Australia?
Dey: The Australians are the best of all humanity. I have worked all over the world, and never have I met such quality of humanity in one culture and one national group. They have a backbone that’s so incredibly resilient and not just to the elements. They are sensitive, but not overly sensitive. They’re outgoing. They have an incredible sense of humor. Besides their incredible talent, they are just great people.
“Disappearance” premieres Sunday, April 21, at 8 p.m. on TBS.
