Video: “Leverage” resumes new episodes tonight
New episodes of the caper series “Leverage,” which stars Norman-bred actor/singer Christian Kane, resume at 8 tonight on TNT.
The second half of the fourth season will launch tonight with new jobs and adventures for the “Leverage” team: former insurance investigator Nathan Ford (Oscar winner Timothy Hutton), grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), cat burglar Parker (Beth Riesgraf) and heavy-hitter Elliot Spencer (Kane).
Sunday’s show will be the season’s 11th episode, “The Experimental Job.” Here is the synposis:
When homeless veterans in the Boston area begin disappearing, the team must go back to college and infiltrate the world of Skull & Bones secret societies.
Back in August, TNT renewed “Leverage” for a 15-episode fifth season, noting that the fourth-season ratings were better than the third season’s marks.
“That’s unbelievable to hear. It’s very tough especially in this day and age in the entertainment business … in television to even go two seasons. So to be going into our fifth season that’s just a testament to what we do, and we’re very fortunate,” Kane told me in a phone interview earlier this fall.
“Our ratings are actually going up, and that just usually doesn’t happen. Usually you fall down in the fourth season, and our ratings have actually gone up in the fourth season. And that’s just unbelievable,” he added.
“Well, we’re a blue-collar show. We’re a working man’s fist, and I think that actually works out (for us). I mean, how many times do people just want to quit their job or punch their boss? And the economy’s tough right now, I mean, it really is. I wish it wasn’t that way, but unfortunately it is. And we kind of represent that, we kind of represent the working man getting to throw punches at some people that are the bad guys. So I believe that this is a show that you come home and you sit down and you have a beer and you watch and it kind of helps you through the day in the times that we’re going through right now.”
-BAM
“Leverage” resumes fourth season Sunday
New episodes of the caper series “Leverage,” which stars Norman-bred actor/singer Christian Kane, resume at 8 p.m. Sunday on TNT.
The second half of the fourth season will launch Sunday with new jobs and adventures for the “Leverage” team: former insurance investigator Nathan Ford (Oscar winner Timothy Hutton), grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), cat burglar Parker (Beth Riesgraf) and heavy-hitter Elliot Spencer (Kane).
“With this character, I get to go back to Oklahoma. I just get to bust heads for a living,” he said in a phone interview earlier this year. “I think you’re gonna get to see a lot more emotions come out of Eliot this year than we’re really used to. But, look, I mean, I’m they’re meal ticket … I’m the guy that doesn’t change. They keep viewers by just having me pound on people’s heads and so that’s what I’m gonna keep doing.”
“I know my job,” he added with a laugh. “It’s not that hard. Everyone dances around with their hearts in their hands and stuff like that, and I’m just punchin’ people.”
Sunday’s show will be the season’s 11th episode, “The Experimental Job.” Here is the synposis:
When homeless veterans in the Boston area begin disappearing, the team must go back to college and infiltrate the world of Skull & Bones secret societies.
Back in August, TNT renewed “Leverage” for a 15-episode fifth season, noting that the fourth-season ratings were better than the third season’s marks.
“That’s unbelievable to hear. It’s very tough especially in this day and age in the entertainment business … in television to even go two seasons. So to be going into our fifth season that’s just a testament to what we do, and we’re very fortunate,” Kane told me in a second phone interview earlier this fall.
“Our ratings are actually going up, and that just usually doesn’t happen. Usually you fall down in the fourth season, and our ratings have actually gone up in the fourth season. And that’s just unbelievable.”
-BAM
Christian Kane featured on the cover of Cowgirl magazine
Country singer/TV star Christian Kane, who hails from Norman, is featured on the November/December issue of Cowgirl magazine, officially on sale today.
Kane stars with Oscar winner Timothy Hutton, Gina Bellman, Beth Riesgraf and Aldis Hodge on TNT’s hit caper series “Leverage.” The fourth season of the series will resume with new episodes at 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27 on the cable network.
Cowgirl magazine is available at Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Safeway, Randalls, Raleys, Bashas, Bristol Famrs, Brookshire Brothers, Brookshires Grocery, HEB, Lowes-Texas, Minyards, United Supermarkets and more than 200 Walmart locations, according to Kane’s Facebook page.
