David Alpay, who hails from Toronto, is no stranger to television – he’s had roles on hit shows like “The Borgias,” “The Tudors,” and “The Vampire Diaries,” and his latest project, “The Lottery,” which debuted last night on Lifetime. The series depicts a world staring down the barrel of impending extinction as women have mysteriously stopped bearing children. Alpay plays the assistant scientist who is working on curing global infertility. “The Lottery” airs on Sundays at 10pm on Lifetime Canada.
Recently holding a press day in promotion of the show, Alpay talked about his view of the Canadian TVscape and how he plays violin (with Tim Robbins!) in his spare time.
CraveOnline: Tell us about “The Lottery” and your role on the show.
David Alpay: It’s a show about the very near and familiar future. Things haven’t changed that much. Women have stopped bearing children around the world. It’s a global crisis and everyone on the show is invested in finding a solution for this crisis. We find a way to fertilize 100 embryos until the government and military step in and try to take over our work for their own purposes.
In the first episode we have to come up with an idea for a democratic approach of sharing this info with the world and have a lottery for surrogates – women across the country would apply and go through checks, and it becomes this interesting discussion about what makes for a good parent, who has the right to your body, etc., so it’s interesting. It’s like a sci-fi show because it’s set in the future and deals with this frightening crisis, but the rest of the show is very much like a civics conversation.
You always seem to be busy – are you working on anything else these days?
This is it… I am swamped. We’ve been filming for about three months and will be until the end of August. What’s cool and is something that I’ve never done is to have a show on the air while we’re filming. By the time episode 7 is on air we’ll have finished filming episode 10, which is a cool way to do it – it’s doesn’t drag out. It’s like a very concentrated burst of energy and I think people are going to respond well to it.
You’ve worked on both American and Canadian projects – how is the TV scene in Canada unique or different?
It’s super competitive. There are a lot of top-notch shows in Canada. Canadian [crews are] so great at what they do and have a great attitude. I’ve worked on amazing shows in the States too. But I find that it always makes me feel good to come back and work on something – I feel like I’m home.
Where do you live now?
Between Toronto and LA… I’ve basically lived out of a carry-on suitcase [for months].
When you’re not working, what do you do in your spare time?
I have this weird musical thing I do: I play violin and I even went on tour with Tim Robbins. We did a bunch of Canadian cities, and then went down to the States, and then we ended up in Japan. I also did music for his theatre company. I know the lead singer of System of a Down and I record violin tracks with him.
What’s in the future?
As soon as this is over I have a feeling I want to go to Iceland. I’m trying to travel more. Like, intentionally travel. I really want to go and implicate myself in a city and meet people and see how they live and get outside of my world a bit.
