On Friday, Sarah Silverman talked to a number of television bloggers about the new season of The Sarah Silverman Program [Comedy Central, tonight, 10:30/9:30C]. Subjects ranged from the personal [her new boyfriend] to the sensitive [her ongoing battle with depression] as well as the way her show is written and why it gets so outrageous.

Hey, Sarah. Pleasure to talk to you. I was wondering, you touch on a lot of controversial subjects, and—

Sarah: Oh, God, I’m so sorry. This is so unfair to you. My dog is going crazy because the … guy is here. Can we have a quick time out? I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry; I just don’t want to be like not listening fully.

All right.

Sarah: Thank you so much. I’m so sorry. Hey, I’m sorry.

That’s all right. I was wondering what kind of subjects are you going to be touching on this season. Like, what kind of taboo and controversial subjects? You tend to do that a lot in your show.

Sarah: We do, although I don’t think we ever really go, “What can we tackle this season?” I think that would kind of be a slutty way to go about it. We just continue to still try to just write stuff that makes us laugh, and when a bunch of comics are in a room, it takes more to make us laugh; or less. I mean, aggressively stupid goes a long way in the room and on the show.

Let’s see, I find out I was born with both looks and personality? No, it’s weird to not have anything coming back. I’m imagining you all laughing on mute. What else? My imaginary friend from childhood comes back as an adult and we have a lesby affair. Steve and Brian have a great … this season; their love as well as Jay and Laura; there’s some wedding action, and it’s very funny; there’s a new mayor in town who makes gay sex and brunch illegal. I should just look through the—let’s see, I go on “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

Let’s see, Andy Samberg plays my imaginary friend this year. Ed Asner is in an episode as a Nazi war criminal. It was really, really—let me tell you something about older actors. Ed Asner is about 80, and Murray, who is on our show, Gershams, is 87, and they’re such pros that when they’re not shooting, they are in their chair sleeping. Just like containing their energy. And we have some really great pictures of elderly Nazi war criminals in set chairs sound asleep.

Billy Crudup plays himself on the show in an episode. I know you didn’t ask who guest stars were. Let me think. There’s some heavy psychedelic drug-taking in an episode. There’s a lot of drugs this season, actually.

Let me think; let me think a … second. I’m just reacting to nobody. Let me think—oh God, I need to drink this coffee that’s in front of me. C’mon Sarah, you’re embarrassing yourself.

I try to fight the taboo of child molesters and vans. Oh, my God, my brain, my brain. This is going to look so cool on a transcript; lots of dot, dot, dots, and little breakdowns.

Well, it sounds like you have a good season coming up.

Sarah: It does, right? I know I’m forgetting like eight episodes. There’s one episode; our eighth episode actually is a Steve and Brian story line that, you’ll actually, dare I say, cry at the end.

It was written as a drama. Rob Schrab, actually, who directs most of the episodes, and writes so much and created the show with me, wrote this episode; and he wrote the “A” story like it’s a drama. I don’t think it’s like a very special “Family Ties,” but I think you might get choked up at the end.

Huh?

Sarah: Yeah.

What?

Sarah: I know.

Yeah. Well, thank you.

Sarah: All right. Good. I’m trying to answer the questions really extra full since you might get a—oh my God.

I was actually just kind of wondering, looking through the old shows–actually I’ve seen the first show of the season—it seems like you’ve got kind of a shock and comedy and shocking comedy, and you know some things are just there to just, I think, shock. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but—

Sarah: Oh, you don’t like the show.

No, I do like the show.

Sarah: Oh yeah.

Shocking isn’t bad.

Sarah: No, I don’t think shock is bad. I don’t think it is. I don’t think it’s derived in particularly sweaty ways. I think it comes a little more organically. I do think we’re not more beholden to shock than story, or anything. I think—like what do you have in mind when you say that …?

Well, actually, I guess the question I was going to ask is, maybe during the writing process, how much is, “this is really hilarious” versus “this is kind of shocking and funny?”

Sarah: We never go for shocking if it’s not funny to us. I mean, I think that we go for aggressively dumb, but I don’t know because that has been what really makes us laugh in the room lately, like the biggest compliment you can get is, “That is so … dumb.”

But shock—I don’t think we go like, “Ooh, that will really shock them.” I mean, does anything shock anyone anymore? I think we kind of hopefully reach beyond that a little bit with our fart jokes, no. But, I think that this season there is actually growth and character arc and stuff. Hopefully still just really dumb and funny and silly. And anything smart you can infer from it from you smart brain is great. I don’t know that it’s pure shock value. I don’t know how long that can last, and maybe that’s what you’re saying. I feel like we’ve got a really, really full season.

I noticed the first couple episodes of this season have more of a cinematic tone that reminded me a lot of Jesus is Magic.

Sarah: Oh, good.

And I wasn’t sure if that was deliberate, or—

Sarah: No, not deliberate, but I think cinematic certainly—I’m glad you guys got some of the episodes. I think the first one, “Proof is in the Penis” feels really cinematic to me. We just haven’t been on the air in 14 months, and that kind of kills us in our hearts, but we just really wanted to start with this one because it just felt like for people who are fans of the show, we know you’ve waited a long time, and here’s something that may be kind of special, or worth the wait; that has slow reveals, and just feels maybe like something special. We love that episode.

Did that answer your question? Wait. Have a followup one. That wasn’t good.

I just wasn’t sure if we can expect big musical numbers all season long, or if this is just the first couple of episodes?

Sarah: No, no, no. There’s musical—it’s very uneven. We’ve just kind of went organically with how it went, so there are a couple episodes that have no music. There’s an episode that has, I think the second episode has three songs. It’s just kind of however it works with the story and however we’re moved when writing the outline.

Usually in the room, someone will just start, get a snag in their brain of a—there’s an episode where Steve writes a song that becomes famous called, “I’m glad you hurt your hand because Brian like hurts his hand.” That just came from the writer’s room of me. Rob Schrab hit his hand, and I was in an extra obnoxious … mode, and I just started going, “I’m glad you hurt your hand. I’m glad you hurt your hand.” Then Rob wrote it into the script.

Hi, Sarah, you’re awesome.

Sarah: Thank you.

I love you, you’re so frickin’ hilarious.

Sarah: What are you from?

AccidentalSexiness.com.

Sarah: Oh, I’ve seen that before. I know I shouldn’t have sidebars, but my friend, Chelsea Peretti, is a hilarious comic, and she writes for the show. She wrote the second episode, actually. But she has a joke about the girls whose G-strings come up, you know, past their pants. “Oh, no. I made a sexy mistake.” Whenever I see AccidentalSexiness, I think of her jokes. Okay, sorry.

I’m so flattered that you’ve seen my site before.

Sarah: Yeah.

That’s awesome. I have a question. You were spotted with a boy at Madeo’s yesterday. Could you tell us who he is?

Sarah: Holy …. That’s so weird. I feel like that place people, yeah, God.

If you can’t, then that’s cool. I totally respect it.

Sarah: No, he’s my boyfriend, Alec.

Oh, Alex. He’s very cute.

Sarah : Alec. A-l-e-c, Alec.

Alec.

Sarah: He writes for “Family Guy.”

Oh, really? Cool. Everybody’s wondering who this mystery guy is. He’s very cute.

Sarah: There. Mystery solved.

I wish you luck on the season. It looks like it’s going to be awesome.

Sarah: I can’t believe that’s what you put your question—that’s how you used your question.

I did, I did. Everybody was wondering, and I wanted to be the one to know.

Sarah: Well, his mother will be very pleased, just seeing his name ….

Hey, Sarah. I’m from Gunaction.com. Sports, beer, media, humor, girls, and gadgets. That’s what we do. I am a huge fan of your show. I absolutely love it. What I was always wondering is, if you didn’t make it into comedy, what would you be doing?

Sarah: I would probably work with retarded adults.

See, my guess was phone sex, just because I think you’d be really good at it. I think you would be funny, and people would be requesting you.

Sarah: I think the woman moderating this would be doing that. She’s got a very sexy voice. Yeah, I like being around the mentally handicapped.

That sounds like a good episode for your show. Maybe season three?

Sarah: You know what? It is an episode this season, but it’s not exactly that. It’s less. But there is an episode this season where I get in trouble for peeing in a mailbox, and I get sent in to work at this place called, “The Little Buddies Program” which works with retarded adults; but I think I’m paired with a mentally handicapped adult, and she thinks she’s paired with a mentally handicapped adult, and we’re so condescending to each other that we never realize who’s retarded, because it’s like, “Do you like ice cream? I love ice cream!” “Do you like ice cream? I love ice cream!”

I know you have a boyfriend, but I was wondering, your show comes on before his. Is there any sexual tension with Demetri Martin? And do you have any tips for romance in the workplace?

Sarah: Wait, is there sexual tension between me and Demetri?

Yeah.

Sarah: No. He’s awesome, though. He’s got a beautiful girlfriend.

Yeah. Let me ask, with Alec, what were the four things you felt with him that you noticed were boyfriend material?

Sarah: I’m sorry, I did not hear you. What are the what?

How did you know Alec was boyfriend material, and do you have any tips for girls? What they should look for in a man?

Sarah: I don’t want to polarize women and men, but I feel like all of us, what we wish for, and then what we are attracted to are often so different. I remember my shrink told me, “We don’t get what we want. We get what we think we deserve.” So, you have to kind of work on accepting yourself before you feel like you deserve love. Because it’s nice to actually be attracted to someone that’s crazy about you, and just get to–. I love love, so I’m going to be corny and not funny, but I think it’s awesome to just get to love somebody to pieces, and they just love you back to pieces. It’s not a turn off because they like you, and mostly, yes, he’s funny as …, you know?

Yeah. So someone who loves you, someone who’s funny?

Sarah: Yeah, I’m one of those lucky people that’s attracted to someone loving me. A lot of people aren’t. You think you are, but you’re not. For me, it almost makes life harder, but you’ve got to be funny. Also, we enjoy a lot of modern warfare—I think, what is it, Tour of Duty 5? I’d have to look on my thing.

What I’m saying is I’m 10. I’m 10 years old. Did I answer anything? Oh my God, what has this become?

No, that was great, that was great. Thank you. It sounds like you are very happy.

I was wondering, since you were nominated for an Emmy, has that created higher expectations for yourself, and for the show now?

Sarah: Well, we’ve always had high expectations for the show. Not in terms of accolades, but we work on it the same. I think everyone that works on it has this awesome love for it. I know it’s so corny when people say that, but we really are like a group of friends. We stand on the set, not just the cast and the writers, but the crew. With all our huge, crazy insane gaps in production, all the crew works their way back to the show because we just have such an awesome time. We stand around going, “Oh my God. We’re making show business. Like this is going to be on TV.” It doesn’t seem fair to get to do what we all love so much.

We didn’t expect it so much, that none of us knew they were even announcing the Emmy nominees. I just woke up to my alarm clock and looked on my phone, and saw like eight calls, and I thought there was an emergency. It just never occurred to us ever, and then it was so great. We couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it, and we’re so happy that anyone, especially the hoity-toits, would appreciate our show as much as we do. It was awesome.

It would have been great to have some sort of momentum with the other award shows in the season, but we weren’t eligible for any of the others; Golden Globes or SAG Awards, or any of that stuff because we weren’t on the air in 2009, at all. It will have been 14 months since the last time we were on when we air on February 4^th. You’d think we were “The Sopranos” or “Lost” with these gaps, and not a 21-1/2 minute show about fart jokes, but we’ll take it. We really love it. We love being together and making this super-super dumb, funny, silly show.

Congratulations on the success of the show. I have to change topics a little bit, and I need to know if you think Conan got a raw deal?

Sarah: Yeah. I mean, I feel pretty confident that he’s going to end up on top somehow, but totally. I just can’t get my head around it. The guy has done so much for NBC and for Late Night, and has made such a success. If you remember, any talk show starts out super slow. No talk show has ever been a hit from day one, ever. And to switch from 12:30 to 11:30 seems like no big deal, but it is. It’s a whole different animal. Not that I know, but from what I know, from what I see. To have him move his whole family and hundreds, over a hundred, hundreds, maybe, of staff, taking their whole lives and moving to L.A. Getting their kids in schools out here, and then only giving it six months? That’s … crazy. They should never be able to use the words, “The NBC Family.” Ever.

But, that said; people go, “Well, he got so much money,” and that’s nice that he got money, but he loves that job. Also, he got the money, but the rest of the whole crew doesn’t, and he’s got …. He’s a good guy. I think they all probably feel real displaced, and abandoned. And they have every right to feel that way.

I can’t help but hope that he lands at FOX or somewhere, anywhere. Wherever he lands, he’ll always have an audience. I just thought that that was a real … move on NBC’s part. And then on top of it, of course the last week or two of the show was just amazing, you know?

Oh, of course, yeah, the ratings just went through the roof after the whole debacle, so what do you know?

Sarah: But I look forward to “Late Night 2” or “Late Shift 2.”

His old partner must be over the moon. I can’t wait ….

I’m from a site called Deaddashfraud.com. It’s kind of about comedy, but very much in a nerdy way. So, what I was curious about was, how difficult is it for the writers to create the show in your voice. Did you ever have times where you say, “Sarah wouldn’t do that” or “Duck wouldn’t do that.” You probably know what Duck can’t do, but that sort of thing.

Sarah: I’m there the whole time. I’m one of the writers. There’s just like five of us, so there’s never a problem. There hasn’t been much turnover; it’s been like Dan Sterling and Rob Schrab and I, and then John Schroeder, tall John, he’s 6”10”, and Harris Wittels and Chelsea Peretti, and our writer’s assistant, Eric Schaer, who’s written two great scripts in the past two season. But, it’s just a small group. We work out of my apartment usually the first three weeks, because we never have office space when we finally get picked up.

So it’s very intimate. My hands are all over it, but also, the guys know me so well; sometimes more than I know myself.

So it’s literally a case that sometimes you go, “I wouldn’t do that,” and they go, “Yes, you would,” and you go, “Yeah, maybe I would do that.”

Sarah: Yeah, sometimes, but sometimes it’s such a fine line that I’ll go, “Eew, I don’t want to do that.” And I’ll do something so very similar to it, but it’s just one of those things that there’s no rule book. It’s just kind of by feel, and that’s it. Some writers get far more excited about—you know, I mean, writing for Jay is super fun—like everyone has such a specific voice; between Laura and Brian and Steve and Jay. I know Dan Sterling loves writing Jay’s stuff, his professions of love—is that right? Professions?

Yeah.

Sarah: I thought I just made that up, but it makes sense.

Yeah. How do you profess your love?

Sarah: Yeah, right. Professions of love. Title of a book.

Or a soap opera.

Sarah: Yeah. Next on “Professions of Love.” Did that answer your question?

I think that gets it pretty good.

How many episode ideas have been shot down by the network?

Sarah: None. None. I could complain about Comedy Central about plenty of things, I guess, but they are super cool about the most important thing, which is content. They may have gripes or they might complain or try to lure us away from a topic, but they never put their fist down and say, “No.” It’s awesome. They really have not meddled with any of the content we like to do.

They’re great about it. They never really sensor us, and even the standard and practices people can make is crazy, but really as long as we can give them a way to defend it, they’ll let us go. They just always need to know how to defend something that they’re worried about.

So they pretty much give you free rein?

Sarah: Yeah. I don’t know why my dog is barking. Let me see if there is a murderer. What is it, buddy? He’s very old. He plays Doug on the show, but his name is Duck. Okay. Did I answer that?

Yes. Thank you.

You are now being televised on The Logo Network, and the commercial is hilarious.

Sarah: Yeah.

How do you feel about your gay fans?

Sarah Well, they saved us. We wouldn’t be on the air if it wasn’t for Logo. Not that that’s the only reason why, but I mean—it’s funny because I was talking to some gay friends of mine, and they were just like; it’s not just that Steve and Brian are gay, it’s just kind of the subversive humor. It’s that kind of like absurdist stuff is I guess up, the cup of tea of a lot of people in the gay community; maybe more in general than the straight community. I don’t know, but yeah. I’m just so grateful.

I know that gays belong to Kathy, but any fall over, I’m not going to take. I’m just so grateful to Logo. They didn’t even think twice about helping us, and in terms of the content, never, ever had even a request. They really are amazing over there, and I can’t express how grateful we all are for them, because we wouldn’t have had a third season without them, and they asked for nothing in return. The fact that their end of the bargain is that they get to air the episodes, it’s like really? It’s amazing to us, too. Its so win-win and we’re just so grateful. So totally grateful.

Awesome. I interviewed Lisa Lampanelli this morning. She wanted me to tell you “Hi.”

Sarah: Oh, I love her.

I do too.

Sarah: I love when she says, when she saw—who is the guy with the huge penis? He was married to Pamela Anderson?

Jerry: Oh, Tommy Lee.

Sarah: She said she didn’t know whether to suck it or feed it a peanut.

Well, awesome. Good luck with your season. I appreciate it.

First of all, we actually have a mutual friend. I went to high school with Stevie Summersquash.

Sarah: Oh my God. I love her so much. Stevie “Blue Sky” Summersquash.

Yes. Most memorable name in the world.

Sarah: Awesome.

The question I have for you is did … Franklin ever make up?

Sarah: Yes. Actually he did. He came to Caroline’s once when I was there, and his guy goes, “He’d like to introduce you when you go up,” and I don’t know why, but I go, “Nah, that’s okay.” I should have just let him. I don’t think he ever was angry. My take on it was that he just was super excited and wanted to milk it for all that it was worth; which I don’t blame him for. It was just a riff. I think I had just seen Broadway’s “Danny Rose,” and his name was fresh in my head.

My question is what kind of cool things can fans expect from the DVD of Season 2, Volume 2 that’s coming out soon?

Sarah: Hold on, I’m going to look at it right next. I just got a box of them. First of all, let’s see. It’s the rest of Season 2. Season 2 got split up by the strike for us. There’s also a bunch of animated shorts. There’s some great behind the scenes stuff. We did audio commentary.

The behind the scenes stuff is really cool on it, actually, because we always just have somebody around with a flip camera or something, backstage, and they grab us between scenes, or whatever, and make something cool out of it. And then, just all the episodes.

Can you talk about the animated shorts? Like how you did those?

Sarah: Those were done by this guy named Justin Roiland, who is an amazing animator and writer, and Rob Schrab knew him from Channel 101, which is a website that they do together. It’s a live show here in L.A., too, where people make TV shows that are under five minutes. I don’t know if you know anything about it; it’s pretty spectacular, and it’s how I met Schrab, and Dan Harmon—the three of us created this show together.

There’s just this crazy pool of talent, and Justin does this great animation, so we just kind of gave him free rein, and he would write cartoons and stuff, and grab us in between scenes to record them. And that’s that.

I guess with the commentaries, looking back, I guess because the show was so long ago, was that kind of trippy?

Sarah: Yeah. We’re all so close to the episodes because we watch it in tiny increments, building and building from each stage, and then editing and everything, so we’re pretty familiar with it. But it is fun to then, months later, just put headphones on and watch it, and talk. We end up just having conversations while we’re supposed to be commenting on the show.

It is fun, the things that come up and the stuff you remember about each scene, and the kind of backstage antics going on, and the way we figured out how to do this or shoot this. For people who are interested in that stuff, it’s interesting. I wouldn’t shove it down everyone’s throat, but I like that kind of stuff. We always just kind of go by the gauge of the stuff we’re into. We’re film and television geeks. I could watch “The Shining” featurette a thousand times in a row, and never get sick of it. It’s just to taste. I like DVDs with extras.

My question to you, is, as we all know, your character on TV uses bad language, rants unashamedly, and is full of sticky-sweet self-importance at the best of times. But in real life, honestly, is there anything taboo to you? Some subject or person that you won’t touch; and if so, why?

Sarah: Well, I don’t like to make fun of people, real people, and the only times I’ve done that is if it’s a Roast or stuff like that. You know what I don’t like? When people ask me that, I always think of the same thing, which is I don’t like jokes about fat women. I don’t like fat jokes about women, and it’s just not tit for tat, you know? Like fat women in white America don’t deserve love, and I don’t think that’s anything to make fun of, you know what I mean? It’s a bummer.