-BAM
Concert review: Christian Kane at Norman’s Riverwind Casino
Country singer/actor Christian Kane, who grew up in Norman, performs a show last month in Crockettsville, Ky. Kane performed a hometown show Friday night in Norman at Riverwind Casino. (Photo by Debbie Wallace.)
Christian Kane returned to his hometown Friday night with a clutch of rowdy country-rock songs, a seasoned four-piece band and a swaggering stage presence balanced with an overflowing sense of gratitude.
For the Dallas-born, Norman-bred singer/actor, the show at Riverwind Casino marked his first opportunity to play in the city where he grew up, which he considers “the greatest town in the world.”
“You spend your whole life fighting to get out of this town, and trust me – trust me – you spend the rest of your life fighting to get back in,” Kane told the crowd. “I still feel like that 15-year-old kid that sat on the side of my bed and prayed all this stuff would happen to him.”
Kane brought the tough-guy-with-the-heart-of-gold charisma of Eliot Spencer, his TV character on “Leverage,” to his rollicking, bad-boy anthems. And he frequently apologized to his mother, who was in the audience, for his f-bomb-dropping, whiskey-swigging ways.
“Thirteen years I’ve been playing music with these guys … and this is my first time to be back. I’m home tonight. I got family and friends here tonight, and we’re gonna give it all we got,” he said with a boyish grin.
“Mama, I apologize for the whiskey drinking and the cussing, but that (expletive) is gonna go on because this is what we (expletive) do.”
More than 1,000-strong, the crowd filled about two-thirds of the casino’s Showplace Theater, and the concert-goers were feisty, noisy and eager to welcome the hometown boy back to the Sooner State. Any doubts about Kane’s heartthrob status were quickly expelled; the female fans greeted him with amorous enthusiasm as he strolled onto the stage in faded blue jeans, a black button-down shirt with rolled-up sleeves and brown work boots.
Playing into their expectations, the up-and-coming country singer-songwriter launched the show with a back-to-back-to-back series of rambunctious come-ons, “American Made,” “Callin’ All Country Women” and “Whiskey in Mind.” He and his capable band – guitarist/background vocalist Steve Carlson, lead guitarist Jason Southard, bassist Will Amend and drummer Ryan Baker – performed together with the easy chemistry of old friends.
After their dynamic opening salvo, Kane began sharing youthful reminiscences and behind-the-lyrics stories with the crowd.
“I can’t tell you how good it feels to be home, man,” Kane said, alternately gulping from a bottle of beer and a fifth of whiskey in between songs. “Norman’s chanced since I’ve been gone.”
Some things have stayed the same: When someone in the audience shouted “Boomer,” Kane and several fans loudly replied “Sooner,” and the performer excitedly told the crowd he would be attending Saturday’s football game against Missouri. He even took time to good-naturedly harangue an Oklahoma State fan.
Still, Kane, 37, said he wrote his “Middle American Saturday Night” tribute “pretty much where this place used to not be.” He crooned about taking a walk down “old Tecumseh Road” on the buoyant ballad “Fade.” With the nostalgic “Let’s Take a Drive,” he pointed out his reference to “10-mile flats,” an area of Norman that is now houses but in his teen years was for “drinking, car racing and fighting.”
“I had a girlfriend from here, and she’s moved off and she got married and she had kids. And then she called me up one day to say she was getting divorced … and to cheer her up, I started talking about the old days,” he said.
“She said, ‘Man, I wish I could find that girl again.’ And I said, ‘Well, I wish you the best of luck’ and hung up because I had to write this song. So I hope she’s doing OK,” he admitted with a sheepish laugh, running his hands through his dark, shoulder-length hair.
Kane poured the emotion of his homecoming into “Something’s Gotta Give,” a raucous country-blues, blue-collar tribute to his father.
“The oil business was tough then like it’s tough now, and I wrote this song about my dad, who always, always took care of us,” he said, drinking a toast to his father before the final chorus.
Kane had plenty of passion left to put into his latest single “Let Me Go,” a soaring love song that showcases his appealing drawl.
To the delight of his diehard fans, who call themselves Kaniacs, the singer-songwriter kept the stories coming, including a humorous take on “Happy Man,” a song he co-wrote that country superstar Trace Adkins cut for the deluxe version of his 2010 album “Cowboy’s Back in Town.”
“When we first wrote it, they said, ‘That’s not a Kane song. That’s a country song. That’s really country.’ And I said, ‘It’s three ways to kill somebody, it’s a (expletive) Kane song.”
