John Fleck To Play Circus Freak

John Fleck (Silik) revealed today he will be able to put his Enterprise make-up experience to good use for a new TV show he has been cast in.

"Right now I'm working on an HBO pilot when I get back, as a series regular, called [Carny Val or Carnival - spelling uncertain], and it's a really interesting script," Fleck told the Great Link. "It's based on a bunch of circus freaks of the 1930s that travel the country in the Dust Bowl. It's seven hours of makeup for me, and I play Gecko the Snake Man."

"What they used to do to circus freaks back then was to surgically enhance themselves to make them attractive to audiences, so to speak, in a freaky kind of way, so I have my ears loped off, my tongue surgically split so I look like a lizard. The makeup is really hard, and in Star Trek, the makeup took only three hours to put on."

Besides Silik, Fleck has had several other roles spread across four Trek series. He played Taibak in the Next Generation episode 'Minds Eye,' and appeared in the DS9 episodes 'Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges' and 'The Search, Part One. His most recent Trek role prior to Enterprise was in Voyager's 'Alice' as ship trader Abaddon.

"It was really late one night and Kate [Mulgrew] wanted to go home," he said of his Voyager experience. "And I was nervous because I could see that and I kept flubbing my lines. But we got through it."

Fleck's character of Silik might not be the most pleasant individual, but the actor was full of compliments about the people on the set. "Scott Bakula is the sweetest man in show business. He's just so... nice. Not in an artificial way. He's just a gentle, kind person, and I appreciate that," he said. "Being a guest star on the show, a lot of times you come in, you do your part, and you leave. But he really goes out of his way. Even when he doesn't have any dialogue he'll be off-camera for you. And again, I really appreciate that. Because the person whom I work with the most is Scott; I'm his nemesis. Everybody else seems really nice too. Of course, check with me three years from now. Everyone's on their best behaviour."

More from John Fleck including more of his TV work, other Trek roles and his first convention can be found in the original interview at the Great Link.

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