Actually, there’s a quote from “Family Guy,” that’s so brilliant about that, that encapsulates exactly how I feel about it, which is like—oh, I’m not going to say it right, but it’s—you know the father, Peter, and the son—what’s his name, Chris? Chris is like, “Well, we’re fat,” and Peter goes, “Chris, fat guys aren’t fat. Only fat women are fat.” It’s just so true in our society, and it bums me out to make—it never makes me laugh, it just makes me go, “Ugh.”

So you’ve never encountered that in the show as a parody?

Sarah: No, I mean if you ask me if there’s anything that offends me, probably that. I guess if something isn’t funny; and of course, funny is totally subjective, but you hope that if something’s offensive, it’s more funny than offensive. If it doesn’t tickle your funny bone, then all that’s left is offensive. We can only go by our own personal gauges, you know?

I really like last season’s episode, Kangamangus. I just wanted to know, do you have any personal slang words you’d like to see become popular?

Sarah: I was just kind of saying something about that. ….

I did send a Twitter that said, “How about we start going, Oh, that is so pre-Fontaine.” I think was like a runner, or something. You guys, that is so pre-Fontaine. Okay, let’s go with that.

Beyond the show, you also have a movie that’s starting today, and I actually just spoke with Steve Buscemi about the making of Saint John of Las Vegas. But I was wondering, what was he like to work with, and what was the movie like to work on?

Sarah: Oh, he is so amazing. I’m so happy to know him now, and he’s just the kindest, most sincere, but like also the silliest man. He just takes my breath away. Sometimes we’d be doing a scene, and I would just be watching him. Like you forget you’re part of it, because you just want to sit and just watch him.

But he’s such a great guy, and he’s so in love with his wife and his kid. Whenever his phone would ring and he would see it was one of them, he’d just go like, “Oh!” and it’s so cute. I just loved it; to work with him and Peter Dinklage and Romany Malco, who is like, I want him to be my life coach. He’s just got everything figured out. He’s such a neat guy.

But, it was a blast. We had a lot of fun. It was nice to play somebody nice, and I actually was replacing a woman who was—I can never remember her name, she was great. She was in Lovely and Amazing.” Anyway, she for some reason had to leave; she had a family emergency.

The only bad story I have from that is I flew in to New Mexico. I mean, I just took it right away, because I was like, Steve Buscemi, okay, whatever. I flew the next day, and I had to go straight from the airport to wardrobe. And we started trying things on and nothing fit. The wardrobe woman just starts tearing up, literally getting choked up with tears, and she goes, “I got all size 0s, and you’re like an 8.” I was just like, “Oh, I’m sorry.” So humiliating, but what are you going to do?

It ended up being super fun, and even she was really nice, but it was hard to feel like you hurt someone’s feeling because you’re too fat. But it was really fun. I’m so happy it’s coming out. I just started seeing ads for it on TV, and I was like, “Oh my God.”

Well, it’s a good movie. I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed the first two episodes of the new season, as well. Good luck with those.

Sarah: Oh, awesome. Thank you.

I love the first two episodes of the new season, but I was wondering; I’ve heard you talk before about your battle with depression. I was wondering, when you’re in that dark place, how do you continue to think and write comedically?

Sarah: You know what? I think the best answer to that is just practice. Practice, you know, when you do it every day, and it’s part of what you do. You’re able to channel it through whatever mood. And also, I think my sadness or my happiness, or any kind of manic thing; it forms whatever kind of work I do in that day.

Sometimes it’s hard. I have dark times. Honestly, I’m pretty much a happy person, and I like being happy. I like being content. I think people that romanticize it don’t really know how bad it is, like sadness.

There was a time, actually—you know when you’re just like—I don’t cry a lot, but I felt like tears had been filling me up for days, and I’d been pressing down. Then I was shooting one morning, a bunch of the …, so I’m in my pretend bed with my real dog, and we’re about to shoot all the good nights, and it just happened where literally Rob said, “Action” and I went to talk and nothing came out. And just like tears. I felt so—and it was just one of those things where I said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” It just almost became totally physical. I just was like—and they were, “It’s okay. Let’s take five.” And half of me is crying, I don’t even know why, and half of me is crying because I just feel so bad for holding things up.

It’s just so cool, because my real life sister plays my sister, and she was there to do the scene after that, and so they were like, “Do you want us to get Laura?” And I was like, “Yes.” And she came in and she got into my pretend bed, and just rubbed my hair and told me stories about when I was little, and it just made everything better. It was just such a sweet, weird, bizarre, but homey, almost, experience. And then I felt better, and I was like, “I feel better, but I’m afraid to call the crew back, because I know when I see their faces, I’ll cry. Because they love me.”

But we ended up making the day, no problem. It was good. It was just one of those big cries that you don’t expect every couple years, and it was so weird. But I think of it almost fondly, because I just love those guys so much, and to have my own sister right there was nice.

How much is the character of your sister like with you and your sister’s relationship in real life?

Sarah: Similar, only she, I think, I hope to think we take care of each other more. More of an equal—Laura is actually in real life older than me, but I make her my younger sister because; one, she looks … really good, and two, I decided it would be funnier for me to be mooching off of my little sister.

But there’s four of us, four girls, and we’re all really close. Sometimes I just feel bad for people without sisters. I remember one time I was having a fight with a boyfriend, and I was like forwarding all our emails of stuff to my three sisters. And we’re having a whole conversation by email about, “If he said this, and you should …,” and I accidentally copied him in one, and he literally saw the whole thing. But I was just like, “You know what? Whatever you say to me, you should assume that all of my sisters can hear. That’s how you should talk to me. I don’t take it back. That’s how it’s going to be. So watch it.”

I was wondering, every season—now there’s been three seasons, but—how do you challenge yourself when it comes to the shows? Is it something like, “I’m going to do this, this season; or maybe I should challenge myself to go outside this box this season?”

Sarah: Gosh, I can’t say that I’ve really stood outside of it and thought about it, and deconstructed it to that level, but it just kind of happens, haphazardly. There are like, two episodes this season. You’ll only notice it if you look for it. In one of them, it’s just kind of a fading thing, but I have a real thing with necks. Like, why isn’t there bone there? There’s so much important stuff in there. Like in your neck and your throat. It’s crazy that evolution didn’t put something there to protect it. It makes me mad.

So anyway, there’s like some times when I talk about it, and it became into this episode where I get hit with a Frisbee in the neck, and it becomes my obsession. Actually, I think it’s the second episode, if you were sent it. It turns out that, oh yeah, I have to be looking up and not anticipating a Frisbee is about to be thrown into my neck. My biggest fear. It’s mean, it’s not … with dolphins, or whatever that was.

And just in terms of acting? This is really corny, but I try to—as corny, or as absurd, or as aggressively … stupid something is, I know that I try to play it real, because without that contrast, if I was acting like, “Whew, I’m crazy,” there would be no contrast to how stupid the material is. I am kind of aware of that.

I actually wanted to ask you, since we heard your dog. Have you ever thought about giving him a co-star? Like an animal co-star on the show.

Sarah: You mean credit-wise?

No, no, like another animal or something. Because he’s such a big part of the show.

Sarah: Oh, you mean getting another animal. Of course.

Yeah.

Sarah: I don’t know. Like should he have a pet? He should have a fish. Would that be a good idea? Do you want to have a fish on the show? … I don’t know, we haven’t really thought about it, though Laura always brings her dog to the set, and they’re like best friends, but—

Then you should put him on.

Sarah: But Laura will just pretend her dog, Daisy, just doesn’t get to be on camera. “I don’t have on-camera looks.”

And actually, I just wanted to know about your YouTube videos that are such hits. Have you thought about releasing another one? What are your other ones about?

Sarah: I never, you know obviously I make no—we shoot it in my apartment, I do it for free. We just make it because we just love doing that stuff when we think of something. I’ve been approached to do something where I have to pump out a certain amount, and it would be monetized, but it’s just not worth it because I feel like I don’t want to have to come up with stuff. It’s just like if it moves me, and I think of something, we shoot something in my apartment and put it up there. I kind of just like it that way.

I own my Saab and my apartment. I don’t want to ever have to produce something, even if it’s not inspired, you know what I mean? Like just for the sake of it. Right now I don’t have any—we did everything. We did all the ideas we had. Although there is one more video we’re thinking about doing, but—

That is?

Sarah: I just kind of whenever I think of something and want to do it, I’ll do it, but I don’t like to be beholden to it in that way, and I really love the internet. I love it as a medium. I just want to do stuff I’m super-jazzed about and not be beholden to any kind of production schedule.

The New York vs. Jersey Question

James answers a question about his Character

Guillermo compares playing his character Angel to the string of bad boy characters he’s taken on in other series.

Actress Zelda Rubinstein, who is best known for her role as the psychic Tangina in the 1982 cult horror movie Poltergiest. has passed away at the age of 76.

Rubinstein, who had been hospitalized for major organ failure since mid December of 2009 had ongoing health issues according to her agent Her agent, Eric Stevens.  Stevens also confirmed to the media that the ailing actress passed away from natural causes at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010.

Steven Spielberg’s Poltergiest was Zelda Rubinstein’s big break in Hollywood making her highly recognizable as the little lady who was tough on ghosts. She reprised her character of Tangina in Poltergiest II.

Friends who knew Rubinstein best say that she was at peace at her time of passing and that ‘the world has definitely lost someone special.”

Psych [USA, Wednesdays, 10/9C] returns for its winter premiere tonight – a new night – and minus the lead-in of perennial favorite, Monk, which ended its eight-year run in December. I took part in a teleconference Q&A session with series star James Roday and John Cena, who guest stars in the premiere. Unfortunately, their schedules where such that there was no overlap, so Mr. Cena was onboard for the first twenty minutes, then had to get on an airplane and Mr. Roday joined, us for the last half-hour, from the studio. It was an unusual situation that allowed for some interesting questions.

Also on the call were: Joshua Maloney [Niagara Frontier Publications], David Martindale [Hearst Newspapers], Rosa Cordero [AccidentalSexiness.com], Sammy Torino [TV Grapevine], Troy Rogers [thedeadbolt.com], Kristyn Clark [Pop Culture Madness], Laura Tucker [Small Screen Monthly], Earl Dittman [Wireless Magazine], Lisa Sternberg [Starry Constellation], Whitney Sedgwick [TwoSuns.com], Lena Lamoray [LenaLamoray.com], Travis Tidmore [The CineManiac], Monica Garsky [Flash News], Icess Fernandez, and Martin Sternberg [SmallScreenScoop.com].

Hey, John. Thanks for your time today.

John Cena: Hey no problem man.

So were you a fan of the show? Had you seen it prior to guest starring in it?

JC: Well just because of the relationship with the network I’ve seen bits and pieces, I’ve never been involved and dedicated for the seasons and everything, but really kind of saw that it was my sense of humor and definitely when I got on set I knew I would fit right in.

The show’s very well written and it’s very, those guys certainly (unintelligible) themselves and with their personality I, I love how it’s put together and I, I wasn’t a die hard fan but have since become one.

It’s… I really do like what they’re doing with the show and I’m happy that I can help kick off the new season, the new time slot but it was it was an educational experience but one that I certainly, I made some new friends and certainly had a newfound respect for what those guys (unintelligible).

I watched the screener of the episode last week, enjoyed it. You’re really quite good in it. Yeah your character, your character kind of as a super agent kind of does it all you know, whether he’s you know, being smart or you know, whether it’s you know, man of action. We didn’t get to see this side of him but I bet you he’s catnip to the ladies too. How much, how much fun was it to play a character like that?

JC: It was really cool but at the same time to have, have a bit of a mercenary type feel. It wasn’t the Johnny-do-good sort of baddest man on the planet style. This guy, the guy that I play is a, is a true mercenary, you know, he’s very good at what he does but at the same time is certainly out to make money and knows he has to compromise some morality issues to get the job done sometimes, and I think that’s what leads up to a very interesting ending.

Yeah. Speaking of which it kind of left it open a little bit, might we see, might we see you come back?

JC: I would, I would certainly love to make another appearance. I’m so glad that they didn’t (unintelligible) ending to my character and I would certainly love to come back if, let’s hope we get some good ratings for the premier episode and if we do then hopefully I’ll be seen again.

Is it hard to keep a straight face on the set of that show?

JC: No. They take everything in stride, those guys you know, like I said they got a great sense of humor, they’re willing to laugh at themselves and wink at the camera and that’s, that’s really what I like to do. So we held it together just about until they said cut and then yeah, we had a bunch of laughs, but those guys have a wonderful sense of humor.

How do you think wrestling’s changed over the years?

JC: It’s, I, this is something that can be as long or as short of answer as you like, but really quickly I’ve watched it as a child in the ‘80s and then kind of grew up with it in the ‘90s and watch it now. It’s, it’s almost come full circle, it’s back to it’s (unintelligible) PG format. The production value is second to none to any live television show out there that includes all live news, all live sport shows.

We really know how to shoot what we do very, very well, we’re very effective at it. I think it is constantly improving and giving it’s consumers the best value it can for the money. But at the same time it went through a very, very radical phase in the late ‘90s and is now since kind of found its own in an entertainment block that is okay for pretty much everyone to enjoy, not just a set demographic, the over 18.

I have a lot of friends who have children that want to get into wrestling, what age do you think it’s appropriate to start in schools and for them to actually start wrestling? Should they start early or?

JC: Well, I mean if you ask me I can just use my own success as a template. I knew very little about professional wrestling and sports entertainment and got my primary and secondary education, I graduated from high school and graduated from college without ever having stepped foot in a ring.

So is there an exact age? I can’t, I really can’t tell you, I can tell you what I’ve done and I had a lot of success and I still hopefully, barring any physical disaster have a long life left in my career.

So I don’t think there is a prime age or even a prime way to, you know, prepare yourself for the WWE I think you kind of got to take everything in stride. I can emphasize first and foremost that it is very, very difficult to become a WWE superstar, so it certainly doesn’t hurt to have education to fall back on.

Now, I wanted to know how much of your role from The Marine did you use for this role?

JC: This was a little bit different because The Marine role was more punch you in the face and see how big the explosion can be type of thing, but this it certainly was, I think this was that kind of spin off. They wanted that kind of super badass, you know, toughest man alive, that type of, that type of stick.

But I didn’t want to give the same thing. I wanted to be able to show just a, you know, a little bit of the humor, a little bit of more, a little bit more depth just because the people who have already seen The Marine have kind of already seen that. So I tried to take what we did in that movie so that it would be relative and kind of add a little bit to it.

The reason I asked is I was surprised to see Robert Patrick. What was it like working with him again?

JC: Yeah. It was awesome man. We, it was really, really good to see him. He’s one of my favorites. We have some good times together, it was, what a pleasure it was that he was just coincidentally he was on set at the same time and there we are in more scenes together, it was really something special.

So, you’ve done TV and movies along with everything with WWE. My curiosity is how do you keep everything so balanced? Is there one medium that you prefer over others?

JC: No. I mean obviously I’m a, I really love what I do for the WWE and I’m, and all these opportunities have spawned from my success in the WWE.

So that’s, I guess that’s where my allegiance lies, but everything I do is pretty much the, to promote the extension of our brand, all the movies, all the TV spots are all pretty much to let everybody know that we you know, I like what I do in WWE they should tune in.

But I don’t know. I guess maybe sacrificing sleep is the way I make it all work, but somehow it all balances out. I haven’t broke down yet, so I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing because I do like everything, I do the TV the movies and of course WWE I don’t ever dread going to the office.

And between Gus and Shawn, the characters on Psych, who do you think would win in the ring?

JC: You know what I just, because of his kooky quirkiness I like, I like James. He’s a fun dude to be around, extremely, extremely witty and that can get you miles and miles in the WWE ring.

First off, as soon as my son found out I was participating in this call today he immediately texted all his buddies on the wrestling team to let them know his mom was going to be talking to John Cena. So thanks for making me a hero to a bunch of high school boys.

JC: Awesome.

How do you handle the fame when it comes to kids? Do you treat them like you would any other fan or do you take that role extra seriously because you’re making impressions on a bunch of young guys or what?

JC: No. That’s, I think that’s something that you have to take seriously, and I think that’s something in today’s day and age that isn’t taken quite seriously enough to be frank, especially with us really promoting the fact that we’re TV PG and we’re kind of welcoming our youth audience. It goes without saying that you have to be able to, if you’re in a position where you’re supposed to be a positive influence on these young people that you are a positive influence on these young people.

And it does, once again it takes extra time but it’s one thing that can really, really pay off in the long run. I think we all have experiences when we were young where we either had an interaction with someone we admired or you know, had a vision of how they were and found out that they weren’t necessarily that and that it tends to be a big let down sometimes.

So if I’m supposed to be the person that a lot of these young people believe in I just, I try to do the best I can to be that guy. And then my personality on television is not a far stretch from who I am in real life, so it’s not, it’s not that hard it just takes a lot more time.

Okay. So who was your hero when you were growing up?

JC: My favorite athletic hero was Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees and fortunately had a chance to meet him this past year when I threw out the first pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers and I was very, very pleased to say that he was nothing but a gentleman. That was somebody that I looked up to as a kid and in that one brief meeting that I had with him this summer it was solidified that he was the right guy to be rooting for.

Well I… they say you’re in the airport heading off to do a film. What are you working on?

JC: I’m actually wrapping a film that’s tentatively titled Brother’s Keeper but the title will change, it most likely will be released in August.

Oh, who are you doing it with? Who are your co-stars?

JC: Patricia Clarkson is in it as a female [lead], mother of the boy, the boy star. Danny Glover is also in it.

Wow.

JC: Yeah. It’s actually, it’s going to pan out to be a really, really good movie. It’s a drama about a young man who uses amateur wrestling as a backdrop to kind of bring a family closer together.

Wow. Even though this is a change it still has the wrestling in it, that’s great.

JC: Yeah it’s amateur stuff so it’s a little bit different but it still has an element of pure sport so it’s nice.

Doing a show like this and doing these films did you, was it always your intention to become an actor or was it always going to be an actor/wrestler? I mean, what was your game plan?

JC: No. There really hasn’t been a game plan it’s just, I’ve learned since the first day I came on board in the WWE be ready for anything. You know I’m a gold recording artist, we came out with an album and I sold over half a million copies of that.

I’ve done a couple movies now, I’ve had some TV spots, and all of this is opportunity is literally developed out of nowhere but it’s all been from the WWE, you just have to be ready for your opportunity and just make the best of it when it comes.

And so what is next? Is there any desires, anything you really want to do that’s left to do?

JC: I’ll be quite honest what’s left for me is… Psych on the 27th and after that I’ll just take it one at a time (unintelligible).

After that anything’s possible.

JC: Yep.

So, did you enjoy doing the comedy, I mean and Psych is such a great show, I mean did, was it, a different step for you?

JC: Yeah. No I did have a good time doing that. I think everybody you know, we all have a sense of humor and I’m not one to take myself too seriously but I very rarely can feel that side with the nature of WWE programming, so I was really, really excited about doing it.

So you’re a funny guy in normal life?

JC: I’d say that, that depends on who you ask. I’d like to think I don’t bring the party down.

…This will have to be my last question because I’m boarding as we speak.

For those of us who might not have seen the episode yet we love the psych outs at the end of the show if you’re not familiar with that since you’ve seen bits and pieces of the show, did you get involved with any of the psych outs at the end?

JC: I don’t know which one they used because there’s the episode I have, the version I saw didn’t have it, but they’ve got some good material and whenever they show it on TV I’m sure they’ll have the extra stuff on the Web, so it’s something that you’re going to want to see, I’ll put it to you that way.

Great. And if you [don’t mind] a real quick extra follow-up question is the guys have such amazing comedy duo together, what do you think it is that keep that comedy and comedic timing together with the guys since you’ve gotten to know them?