Eliot Spencer would be proud.
The crowd gave a hearty cheer for his day job on “Leverage” as Kane recalled the thrill of singing his brokenhearted ballad “Thinking of You” on the hit TNT series on the same episode in which he go to beat up his “all-time TV idol,” John Schneider of “Dukes of Hazzard” fame.
Kane prefaced his amped-up, boot-stomping cover of Waylon Jennings’ classic “Luckenbach, Texas,” with a flashback to the days when he and his cohorts had a regular gig at the Viper Room on Sunset Boulevard opening for Shooter Jennings’ band.
“We were the only country band in L.A. … and we couldn’t do ‘The Chair’ and we couldn’t do ‘The Dance.’ I didn’t have a lot of originals, and if you played a slow song, you lost the crowd,” he said. “I told Shooter ‘I’m gonna do one of your dad’s songs,’ and when I told him which one, he said, ‘Good (expletive) luck.’
“After we played it, Scooter’s mom said, ‘That is the best version of that song I’ve ever heard other than the original. And she gave me a hug and she gave me a kiss. And I think I just stood there for five minutes.”
Kane closed the set with another electric jolt: the rowdy title track from his 2010 debut album “The House Rules,” which got most of the floor-level fans on their feet so they could dance and sing along. His deliberately sexed-up performance did the job of whipping his female followers into a frenzy, though he undoubtedly owed his mama another apology for it.
The crowd wasn’t ready to let the hometown hero get away just yet, howling their lungs out, stomping their feet and clapping their hands for an encore. Kane came back alone, carrying his whiskey and beer bottles, which he swapped for his acoustic guitar.
“I wrote this song to apologize for the way I am. I’m sorry mama,” he said, playing and crooning “A Different Kind of Knight,” with his band joining him midway through the modern-day cowboy ode.
They sent the crowd away energized, closing with the one-two punch of “Seven Days,” a Vegas road anthem totally appropriate for a casino show, and “Blaze,” a tribute to a red-headed Oklahoma City stripper.
His mother may have to work on forgiving him, but the crowd thoroughly approved of Kane’s homecoming performance. He seemed a bit overwhelmed by the fans’ ear-splitting enthusiasm, repeatedly pounding his chest, pumping his fists and blowing kisses as he took his final bows.
“You don’t know what this means to me,” he said one last time before disappearing backstage to chat with his mother and sister.
Hopefully, he won’t let another 13 years pass before he plays another hometown show.
See the set list after the break.
Christian Kane returning to Norman for first hometown show
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Christian Kane returning to Norman for first hometown show
The “Leverage” actor and country music singer-songwriter, who was raised in Norman and attended OU, is finding success on both paths he is taking through the entertainment business.
For more than a decade, Christian Kane has blazed multiple paths through the entertainment business, and this weekend, one of those roads will lead him home.
“It’s my first time to play in Norman. I’ve played in Oklahoma City and a couple of other places in Oklahoma, but I’ve never really played in Norman. So I’m very excited to come back after over 10 years — what, 13 years — of doing music to come and play the hometown,” Kane said in recent phone interview before embarking on his current cross-country tour.
“We have a lot of fans from Oklahoma. I think they’re more country music fans than they are Christian Kane fans, but it’s still lovely to have them. … So it’s gonna be nice to come home and see a lot of them and see some new fans there in Oklahoma. I don’t get to go to Oklahoma that much.”
Kane, 37, doesn’t have much time for homecoming visits these days: His television series “Leverage” recently wrapped the summer portion of its fourth season and was picked up for a fifth. He just topped the CMT video countdown and scored a potential breakout hit with the passionate ballad “Let Me Go.” But he is returning Friday to Norman to play that first hometown concert at Riverwind Casino.
As a bonus, the Dallas-born, Norman-bred singer/songwriter/actor will get the chance to watch the top-ranked University of Oklahoma football team host the University of Missouri Tigers Saturday on the OU campus he attended before leaving Oklahoma to make his way in the entertainment business.
But an Oklahoma State University icon has set the standard for Kane, whether he is playing a country-rock concert with his longtime band or playing a role on the movies or a TV show.
