Airing on January 13 on CBS and continuing for two conescutive nights, Comanche Moon marks Urban's first appearance in a Western.

With both Comanche Moon and the tight-lipped, top-secret Star Trek picking up steam around the web, The Deadbolt was lucky enough to take a call from Karl Urban to get the goods on what fans can expect from Comanche Moon in January, his chemistry with Steve Zahn, the status of the tenth Star Trek, how the project will be different, and his status on the upcoming John McTiernan project, Run.

THE DEADBOLT: Before you signed on to Comanche Moon, how familiar were you with the Lonesome Dove mini-series or the novels?

KARL URBAN: I had watched Lonesome Dove when it came out in 1989, or thereabout, and I had read - the only [Larry] McMurtry book I had read at that point was actually Streets of Laredo. Then, after I became involved, I went back and read them all, from Lonesome Dove to Comanche to Dead Man’s Walk and the Streets.

THE DEADBOLT: How hard was it for you to relate to the American Western since you're from New Zealand?

URBAN: Not at all. I mean you have to understand that American culture has been exported in the form of film and television and the written medium for over 100 years, so I was very familiar with the sort of icons.

DB: How did you get into the world of a Texas Ranger?

URBAN: It was very much a case of just total absorbtion. It was reading everything by McMurtry that I could get my hands on and research about the Old West and the hardships and the struggles of the settlers to establish new colonies out in the West. And, of course, I was able to use my experience from Lord of the Rings from the horse fighting aspect of it.

THE DEADBOLT: Did you ever find yourself at odds with Woodrow Call, more in finding yourself actually being sympathetic to the end of the Comanche way of life?

URBAN: Yeah, absolutely. That’s a really smart question. I’m a staunch advocate of Indian rights... my personal understanding and belief of these justices who would go after the Indians is polar opposite to a man like Woodrow Call. That was definitely a challenge to really sell the point of view which is completely different from your own.

THE DEADBOLT: In many ways Woodrow is indifferent to a lot of things in the mini-series.

URBAN: He is a character whose job it is to protect the settlers and establish law and order in the frontier, yet he is a man who is kind of integral to living in that new society. And he is very emotionally stunted and challenged. He is, I guess, emotionally shut down in a lot of ways.

Karl Urban Interview Page 2