{alltv} Feore slips into cardinal robes

Colm Feore has a brilliant marketing idea. And he can't believe he has been forced to fund it himself.

On TV, the Canadian actor currently is playing Cardinal Della Rovere in The Borgias, which airs Sundays on Bravo!. But Feore also will be in movie theatres later this week playing Laufey, king of the frost giants, in the big-budget superhero film Thor.

"You haven't yet received one of the T-shirts I've had printed, and I've had to do it personally since neither CTV (which owns Bravo!) nor Marvel Comics are quite keen on it," Feore said. "But the T-shirt says, 'Thorgias, spring 2011.'

"On the back it's got me, nine and a half feet tall and blue, and then six and a half feet tall and in a stark red dress."

Now that's cross-dressing.

On the stark-red-dress side of things, The Borgias follows the exploits of Rodrigo Borgia (played by Jeremy Irons) and his controversial family. Rodrigo became Pope Alexander VI in 1492 and his great rival was Cardinal Della Rovere (Feore), who in the past few episodes has been trying to arrange for a neighbouring army to righteously rid Rome of the Borgia plague.

"For the purposes of our show, my character has to be the one claiming to hold the moral high ground," said Feore, a veteran Canadian actor who is well known for his extensive work on stage and screen.

"However, as my character said to Jeremy's when they both were in the running to be pope, 'I really appreciate how you handle your job as the administrator' - because (Borgia) was the treasurer, right? - which in English means, 'Somebody has to do all the scummy stuff and I'm going to need a guy who does that really well.'

"So now my character is corrupt too, because he has let it be known there's a little grey there. But he believes he's doing it for right and therefore he thinks he should be treated - certainly in terms of his legacy - much more heroically."

If you're anxious to find out how it all turns out, you can look it up on-line in about five seconds. The Borgias is based upon real people, after all. But whether you investigate or not, Feore and Irons carry enough weight as actors to portray these formidable adversaries convincingly.

"Oh, I'm glad you think so," Feore said. "But it's funny you should say that, because one of my dearest pals in New York said to me, 'Can you and Jeremy Irons actually be in the same scene? I don't think a camera can handle the cheekbones, the gaunt thing.'

"And I said, 'Don't worry, we rarely are in the same scenes. We're at each other's throats, but rarely in the same scenes.' And he said, 'Good, because I don't think I could take it. Two of you in profile? Oy.' "

Of course, if things get too hot for Cardinal Della Rovere in The Borgias, Feore always can transform himself into Laufey, king of the frost giants, and ice his opponent.

"Thorgias," Feore repeated. "I think it's a great advertising line."