Rewind is one of several scripted projects that Syfy announced to be in development at the end of last month and the time travelling, action-thriller just added two very interesting additions to the pilot. The first is Jeff Fahey, who played a recurring character on Lost and the other is celebrated Canadian director David Cronenberg. Unfortunately, Cronenberg won't be behind the camera for Syfy's pilot but he will be making a rare appearance in front of it for a guest spot.
TVLine reports that both Fahey and Cronenberg will guest star on Rewind, which is currently in production in Toronto (the director's hometown). Fahey is on board to play a very 'Zen' former NASA aerospace engineer and the 'spiritual backbone' of the team of military operatives and civilian scientists travelling through time to change the future and prevent a possible terrorist attack. Cronenberg has acted in many projects before, appearing on TV series like Alias and many of his early films (as well as some of his friends, like Gus Van Sant's To Die For). For the pilot he will play a Nobel Prize winning scientist who becomes 'unhinged' after the death of his wife and develops a 'dangerous plot' to change history.
It sounds like Mr. Cronenberg might be playing the very first villain for the time travelling team stuck using untested technology to thwart acts terrorism. Or he's simply the mad scientist who provides the team with the necessary and untested equipment. Maybe both? Shane McRae (Four Kings stars as ex-Special Forces agent Sean Knox, who leads this unique division inside the Department of Homeland Security. Rewind also stars Jennifer Ferrin (The Cape, Academy Award nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider), Robbie Jones (Hellcats) and Keon Mohajeri (Circumstance).
The pilot has Jack Bender directing a script from Justin Marks. Bender might be best known for his consistent work on Lost but he also directed the pilot of Syfy's Alphas, one of the network's recent success stories with a second season coming this summer. Unfortunately, Marks is probably best known for his first feature script Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li but hopefully this, and his upcoming adaptation of Hack/Slash for Marcus Nispel, can improve the new writer's batting average. Spending time with master storyteller David Cronenberg certainly won't hurt.