“I’m from the old Garth Brooks school … which is no matter what seat you had, no matter if you were front stage, backstage, anything, I’m still the one that has the most fun. Garth Brooks said that early on, and I took that and put that under my wing. And that’s what we do, honestly, we just try to have the most fun that we can onstage, and I believe that bleeds out into the audience. And if you need to have a good time, you’re gonna have one with us,” he said.
“We actually take that whole Garth Brooks way of thinking into ‘Leverage’ as well. We’re the ones having the best time. We’re having the most fun, and I think that if you’re having the most fun, then it does bleed out of the television and it bleeds out into the living room and it bleeds out onstage. And I think that’s the most important thing.”
Kane got his first acting job on the short-lived TV show “Fame L.A.” because he could sing. He has showed off his talents as a crooner on the series “Angel” and “Leverage.” The crossover between his career paths goes both ways: His “Leverage” co-star Timothy Hutton directed the music video to his first single “The House Rules,” the title track from Kane’s 2010 debut album on the indie Bigger Picture Music Group.
“I’m not quitting either one. That’s the bottom line,” Kane said in the phone interview from Portland, Ore., where “Leverage” films. “I love both of them equally, and that’s my life. I don’t view myself as an actor or a singer, I view myself as an entertainer.”
On “Leverage,” Kane plays “retrieval specialist” Eliot Spencer, the heavy hitter on a five-person team of professional criminals who use their skills to help people victimized by the wealthy, the corrupt and the powerful. Led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford (Oscar winner Hutton), the team also includes grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) and cat burglar Parker (Beth Riesgraf).
Since premiering on TNT in 2008, the caper series has grown its audience in each of its four seasons, earning its fifth-season pickup. The show will wrap up its fourth season with new episodes in November and December, then start its next season in summer 2012.
“Usually you fall down in the fourth season, and our ratings have actually gone up in the fourth season. And that’s just unbelievable,” he said.
“We’re a blue-collar show. We’re a working man’s fist, and I think that actually works out (for us). I mean, how many times do people just want to quit their job or punch their boss? And the economy’s tough right now … and we kind of represent that, we kind of represent the working man getting to throw punches at some people that are the bad guys.”
When it comes to music, Kane recently topped the CMT countdown with the video for his second single, “Let Me Go,” while “The House Rules” again reached the top five on Country Music Television.
“It’s unbelievable, man. And I attribute all that to the Kaniacs. I mean I’ve got the best fans in the world, I really honestly do.” I don’t care who you are, I’ve got the best fans. And I apologize, I mean, that’s just how it goes,” he said, sounding not the least bit sorry.
The video for “Let Me Go” reunited him with Roman White, who also directed Kane in Carrie Underwood’s memorable mini-movie for her hit “So Small.” Filmed on a famed movie set outside East Lancaster, Calif., the desolate setting captured the emotions of the protagonist, who is trying to do the right thing by his girl by letting her go.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t sing songs about (expletive) I don’t know. You’re not gonna hear me sing a song about being on a tractor or being married because it’s just not what I do. I don’t know anything about that stuff. But you will hear me sing songs about love, life, hurt and drinking — and women,” he said.
“Some people think that you have one hit, and that’s it. But it’s not. You gotta keep working your whole life,” he added.
“Every song is a vehicle, we just don’t know where this one’s gonna take us. But hopefully, it’ll take us as far as it can take us, and then you release another one. And you see where that one takes you. So it’s all in the ride.”
In concert
Christian Kane
When: 8 p.m. Friday.
Where: Riverwind Casino, 1544 W State Highway 9.
Information: 322-6464 or www.riverwind.com.
-BAM
“Leverage” renewed for fifth season
TNT has renewed its hit caper series “Leverage,” which stars Norman-bred actor/singer Christian Kane, for a fifth season, just as the fourth season is shaping up to score the show’s biggest ratings yet.
The fifth season is scheduled to launch in summer 2012, and TNT has ordered 15 episodes for the next season. The show airs at 8 p.m. Sunday nights. After the show’s Aug. 28 summer finale, “Leverage” will wrap up its fourth season with new episodes in November and December.
Kane plays “retrieval specialist” Eliot Spencer, the heavy hitter on a five-person team of professional criminals who use their skills to help people victimized by the wealthy, the corrupt and the powerful. Led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford (Oscar winner Timothy Hutton), the team also includes grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) and cat burglar Parker (Beth Riesgraf).