JC: Certainly it’s a yin and yang, you know, Dule is very slapstick, Dule’s over the top and James is very, very witty and he’s got that dry sense of humor that just matches well.

Thank you so much John and have a safe flight and good luck.

JC: Thank you guys, but I do, I do have to go so I’m going to board the plane right now. Thank you guys for your time, I appreciate it.

*** James Roday joins the call***

James Roday: Hello.

James?

JR: Yes. I’m so sorry, I simply couldn’t figure out how to get on this call.

That’s (unintelligible) James if you can hear me I was wondering, we love the theme song to the show Psych and certainly you got Boys to Men to remix it up a bit, is there somebody else that you’d really love to see take a turn at the Psych theme song?

JR: Yeah there’s actually a couple people I’d love to see take a turn. I think the Chipmunks should do it. I think that maybe we could, maybe we could structure like a, a holiday episode or something where the Chipmunks just come in and blast it and do their thing. And then I think David, a David Bowie cover of our theme song would probably go over pretty, pretty nicely as well.

Yeah I was waiting for you to say like maybe you get a Pat Benatar in there because we’ve seen a psych out with Pat Benatar songs… maybe Tears for Fears reunion.

JR: Well I mean I thought, if you’re saying what would be, what if you’re asking me like what would be great for the show I could, you know I could make a list of every sort of one hit wonder that ever came out on any ‘80s compilation imaginable.

For me selfishly I would want it to be Bowie so that I could hang out with Bowie and I would actually request that he come dressed as the character from Labyrinth and I would hang out with him while he did it and then I don’t know, who doesn’t want to hear their theme song sung by the Chipmunks? Am I crazy? Am I wrong on this?

No. That would be great, it would be a wonderful follow-up to the film. And speaking of songs…

JR: Yeah. You wouldn’t be able to understand what they’re saying it would be awesome.

Just to hear it in their tiny voices would be magical.

JR: I know it’s all squeaky and we could get Theodore like a solo but nobody would know it was Theodore because they all sound the same when they sing, but we would know, I don’t know.

Well we’ll…

JR: But yeah (unintelligible).

…have you work on that.

JR: Tears for Fears would be great. Depeche Mode would be great. The Cure would be great, the Smiths. How about this, we beg the Smiths to finally reunite because they’ll get to sing the Psych theme song?

Well the people from the network are tuning in here too so we’ll, hopefully they’re passing the word along right now.

JR: Everybody’s pens and pencils are scribbling, you can hear them.

Well the whole task is huge music fans, I’m wondering are you guys watching Glee, are you watching American Idol?

JR:You know what my girlfriend, my dear girlfriend who also works on the show with us is addicted to both of those shows. And it took me a little while but she got me on the Idol train, so now I watch that and I haven’t, I’m not fully aboard the Glee train but I have seen two or three episodes and they, they really do look like they’re just having almost as much fun as we do.

Maybe we can get them in for the next psych out or new theme song, you never know, anything for you guys.

JR: (Unintelligible) networks love to work with other networks, you know what I mean? Fox, USA done deal, it would be like a gentleman’s handshake.

It’s the hands across network America.

JR: That’s what I’m talking about.

Well thank you so much James. It’s wonderful speaking to you again.

JR: I’m sorry, I’m sorry I bounced on so late. I feel a little mentally challenged. I think we may discover after today that I have special needs, and that’s sad. But I was good to catch you at the end there and have a fantastic day.

I just wanted to ask, since you guys have been off the air for the winter hiatus and of course Monk has ended you guys are now kind of that flagship original series for USA or the longest running original series right now. What’s that like? Has that changed the way that you guys look at the show now?

JR: I feel older and my knees feel older. You know what, it’s a testament I think to, to the sort of little engine that could mentality that we’ve had from the very beginning with the show, that we have sort of stuck around long enough to be anybody’s flagship.

USA does such a great job sort of branding and packaging their shows and you know, they move and they sort of you got to keep up, you’ve really got to keep up with the train. And we’ve managed to sort of kind of continuously reinvent ourselves and become this sort of hybrid show that can stick around hopefully no matter what else is going on around it.

So it feels good for us, I’m not sure if it makes any difference to anyone else, but it, but it feels good to have lasted, to have lasted this long and still be standing for sure.

You have some really great guest stars in this episode and I was just wondering are there any guest stars that you’ve really wanted to get that you haven’t yet that maybe you’re looking forward to?

JR: I always say David Bowie, that’s sort of like my stock answer to every question regarding who I’d like to have come on the show, who I’d like to sing our theme song, who I’d like to meet for coffee in a completely unrelated non-Psych atmosphere. He’s just the God, he’s the man and I think we could probably make really good use of him on our show.

In addition to him there’s sort of like a, a little like mini-Psych dream that before it’s all said and done we would be able to have all five members of the Breakfast Club. We’re only, you know, we’ve only nailed two of the five, so we’ve got our work… we’ve got our work cut out for us. And I think Emilio is going to prove especially tricky but these are the kinds of goals that we’ve set on our show.

If Shawn and Gus were a wrestling duo what would their names be and what would your stage attire be?

JR: Wow. That’s, it’s thought out, it’s intent, it’s thorough, it’s timely, it’s appropriate and my answer is going to be rather rudimentary.

I’m going to go ahead and call us Black and Tan, me of course being Black and Gus being Tan. And I’m going to say that we come to the ring in our Black and Tan want-to-be-male-model attire and that we are what is known in the WWE universe as jobbers, meaning that it is our job to come in and get our asses beat by whatever tag team that they’re trying to push at the time.

There it is, there’s my estimation of Shawn and Gus as wrestlers.

That works. Now in the episode Let’s Get Harry we get to meet Shawn and Gus’ wrestling dolls. Will they be making a comeback and in real life do you own any dolls?

JR: I think we sort of, I think if I remember correctly we kind of retired the dolls right then and there in the moment in the episode because we sort of had the epiphany that we were a little too old and they were actually a little creepy. So I don’t know if the dolls are making a comeback.

In real life I don’t have any dolls, but the Robert doll, the Robert doll that we used in Tuesday the 17th is floating around somewhere and I think (Steve Franks) took it and I might try and get it from him.

I’ve been rewatching the show with my son, he’s almost two and he runs around yelling psych, I know all the time and is a big fan of Shawn and Gus and the theme song. And I had forgotten about the close talking scene from I think it was in season two with you and Juliet where you almost kiss…

JR: Yes.

…and I was wondering if we were going to get any more scenes like that. I know Abigail’s coming back and I was wondering if you were going to move forward with her or if we’d see you getting closer to Juliet?

JR: Well, I can tell you that our, our dear show creator Mr. Franks has sort of ambiguously informed us that he does have, that he does have sort of definitive plans for Shawn and Juliet in season five, which we haven’t started yet.

As far as the stretch run here in season four, I think it’s a little more tangled up and there’s lots of different moving pieces and like you said Abigail’s floating around in there and we’re going to, well it’s complicated you know, it’s, it’s complicated for a little while longer.

I love the fact that your two-year-old son watches our show. I challenge anyone on cable that at 10:00 to say that their fan base reaches casts that wide of a net.

Well I have a video from last year when he was one dancing to the theme song so he’s been a fan for awhile now.

JR: He’s the star, he’s a rock star and it’s time we put him on a shirt of something.

I was just wondering, this is my favorite episode since Ghosts and I really like the idea of this mercenary-type of guy, who also happens to have a pass from the government that will get him in anywhere, and the mysterious boss and all that. Do you have plans to do more with that if John is available?

JR: Absolutely. That’s a no-brainer, because of everything you just said, which is what an interesting, like what a truly interesting character to explore. And I mean there’s almost nowhere that you can’t go with that guy, you know.

His moral code is ambiguously pointing North but in sort of a gray way and you know, he’s got every physical tool you could possibly imagine and he can get in just about anywhere you can possibly need to get in, and he has an emotional investment in Juliet, who is one of our regulars.

So for me it’s, it’s an absolute no-brainer to bring him back and because the way we left things the way that we did there are countless ways that we could do that. And we had a blast with John and I think he’s great in the episode and you know, unless he’s lying to us I would suspect that he would be up for coming back as well, so.

I think he did mention that. He did say he would be.

JR: And yes is my answer to that.

What was it like working in that environment that the episode presented to you?

JR: Well first and foremost it was interesting because there is no military base where we shoot in Vancouver. So we managed to sort of transform an old asylum for the mentally and criminally insane into a, into a military base, and when you watch the episode like, I mean I’m sure military experts you know, will probably be cringing but I’d buy it.

So props to our production design team for that. And then you know, anytime you put on fatigues and you know, you sort of get yourself into that military mindset, especially in these our times it, you take a, you have to take a moment to reflect, I mean we’re obviously silly and we don’t take ourselves very seriously and we’re a comedy.

But you know the truth is there are, there are a lot of young men and women out there wearing those uniforms that put their lives on the line every day. So there was that, there was that element going on as well where we would just stop and look at each other and be like wow. Here we are making jokes but there are other people that don’t get to make jokes. So it was interesting.

I have a couple questions, first of all a comment. Psych USA just tweeted out a Chipmunk version of the Psych intro. You might want to catch that. It’s hilarious.

JR: That’s awesome.

It’s great. Next question, no limits, no boundaries, what story line would you like to write or see in the show that has not been explored enough yet?

JR: I would, my gut would be to go to a place that hasn’t been explored at all, and that would be, well actually okay, I have one and 1A. One is you know, we do so much singing on our show and everybody sings, it just seems like we’re way overdue for a musical, we just got to come up with a clever way to do it.

And now that Glee has sort of, you know, captured the country’s sort of attention and is in everyone’s subconscious I think it’s probably the best time ever because they do it so well that I think the expectation for us would be to just, just do it okay, and I know we can pull that off.

So we should do, we should do a musical episode. Beyond that I think a dream therapy episode where Gus and, or Shawn and Gus agree to sort of participate in some sort of dream therapy experiment where they could actually go into each other’s dreams. That’s been, to me that’s no boundaries, that’s like Shawn walking around Gus’ dream world and everybody being able to see what Gus dreams about. I don’t know if we could top that.

Okay. I’m already laughing at the possibilities of what could be in Gus’ dreams, so I’m going to move on.

JR: You’d get, you’d get like a giant foot locker organized like it’s a mile long like where everything is organized and color tabbed just so, and then like Halle Berry is in charge of keeping it like safe.

Absolutely. And there would be, everything would be like card cataloged.

JR: Yes.

So he could totally find anything at any time and there’d be like a “No Shawn” sign somewhere.

JR: And it would, it might be that all the women are Halle Berry, like there’s just Halle Berrys walking around.

That would be fun.

That would be fun, you should write that, absolutely you should write it.

JR: It’s on the, it’s sort of been in the (unintelligible) for a while, it’s just a matter of whether or not we can convince Franks to go there.

I’ve been tweeting as I’ve been hearing the interview and just kind of getting snippets and all of my followers, a lot of my followers are not only Psych fans but also New Kids on the Block fans.

And so the one question that has been coming back to me over and over again I have to ask, they were wondering New Kids on the Block may be singing the theme song? This is the one question everybody’s asking me, I don’t understand it but okay.

JR: NKOTB singing the theme song, maybe. I mean I guess those guys got together again recently. I mean they certainly are solid representatives of the era that we sort of have fun with the most. I think it could be fun. I, I’m open to just about anything, I mean I think Stacey Q singing our theme song is cool so it, sure.

All right. I will tweet it back out to them because they’re all asking and thank you very, very much. Good (unintelligible).

So was there ever a serious thought of being, when you were a kid, of being a wrestler when you grew up?

JR: Not a serious thought no, I watched it enough and I watched, you know I watched it religiously to know how much risk those guys are at on a nightly basis…

…and how many injuries they suffer and you know, you watch all the documentaries and it’s, it is a very, very sort of specific journey that these guys choose to go on for our entertainment.

And I prefer to be one of the entertained.

Easily. So you must have, but honestly for you it, this must’ve been a real thrill to have John on this show to do this.

JR: You know what…

Is it like a dream come true for you?

JR: Well yeah, I mean it is, it is just because you know, to be able to sort of rub shoulders with these guys and get a sense of their, of their culture after being a fan for so many years is, it is, it’s a bizarre dream, childhood dream come to life.

And I can’t imagine a better catalyst for all of that than John, just because you know, not only is he bigger than life in the ring he’s bigger than life outside the ring. And he’s such a nice fellow – I just said fellow, don’t say, don’t write that I said fellow, he’s a nice guy, you know what I mean?

He’s just, he’s so genuine and he’s so grounded and he was so happy to be with us, which is why you know for us it was an absolute no brainer to go be with him.

And yeah, I mean he’s, I can’t you know, I don’t have enough nice things to say about the guy except that most of his pants are custom, are custom made. Because it’s impossible, it’s impossible to find stuff that has like 27” waist but also enough room in the caboose for this giant sculpted ham, ham hock buttocks, you know what I mean?

He can’t just walk into the Gap and buy a pair of 1969, you know, boot cut jeans, like that’s not an option for him.

I was, I’m still cracking up over listening to that Chipmunk song by the way. But are there any concerns about the show moving to a new night?

JR: You know we’re all just sort of cautiously optimistic that it’s going to be a good thing. We, we’ve been in a kind of a you know, what, what the industry would consider a tough time slot for our whole run, you know a lot of our sort of loyal fan base I would suspect are not always home Friday’s at 10:00 (unintelligible).

So the idea that a lot of those fans that usually have to TIVO us and watch us you know, on Saturdays or later in the week might actually be home to watch us live I think is a good thing. And yeah that’s, we’re, that’s sort of what we’re going with and a move to Wednesday can only be good.

Awesome. And I had previously asked this question to John Cena as well but from you between Gus and Shawn who you think would win in the wrestling ring?

JR: Between Shawn and Gus?

Yes.

JR: I think Shawn takes that because he, he wouldn’t think twice about cheating. In the words, in the immortal words of Jesse “The Body” Ventura, “Win if you can, lose if you must but always, always cheat.” And I think while Gus would, would come in with his ideals and attempt to win a fair and square match, you know, Shawn would go to any lengths necessary to walk out of there with the victory even if it was painted.

I have to say we’re all huge Psych fans in my house, to the point where we have to have a pineapple for every holiday. One of my best friends actually gives me pineapples for my birthday now.

JR: You know what? If it’s juicy and it’s crisp you can eat that stuff 365.

Yep. You see, see I’m telling you, you started a good thing, a good tradition in my family.

JR: I feel it, I’m happy.

Good I’m glad. … how much of the stuff that you guys do on the show how much of it is real, how much of it is improv? I mean is it mostly you go by the script or you do improv?

JR: I think the balance is, I think we started off in the beginning much heavier on the improv side. And I think as we sort of found our groove and we’ve been lucky enough to continuously sort of improve and supplement our writing staff with each season I think is a really, I think we’ve sort of come full circle now and it’s like our scripts are really, really, really solid and any improv-ing that happens is just icing. So yeah.

That’s amazing, and maybe you can finally settle this to us, what is the deal with the pineapple, I mean everyone always, you know we always described how that whole thing came about.

JR: Really arbitrarily, which I think is the fun of it. If you, if you remember all the way back to the pilot episode there’s the scene where we’re about to leave Gus’ apartment and there’s a pineapple sitting on top of his refrigerator and I grabbed it and (unintelligible).

Slices for the road.

JR: Unintelligible) stuff for the road or yeah, yeah, that’s it, that’s the line. Anyway it was in and out of that cut to the very, very end and the director had lifted it and Steve went back in at the last second and put it back in there.

And then over the course of the series it sort of, it’s become the insignia for the show. So the irony is that, A, if the scene had been cut there would be no pineapple, and B, if it had been a coconut or some bananas or you know, a dragon fruit sitting on top if his refrigerator it would probably mean that we’re talking about coconuts or dragon fruit right now.

Probably yeah. And do you expect to put any more ‘80s references into the series as it goes on?

JR: Always, that’s sort of, we’ve created the expectation and you know, I think our fans enjoy it and the good thing about the ‘80s is that it’s a bottomless vault of good and bad pop culture. So I think we’ll probably be able to, to keep it going for however long we’re lucky enough to be on the air.

(Unintelligible) good, I mean I’m even dating myself so of course I love it, I remember all that stuff so it’s exciting.

JR: Yeah it is, we’re keeping it alive man.

What’s your favorite nickname you ever came up with for Gus?

JR: That’s, you know I’m just going to, I’m just going to be a traditionalist and say that Silly Pants Jackson is the one that started, started the whole ridiculous thing, it’s just my favorite just because it was the first one.

I’m the guilty party that posted those pictures of you in Canada.

JR: The pictures of me in Canada, what pictures are those?

You were wearing, all I remember is you were wearing socks and sandals, and even though it’s a fashion no-no it’s okay because it was you. You were going to the store or something and I posted pictures and we barely ever get paparazzi pictures of you, I don’t know where you hide.

JR: You know what I think it’s a mixture of being very race-like and nimble and the paparazzi not really caring. I think it’s a nice mixture of those two things.

Oh but we really care your fans, we love you.

JR: Thank you. Thank you, very much.

When you did the telenovela episode your Spanish didn’t sound like it was great, was that on purpose or, because I know that you’re part Hispanic, do you speak fluent Spanish.

JR: I was… I speak semi-fluent Spanish, enough to get by if people are speaking to me really slow, but I can tell you that for the purpose of the episode I was, you know, I was speaking silly Shawn Spanish, so you know part of the comedy came from the fact that it didn’t sound great.

Although, because there weren’t any Spanish speakers on set, I was able to sneak in a few jokes in Spanish that made it simply because no one knew what I was saying.

Yeah, but us Spanish speaking ones did catch them.

JR: Thank you so much, that’s awesome.

I’m a huge fan, just have to get that out first and it seems everybody asked you everything that I was going to ask you about the show so I’m going to ask you about Extinction, you have, it’s opening next month in Manhattan right?

JR: Dude that’s true, that’s awesome. Thank you for mentioning that. And it is sort of, it does come back to Psych actually. It’s a play that I did in Los Angeles opposite Michael Weston, who played Adam Hornstock, Esq., in Cloudy Chance of Murder. And Amanda Detmer, who played Ciaobella Masterson in Black and Time, Crime of Fashion.

And the play is moving off Broadway to the Cherry Lane Theater starting next month and Dule Hill, my generous co-star has also joined the team as a producer. So there’s Psych all over this thing and it opens on February 17 and it’s a limited engagement, it’ll run through the middle of March and possibly extend to the end of March if people are actually coming to see the play.

But thank you so much for mentioning that.

I just got done watching the fall finale again and there was a scene where Juliet was in the office with Gus and she asks Gus how he thought Abigail and Shawn’s relationship was going and Gus responded with he didn’t know. If someone else besides Juliet would obviously would ask Shawn the same question how do you think he would answer?

JR: Well since it’s still pretty new to Shawn I think he would probably say that it’s – it’s going okay. I think the fallacy there would be that he would say that it was going okay if she had just broken up with him as well because he’s, I don’t think he would realize that that, that that means that things are rocky.

So you know, I think you know it’s a pretty semi-fluid kind of relationship that he’s just sort of going along with and, and we’ll see I mean I think he’s, he’s one of those guys that might have to have an anvil dropped on his head to be like what, we’re done, really? I thought we were doing great. So we’ll see. We’ll see and I say that as if I don’t know even though I do know. But I’ll just say that we’ll see.

[Note: This Q&A has been edited to exclude some material that was no longer timely.]

Syfy’s Battlestar Galactica prequel series, Caprica premieres tonight [9/8C], and on Tuesday, I took part in a conference call Q&A with series co-creator and executive producer, David Eick and Paula Malcomson, who plays Amanda Greystone on the show. It got off to a bit of a weird start, but quickly picked up steam and was, ultimately, a very interesting experience.

