Jackie Earle Haley On the Dark Side of 'Human Target'

As Guerrero on 'Human Target,' Jackie Earle Haley doesn't get to fly planes, parachute out of trains, or charm his way into an embassy party. That job goes to Christopher Chance, the title character played to perfection by Mark Valley.

But Haley does get to play the more interesting character -- the mysterious guy behind the scenes, the one who can find any information you need about anyone or anything, the guy who, when threatened by thugs, will accept their initial beat-down and tell them in great detail who he will kill in their sleep first, offering condolences the wife and kids.

Through the first three episodes, there are few concrete details about Guerrero's past, and aspect of the character that Haley enjoys. "That's what's fun about this guy, it seems like we're kind of all learning it together." he said during a conference call with the media.

"I'm just coming up with more questions for him than we are with answers," Haley continued. "But I think as each week starts to go along, we start to, I think, add a little bit more of Chance's background and the fact that there is some event in his past that was quite a pivotal event that kind of caused Chance to kind of go from one side to another, and I think Guerrero was a part of that."

We have seen Guerrero going to some shady places to get information, and we've gotten some indication that he used to be part of a group that was anything but above the board and lawful. Now, of course, he's working with Chance to protect people from their own entanglements, and those prior connections help.

"I definitely know that Guerrero has worked on the dark side of things and now he's working on the more righteous side of things with Chance," says Haley, "but what's neat about Guerrero is you never really quite know where his loyalties lie. It's really fun riding that line with the writers and stuff. I don't think we want to get to those answers real quick; I think it's fun kind of exploring the multi-dimensionality of this guy, and seeing where it leads and who he is - what makes him tick."

'Human Target' is a much lighter show than Guerrero's character would indicate. It falls somewhere between 'Alias' and 'The A-Team,' a fun adventure show packed with action and a few smart plot twists that the show doesn't give you time to guess about. It's also an ensemble piece, with the handsome leading man in Valley, Chi McBride as his more down-to-Earth handler, and then Haley as Guerrero.

Producer Jonathan E. Steinberg says Guerrero the show's anchor. "I think he's an interesting addition to that tone that there is this unhinged character that is - his background is a little bit questionable, his morality, his ethics," he says. "It is kind of neat how he brings this little darker tone to this otherwise light tone. I think it's an interesting balancing act that the writer guys are just - I think they're nailing it."

When asked if he's as computer-savvy as his character, Haley replies he is "not real computer literate" but also "not real computer illiterate." He can do word processing, he says, and doesn't go much further. But when he is asked what he likes about working in television, he has his technical details down. "I particularly love the whole HD 16x9 aspect of television and the 5.1 sound," he says. "It seems like we've got little movie theaters in our living rooms now."

There is one area where Haley and Guerrero intersect, and that is the habit of using the word "dude" as and all-purpose punctuation and exclamation. "I mean that just kind of came out when we were shooting and then the guys embraced it," he says. " I guess I kind of say dude every other word. That's so embarrassing. I hate that I admitted that so scratch that."

Haley has had success in high-profile movies like 'Little Children,' "Watchmen,' and stars in the upcoming Martin Scorsese adaptation of 'Shutter Island' in addition to playing Freddy Krueger in the new 'Nightmare on Elm Street' movie. But he enjoys the more consistent, steady process of working in episodic television.

He loved the character, he says, and "I loved the idea of getting in there and working with these guys on a long-term basis, and working on one specific character as opposed to like what you do on a movie - you know, you do it and you're done. This is an ongoing process and that's kind of neat."

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