“We’re still all best friends, and that just doesn’t happen on TV shows. After four years, somebody doesn’t like anyone. I mean, there’s a war going on somewhere in the cast. I’m sorry, that’s just how it is,” Kane told me in a recent phone interview. “We get done with 12-, 13-, 14-hour days and we all get in our cars and go to dinner to eat together. That’s how close we are. It’s a very tight-knit cast. I mean, we are closer than the actual characters on the show.”
“Leverage” premiered in 2008 and has grown its audience in each of its four seasons. This summer, leading into “Falling Skies,” the series has expanded its audience to more than 4.8 million viewers, up 10 percent over Season 3, with 1.9 million adults 18-49 (up 6 percent) and 2.3 million adults 25-54 (up 9 percent), according to TNT.
“While many shows decline in their second, third or fourth seasons, ‘Leverage’ has defied the odds and continued to climb,” said Michael Wright, executive vice president and head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies in today’s renewal announcement. “More and more viewers are discovering this weekly joy ride through wonderfully complex schemes and con games, all brought to life through smart writing, sharp directing and a terrific cast.”
Along with the close cast, Kane also credited the canny writing for making “Leverage” successful.
“You can’t have a show without great writing. You just can’t. And it’s tough to write our show because our show is a movie every week. It’s just a different movie because it’s a con. We have to get in and then we have to get out. There is no carryover into the next three episodes … so it’s very tough for the writers to do that,” Kane told me. “Every week is an ‘Oceans 11,’ ‘Oceans 12,’ ‘Oceans 13.’ We’re actually at ‘Oceans 56’ or something like that. That’s what they gotta do. So it’s very tough for them, but that keeps it fun ‘cause you get to open a new movie. It’s not like the same old character.”
When it comes to play his character, Kane said he digs into his Oklahoma roots for inspiration.
“With this character, I get to go back to Oklahoma. I just get to bust heads for a living,” he said. “I think you’re gonna get to see a lot more emotions come out of Eliot this year than we’re really used to. But, look, I mean, I’m they’re meal ticket … I’m the guy that doesn’t change. They keep viewers by just having me pound on people’s heads and so that’s what I’m gonna keep doing.
“I know my job,” he added with a laugh. “It’s not that hard. Everyone dances around with their hearts in their hands and stuff like that, and I’m just punchin’ people.”
“Leverage” is the latest high-profile series renewal from TNT, following new season orders for “Rizzoli & Isles,” which is running neck-and-neck with TNT’s “The Closer” as basic cable’s No. 1 series; “Falling Skies,” which ranks as basic cable’s No. 1 new series for the year-to-date; and “Franklin & Bash,” which ranks among basic cable’s Top 10 new series this summer. TNT’s top-ranked drama “The Closer” is in the midst of its extended final season, which will continue in the winter and wrap in summer 2012.
Two new episodes of “Leverage” are airing this week, starting at 8 p.m. Sunday on TNT. Leon Rippy – who played the scruffy angel Earl on the three seasons of TNT’s spiritual crime drama “Saving Grace,” which was set in Oklahoma City – will begin a multi-episode arc as a powerful nemesis for the “Leverage” crew in the second of Sunday night’s new episodes, airing at 9 p.m.
“We’re so lucky to have him, of course, especially for Oklahomans and someone like me. I mean, he played (an angel of) God to a girl in Oklahoma,” Kane said. “He’s a great actor, and Oklahomans really loved ‘Saving Grace.’ So for him to be able to come and play a role, that’s just great news for us.”
Along with acting, Kane is pursuing a career as a country singer and released his debut album, “The House Rules,” last year on Bigger Picture Music Group.
His tour will bring him back to his hometown for a Sept. 23 concert at Riverwind Casino in Norman. For more information, go to www.riverwind.com.
To read more of my recent interview with Kane, click here.
-BAM
Leon Rippy to guest star on “Leverage” Sunday
Leon Rippy, formerly of the TNT drama "Saving Grace," begins his guest-starring stint on the hit TNT caper series "Leverage" on Sunday. (Photo by Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman Archives)
Leon Rippy, who played the down-to-earth angel in the former TNT drama “Saving Grace,” begins his recurring guest-starring role on the cable network’s caper series “Leverage” at 9 p.m. Sunday.