Also taking part were: Jim Halterman [jimhalterman.com], Charlie Jane Anders [io9.com], Troy Rogers [thedeadbolt.com], Michael Hinman [Airlock Alpha], Lisa Steinberg [Starry Constellation], Ivy West [CliqueClack TV], and Steve Aramo [SciFi Talk].

Hey good morning gentlemen. I really enjoyed the pilot. Can you talk a little bit about making a show and…

Paula Malcomson: Can I just point out that I’m a woman? Just before we…

Oh I’m so sorry.

PM: …go any further.

((Crosstalk))

Sorry about that, sorry about that.

PM: No problem.

I just want to know the intention to make the show different from Battlestar Galactica, can you talk about that a little bit because it definitely has a whole different feel to it.

David Eick: Well I just wanted to use this opportunity to point out that I’m a woman too.

((Crosstalk))

DE: You go first Paula, you’ve earned it.

PM: You go, that’s for you. That’s – this is you – this is all your field.

DE: Okay now that we’ve screwed around what’s the question again my friend?

((Crosstalk))

PM: It was about the differences and…

DE: Oh yeah the difference between Battlestar and CAPRICA?

Yeah, basically just the intention to make it different because it definitely has a whole different feel about the show.

DE: Yeah I think we’re very intently committed to the idea that this show stand on its own, that it not in any feel like an echo or a descendent or a, you know, extension of Battlestar Galactica in any way. You’ll note that the title is not Battle Galactica CAPRICA it is simply CAPRICA.

And the relationship that it has to Battlestar is purely inconsequential. It’s kind of in an Easter egg sense fun for the fans and audience that followed Battlestar Galactica but if you never saw a lick of that show it will have no impact on your ability to really get involved in and relate to the characters and the drama we’re doing on this show.

Okay. And also the fact that people can pretty much see pieces of CAPRICA or the pilot a lot of different places other than the Syfy Channel just because it’s, you know, there’s episodes being put online and stuff. Is that part of your design or does that come from the network?

DE: Well it was a network design but I believe – and I’m not certain about this – that it’s a release strategy or a distribution strategy that other networks had tried as well. I think Glee may have done something like this where the pilot premiered and then a period of time went by and then the pilot re-premiered as a launch to the series.

And so I think in a multiplatform universe as it were where people are consuming dramatic material on their televisions, on their DVD players and on the Internet it’s really kind of smart and ahead of the game to figure out new and unorthodox ways to launch a show.

And – but that was definitely the network’s call and we were happy to get aboard. And in fact it gave us an excuse me spend even more money on the pilot because the version that airs Friday is, you know, sort of tricked out with a bunch of new shots and visual effects and a couple scenes we even redid. So it’s been worth it all around.

PM: Now he tells me. That’s interesting – news to me.

DM: Don’t worry it’s not…

PM: It’s fine.

((Crosstalk))

PM: That scene where I’m in drag, is that included?

DE: Yeah. Yeah.

PM: Weird.

DE: I’m sorry.

Thanks for doing the call today, you guys. And I mean guys in a non-gender specific way. Actually this is a question for Paula. It seems like watching the first few episodes it seems like your character has a lot of really – a lot of really tough moments to play. And she makes a lot of choices that might make her unsympathetic in the eyes of a lot of viewers.

And I’m wondering how you struggled with portraying that and making her a likeable character even though she’s kind of, you know, maybe not the best mother and she makes some decisions especially at the end of the second episode that are…

PM: Well we – yeah absolutely. I think that was – it’s definitely something that occurs to you in the back of your mind but as an actor you have to sort of aside your own judgments in terms of whether the character is good or bad necessarily as, you know, I think being a good actor is sort of understanding the complexity of the human psyche and also knowing that we are none of us perfect.

So but yes it was tough and I did think about – particularly that man would find perhaps this character unsympathetic. And I just tried to play, you know, I just really tried to tap into the loss and the pain and the fact that, you know, she has made mistakes and, you know, go from there you know.

DE: Yeah, I would also add that I don’t think in the sort of canon of this show or shows like it there’s a tremendous amount of concern for what I would call old fashioned television tropes-like sympathetic characters. I think audiences want challenging characters and characters who are neither, you know, black or white but are somewhere in the middle that they’re morally gray and that they’re going to challenge the audience’s expectation in every way.

I think the character that Paula plays and one of the reasons that she plays it so well is that you’re never quite sure what to expect from her. And there are times when you expect her to maybe lose her shit when she completely holds it together and vice versa. And I think that’s human and real and that’s part of what I think is the hallmark of the show.

David, in CAPRICA you’re dealing with – although it’s a totally different context you’re dealing with a lot of the same themes that recurred through Battlestar, things like religion versus science, faith versus knowledge. When is violence right – or is it ever, and the whole question of who or what constitutes a terrorist. And on top of that you’ve added something to the effect of what is the nature of the human soul. How do you translate these themes from the microcosm of BSG to the macrocosm of 12 colonies from a dozen planets and worlds in a star cluster?

PM: I’m really glad this question is to David Eick and not (David Milch); we’d be here for about a week. My God.

DE: Exactly because my answer is, huh, I don’t know. No, I’m kidding. It’s really simple. Nothing is different which is to say whether you’re telling a story in the realm of a combat-rattled spacecraft where everyone is battle weary and desperately hoping to survive or in an environment like CAPRICA where we’re in a much more terrestrial world that feels more accessible and is perhaps more vast and expansive.

The focus on the story is still all about character. And so whether the theme in question happens to be what kind of moral values are necessary for technological advancement or to use your example what is the nature of the human soul. Those themes still get explored on a very pointed specific point of view level in terms of those themes coming from character.

And character is always where we start our story. And like Battlestar I would say CAPRICA is not terribly plot-driven. There are wonderful yarns and threads wrapping around episodes and through episodes but ultimately I think the audience for the Sopranos, for Mad Men, for Grey’s Anatomy, for the Shield and the Wire and the kinds of shows that really are about delving into character are going to be the audience for CAPRICA.

And a quick thought on the scene that was filmed too late to be included on the screener, I’m just wondering how do you think that new scene will color the audience’s perception of the following episodes?

DE: Maureen, you’d have to help me here because I’m not sure which scene in particular that is.

Maureen Granados: This is a scene that we were adding to the pilot; it’s the pyramid scene with Daniel.

David Eick: Oh. I would say that was added to enhance and amplify the spectacle of this world which is to say one of the aspects of the CAPRICA universe as it were is they have a (fort) and they like them and they’re huge. And in that way they’re a lot like – it’s another example of how this is a culture from which our culture defended for those who are, you know, embroiled in the mythos.

And so because you’re always dealing with limited resources in the pilot we really were not able to convey the sort of largesse of that, the spectacle of it in the way that we would have liked. And so when we got the series order we were able to amortize certain costs over the course of the entire season to really do a one big bang scene in the pilot that really featured the size and scope of athletics in this world and it was definitely worth it, it’s really fantastic.

David, I wanted to know how much impact did female viewership play in not setting the series in space or relying heavily on space scenes.

DE: You know what most of the people I spoke to about Battlestar in terms of the fan base were women so the – this – the empirical demographic breakdown of the audience is something that I just choose to keep at bay and not pay a lot of attention to. So I never really think in terms of gearing a show towards a particular audience.

In sort of general terms do I recognize that fact that perhaps a female audience might be more inclined to watch something that’s, you know, deals in story from a sort of, you know, soap operatic kind of melodramatic terms and without the accompanying visual sort of ghetto and spaceships and outer space? Sure.

There might be – it might have more accessibility to a female audience just because of that generalization. But I don’t know, I mean, and certainly that was never a motivation for not setting the show in space. The motivation to not set the show in space was to make it as different and unique from Battlestar as possible.

Now, although people will look at CAPRICA as science fiction I wanted to know with the quick advances in technology how soon do you think I’ll have to start worrying about the machines around me?

PM: Start worrying now.

((Crosstalk))

You should have been worried months – weeks and years ago. We’re pretty close. We’re pretty close. You know.

DE: Yeah, I think there’s certainly a quality to this show that unlike Battlestar gives you a sense that what you’re seeing is 1-1/2 maybe 2 generations away from where we are right now. And so that tether that I think an audience is going to have to, you know, connecting their own reality to this sort of advanced reality they’re seeing in the show, the speculative reality, is going to be part of what makes it really compelling.

PM: I don’t think it’s even that far away, you know.

DE: Probably not.

PM: I think that’s the thing. I think it’s so much more even immediate than that in terms of artificial intelligence being as close as it is and, you know, anyway there’s lots of – I think this is really fantastic. It’s been – I’ve had a little time off to read about some of this stuff and it’s pretty interesting what scientists are talking about now and our themes on the show. I had no idea how prevalent they would be.

Yes, it’s cool and scary at the same time.

PM: Very cool and very scary. But I liked how this guy – I was reading this guy, Frank Kipler, who talks about actually heaven being this sort of virtual-ville if you will. And that sort of made me optimistic. And the guy’s really proving this mathematically, you know, that we might end up at this place, you know.

It’s kind of a nice thought.

Yay, we’re going to obsolete soon.

PM: I know. The dogs and us and you don’t have to be good or bad as well because no one would show up right?

I was curious since the – since some of the changes that happened on, you know, the show runner position and stuff, what kind of changes might we see, you know, I guess toward the midpoint of the season? And, you know, what can we expect that – is there going to be like a different pace to the storytelling or any other noticeable changes?

DM: A different pace to the storytelling did you say?

Yeah or, I mean, are we going to see – because usually when there’s a show runner change there’s usually at least some type of adjustment that even viewers can kind of pick up on. I mean are we going to see any of that with the midway point of CAPRICA?

DE: Well not in a way that I wouldn’t say characterizes any first-year show which is to say, you know, even on Battlestar which was very celebrated after its first season, you know, the show needed to find its legs, the show needed to kind of figure out what it was, how serialized is it going to be? How self contained is it going to be? How much action is there?

How much, you know, esoterica can we, you know, from a Cylon metaphysical standpoint can we really, you know, implement into the show? What arcs do we want to leave dangling? Which ones do we want to wrap up? Who’s’ going to die, who’s going – I mean all those things get discovered as you go.

I think the – in this case the show runner so to speak, the head writer change was much more of a function of practicality and just aiming weapons where they were best suited.

And – but the changes in the show, which there have been, the show’s definitely undergone a great and positive I think and fruitful evolution in growth from its beginning to its – now we’re nearing its conclusion of the first season – but only in a way that I would say is consistent with any first-year show.

Good shows should get better as they go and I think this one does.

And Paula, you know, we all loved you as – not just in these first three episodes of CAPRICA so far but of course Deadwood as well. And, I mean, outside of the fact that you’re probably spending more time on a soundstage, I mean, how is this experience with CAPRICA different from Deadwood for you?

PM: Oh God, in a million ways. And we’re not spending so much time on a soundstage believe it or not.

Oh, really?

PM: This show is very heavy in locations. So it’s kind of been, you know, last week were in the middle of a forest on horses with fires lit shooting in the middle of the night, you know. And that’s not uncommon, it’s been – it’s sort of been an incredible odyssey this show.

And it’s obviously in some ways Deadwood was, you know, we were contained to one – what made that an easier show in a lot of ways was we were contained to one set, the writers, the producers, everyone was there on a ranch working together.

And this has been more spread out so there’s obvious challenges. But – and this is a longer run too. I’ve never done a series of, you know, as many episodes. We had 12 and I think it’s interesting to have to have to find a second wind and a third wind.

But what that serves to do is just creates deeper and deeper characters, you know. I’ve forgotten the question but…

((Crosstalk))

…comparing the two a little bit like…

PM: Yeah.

…differences.

PM: I mean, you know, you approach the work in the same way always. And in a lot of ways this is – there’s been a lot of freedom here to really sort of feel as though almost anything is possible on this show. Like if we take a turn somewhere we can end up going down another road. It’s been quite an organic process and as was Deadwood obviously.

I mean I think that was really, you know, one of the signatures of that show is that it felt like a living organism and this does too in a lot of ways.

David just one last [thing] I want to know, has filming for Season 1 wrapped?

DE: We are about seven days away.

I’m so much looking forward to CAPRICA. And I wanted to ask you, David, obviously with Battlestar Galactica there’s going to be a lot of fans that will more than likely watch the show. And I wanted to know how do you really expect that new viewers will get drawn into this show or how do you feel, you know, how do you feel the show will draw viewers in that are not so familiar with Battlestar?

DE: Well as most people who know me might say I’m certainly not beyond arguing with my network and we have spirited debates and discussions about all aspects of the creative process. But one particular area in which I completely genuflect and am in complete awe of what they’re able to pull off is in publicity and marketing. They’re just – I think they’re the best in the business.

I have no doubt that the show is going to be a sampled. I had very little to say about how the show is being marketed, where the show is being marketed. It was presented to me. It was as iron-clad as you could hope for. They spent a ton of money and they really believe in the show.

And so the real answer to your first question is – was a marketing answer which is you draw viewers to the show by making people aware of it by your marketing muscle and by the kinds of things we’re doing right now. And so I’ve never been anything but completely confident and absolutely relieved to have the team that we’ve got at the network in those categories.

I think the question about how do you keep them once you get them there has to be to make the show rich and compelling and to measure up to what we often, I hope, achieved with Battlestar just from a qualitative standpoint but without the baggage and without trying to – and without having the audience feel like any heavy lifting is involved from the standpoint of knowing or understanding or being, you know, a fan of Battlestar Galactica.

So a great deal of very deliberate decisions were made very early in the process to make this show stand on its own, to have the Battlestar connected tissue extremely intermittent, inconsequential and really only kind of, you know, fodder for the fans and nothing at all that would be required by a new audience or misunderstood by a new audience.

And so, you know, the answer is hopefully we’re telling great stories really, really well and that’s the thing that’s going to keep the audience. But in no way are we relying on the Battlestar faithful to support the show.

As kind of a follow-up to that how important do you think it is – I’m not even sure if you could comment or, you know, if you would be familiar but how important are social networking sites to that promotion and getting the word out there? Like social sites like Twitter or Facebook – would you possibly be able to speak on that?

DE: I’m finally – I’ve finally reached the age where I can say I don’t know what those things are.

PM: I know.

DE: I mean I do know what they are but I’d be lying if I said I knew how to harness them or what to expect from them. I know that the way the show is cross-marketed this company leaves no stone unturned when it comes to squeezing every fruit available or every possible drop of either publicity or awareness.

So if it’s out there, if it’s Twitter or Facebook or Twitterface or Book – I don’t know what any of them are but I know that they’re being harnessed and definitely used to the fullest potential.

Paula I was wondering what it is about the role that you found really challenging?

PM: It was a very strong pilot. And it’s – I knew that these guys write very well for women – was the reputation. And I – she is – and this was a role that I didn’t know how to play so I wanted to do it. I really didn’t know – I sort of had to be talked into it because I thought it was so far from me in certainly superficial ways.

But when it all really sort of – when you really get down to the work it’s kind of amazing how much you do find, I mean, in everyone and sort of in the human experience what is – what we have in common and what connects us, you know.

So it’s always an interesting thing to do to take on a new role because it’s going to reveal to you levels of yourself that you weren’t aware of. It’s kind of frightening.

Mr. Eick, when you guys did BSG you guys talked about during – you and Mr. Moore talked about during the run of the show how the plot evolved organically instead of having everything mapped out in a direct direction.

Based on that reaction and based on your experience there have you changed that? And I think you spoke to it a little bit with Michael’s question earlier but if not why have you stuck with this mentality?

DE: Say that last sentence again, it’s not what?

Well it seems that you may have spoken a little bit to the question with Michael’s – with your answer to Michael’s question earlier but if you not why have you stuck with this – have you stuck with this mentality and if so why?

DE: Oh sorry I just didn’t understand what you said. Yes, you’re talking about the mentality of screw planning let’s make it all go along? Yeah that’s just called laziness. There’s no mystery to that, it’s just called – actually I will tell you Ron Moore and I had a number of discussions about this very early on.

We had come from very different backgrounds in terms of how writers rooms are run. On Star Trek literally they sort of write the outline, I mean, this is all – I’m hearing this third hand, I can’t confirm any of this. But presumably the outline process takes place in the room; it’s very precise, very detailed. There’s not a lot of jazz or improvisation invited or tolerated. And it’s just kind of an almost military-like environment.

That’s not to say that the work is any less good it’s just that it was run with that level of discipline and structured parameters. On shows that I worked on – I worked a lot with Sean Cassidy, I’ve worked with, you know, other writers and producers in a variety of different capacities and there was a much looser environment where young writers were encouraged to, you know, come up with stuff and contribute and you might throw stuff out in this season.

And, you know, of course the (unintelligible) there is you’re really – you might somehow find something brilliant. The downside is sometimes you can’t find your ass with both hands and you have an episode that doesn’t work.

And so I think we really wanted to sort of combine the best of both of those environments. And when it came to how the writers’ room run on Battlestar and then later CAPRICA (unintelligible) which was to have a structure, have a large picture plan usually concocted over a few scotches between me and Ron in the off season.

And those – that would be delivered to the writing staff and then everyone was encouraged to improvise and add and subtract and change and go crazy and just sort of create an environment where there are no bad ideas. And then if we lost our way we’d circle back to (unintelligible) want to go. So it really is a combination of, you know, of running a tight ship and yet really allowing for there to be a lot of improvisation and changes on the fly purely with the intent of getting – of having the best ideas.

PM: That’s also applied in the, you know, on set with the actors as well. It’s really sort of – happened there also in terms of being able to have a sort of a – kind of loosely deal with the script so when a surprise or something interesting comes up we’ve had the luxury to be able to follow that instinct.

You know, like the other day I had a scene where I just decided for the good of the show it would be an excellent idea to slap Eric Stoltz. And so I did for the good of the show certainly.

DE: Of course that’s for the good of the show.

PM: Yes.

Well, that’s interesting that that freedom, that seems to be born out of the writer’s room it also shows up on the set as well. So…

PM: Yeah.

DE: Definitely.

PM: It’s really the only way to work as far as I’m concerned. Otherwise you – there are no surprises and it’s, you know, it’s boring and, you know, the beauty of this, you know, I think one of the directors said to me the other day I never know what you’re going to do. And I said, no, neither do I. And that’s, you know, there’s just something amazing and beautiful about that, you know. And hopefully it works.

Paula, I wanted to ask you if maybe you could tell us a little bit about how you first became involved in CAPRICA and maybe about your audition process if you don’t mind?

PM: Yeah, I met with Jeffrey Reiner who was directing the pilot. And I hit it off with him certainly. He’s very smart, he’s incredibly well schooled in film, is a huge film buff. And he just seems like the kind of director I wanted to work with.

So it was first of all responding to the material, then meeting Reiner. I auditioned for Sister Clarice initially and Reiner wanted to see me play Amanda. And like I said I had – I was trepidatious about that because I didn’t know if I could play her. And I was frightened of it. And I realized that that was a really good thing.

And sort of then I met David and Ron and everybody else involved and then I think I was the first person cast and then Esai and then Eric and I was delighted with the men that I would be accompanied by and then Polly.

And David just a quick question for you, looking now with the first season of the show almost wrapped what maybe have you enjoyed most so far about bringing the CAPRICA story to life would you say?

David Eick: Well the biggest and most pleasant surprise was the one that we sort of didn’t allow our self to dream could happen which was to get as lucky as we were able to get with this ensemble. You know, it’s just – that phrase about you’re only as strong as your weakest link really applies when you’re dealing with an ensemble cast.

And to have such strength across the boards from established and, you know, well-recognized actors like Paula and Polly Walker, Esai and Eric, combined with some real newcomers, some people who are going to brand new to an American audience and to have them hold their own.

And then to discover brand new talent like Sasha Roiz who plays Sam Adama, Joseph’s brother, who in almost no time we were able to start building episodes around him because he was a strong discovery. Those are the things that you can’t plan for you just have to hope.

You know, we got together in Lake Tahoe way back in January of last year to start breaking stories so it wasn’t for lack of planning when it came to aiming to make the show good in every way that we could control. But as hard as you might work on casting and of course we (unintelligible) you just never know until you get there and we just got incredibly lucky with the crew.

