Luke Perry is known to ‘90s TV fans as BEVERLY HILLS 90210’s Dylan McKay , HBO’s OZ fans as the Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier and to fans of post-apocalyptic science fiction for his portrayal of the title role in two seasons of JEREMIAH.

Perry has done many other projects as well, but one that has particularly resonated with him was his producing and starring gig on Hallmark Channel’s 2011 Western film GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE. The project was such a success that Perry is now back in the sequel, GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE: THE MEASURE OF A MAN, which he also co-wrote. The telefilm airs tonight on the Hallmark Movie Channel at 8 PM.

In the JUSTICE films, Perry plays John Goodnight, who as a child saw his family massacred by vicious outlaws. This experience has inspired him to become a circuit judge riding through the Old West, dispensing justice in isolated and far-flung territories.

At a party Hallmark throws for the press, Perry talks about the GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE series, noting, “We have a third one [GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE: QUEEN OF HEARTS] coming.”

ASSIGNMENT X: “The measure of a man” is a line from Shakespeare. Is GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE: THE MEASURE OF A MAN Shakespeare-related beyond the title?

LUKE PERRY: No. I don’t do Shakespeare. But it’s a story that asks the question, what makes a man?

AX: Is John Goodnight different in the new film than he was in the original?

PERRY: Yeah. I think [there is an] interesting thing about a character that’s constantly on the move and traveling, constantly evolving and becoming someone else, and I think he’s getting a little darker as he goes.

AX: Without asking for spoilers on the new film, do you have any favorite scenes you can talk about from the first one?

PERRY: What I loved with the first one – there are a couple on my mind. The final scene where I come and find the old man – Winston Rekert is the actor. I had always wanted to work with him. He’s a great actor, a quality human being. Winston currently is dealing with liver cancer and they didn’t know if he could do it, if he would do it. I was able to get to him and talk to him and told him how much it meant to me and he came and he did it, and I owe him a great deal of gratitude. He’s still with us. He’s a tough son of a bitch, Winston.

AX: Do you have any stunts that you can tease out of context on MEASURE OF A MAN?

PERRY: This one is a little action-challenged, maybe, because it’s got a lot of romance. The next one will blow your socks off with the action.

AX: Are you planning those scenes already?

PERRY: Yeah. I spend a lot of time choreographing the action sequences and we’re figuring them out already, because they involve exotic animals and fast-moving locomotives. You’ve got to start planning in advance.

AX: You’re already working on the third GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE film. Does this feel like a series that’s just sort of spaced in time, or does it feel like you’re making actual  movies?

PERRY: To me, right now, it feels like movies. We have discussed the possibilities of it as a series vehicle. I like the idea of having the stories be able to be longer and a little more complicated, it takes longer to tell, and to service the action in the way that we do, especially in the third one. We have a lot of action. We need more time. It needs to be bigger.

AX: You shot this one up in Canada like the last one?

PERRY: Yes.

AX: Different directors – Jason Priestley on the first one, K.T. Donaldson on MEASURE – but same crew?

PERRY: Yeah, same crew. Those are my people, I love ‘em. They work so hard, they really do. They hold me up to make these movies. They’re incredible. I have the utmost respect for them, they’re my peeps. I’ve got to say, everyone becomes a nationalist: “Don’t you got to be inAmerica?” If an American company would make these movies, I’d make them here. It doesn’t make me love my Canadian brothers any less.

AX: You’re heavily bearded as John Goodnight. Do you feel more in-character with the whiskers?

PERRY: Yeah. I have that all the time up there. You just wake up, comb your face and go to work. No shaving, no makeup, no bullshit, you just get in there.

AX: And are you still enjoying being on a horse?

PERRY: Right up until the point when you hit the ground. My ass is in that saddle, I’m as happy as can be.

AX: Is the Old West the period you most enjoy playing?

PERRY: Yup. It makes the most sense to me.

AX: Are you planning to make one GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE film a year?

PERRY: No, We’re doing two currently and we may go to four a year. And that would be good. I would like to do four a year.

AX: So it will be a quarterly movie series? That’s unusual.

PERRY: Yes. It used to be that way. COLUMBO, McMILLAN AND WIFE, McCLOUD, they all started like that. [The Sunday night movie grouping] was called “the Wheel.” There used to be a real genius in this town, a really smart man named Brandon Tartikoff, and he ran NBC and Paramount Studios at the same time. The man ran a movie studio and a network, and he knew the wisdom and the brilliance of having the quarterly movie franchise. I’m just copying from one of the greats.

AX: So you would like to stay with John Goodnight for a good long time?

PERRY: Yeah. Most fun I’ve ever had.

AX: Anything else you would like to say about GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE?

PERRY: GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE – better than COWBOYS AND ALIENS.

Click on Link: AX’s exclusive interview with Luke Perry on the first GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE movie

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Article: Exclusive Interview with actor-director Luke Perry on GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE-MEASURE OF A MAN

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