Rippy’s first “Leverage” episode, titled “The Boiler Room Job,” will be the second of two new episodes airing Sunday on TNT. At 8 p.m., Anne Marie Johnson from the TV series “In the Heat of the Night,” guest stars on “The Grave Danger Job” as a charming funeral director with layers of scandalous secrets, according to the “Leverage” Facebook page.
As for Rippy, he won’t be angel this time: He will portray Mr. Latimer, a nemesis for Nate (Oscar winner Timothy Hutton) who sets his sights on the companies taken down by Nate’s crew, lining his pockets with their cash about Nate takes them down, according to TVFanatic.com. Rippy’s Latimer will appear on at least five episodes.
Christian Kane
“We’re so lucky to have him, of course, especially for Oklahomans and someone like me. I mean, he played (an angel of) God to a girl in Oklahoma,” said “Leverage” star Christian Kane, who hails from Norman, in a recent phone interview.
“He’s a great actor, and Oklahomans really loved ‘Saving Grace.’ So for him to be able to come and play a role, that’s just great news for us.”
To read more of my interview with Kane, click here.
Rippy won’t be the only guest star on “The Boiler Room Job”: “The Shield”‘s David Rees Snell will play a great conman on the episode, according the “Leverage” Facebook page.
-BAM
Video: Christian Kane takes “Let Me Go” video to No. 1 at CMT.com
Country music singer and actor Christian Kane, who was raised in Norman, has boosted the temperatures on the already-hot summer with the release of the video for his sophomore single “Let Me Go.”
The TV veteran’s acting skills help bring the song to life in the video, and his loyal Kaniac fans have responded with enthusiasm. The Roman White-directed love story debuted on Friday at No. 2, quickly rose to No. 1 on CMT.com and remained there throughout the weekend, beating out country video heavy hitters and their co-stars, including Brad Paisley (featuring Carrie Underwood); Jason Aldean; Kenny Chesney (featuring Grace Potter); and Miranda Lambert.
The country power ballad from Kane’s rowdy debut album, “The House Rules,” tells a vivid and relatable story of the challenges and surprises that come with being in love.
“I believe this ballad speaks to everyone,” says Kane in a news release. “Women are always smarter than us, but we never listen…they seem to always know what’s better for us than we do.”
Shot on location in the desert of East Lancaster, Calif., the video was directed by the acclaimed White, whose credits include videos for Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Reba McEntire, Justin Bieber and Martina McBride, as well as the 2011 CMT Music Award for Video of the Year for Taylor Swift’s hit “Mine.” Passionate about storytelling, White has been nominated for 11 Emmy awards and has taken home three.
White and Kane previously worked together on the 2007 Underwood video for “So Small.”
“[Let Me Go”] is one of my favorite powerful songs on the album,” says Kane in the release. “I never sing about stuff I don’t know about. It’s just not me.”
“This one hits way close to home,” he adds.
Kane is perhaps best known for his starring role in the popular caper series “Leverage,” which will offer up two new episodes starting at 8 p.m. Sunday on TNT.
-BAM
Video: Christian Kane’s “Let Me Go”
Country singer/actor Christian Kane, who grew up in Norman, released his new music video “Let Me Go” today on CMT.com.
The passionate ballad is the second single from Kane’s 2010 debut album “The House Rules,” and it happens to be my favorite track on the album.
Kane, who is best known for his starring role on TNT’s caper series “Leverage,” will perform in concert Friday, Sept. 23 at Riverwind Casino in Norman. For more information, go to www.riverwind.com.
-BAM
Video: Urijah Faber and Christian Kane to beat each other up on Sunday’s episode of “Leverage”
Mixed-martial arts champion Urijah Faber will have a guest spot on Sunday’s episode of the caper series “Leverage,” airing at 8 p.m. on TNT. Fists will be flying as his character faces off against the Leverage team’s hitter Eliot Spencer, who is played by Norman-bred actor Christian Kane.
In a recent phone interview, Kane promised me there will be blood Faber makes his appearance in the episode, which was directed by legendary actor/filmmaker Frank Oz.
“There was a fight scene where Eliot needed someone that could kick his a — , and I said, ‘I got the guy,’” Kane told me, explaining how he recruited his friend Faber. “He did us a really big favor. … To have someone who’s actually that great at the fight game, you don’t know what you’re in for.”
Learn more about how Kane and Faber worked together to stage their big face-off, check out the video posted above.
-BAM