ABC Family is presented yet another Bring It One movie into our homes tomorrow, January 17^th 8 p.m.. The latest student to change schools and discover she’s not longer the yop girl is chritina Milian, who plays Linda Cruz, the former head cheerleader at East Los Angeles High is forced to move to Mailbu when her mother remarries.

On Wednesday afternoon, I sat in on a Q&A with Ms. Milian. Also present were: Jamoe Steinberg [Starry Constellation], Sarah Fulghum [TotallyHer.com], Troy rogers [thedeadbolt.com], Lynn Barker [totallyhollywood,com], and Rachelle Thomas [Right to Liberty].

What made you want to step into those tennis shoes?

Christina Milian: Well, I was always very athletic growing up and had this little dream of being a cheerleader in high school, but never really got the opportunity because most of the time, I was actually a young actor and young singer, so I really didn’t get to enjoy the experience of school the way normal kids did. When I got the opportunity to go to shoot Bring it On, I thought, that is just perfect. This is the perfect opportunity to play this role. On top of that, it’s like I get to be a kid again. I think that’s part of what acting is; it’s living out some different part of your life that maybe you hadn’t experienced or maybe your reflection of something that you’d been before. But I had an awesome time; it was even better, I think, probably doing it for a movie, compared to doing it for real life, like for high school.

What was it like working with director, Billie Woodruff?

Milian: I love Billie. I had a great time working with him. Actually, we shot a music video together once for one of my albums so we already had a really good friendship. When we started shooting the movie, it was so easy for him to direct me just because we already had our mind set to what we would like the movie to look like, and it was almost like, “Okay, let’s make it look like this really great music video, and colorful, and the most beautiful Bring it On movie that you’ve ever seen.” And on top of that, he’s great at shooting chorography. I think he captured everything that we needed for Bring it On and I think it’s one of the best ones yet.

What did you specifically have to do to prepare for the role?

Milian: For one month, I had to do full-on training for about five days a week, 12 to 14 hours of training with Tony Gonzales – they call him Tony G. We had to train every day and learn, I think I had to learn over 20 choreographed cheerleading routines. I had to learn 20 choreographed dances for the movie, out of the 25 dances in the whole movie. I had to learn a lot – about three to four a day. And practice, practice, practice, and learn half of each song that I had to do in the movie. It was a lot of work. In the morning, we’d warm up and go running, and we’d do lots of sit ups so we could wear those little cheerleading outfits. It was actually a lot of fun because it was a big bonding time for the actors and me.

What was the audition process like?

Milian: Well, you know what’s funny, I didn’t have to audition for this one. It was great. One thing, of course, having the relationship with Billie Woodruff, but the second thing I think is that Universal, the people that produced the movie, actually kind of just got it. But I think based on my fan base, it was pretty easy to say, “Okay, Christina can definitely handle this.” I don’t have to do much regarding auditions, but I did get to audition the other actors, which was a lot of fun to actually sit in the room with the casting director and audition everyone. It was fun, especially when I got to actually audition the guys to be – yes, you’re my love interest. I had a lot of say in that. I was like, “You have to go with this guy.” I was pressuring them for like two or three weeks because they still didn’t know who they wanted. But that was the first time I really used some pull in a movie. I was like, “He’s cute, he can handle it as far as the chemistry” – we had good chemistry. He even came into his audition with a basketball and I just thought he had a really good swagger about him that worked really well with his character. So I was like, “This works well; I think these two characters work well.”

You are very multi-talented – singing and dancing and acting and everything really. But which talent got you your first break into the entertainment industry?

Milian: My first talent to get me into the industry would be – it was a combination because I started off first with musical theatre. In musical theatre, you’re acting and singing and that was the first thing that ever brought me, technically, to Hollywood. I started out in Maryland growing up, working out of New York, and I used to do print work, and I did commercials. So I mean if you want to say that – commercials was one of my first things. I did a Wendy’s commercial when I was ten years old. That was my moment where I felt like, “I know for sure when I got my first job, I’m sticking to this forever.” My first thing that I ended up doing professionally, after musical theatre, was just acting for a long time. Then music, as far as I guess a profession, came along in my later years when I was about 17, 18 years old.

What would you say to everyone to convince them to watch Bring it On: Fight to the Finish?

Milian: I would say – well in the first place, I’m a huge Bring it On fan so I’d say if you’re a Bring it On fan, you need to bring it and you need to watch this movie because this is the best one ever. It’s got a lot of great fusion as far as Latin Hip Hop and lots of great choreography, cute boys, and a lot of really great punch lines. It’s a fun movie and definitely – you know, of course, every Bring it On has a little lesson to it. But, I mean, that’s not why people watch movies. It looks great and it’s a great movie to sit down with your girl friends and just totally have a full-on popcorn night and bond with each other while watching it.

I wondered if you related to how Lina feels when she transferred schools and isn’t the top girl anymore?

Milian: Oh, gosh. Well, I can definitely say I probably related in a lot of ways. I was never really the top girl at school, I will say that. But everybody kind of knew who I was. I did move around a lot because of my career. I had made a big move from Maryland to California, and in that move, it was to pursue my career. When I first got here, to California, it was kind of scary because schools looked nothing like my old school. It’s kind of opposite; I used to live in a really suburban area and then I came over here to L.A. and some of the schools had fences around them and at the time, there was gangs and all this stuff. So it was like, “Don’t wear this; don’t wear that.” It’s kind of funny that Lina and I are a little bit opposite in that way, but it is hard to just fit in to a new situation where nobody really gets you. So one thing that I admir about Lina that, no matter what, somehow she really doesn’t care what anybody thinks and somehow she ends up taking over and really helping a bunch of other people. I guess where she and I are similar is the, “It’s okay, I don’t scare,” kind of approach. At the end of the day, it’s whatever makes you happy so for me it was my singing, my acting, and the same thing for Lina. Lina loves to perform and she’s a go-getter who’s really outgoing. She’s feistier than me, but I definitely understood the not fitting in at first kind of thing.

In your opinion, does the film capture the pressure of high school and trying to fit in realistically?

Milian: I think so; I think in a lot of ways. I mean, high school’s not the easiest and there are so many people – they’re just, especially if you’re the new kid, I find that’s the hardest. My first week of high school was the worst. So I’ve got to say, I think it does capture very much how high school is and how long it takes her – what it takes to actually –fit in, and if you don’t want to fit in, sometimes it doesn’t matter. I think in most cases, it really doesn’t matter. It’s just making your own friendships. And it’s not about trying to be the next “big” person or the popular person.

In addition to the acting, how much fun or work was the dancing side of your role?

Milian: Oh, that was a lot of fun. It was a lot of work though, I will admit, because it had been a while since I’d ever gotten ready for a music video so it was like, “Okay, so we’re going to jump into this movie and you’re going to learn 20 dances.” I’m like, “What?” So it was pretty immediate. I don’t know if I was ready for it immediately, but thank goodness I workout sometimes so at least my stamina was up. It was more my memory, trying to really lock into remembering everything I learned. It was a lot to remember, but the challenge of it was a lot of fun. That’s the thing for me – it’s all about a challenge. I’d rather have that challenge any day and, then on top of that, having cast mates like the girls that I had on that movie. All of us were going through it together.

So the challenge was just getting the moves down?

Milian: Oh, yes. Getting the moves down and remembering them – remembering everything. There were so many routines; there were a lot of them.

What place in life do you think cheerleading has today? And what does it do for a teen girl?

Milian: Well, that’s a good question because it’s so different. All the schools you hear about – so many different things nowadays, like activities and different activities being taken out of school, but cheerleading is one thing I’ve never really heard being taken out of a school. I think it’s important – I think it’s one of those activities that is good for your self-esteem and your confidence, and athleticism. I don’t think a lot of people realize how athletic cheerleaders are – it’s a sport. So it definitely ranks in the leagues really high up there that our parents’ parents could have been cheerleaders and generations on will continue to do the same thing. Now, I find it funny, it’s not even just a girl thing; it’s great, even if it’s a co-ed activity. I find that it’s a great thing to definitely have and it’s one of those activities, especially after school, I think it’s really necessary to continue to have that in schools.

What are you doing now or next in singing and acting?

Milian: Next stop – well, I have a baby on the way so….

Oh, my gosh, I didn’t know that – congrats!

Milian: Yes, thank you. That’s about to happen in a month or so, so once the baby is born, I plan on delving back into my acting and going back in the studio this summer. I had an album that was already made but since I’ve taken the time off, I’ll probably go back and redo some of the music and make some new songs, and everything on the album and find my new inspiration there. And, by the end of the year, probably come out with a new album.

Do you know if it’s a boy or girl?

Milian: It’s a girl.

Aw, a little girl…

Milian: … … … yet. As soon as I can get back in the gym and get my workout on, probably in a good two months this summer, I’ll be back in my auditions and reading scripts and acting.

You’re obviously very talented at both your singing and your acting, and I just wanted to know if you had a particular passion for one over the other, or if they were equal?

Milian: They were both always pretty equal. I mean I can name it from being really little and just like singing, singing, singing – I sing when I eat, I sing when I’m happy, I sing when I’m sad, I sing when I’m in the car. And then the same thing with acting. I was just always enthused by watching actors on television and thinking that I was practically living a movie, like my life was a movie. So I’d always be a little bit extra dramatic growing up. I always had passion for both. They happened in different order as far as when they became professions for me. But, yes, I’ve always just loved to entertain.

Did you contribute to the choreography in the movie? Or did someone else do it all?

Milian: Tony G is pretty much one of those people that you can sit to the side and he comes up with it. I didn’t really get to contribute in making up any moves – let me think. I can’t even remember even coming up with something on my own because the whole time Tony was like, “Okay, now you’re going to do this and you’re going to learn this.” And he had some other dancer teaching me something every ten seconds so I didn’t really get to come up with my own stuff, but I did get to put my own flair as far as how I was going to move. I was going to put myself in it.

They met on the set of the Supernatural S4 opening episode Lazarus Rising when Genevieve Cortese took over the pivotal role of Ruby the Demon who claimed to be on Sam Winchester’s side in the race to stop Lillith from freeing Lucifer. Sam Winchester is played by Jared Padalecki, who stars along with Jensen Ackles, who plays older brother Dean Winchester, in the hit series. Today EclipseMagazine got direct confirmation from Padalecki’s PR rep that he is indeed engaged to Cortese.

“Yes I can confirm that Jared and Genevieve are engaged,” the publicist for Jared Padalecki stated in response to our query about the engagement, which took place on October 24, 2009 in New York City where Genevieve Cortese is reported to currently reside. Padalecki resides in Vancouver, BC while he is filming Supernatural, which is now in it’s 5th season on The CW Network Thursday nights at 9PM.

Internet rumors state the wedding is to take place in late February of this year, but no official confirmation has been made regarding this.

EclipseMagazine wishes the happy couple all the best. Look for our continued coverage of Supernatural as new episodes of Season 5 return to the CW Thursday night lineup on January 21st at 9PM EST with the S5.11 episode titled Sam, Interrupted.

On Monday I took part in an hour long conference call with Dave Howe the President of SyFy. He’s quite a talker and had a lot of good things to say, I drilled him about SyFy’s recent penchant for “reimagining” everything under the sun and I followed with him regarding his dream of getting SyFy into the Video Game Business – something he mentioned when I had lunch with him during a DigitalPress event. I’ll post a full transcript of the call in the next few days. In the meantime here are some highlights and scoops:

• Syfy is actively working with Video Game Developers Trial Worldwide Trion World Network, Inc to co-launch a scripted MMO Game. The game will have it’s own television series  as well, the working title is One Earth. Trial launched showcased a demo of their first game Heroes of Telara at E3 last year. He went on to say that SyFy brings a huge viewership and expertise in scripted programming to the Video Game Industry.
• Dave thinks SyFy’s strong year is based in part on the Brand change and of course their strong content which included the huge success they had with Warehouse 13.
• He reiterated the idea that Sci-Fi had a negative connotation and pigeonholed the network, the new brand is more open ended and gives them the room to be able to create a wider range of content that will appeal to everyone. There are regrets to the rebranding decision and this wasn’t entered into lightly, they talked about it for over two years before they decided to pull the trigger, they had reached a point where it had to be done.
  
• Dave talked a bit about their upcoming Comedy, Outer Space Astronauts, he’s pretty high on experimenting with different types of genres now that they have such a large audience.  They tried Tripping the Rift a few years ago but didn’t have a large enough viewership to sustain it. They are very excited about working with SyFy on Haven with Stephen King and thinks it’s a really cool, relevant concept.
• SyFy is going to make Caprica available to stream. The two-hour pilot is now available to watch. When the show airs in January they will re-air the Pilot with reshot footage, upgraded effects, etc. He acknowledges that releasing the DVD 9 months ago may have a negative impact on the premiere numbers. They are going to devote a big piece of their budget to drive people to watch the 2nd episode of Caprica. There’s going to be an amazing series tease in that episode.
• It’s very difficult to air Dr. Who and Torchwood because they are competing with BBC America which is the proper home for it. The show has done well for them, but don’t think they’ll hang on to it.
• I pressed him about SyFy’s recent penchant towards “re-imagining” everything. He said every network re-imagines things, but we do it for a reason, there’s a whole new generation of viewers who haven’t seen or read the original source. Unless it’s a fresh take we won’t bother. If you look at 90 or 95% of our content is original material.
• Upcoming Sat movies include Sharktopus, Alien Gateway, Hercules and Hydra
• The concept of The Lost Room was very difficult to translate into the series and that Warehouse 13 is basically the same concept only more workable.
• Next year there will be a very special episode of Ghost Hunters and several stunt casting for Eureka, Warehouse 13, etc.

Last week I did something I have never done before. I watched a live concert streaming on my iPhone. It’s not the type of thing I do everyday but jumped at the chance when I found out Imogen Heap would stream her final US show in New York with access on both the Billboard.com site as well as mobile via the iPhone. I have to say that even though it was viewed on a small screen, it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. The Grammy nominated artist brings a unique experience to her shows. When you go to see Imogen Heap perform you know you’re getting your money’s worth. Her songs are layered from basic piano to electronic beats to sounds she’s recorded herself produced from items found around her house. Imogen is an innovator and pioneer of sound. She is currently touring through Europe promoting her latest highly anticipated album Ellipse but not to worry American fans, Imogen is slated to return to the states in April. Make sure to keep an eye out for tickets because they will go fast and you definitely do not want to miss this show!

Recently Imogen took some time from her hectic tour schedule for a quick chat with me about her ambitious project of creating her own home studio in the very house she grew up in, the life her music takes on after it leaves her hands and forgetting to give her house a sound credit on the album. No worries though, I don’t think the house is going to sue but you never know!

EM: I wanted to start off by asking about the new studio, which has been well documented via your video blog on YouTube. It’s in a room of your childhood home, why build your own recording studio? Why take on such an extensive project?

Imogen Heap: Actually in the end it’s a lot cheaper to build your own studio but that’s not the reason why I built it. The reason is to have the comfort and time to just come down when you need to as inspiration hits at five in the morning. You don’t have to ring up a studio engineer and ring up security people to try and get the studio that you’re going to opened.

The way I work is very unconventional…well conventional for musicians but you just never know when inspiration hits then you want it there ready for you. If I go into a studio I don’t feel like it works. I’ve tried to work so 9-6 kind of make yourself be productive in that time but it just doesn’t work out. I prefer to work much later on in the day when you know either interviews or other stuff that I do is out of the way and my management stops calling me and I can find some time to myself in the evening. In the middle of the night is the best time for me to work. But it is cheaper in the long run. It’s expensive in the front end but I had a lot of stuff of my own already and it doesn’t make sense to travel somewhere else when you can just have it in your own space.

EM: How did the making of the album DVD affect the process of actually creating the album? Did it have any affect on it?

IH: Yes it did actually. I originally started making the DVD, a fan had suggested that when I go away on my writing trip that I take a camera with me and talk about the process of making a song. I’d never done it right from the beginning before. During the process of “Speak for Yourself” I started blogging, written blogging, about half way through and really found it really helpful to me to be able to put down my thoughts and kind of put the day into order in my head come in the next day having written an objective about what I was going to do the next day. The visual side of things it’s the same kind of thing where I had to say what I’d done that day. Over the course of a year it really, really helped me see the progression myself especially the video blog so I could look back and go wow, things really have moved on from three months ago even though it doesn’t feel like it when you’re in the midst of it, it feels like its taking forever and you’re not really getting anywhere. But when you see it every two weeks and you see the progression visually from the studio transformation and also musically and where the songs have ended up.

Yeah, the DVD side of things my friend Justine said, “That would be so great for your family if we could see the transformation of the house and for you in the future. Maybe we could do something as a continuation from your song writing.” So she carried on filming it. When I started to make the actual music side of things eight months later, she continued filming that. There were times when she was there, more towards the end, then I would get a bit frustrated because I was like I haven’t got time Justine’s getting in my way but it was actually really helpful. Because what happens when somebody is watching you? You get a lot more done. You don’t make quit as many cups of tea; you don’t take a little extra hour over lunch. So I really got stuff done when she was there. And you think not just how a sound would sound but when you are making a video blog of it or you’re filming it you want it to look interesting too.  So I would start to think visually about what I should put on this song that would be interesting for people to watch. I’d get my bed sheet from up in my bedroom. I was making sounds and it reminded me of wine glasses so I went up stairs and went into the kitchen cabinet and brought a load of wine glasses down filled with water and played them and that ended up being on the actual record. And the whole house actually in really different ways ended up being on the record for that reason too.

EM: Well I hope you gave your house a credit on the record somewhere!

IH: Yeah I know that’s a good point. I didn’t do that, damn it!

EM: With gadgets and computers and digital sound in general at your fingertips, is just a basic piano still part of songwriting for you?

IH: Yeah, I went back to it with this album. I sort of ignored the piano for the last record. This album I intentionally decided to write the record back to basics with just piano and vocal. So A. I could go on a writing trip and not need my studio to make beats and stuff. I can just go away and have some time for myself, which I haven’t done since I was about fifteen I think [laughs]. I went away and it stumbled off into a little holiday and just had a really great time and having an objective look at what’s been going on since I signed my first record deal because it’s really been completely non stop since then and its been a bit of an awakening actually and a really great time. It’s the first time I’ve been away traveling on my own, tons of touring on my own and that type of thing. Not go to a destination and have no plans, just do my thing. I went wherever the pianos were. The first spot that I chose I just got back off touring in February of 2007 and I desperately just wanted to go somewhere else. But how do you choose where to go…the possibilities the whole world. So I go into Google Earth and I spun it around a few times and thought I’m going to find the place, which is the furthest point away from anything else and it turned out to be Hawaii. I chose Hawaii and I dropped into Google Earth Hawaii, grand piano, luxury accommodations and I found this amazing place on Maui, which is on the non-touristy side and I wrote a quarter of the album there in the first two weeks so it was a good spot, a very good spot. I wrote, “Wait it Out” and “Little Bird” there.

EM: I wanted to ask you about the song “Whatcha Say” with Jason Derulo. Was that collaboration or just a sample that he did?

IH: No, just a sample. I got an email one day saying what do you think of this, somebody’s using “Hide and Seek” in their song. I’d heard a remix but I hadn’t heard somebody do this before. I listened to it and I really loved hearing the song in a completely new light. When you write in a studio on your own kind of humbly working away you don’t know what kind of life it’s going to have. Once I’ve written a song and it’s recorded and it’s out in the public domain I don’t feel like it belongs to me anymore. I feel like it’s got a life of its own trajectory now, I wanna leave it and let it do its thing. I find it very difficult to kind of say oh no, no. I don’t know if I heard it on the radio I would go and buy it, but it’s not about that for me it’s about letting the song breathe. It’s amazing the number of people on this tour who have said you know I heard your track on the radio and I wanted to know who the voice was and I found you and here I am and I’m so grateful.

For more information about Imgoen Heap, visit:

http://www.imogenheap.com/

http://www.youtube.com/imogenheap

http://www.myspace.com/imogenheap

Twitter: @ImogenHeap

Interview by Tiffany N. D’Emidio
Twitter: TiffanyDEmidio

Singer, songwriter, all around music maven Jen Foster thought she was simply submitting her song “Venice Beach” to the website of an up-and-coming web series discovered by some of her fans. Little did she know how this seemingly small action would set into motion an explosion of excitement, exposure, blown up servers and an even broader fan base. Of course I’m talking about the highly anticipated web series from Soap star Crystal Chappell, Venice the Series [Launching Friday, December 4^th 8pm PST].

I had the pleasure of chatting with Jen recently to discuss her latest album Thirty-Nine as well as the overwhelming success of the updated version of he song “Venice Beach” featured in the promo for Venice the Series. Jen was an absolute delight and has agreed to give away some cool swag so please, fans of Jen Foster, be sure to check the end of this interview for contest details.

EM: Besides writing I’m an artist and whether I’m drawing or painting or on the computer, I typically have my iPod set to shuffle and without fail the music is what makes me more creative. It’s amazing the effect that music can have on me. What does that for you?

Jen Foster: Yeah that’s funny because obviously if I’m trying to write a song listening to music is a distraction. A lot of times I’ll get a song idea just from flipping on something like my iPod and just get a little inspiration. I have so many kinds of music on my iPod. Do you? Do you have a pretty eclectic taste?

EM: Yes, I do. Everything from Jazz to Rock to Country…a little bit of everything.

JF: Yeah me too and but different things inspire me I guess. Basically there’s a song in anything if you just pay attention if you just observe. I’ve always been an observer of people, one of those people who like to sit in airports and watch people and see how they act so there’s always a song idea. I draw a lot from just personal experiences. Obviously love is a big topic to write about so I pull a lot of things from my past love relationships.

EM: So how has online media affected your career?

JF: You know I’ve always known about Twitter, I’ve had a presence on Twitter because I have an online girl that kind of helps me with a lot of that stuff. I post a lot of the personal stuff and she’ll post if there’s an update if I won an award or whatever. Until the Venice thing (Venice the Series theme song), I found out through the Venice producer (Kim Turrisi) that they’re like “Oh we get on Twitter and we interact with fans and it’s awesome” and I was like “Alright I’m gonna try to do that”. I had to ask my girl Christy how that works and she talked me through it on the phone. Then I was on that whole night that the Venice promo was released and it was like WOW this is such an amazing opportunity to meet people and connect and network.

EM: I think you’ve experience with Venice and more specifically Crystal Chappell, has an enormous following that has really exploded over the last year and half. The fans of Venice have a motto, which is “We Break Shit” and I believe you have experienced that first hand if I’m not mistaken. [we both laugh]

JF: I absolutely did! You know I put the song Venice Beach up for sale on Bandbox and they (the fans) pretty much broke it down. It was awesome!! Here’s the thing that happened. The next morning after we put the song up for sale on Bandbox I get a letter. The first thing I see in my inbox is an apology from the CEO of Bandbox and I had not been in touch with them at all. I was unaware that people were having issues. He said he got all these letters from Jen Foster fans that wanted to buy this and he was so sorry and this was unacceptable and he was going to pay me $1.50, which was the price we had set the single, he’s going to pay me $1.50 a single if people write him he’ll send them the song for free and he’ll pay me $1.50 for it. So it’s like wow, how cool is that! They had a server issue. I’m not sure if it was my fans or what or these Venice fans or not but whatever the case may be Bandbox was wanting to make things right and I feel like they went above and beyond to make sure we were happy. I can’t thank them enough. I’m really impressed with the professionalism. And I mean my God girl, in two days since the Venice thing had gone up…two days, two thousand dollars of online sales. It’s insane!

EM: That’s fantastic! So speaking of Venice, how did you become involved with the project?

JF: This one started on Facebook for me because I got a couple of Facebook messages from fans that had heard about the Venice series and thought of my song “Venice Beach” and that I needed to submit it and wrote me very nice letters encouraging me to do that and they referred me to Venice the Series Facebook page. So I went there and we submitted the song and it was not very long, I think it was maybe a week later that I heard back from Kimmy (Kim Turrisi) the producer and the writer for the series. She asked for my number and she gave me a call and she said, “It’s as if you wrote this song for our series” She said, “It’s perfect for it and we want to use it” We started the whole licensing process with Derek my lawyer and their lawyer and it wasn’t a tough thing to do at all. I’m just so appreciative of the exposure and I knew this thing was going to be a huge deal. I wanted to make it work no matter what and so did they. It’s just been an amazing ride ever since! There’s talk of possibly a video of some kind and there’s some ideas behind that. There’s definitely interest in some other songs of mine but that remains to be secured but we’re in talks about another song of mine in particular at this point and it’s just like wow, it’s opening so many doors. All of them seem really down to earth and cool.

EM: So your song “Venice Beach” from Venice the Series is for sale and you also have a CD out right now as well. Would you like to talk about “Thirty-Nine”?

JF: I started the “Thirty-Nine” project in 2007. My mother getting sick really kind of postponed things and I had to go up to Maine to be with her and there were a few scares that happened along the way so we thought the end was near several times before the end actual actually happened so that became my priority.  So the record took quit a while to make. I’m very proud of it; we had an amazing band on the record. I had Sheryl Crow’s guitar player Peter Stroud, a couple guys from The Wallflowers were in the band and we had the drummer for the Dixie Chicks and The Wreckers so it was just really killer ensemble that we put together. I was able to do that because my producer, who lives in Nashville, he used to work with Fleetwood Mac and had a lot of experience making records from the engineering perspective in LA and he worked with these guys and became very close to them. He sent them some of my old music and they loved it; we made this record for a pretty low budget with these all-star players, it was pretty neat.

The original version of “Venice Beach” is a piano version. I really wrote the song for piano. I always wanted to do a version of the song that was a little more rocking too, sort of a more guitar based version and I ended up going to LA to do that and I recorded that. When this whole Venice thing came up I sent them both versions. I sent them the piano, which was on my record, and I sent them what I was calling the alternate version, which is the guitar version that they ended up using. Now the alternate version has almost become the main version because it’s getting publicity. It was unreleased prior to Venice deciding to use it. This was something I sorta had in my back pocket. Hey I have this alternate version I’ve pitched it to film and TV, we haven’t gotten any bites but hey I’m gonna send you this and I’m going to send you the piano and they loved the guitar version. So Monday when this whole thing came out with the promo it was like I released the single.

EM: Would you like to talk a little bit about The Writer’s Share project?

JF: Oh yeah! I’d love to! I’m very close with my lawyer. I know that sounds funny but he’s actually a really great guy. Lawyer’s I know get a bad rap in general but I’m actually close friends with Derek. He’s the president of T.J. Martell Foundation, which is for Cancer and AIDS research and they’re really making great strides with T.J. Martell Foundation so it’s really a reputable organization. Derek knows how I feel about Cancer research because my mother died last year from endometrial cancer so going through that process with her I pretty much canceled a bunch of shows and left in the middle of recording a record to be with her and my family as she made that transition. It was a really moving experience so it’s real important to me with my music to give back and this is an opportunity to do that to sort of take the gifts I have with music and the people that I know in the music world and hopefully do something that will raise money and help people. So that’s kind of what the Writer’s Share is all about. It’s bringing together writers…it’s amazing the first event we had we had Richard Marx from the 80’s who most people remember him with a mullet. He doesn’t have the mullet anymore.

EM: He’s actually a very talented songwriter. Most people don’t realize he’s a songwriter.

JF: No they don’t and that’s kind of what I want people to realize that some of the people in the music business that you might not think have all that talent, they really do. Richard writes with Justin Timberlake and Keith Urban. He’s got his hands in a lot of different projects. He’s a behind the scenes guy and writing songs that we aren’t even aware of and then you think of “Right Here Waiting for You” and “Endless Summer Nights” he played all that stuff too so it’s like wow this guy’s had a lot of hits. So he was on my right side and then Mike Reed was on my left side playing piano. Mike Reed wrote one of my favorite all time love songs which is “I Can’t Make You Love Me” with Bonnie Raitt. It’s just a heartbreaking song. Mike played that and I have to say that he sang it with such passion. I’d almost say that he sang it as good as Bonnie Raitt. But he would say, “Don’t say that kid!” because he’s loves Bonnie. We’re just trying to bring a really high caliber of writer and artist to these events and therefore pull in a lot of people and raise a lot of money for T.J. Martell Foundation. That’s kind of the goal.

CONTEST RULES:

1. Sign up for a Bandbox account using the widget at www.jenfoster.com/onlinestore.aspx using your Twitter Username as your Bandbox ID
2. Sign into Twitter (you will have to sign up for Twitter account if you don’t already have one), follow @jenkfoster and post the following Tweet:
   “I got a Bandbox account at http://tinyurl.com/JFBandBox for cool new music directly from
   Jen Foster ( @jenkfoster ) – Follow along!”

We will choose a winner randomly from all of the tweets posted for two weeks beginning today, December 3^rd. The prize package will be the following:

1. A signed copy of Jen’s newly released CD Thirty-Nine
2. A signed copy of the Alternate Single version of Venice Beach (selected as the theme song for Venice The Series) – CD burned and signed from Jen’s personal collection.
3. A Jen Foster T-Shirt

For more information:

The Writer’s Share http://www.thewritersshare.com/
T.J. Martell Foundation http://www.tjmartellfoundation.org
Jen Foster http://www.jenfoster.com/
Venice the Series http://www.venicetheseries.com/

Twitter:
Jen Foster: @JenkFoster
Venice: @VeniceTheSeries

Interview by Tiffany N. D’Emidio
Twitter: TiffanyDEmidio

Taking part in the Q&A swssion were: Steve Eramo [SciFiandTalkTV.com], Abbie Bernstein [iF Magazine], Lisa Steinberg [Starry Constellation], David Martindale [Hearst Newspapers], Troy Rogers [thedeadbolt.com], Julia Diddy [Fancast.com], Mike Hughes [TV America], Michael Hinman [Airlock Alpha], Fred Topple [SciFi Wire],Je Nazaro [Film Review Online] and Cassandra Farron [popculturemadness.com].

Good morning Nick and Caterina. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us today.

Caterina Scorsone: Thank you.

Nick Willing: Thank you. My – our pleasure.

Nick, I was wondering if you could perhaps tell us a little bit about the prep you had to do for this particular project going in and maybe some of the challenges associated with that for you.

Willing: The most difficult thing was finding Alice. I must’ve seen 500 actresses for the role of Alice, both in America, Canada and the UK. At one point we even thought of casting an (English) because she was so hard to find.

But in the end we found the perfect Alice, Caterina Scorsone, who I believe is on this call. And the prep, otherwise, was more to do with – we – the script was pretty much done when we started prep.

We were quite pleased with it. But it was the – it was really getting the design concept right, a look at the film, getting the tone of the film both visually, you know, in costume and in the set.

And in the visual effects, and the look of the flamingoes, for instance and the jabberwocky and all the creatures in Wonderland; creating that world effectively and doing it in a new, original way.

Sort of following along Nick’s answer, I wondered kind of, Caterina, what maybe first attracted you to this particular role? And then what were some of the acting challenges of you stepping into the Alice character?

Scorsone: Okay. Well the attraction was manifold. I mean it – you know, Alice in Wonderland is a classic piece of literature and most of us have, you know, either read it or seen various adaptations. And so, you know, that’s a huge draw initially. And then I was sent Nick’s script and it’s incredible.

And not only does it have kind of all of the classic characters and many of the themes of the book in it, but it’s been re-imagined into this fantastic adventure and a kind of journey of self-discovery for the character.

That was pretty hard to resist for an actor. And so yes, it was just attractive all ways around. And then I met Nick, and he’s so irresistible.

And I think everyone in the cast will agree; once you meet Nick you’re like well where do I sign? And so that was not a tough decision. And what was the second part of the question?

Just maybe some of the acting challenges you find initially stepping into the role?

Scorsone: Right. Well, let’s see. I mean, all of the challenges were really – I mean we were kind of (midwived) by Nick. We met in Vancouver before we started shooting and we had this very extensive rehearsal period. And so, you know, any and all of the challenges were kind of brought up and explored in this really kind of safe rehearsal environment.

And we did a lot of kind of discussion about what we wanted to pull out of the characters and out of the script. And so I think, you know, the biggest challenges were that we kind of covered just about everything in the script, you know.

There’s this rainbow of emotions that we kind of were playing with every day in – while at the same time doing, you know, gigantic action sequences and, you know, fight scenes, and horseback riding and, you know, CGI. And so it was really kind of quite a 360 degree workout physically, dramatically, psychologically. It was – no, it was a good time.

You had done Tin Man for Syfy a couple of years ago. So I mean, how did Alice come about?

Did you come to Syfy and say look, I’ve got a new take on Alice in Wonderland or did they — somewhere in there — say to you so now that we’ve done Wizard of Oz, what else can you reinvent for us?

Willing: Well they – I had already made a version — I don’t know if you know — made a version of Alice in Wonderland in 1999 for NBC which was very well received then with Whoopi Goldberg and Marty Short, and Gene Wilder and Peter Ustinov, and many, many other famous stars.

Scorsone: Ben Kingsley.

Willing: And Ben Kingsley. And so I wasn’t initially – I wasn’t suggesting of it because I felt I had quite a rough time trying to translate that book into a movie.

The thing about Alice in Wonderland is that there isn’t a particular strong classic film story in there. It’s a series of vignettes, of poetry and so on.

And the character is also quite passive. So – but Robert Halmi – it was Robert Halmi, Sr., actually of RHI who called me and said listen, I’d love you to try and do it again, you know, because I know you had such a hard time with it. What if you did your own kind of groovy version of it because it’s ten years since we did the last one? Why don’t we do it again?

And it was that – it was kind of that experiment. We felt that we had discovered in Tin Man a new way of reinventing, re-imagining the classics. And so we wanted to take another classic that was fantasy-based. And there were none better than – there was nothing, you know, in his opinion better visually than Alice.

So I took a little bit of persuading; like ten minutes, and then started writing. And Syfy jumped on board pretty much immediately. They were very excited about it from the start. So it was – that’s how it happened.

It was – it grew out of Tin Man – really out of the Tin Man experience of translating a classic story that we all know and love, and spinning it in a different way. I think that’s what excited most of the people who were involved with the Tin Man and saw Tin Man.

It was – they knew the original story but this was – kind of found new and different things in it, and explored new and different areas. So that was really my – how this thing started.

And then it took a year to write, obviously, because we had the writers’ strike and we had a financial apocalypse, and various other things.

Would you say that the key to this was — I mean, because the original is a quest in its way — but finding the purpose of the quest? And once you figured out that, did the rest of it sort of come into focus for you?

Willing: The first thing that tickled my fancy was the idea of imagining Wonderland as it is today; 150 years on from the original. Alice in Wonderland was written in 1850 or so; a long time ago – 150 years ago. And I thought wouldn’t it be, you know, delicious to imagine a world – that world as – in the way that we have evolved, also changed? And how would it be today?

Perhaps we’d have similar characters but wouldn’t they be different? And wouldn’t they have similar quests? But maybe they have changed as ours have too.

It was an idea of kind of bringing it into, you know, modern focus that attracted me.

Nick, is I know that there’s some great names in the film along with the name Kathy Bates. And I was wondering how you were able to kind of rope her along into the film.

Willing: Ooh, yeah. Kathy Bates was literally my first choice for the role of the Queen of Hearts. She is, to me, one of the most spectacular actresses in the world and I don’t know anyone better to play a vicious character with a huge heart.

And when I sent her the script she said yes almost immediately. It was one of the easiest things we had in the film. I mean, it was incredibly, fantastically easy.

And what was the second part of your – was there another part of your…

I was just asking how you were able to kind of rope her into the project and get her on board.

Willing: Well it was literally – it was reading the script. I mean I didn’t – I did talk to her a little bit after she read the script. But she was already keen.

It – the part of the Queen of Hearts in our story – one of the things that we — and you should ask this of Caterina as well — one of the things that we tried to do in our story is find in deep famous characters, very three dimensional, emotional personalities.

And the character of the Queen of Hearts in our film is quite a complex person with, you know, very complex goals. And so she was greatly attracted to that.

Initially, she was a bit tentative about doing the English accent. I mean, I couldn’t get over the fact that the Queen of Hearts to me had to be English because she’s such an iconic English character from literature.

So she did – but she did one of the best English voices I’ve ever heard any American actor do. But it’s also true of the character of Alice, isn’t it Caterina, that she was not quite the same character as in the book?

Scorsone: Right. No, not at all. It was quite a project. I mean, for one thing she’s much taller than she was in the book. She’s grown substantially.

But yeah, I mean what was really great about this script that Nick wrote — which is different from Lewis Carroll’s book — is that Alice in this story has a real emotional journey of her own whereas in the book she’s kind of this, you know, wide-eyed young girl who’s walking through this fascinating land. But she, herself, isn’t terribly fascinating. And in this version, you know, the fascinations of the land, you know, in some ways almost act as a metaphor for the fascinations inside her personality.

And so there was a lot to kind of grab onto and explore as an actor. And so yeah, it was really – yeah, it was – once you read the script – I think every actor that was involved was pretty thrilled about being asked to be involved.

You know, Matt Frewer and I talked about it and, you know, he’s playing the White Knight. And everything is there for him. You know, he’s funny and he’s sad. And he’s, you know, heroic and tragic.

And, you know, there was just so much – and Andrew-Lee Potts’ character, Hatter, you know – every character there was kind of the initial presentation.

And then as you – as we journey through Wonderland, kind of all of these layers start to be revealed about how they got this way and, you know, who they are and why.

And so I mean, it was great fun because we got to have this, you know, wonderful Technicolor adventure but we also really, really got to play as actors with, you know, with each other and with the script. It was…

((Crosstalk))

Willing: And it was so good – I mean, Kathy and – well, we all made good friends on the set as well. We had tremendous fun doing it. And Kathy is still – I still talk to Kathy regularly. We’re still good friends.

Scorsone: Yeah, I think all of us are still…

Willing: Yeah.

Scorsone: I mean, really it’s one of those odd, magical projects where everybody kind of gets together and you might actually have chosen these people to hang out with in your life.

And we really – I mean, it was incredibly ego-less on the set. And everyone was just super excited to get to work and play with the material. And it wasn’t about kind of the personalities. It was about the characters and the story. And I mean, we just had a blast. It was great.

So then Caterina…

Scorsone: And Nick was very much responsible for that tone as well on set. And it was just – it was the cast but it was also the crew. And whenever that happens you very much want to look to the director and see what he’s doing because it is this kind of trickle down effect of if he’s positive and has humor, and is inspiring people to do their best they’ll do it for free.

You know what I mean? And that’s very much the situation we were in on this movie.

So then Caterina, it’s safe to say that the chemistry with the cast came pretty easily then for you all?

Scorsone: Absolutely, yeah. It was – I mean, and, you know, we were all staying in Vancouver which is such a gorgeous city. And yeah, and we had this wonderfully rich rehearsal period in the beginning. So we kind of really got to know each other. And there were so many physical challenges on the movie.

So not only were we kind of exploring it, you know, psychologically and emotionally; but, you know, we had to learn to horseback ride together, you know, and things like that. And so I think, you know, it’s like going on a long camping trip. Like when you’re facing all of those kinds of tasks together, you bond in a way that’s special. And I think we had a really lucky group to do that with.

I saw a screener of the movie and enjoyed it. Caterina, you’re really quite wonderful in it. First of all, Caterina, were you surprised, happy, relieved that Alice didn’t have to be blonde necessarily?

Scorsone: Oh yeah. I was surprised, happy and relieved. I remember Nick and I had an initial conversation about it. And I think we kind of decided — Nick, correct me if I’m wrong — but that, you know, essentially her hair is the first thing you see of Alice in the movie.

There’s kind of this shot, you know, from the back of her head in the beginning of the film. And, you know, and so I think we decided that this is a very, very different movie and it’s a very different story. And so, you know, the initially visual of a brunette Alice immediately informs the audience that they’re in for a different kind of ride. And so it worked for what we were trying to do. But yes, my hair is so grateful for that coincidence.

Yes. Also, Alice is a woman who steps up and takes action even when it’s just impulse. Do you…

Scorsone: Sorry, and takes – what’s that?

You know, she kind of steps up and takes action even when it’s just an impulse to do so. Do you see yourself as being like that? Are you the kind who, you know, pressure, crisis, panic situation – are you the one to step up or do you curl up in a fetal position?

Scorsone: I think I would be one of the types to step up, particularly in a crisis, panicked situation. I think that anyone who is in the film industry for any period of time almost has to be one of those types because I think every audition and then every day on set with, you know, the limited number of hours you have to shoot massive amounts of stuff, it feels like a crisis situation.

So you definitely have to have a good relationship with your adrenaline. And so yeah, I would say – there’s like a fantastic quote in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland — what is it Nick — where it’s like the Cheshire cat saying – Alice says she’s not mad and he says something like you must be mad or else you wouldn’t have come here.

Willing: Yeah. Everyone here is a mad person. But I can tell you that…

Scorsone: Yes and I…

((Crosstalk))

Willing: …Caterina – I had to – Caterina had to fall in the freezing cold, Canadian water several times throughout the film. And all I said was all right love, step up and drop in. And she’d take a huge brave gulp of air and throw herself in this freezing water as many times as I asked.

She would do anything. I mean, I have to say in answer to your question, she is very much a person who takes her own – you know, is very brave, very courageous and does whatever.

Nick, what are you saying about instant gratification? Is this a bad thing in our culture? Have we gone overboard in our love of instant gratification and our loss of patience, do you think?

Willing: Yes. I mean, yes. I think that if it starts to take the place of deeper, more lasting things that ultimately will give you a greater sense of security and pleasure, that instant gratification can be very dangerous if we’re simply led by our nose; whatever sense your impulse takes us.

Then often that may lead us in the wrong way. It’s very important, I think, for all of us to find and get what we want for our lives. But it’s important to also do it in a way which is informed and which draws on more lasting things. And that, I think, is something that we’re losing particularly as we bring up our children.

What compelled you to weave that into this particular story in this particular way?

Willing: Well, it’s something that I always regarded as part of the Queen of Hearts character in nature. She was a person who acted – she simply said and did, and acted in the way she simply wanted to act. And she always got what she wanted when she wanted it because she was queen of the scream. And if she wanted to cut off somebody’s head, she’d cut off somebody’s head.

So I translated that. You know, as I said earlier, one of the things that attracted me about this story was trying to find things in it that would connect to our modern world. And that is one of the things that I translated into a world which she has influenced to act as she would act.

In what ways do you see today’s world as a wonderland?

Willing: Caterina, that’s your question.

Scorsone: All right, yes. There are so many levels to that question. I think that, you know, that the one that I – that we kind of talked about before and why Wonderland would be such a relevant story right now is that since 9/11 so much has happened in our world to kind of turn it into this, you know, topsy-turvy place that, you know, people wouldn’t recognize 20 years ago.

It’s – you know, politically and economically so much change has happened in the last little while that I think people are all kind of walking around with wide open eyes like Alice going what on earth is happening? And so that, I think, has made Alice very much a story for our time. Yeah, Nick, can I turn it over to you for another go?

Willing: Well Wonderland is a place where extraordinary and amazing things happen in the original book but also very dark and frightening things happen, as you know. And we used both books as inspiration: Alice in Wonderland and also Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Alice Through the Looking Glass is a story where everything is literally — as Caterina has said — turned on its head, where opposites are how to behave. And I think there’s something in what Caterina says; that maybe our world has become – it is now possible to act in ways which may seem strange and insane, but are, you know, part of the norm.

I do think also one of the things about our world is that we have advanced technology to such a point where we can get what we want to get when we want to get it. We can get somebody on the phone. We can get – watch a TV program when we want to watch a TV program. And we can enter into worlds of fantasy at the touch of a button.

That certainly wasn’t possible when Lewis Carroll wrote that book 150 years ago.

Caterina, what was the mandate for this version of Alice or were you given free reign to play her the way you wanted?

Scorsone: Well, you know, I think usually – especially when you’re working with a director who enjoys being a director, you know, you – it’s a collaborative process. And so, you know, Nick had written the script which was also great because, you know, he could very – I mean, he knew exactly what – where he’d been coming from.

But then once we were in the rehearsal period, you know, there was a lot of discussion. And Nick had ideas of, you know, that he had, you know, conceived while writing them.

But he was very open to, you know, exploring what I brought to the character. And so I don’t know. I mean, I think there was so much in the script to discover. But there was still a level of freedom to kind of go beyond that or find an angle to it that hadn’t, you know – that wasn’t quite as obvious and kind of pull that out, and make it more prominent in the film.

((Crosstalk))

Willing: Yeah, it – you know, one of the things that you’ll see from Caterina is that she’s extremely intelligent and articulate; very well educated. I mean, she knows a lot of this world. And so as soon as we started working on the film I wanted to know what she thought almost more than anyone because she seems to think a lot about a lot.

Scorsone: Too much.

I really liked Andrew-Lee Potts on Primeval. I wanted to know what was he like on this project as the Hatter?

Willing: Caterina?

Scorsone: Nick?

Willing: Caterina?

Scorsone: He was wonderful. He was wonderful. And we were so lucky to have him and I was so lucky. I mean, you know, he’s (unintelligible). So he – his character, Hatter, is the companion of Alice through the whole adventure in Wonderland.

And so – gosh, I’m getting some feedback on my phone. But he was absolutely prepared as an actor and he was funny everyday, and great with all of the action and the physical stuff; and the CGI which I’m sure Primeval helped it. So he’s a great actor and a great person. And we were really lucky to have him. Nick?

Willing: Yeah he’s – you know, I think he’s quite unique among English actors because he’s one of these actors who loves fantasy and science fiction. And I know a lot – coming from England myself, I know a lot of actors. And that’s quite rare, frankly. Most actors won’t be doing, you know, Shakespeare at the National. But he’s a guy that really loves this stuff. So he came with so much enthusiasm and energy for the role.

And because he was trapped here on his own without his friends back home, he was – he invested almost everything – every muscle of his body in our project. And so I think we had – we were very lucky to get him and very fortunate to get one of the great performances of the film.

Alice is smart and feisty and strong. And she starts off as the rescuer instead of the damsel in distress. But she’s still permitted to enjoy a love interest or two. Can you just comment on playing such a multi-faceted version of Alice?

Scorsone: Yeah. I mean, it was a pleasure. It was really – you know, from the moment I got the script, I mean, I – you know, I read the script in one sitting and it’s quite a long script. But it was a page-turner. And I just couldn’t believe it. And it was so – I mean, it just came off the page so easily. You could kind of really imagine yourself having the adventures just reading it. So that was great.

And then when I got to set and met Nick and met the cast, and started rehearsing, and I started realizing how much everyone was passionate about the script, and how passionate Nick was about the character and about her journey, and about making sure that we gave the character the dignity of being multi-faceted, I mean I was elated.

You don’t often – especially as an actress, you don’t often have an opportunity to play a role where the whole range of the humanity of the person is explored. And so I got to do that with Alice. And yeah, so it was literally everyday on set, moments of pause where I’d be like okay, remember this.

Remember this because it doesn’t happen all the time. And so it was really kind of one of those special, special experiences for me.

Nick, you touched upon this a bit in answering the question about instant gratification but I’m curious about a specific angle of that.

There’s so many indulgences and vices that can roll the masses into a hypnotic state, as they say, and there’s so many great layers in this story with the bottled emotions for the Wonderland residents and the gambling for the oysters. Did you want to comment on addictions specifically, as a means of attaining instant gratification or was that just an organic option of the story?

Willing: It’s not – it’s – my story is not so much about addiction, necessarily. What I was keen – or in fact, about drugs per se unless you count everything in our world that titillates and fascinates us is a drug.

What I was interested in was being able to manufacture your emotions. One of the thing I fear may happen to us is that we swap genuine emotions for something that is given to us; that we, you know, cry at the television commercial and think that those tears are genuine.

And really what I’m – so what I was fascinated with, not so much in how these things could be addictive because all things can be addictive if you are that kind of personality. But how we are slowly constructing a world where we watch genuine emotions or something which is manufactured cheaply, and that’s what I find – you know, I see happening and I find interesting.

And it seemed to be – Wonderland seemed to be a good place to set that in because as I say, the Queen of Hearts has that kind of personality in the book.

And then if I could just ask you both really quickly: so many great, great other roles in this but Matt Frewer – can you discuss a little bit more – Caterina, was it hard to keep a straight face with – during some of those scenes?

Scorsone: Always. Yeah, I mean not during – all the time; camera rolling, camera not rolling. I mean, we were in danger. He’s a very, very funny man and also has a golden heart. Like he’s really a phenomenal person and was so generous. You know, I remember Andrew and I talking about it one day.

He is such an accomplished actor and, you know, you’d do this scene with him where he’d be doing acrobatics dramatically and then he would immediately – when you kind of – when Nick yelled cut, he would kind of turn to us who are so junior, you know, and compliment us on some aspects of, you know, something that happened in the scene.

And like he was just absolutely generous and just a really, really good man, as well as a hysterical human being and a great actor.

I got – turning back to the scenes of the show again, that maybe one of the things I was thinking about when I was watching it was sometimes we can get kind of safe and suburban and serene, and so forth. And we never feel – we don’t stir up as many real emotions as we used to in life.

And I got a feeling that that was for these people here; that they had to get bottled emotions from somebody else who still had them. So were you getting – is that some of your feeling that sometimes people can get too distant from emotions to the point where they have to actually go out and buy them?

Willing: I think – you know, well I think everybody is different. But one of the things that I feel is that we sometimes repress genuine emotions that are too raw and difficult to face, and perhaps too important to us, and replace them with something that is manufactured for the mainstream that seems to be what people consider as being the right thing to deal — as actors do — for the mass.

Do you see what I mean by that?

Sure.

Willing: And I think we all – I don’t think it’s a political thing.

I think it’s to do with – perhaps it’s to do with how our global culture is being – is evolving. I mean, it’s not something that anybody is in control of necessarily.

It’s just how we seem to be evolving; that we can buy something that was made by somebody else halfway around the world and costs nothing, and then whatever the circumstances I don’t know. But whatever the circumstances, has brought it out in this rather unusual situation.

The other Alice in Wonderland that you did ten years ago, that was for Halmi too, wasn’t it?

Willing: That was for Robert, that’s right. That’s why he said, you know, do you want to give it another go?

That’s what I find so remarkable is that the same producer would authorize two different versions of the same story within ten years. It kind of somehow shows that Halmi has got this kind of remarkably facile mind or open mind to different things. Just…

Willing: Robert, he is a complete one of a kind. That man is extraordinary and special. And I hope that people really understand how special he is because he is – what – he is fascinated by fantasy; all aspects of fantasy because I think he genuinely believes that we are ruled by the world of the imagination; what Jung calls the unconscious.

And I share that belief. So he is always trying to find ways of telling important and classic stories in a way that suits us today. And as he sees our world evolving and special effects, being able to do things – and when we did Alice in Wonderland the first time ten years ago, we couldn’t do a whole lot of the special effects we do now. So we’re able to create fantastical worlds now much easier than we did then.

And so he wanted to say let’s do it again but this – give it a modern spin. Do it in your own voice and, you know, make it psychological, and do all the things that – he’s an incredibly enthusiastic and encouraging person.

Scorsone: Well and one of the things that I found remarkable about him when I met him was he talked a lot about wanting to reclaim fairytales for adults because in this kind of, you know, unconscious world that we express through fairytales, the original fairy story there was a lot of darkness. And there were a lot of those messy emotions that we’re talking about in this movie. You know, there was anger and there was sadness. And there was, you know, people did bad things and have guilt and, you know, regrets.

And so many of those fairytales have been kind of dignified and, you know, sanitized for children. And so a lot of the grit and a lot of the point of some of them have been lost. And so one of the things that he seems very passionate about is reclaiming these stories and bringing out the parts of them that we really need to look at to understand ourselves. And so I think that’s one of the things that we’re doing here with Alice.

We had a great time seeing some of the clips when we were up in Vancouver, you know, about a month ago now at least. But I think we got a lot of questions out during that time. But one of the things that I was thinking about when I was watching this, which I really enjoyed by the way, is – you know, and I was just curious Nick, you know, how much of – like when you were writing this, how much would you refer back to the original book or would you just try to, you know, try to make separations as much as you could?

And were there things that you deliberately not wanted to include in this film from the book?

Willing: You know, I – when I first wrote this I – it was hugely long. It was a six hour – I overwrote. And I wanted to include everything that I could. But gradually – I mean, it’s – writing is one of those funny things where, you know, sometimes the first idea is the best idea and sometimes it’s the worst idea. And you never know when you write it which one that might be. So I’ve found that the process of writing this was incredibly exposing of my character. I found myself in this story more than any other thing I’ve written. I used parts of myself that I’ve never used before, if you know what I mean. But – and – but one of the driving factors in writing it was in trying to make it as psychological as possible.

If the book is about a little girl who falls into her unconscious and written in 1860 it was an incredibly modern and exciting theory – idea to have because the unconscious is still something that was being, you know, discovered if you will then. But if it’s that then – and if we accept that the unconscious is a place in my dreams where we can work out problems that we have in our lives, then let us make this world or events incredibly psychological and helpful to her in discovering what she needs to discover in order to flourish and become and full and complete person.

So I would draw – what I did was I drew on aspects of the book. They were like triggers, if you will. There were things that – for instance the minute – when I first read Alice in Wonderland, I also saw Tweedle Dee as an odd thing. I always thought Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum as torturous of her. I felt that they were like, you know, nasty little school boys who wants to pull the wings off flies and torture little girls. And that’s the opportunity they got for Alice. So in the film I actually made them the queen’s torturers and torture poor old Alice. So, the book was kind of a trigger, an inspiration, and then from there it spawned many things.

Actually – and Caterina, too from my understand that when working with Kathy Bates, that in between takes she is one of those actors that likes to remain in character. I mean even when the camera isn’t rolling. Is that true? And if so, what was that like?

Scorsone: Well, I don’t know if that’s always. I don’t know if that’s always what she does. It was, you know, the first day that we worked together, that was kind of very much what was going on.

And so that on the day, I mean it was wonderful, it was totally intimidating and exciting, and you know, made my job as kind of wide eyed Alice much easier. I don’t know how she is on most of her movies but it was great. And she was wonderful and I met her, you know, fantastic actor, icon, you know, hero of mine, who is also incredibly lovely and generous as a person.

And so, I don’t know, there was something going on with the planets and the stars that drew all of you wonderful people.

Willing: But (Kathy) never stopped speaking in the English accent though, did she Caterina? She always on set.

Scorsone: Not while we were on set. Yeah.

Willing: Yeah, she was always – and after a while it’s funny because she would speak to me all the time. And there was one time we went for a weekend, and Caterina too, to a producer’s house and – for lunch. And she spoke in an American accent and I found it so disconcerting. And I said I told her to stop putting on that funny voice, and come back to speaking in English. So she did.

But it was – it’s very funny. She just laughed at it so well.

Scorsone: Yeah, but yeah, her focus on set is incredible. I mean that, if you kind of – you know, especially when you get to work with people who have made such an impact on a medium you kind of, you know, study them a little and go what do they do that is so special?

And I would say that was the thing that I kind of you know, picked up and made a mental note of. Her focus was absolute the whole time that she was on set, and that kind of inspired you as a young actor to work as hard as you can every day.

Caterina, what did it do for you to play Alice as a grown up woman?

Caterina Scorsone: Oh wow, such a good question.

See, you know, I think like Nick, it was – this movie was really special and incredible in that it was in – it was exploring topics that we don’t often talk about especially in our kind of, you know, pop culture. You know as an actor, you know, living in LA right now, usually I’m, you know, auditioning for procedural dramas. And you know, we’re trying to find out who stole the money and, you know, where the body is.

And you know, there’s not tons of room for you know, deep, psychological plumbing. And that’s why most of us got involved in acting in the first place, to do that kind of psychological exploration. And so having Alice in this script as it directed toward forward was pretty amazing for me as an actor and as a person.

And yeah, I mean – I think Nick – didn’t you say that this is the most emotional set you’ve ever been on?

Willing: Yeah, it was a very emotional set. It was.

Scorsone: It – for everyone – I mean crew members, cast members, it was – I think the subject matter that we were dealing with kind of that, just everyday talking about ideas of, you know, repressed emotions and feelings that we don’t want to feel and memories that we don’t want to have. And you know, it was just a really – it’s you know, agitated and brought up all sorts of really rich emotional experiences for everyone.

And I definitely think like Nick, by the end of working on this film had discovered all sorts of things about myself that, you know, might have been there and I might have been aware of. But I have never taken a whole day with lights and cameras and costumes to really think about and explore and articulate them. So it was definitely a journey for me. I’m really grateful.

Wow, so far every answer on this call has been way more profound than I ever expected at 10:00 a.m. Thursday morning.

Scorsone: That was what it was like on the film. Which I think is why it was such an emotional cast.

Nick, what were the most fun aspects of Alice and Through the Looking Glass to give a modern twist?

Willing: The flamingos I thought were very delicious. One of the things that you remember that Alice is invited to or appears at a croquet game with the queen. And she can’t handle her pink flamingo, long pink neck. And I translated that into a, you know, flying machine flamingo, that she has to sit on and manipulate its long pink neck to make it fly.

And it sort of looks like a Vespa, a cross between a jet ski or Vespa, but that flies. And that was very delicious. Also the jabberwockies, this huge beak, I’ve never seen a jabberwocky done before. There was a film by Terry Gilliam, but that was years ago and it only had fleeting glimpses of the actual jabberwocky in that film and I’ve always wanted, ever since I was a little boy, I’ve always wanted to make a real jabberwocky. And now technology has caught up with me and we were able to produce this amazing creature with a long neck and a goofy face, that was both funny and terrifying at the same time, which I think is what the jabberwocky is all about.

Scorsone: And it – which looked astonishingly like the (Tenniel) drawings…

Willing: Yeah.

Scorsone: …from the original fate.

Willing: Yeah, it…

Scorsone: …by the Lewis Carroll, yeah.

Willing: …it was the one thing that we kept quite close to the (Tenniel), you know, illustration. Those are my favorite sort of kind of groovy things to do. I really enjoyed those – doing them. But I, you know, I also enjoyed enormously working on the costumes with (Angus Strike), who’s a brilliant costume designer, and the sets with (Michael Joy).

The look of the film, how it, you know, we’ve got this kind of exciting, funky twist to the look, but retro modern. That was enormously good fun, you know, when you’re prepping. But my favorite thing, is always my favorite thing, most fun I always have on any film, but particularly on this film, is with the actors.

The actors are more intelligent than I think most – I mean they’re almost as bright as the people I know, you know, because I don’t know why. I think it’s because they make their life exploring, because they’ve got to bring emotions to the screen. They spend their life exploring their emotions, you know, and that makes for a very entertaining companion, because they’re always lively, they’re always usually quite funny. They’ve always got an answer and opinion on everything.

And it makes the day just wonderful, you know. So I always spend most of my time hanging out with the actors if I can and working on little bits of the stuff, and excuse to get time with them I always, you know, I think I have over a week of rehearsals mostly just because I wanted to hang out with them.

And speaking of these profound themes that have come out in this call, is that something you went into the film with or did those emerge as you were doing it?

Willing: Is that me you’re asking?

Yes, Nick.

Willing: It was – I went in doing it really, because I felt that, you know, one of the things that I think about science fiction is that it gives us a popular risk platform to explore things that we wouldn’t – difficult things. And it gives us a way of finding out difficult things and exploring tricky things. That’s what science fiction is, it’s a way of kind of kind of making comment on the present by either looking into the future and see into, you know, or inventing and entire world.

And it’s that comment on the present, and that comment on our emotional personality that really excited me about this story. So I don’t want to make it sound like it’s, you know, high brow, it isn’t. It’s an incredibly commercial and popular story, it’s just it explores themes that we, all of us, in everyday life have to put with and bear and explore ourselves. So getting that out of the story and finding that with the actors was one of my goals early on.

And are you guys glad to come out months before the Tim Burton, Johnny Depp Alice?

Willing: Well, yes. I suppose so. I mean we don’t – I didn’t really – the thing about that film is it seems to me that that’s a faithful – more faithful adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. They – we kind of – so different, that I don’t think there’s really any confusion, I mean apart from (unintelligible) you know, I don’t know.

After – we’re doing such different things and invading – you know tried to conquer different territory.

Well, yeah. We know it’s different, it just seeing the name Alice…

Willing: Yeah.

…you’ve got a good jump start.

Willing: Yeah, no, we – I think, you know, the people – and also it’s television. But I’m also – I will also go eagerly to see his film when it comes out.

I mean having done what he did ten years ago, you know, I’m really (unintelligible) to see what he’s done. Really.

Just to pick up on something you were talking about before, so in 1999, you teamed up with (Hallmark) to do your sort of lavish version of Alice in Wonderland. And now in 2009, you’ve gotten to do your sort of (dystopian) sort of dark city version. Have you basically sort of purged Lewis Carroll from your system at this point, or can we expect and even more outrageous version from you come 2019?

Willing: Yes, I’m going to be more in (Tenniel’s) time, I’m going to try something all of you guys would find (utterly frightening). No, I don’t know. I think – I mean as I say, to take your answer seriously, I think that one of the things that to me was exciting about this version was that it was so different. And because I’d already done one, I felt liberated from having to do that again.

I felt liberated from having to do a faithful adaptation. I took greater risks. I think if I had tried – if I hadn’t made that faithful adaptation, I’d find it much more difficult to be as fast and loose with the original material as I was. And – but I think that’s what helps this film is that I was able to – I didn’t worry about taking great leaps with the imagination and, you know, trying something new and different.

And you know, one of the interesting things about this is that now that I’ve had this experience, the next time I write a story of this kind, I’m going to take bigger risks. Because one of the most depressing aspects of adapting or working on a – from a book is that you’re fearful and afraid to change things. And often the movie and to make it work for a modern audience, it’s important to change things.

You are one of the new sort of successful practitioners of the mini series format these days that (keeps) – there’s always talk about whether the mini series is dead or people don’t watch mini series anymore. But you seem to have embraced that form and actually been very successful with it. Do you find as opposed to say feature films and smaller television that the mini series form is actually quite a good one to work in?

Willing: I think it’s one of the best. I really do. I mean and I’m not just saying it because I’ve made a few. And I’ve made a lot but it’s taken me a long time to figure out really how to make it work.

And I tell you why I think it’s very important. It’s like a movie in a sense that you are — it’s not an episodic thing like television series are. You get to tell one big sweeping story like you do in a big sweeping epic. But you’re given more time to develop the characters and to work in further twists and turns. And in – one of the things that (they say) also gets you because it has (act grates), eight (act grates) within one night. You have to think in terms of big surprises, huge twists, big thriller moments, big sweeping moments of the heart, big romantic scenes and you have to keep telling them over every ten minutes.

Now for a writer that’s extremely, extremely exciting in a way that in movies you don’t get to do and in episodic television you can’t do. So I mean I think that that – for me that’s what so exciting about the mini series and I hope that we keep making them because they’re, you know, iconic – from the mini series that I grew up with are still very much in my mind.

Caterina you mentioned before I think you used the phrase “junior cast members” or something along those lines. I can’t help wondering if you’re actually going to be sharing a scene with somebody be it Kathy Bates or Tim Curry or whoever.

As one of the sort of “junior cast members” does that sort of force you to bring your A-Game to the table and maybe work that much harder to, you know, to bring your performance up to a certain level based on the sort of caliber of actors that you’re working with?

Scorsone: Well I think so. I think, you know, and I think junior it doesn’t necessarily have to do with age. I think acting is one of those funny professions where, you know, so much of it is about a capacity to reveal your humanity through the filter of this character, you know, and reveal the character’s humanity.

I think it’s one of those funny professions where sometimes someone who’s 10 has that capacity and sometimes someone’s who’s 60 has that capacity or has lost that capacity or, you know, it’s a really funny – it’s a funny profession that way. But in particular on this project we were working with some of the best. I mean some of the best actors whose capacities to explore humanity, I mean we’ve all witnessed over, you know, decades as being, you know — I mean they’re part – I mean their personas as actors are almost archetypal parts of our unconscious at least for someone of my age.

Like, you know, I grew up watching Kathy Bates play these incredibly multidimensional female characters who were strong and so, yeah, you know, if I were, you know, thinking about the Queen of Hearts in my head I would ask Kathy Bates.

And so, yeah, the fact that we were working with Matt Frewer, Tim Curry, Kathy Bates, such icons and such skilled performers, I, you know, I won’t (unintelligible). I would say that I walked into the situation knowing that if I kept my eyes and ears open I would have a great deal to learn.

And so, yes, you absolutely kind of show up for those days prepared and, you know, rationing your coffee and making sure that you’re on you A-Game and it’s both so that you can keep up and also so that you can learn and also because it’s so exciting to play with your craft with somebody that is that talented and skilled. And so you’re just excited to come to work and go. Yeah.

I just want to comment on how I loved how you kind of set this up as a second-coming of Alice reference to the first 150 years kind of gave Lewis Carroll his glory there as well.

Willing: Yes.

My question is – and a lot of my questions have already been asked – what was your favorite moment on set? Like how basically your favorite moment acting, favorite moment with characters with the actors?

Willing: My favorite moment was when Caterina had a very important date to go to and we were out in the rain and I left it for the large part of the day I said, “Okay we’ve got to — I’ve got to climb up a ladder and throw herself in the water.” And the water was freezing cold. And because she had to run off and do this very important date though I can’t tell you what it was but she – and poor thing she’s like, “Really? Do I have to do it?” And I said, “Yes, yes, yes, quick, quick (unintelligible).”

Scorsone: This is the only time.

Willing: And she did it and she ran up the ladder and threw herself in the water and it was hilarious and everybody was so impressed. And then she swam out…

Scorsone: Across a lake in the freezing cold in (unintelligible). Yeah. That is a (unintelligible).

Willing: I have to say every day was fun. You know, but can you think of any other interesting anecdotes from the set?

Scorsone: Gosh, I mean it was — oh, gosh, it was really, really pinch-me moments the whole time. I mean, you know, it’s not shot — I remember that day when we were in the woods and a (staffer) was making — had somehow – someone had brought a barbecue and like put the barbecue in the woods. And they were like barbecuing hamburgers like off the side of the set because it was so far to get food. And I think we were out on open water in like a, you know, 1970s, you know, James Bond speed boat with the sun setting and riding horses across a desert with a thunderstorm going on.

I mean it was just – you know, and then there was just snapshots of, you know, our inhibited laughter all the time. I mean it was really kind of endless the moments of fun. It was great. And in all directions, you know, (asking) later then laughing so hard and then, you know, incredible moments of generosity and intimacy, you know, during heavy emotional scenes where you kind of looked to Nick or looked to the other cast member and knew absolutely that this person wanted you to find that special thing that was going to crack open the heart of your character and the heart of the audience and that you had this incredible support and curiosity that (can handle these) that the whole team was participating in.

Willing: I agree. I’m sorry, I just want to jump in with my least favorite moment which was when I (unintelligible) poor Matt Frewer he was wearing a – for him it felt like he was wearing huge Volkswagen but it was actually a suit of armor and he had run about behind in line of (Phyllis Enshouder) and shoot an (arbelet) which is sort of this Roman, medieval weapon which is like a big crossbow on wheels while there were diving men on flamingoes dropping bombs on him. So he had all these bombs going off.

I said, “You run over here, you run over there and the bombs…” so he ran slightly off into the (race) and blew it up. And I thought, “Oh my God. Oh my God.” And, you know, but then he was fine because the suit of armor that he was wearing that he kept cursing protected him from getting blown up.

But then the very next day I had him in a hammock, okay you swing out the hammock and you run over here. Well he’s not the youngest guy and of course he swung and the hammock broke and he fell on the floor and he kept shooting because again the suit of armor that he kept cursing was the very thing that saved him.

Scorsone: And then I think the other difficult moment was in the casino when we were shooting in a barn and it got to be about 150 degrees and people were like dropping like flies.

But then I think probably the favorite moment for the boys was this sexy burlesque dancer.

Willing: Oh, yes. Very sexy girl…

((Crosstalk))

Willing: …very, very sexy girl.

Scorsone: …sort of ground to a halt and you kind of looked around and these fantastically talented burlesque dancers are doing this very involved routine on this mirrored stage and they’re wearing feathers and, you know, sparkle things in all the right places. And you look around and it was like uniformly in like 360 degrees every male member of the crew and cast had their mouth like their jaws had dropped.

Willing: Yeah.

Caterina Scorsone: It was funny to observe.

((Crosstalk))

What is your favorite guilty pleasure movie or TV show?

Willing: Caterina, what’s your favorite guilty pleasure?

Scorsone: Goodness, I have so many. That’s what this movie is all about. My favorite – my very favorite movie which I suppose is a bit of a guilty pleasure in that it’s like, you know, every scene, you know, pushes every button is True Romance directed by Tony Scott with Patricia Arquette and Christian Slater and it’s a fantastic, fantastic film, very violent, very romantic.

What about you, Nick?

Willing: Get Smart. You know, I know I grew up in Portugal as a little boy speaking Portuguese and I learned to speak English through Get Smart. Yeah, and he…

Scorsone: That explains everything.

Willing: Yeah, exactly. And 99, I had a terrible crush on 99 who was just the most (unintelligible) thing in the world to me when I was 5. And so that was my – that’s my — nobody knows it so don’t tell anybody that because it’s so embarrassing.

But my favorite film is the first time I ever watched — when I was growing up in Portugal I watched it in a (bit like sort of a parodies) I watched it in a (bond) when the cinema came to town and it was Pinocchio and I went along and the drawings were moving on the screen. I couldn’t believe how that was possible, you know. It had been 1923…

Is that what inspired you to continue with the cartoons?

Willing: Yeah, I started as an animator when I — as soon as I – because I was drawing even then. I was 5 and was really drawing. So when I got to 10 I started making flicker books and then animated cells when I was 12. And that’s what got me into the films. It was completely just because I wanted to do that, make those pictures move. It was so amazing. I still remember that feeling – that first – one of the greatest feelings I can ever remember is seeing the opening shots to Pinocchio and thinking, “God, this is pure magic.”

Late last week, I took part in a Q&A conference call with Ms. Morales. Also taking part were: Jim Iacchino [Media Blvd], Jamie Steinberg [Starry Constellation], Joshua Maloni [Niagara Frontier Magazine], Troy Rogers [thedeadbolt.com], Melissa Lowry [NiceGirlsTV.com], Stevie Wilson [LAstory.com], Melody Simpson [Hollywood the Write Way], and Concepcion Allen [Blast Magazine].

They did have a female costar, an FBI agent, in the pilot, Diane, and then she mysteriously disappears, and then you appear as Lauren Cruz. Do you happen to know the dynamics there? Not that I’m complaining, mind you. It was just an interesting change. They got rid of her and then you were sort of her replacement, but I think you play the role much differently than the one who played…

Natalie Morales: Well, it’s not the same role. It’s a completely different role, and I actually don’t know what exactly went on because that was before I sort of … I think I’ve heard Jeff Eastin, the executive producer, sort of explain that there was a scheduling conflict with the actress. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but I know that Lauren Cruz was always intended to be a completely different role from the Diana character.

And a related question to the others, you have quite an ensemble of outfits in the first episode.

Morales: I know!

I was wondering, are we going to see more of your wardrobe?

Morales: That particular episode was based around Fashion Week and that’s why there were the fancy dresses, but I believe that Lauren does a lot of undercover work, which is where the different outfits come from, because, basically, if you see her in the office she’s in her button-down shirt and jacket, all FBI gear, but yeah, I think that undercover stuff you’ll see more often. It’s very fun to do because you get to sort of play a different character playing a character so, yes, you know, you’ll see a lot more of that.

I have to say I miss The Middleman so it’s good to see you on TV again.

Morales: Oh, well, thank you. I miss The Middleman, too, although this is a blast, but I loved that show as well.

Yes, and you have really short hair now.

Morales: Yes, I do. Well, I always kind of had short hair, didn’t I?

It was longer and blacker.

Morales: Yes, that’s true. It was a little darker.

Well, what about this particular role brought you to the show?

Morales: Well, honestly, I read the pilot and it was one of the best pilots I’ve ever read in my entire life, and I just thought that it was just something I really wanted to be a part of, and I got lucky that I got the role, you know. Everybody behind the project is so completely all about it, and it’s really, really fun and refreshing to have a cast that really gets along, and everybody is great, and it’s just like I couldn’t be luckier, to be honest with you. It’s really, really fun.

You’re surrounded by a lot of handsome men…

Morales: Sure am.

So when you first started working with them did you find it was a bit of instant chemistry or did it take a bit of time for you all to gel?

Morales: Absolutely it’s just chemistry. Matt and Tim, who I spend most of my time with – unfortunately I don’t have any scenes with Willie – Matt, Tim and I just laugh all day long, and it’s pretty much happened since the first two seconds we met so we really get along very well, and it’s been a great time.

Also, you do a lot of Twittering. Is that something that you find is really important to you so that you can stay connected with your fandom? And what is the significance of it that’s so important to you?

Morales: I don’t know if there’s any significance, except that I’m bored a lot, I guess, and I like to talk a lot of crap. I don’t know. There’s no significance behind it, except that it’s fun and I guess it’s sort of a social experiment, you know?

Yes. You do connect a lot with your fans.

Morales: It is fun, and it’s cool to get to talk to people and hear their responses back because, you know, it’s people you would never normally speak to because you don’t know them so it is fun. I think it’s an interesting new tool that exists out there to communicate with the world.

Is there anything physical that you had to train for for your role on this show?

Morales: Well, we’ve done a little bit of tactical training. We had a really cool guy that’s a SWAT team member come in and sort of show us the ropes on what you would do busting into a house and the searching for people and all that kind of stuff, which is cool. I love that stuff. It’s a little different holding a Glock than it is holding an alien zapper gun so it’s a cool bit of training. I think I can pretty much just make up what I was doing with The Middleman guns, that actual procedure, the stuff like this that I needed to learn.

Obviously we know that Neal has a girlfriend, and we know that he’s very much into her and finding her, but if you think you and your character and his character, you’re getting quite chummy recently, so what’s the deal there?

Morales: Yes, you picked up on something there. I think that Neal and Lauren definitely have some chemistry going on, and, you know, right now his head is all around Kate and what’s happening with Kate, but I think that Lauren, despite the fact that it’s someone that she should keep her eye on in not the “I like you” way, it’s hard for her not to, you know?

Right.

Morales: So I think, not that what I just said made any kind of sense, I hope you understood that; the oddest way to phrase something ever. God, I can’t believe this is being transcripted, but yes, I think that there is something there for sure, and I hope and believe that it will develop in the future.

Right. Now some of my colleagues had mentioned The Middleman, and we all loved The Middleman. I’m just wondering, are you the type of actress, have you been attracted previously to action-type roles? Have you been into shooting guns or anything like that?

Morales: Well, seriously that is so fun. There’s an episode of The Middleman where I shot a machinegun inside, I think, it was an old electric plant, which couldn’t have been all that safe, but it was sure fun. On this particular show I haven’t actually gotten to shoot anything. Hopefully that will happen soon, but I do enjoy the action. A lot of what I’ve done in my short career has been physical comedy so it’s interesting to get into other physical stuff that I can’t look silly doing.

Right.

Morales: And it’s also challenging and fun, you know?

Now how did your role on White Collar compare to your time with The Middleman?

Morales: You mean like specifically the roles? Like the characters?

Yes.

Morales: Well, I think Wendy was sort of a college-aged rebel artist who was sarcastic and funny, but yet rooted in this kind of pure love for the people around her; likely, seeing her mother and then her boyfriend, and even The Middleman, and I think it was a different character in essence, and I think Lauren is a little bit more mysterious. She’s a little more guarded and I think she’s more of an overachiever, whereas Wendy was just incredibly talented without knowing it. Lauren fought hard to get to where she is, and therefore is very guarded and very protective of what she has and who she is. I think that’s the difference I see. I don’t know the trend, like, to hold it. Maybe Lauren is just grown-up Wendy. I don’t know. That’s how I see it.

Would you say they’re both bad asses, though?

Morales: Oh, yes. I mean, not to say that any single role I would play wouldn’t be a bad ass, but no, I think we both kind of are in there, and right, one is more rooted in reality I suppose, and the other one, you know, shoots aliens.

Going back to the Lauren/Neal future relationship maybe, do you think that will ever happen? I’m assuming she’ll always be suspicious because he’s a conman. Right?

Morales: I think so, but there’s something attractive about that. As a woman, there’s something attractive about what you can’t have and what you know very little about, especially when you have chemistry with that and you get along with it, so I think that it’s something intriguing for Lauren, and also for Neal, because they are so similar, yet come from completely different paths. You know?

What’s the latest on Wall Street II?

Morales: I just wrapped my stuff. I think they wrap the entire movie next week, and I’m told that it comes out in April so hopefully it’ll get cut out and you’ll see it.

Then what do you play?

Morales: I am basically the office bitch.

Another bad ass.

Morales: Yes. Well, I mean, fortunately the roles that I’ve gotten to play this year have all been completely different so they’ll be fun, yes, for you guys to watch, hopefully.

I had a question that came in on Twitter, actually, and it may sound familiar. What kind of research did you do to make Lauren so f’ing bad ass?

Morales: We did a little bit of tactical training, and I don’t know, my mom was kind of a bad ass so I take a lot from her.

So you’re drawing on maternal [influences] there.

Morales: Yes. Is that like a flip-flop across the room whenever I was being bad or talking back? That’s when I was a bad ass, yes.

What would be your ideal – I guess it wouldn’t be ideal because you would be trying to solve a crime – but if you could go out on a case, what would you want to do? What would you want to follow?

Morales: I actually really love conspiracies and cons and stuff like that. I love really smart crime. If I was an FBI agent, this is exactly what kind of stuff I’d be doing. Although I don’t know that the white collar division in real life is all that interesting. I don’t know that they get that many murders.

Doubt that.

Morales: Yes, probably not, but I do love, like, the whole forgeries and all that stuff, especially art stuff. I think that’s so interesting, and I think I’d like to figure out bank robbers, maybe because I want to learn how to rob a bank.

Oh, you heard it here first. Like it’s never happened. Yes.

Morales: Yes, yes.

Do you find yourself when in your places, like when you go to an art gallery or something, do you find yourself like really studying the pieces now and going, “Okay. Now is that legit? Can I tell?” Yes?

Morales: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I find myself second guessing a lot of things. Like whenever I see like a ComEd van outside, I always think that it’s surrealist. I’m always like studying it and wondering what it really is. To be honest, there are so many things in the world that we don’t realize walking back and forth that we miss all of these things. Like the guy next to you could be undercover, you know, at any second so I think about that stuff a lot, and you can see by Twitter that I have a lot of time on my hands so maybe that’s just me.

How is it on the set these days considering that you guys are blowing everybody else out of the water?

Morales: Oh, well. Well, thanks. It’s great. It’s good to know that people like the show so that improves morale, even though it was already as high as it could have possibly been. We have a blast on set. We do not stop laughing. We joke around that there should be some sort of karaoke or musical at the set because that’s all we do every time the camera cuts so we have a blast on set.

To me that’s one of those things that should be on the DVD of the first season.

Morales: Oh, I hope there’s a little reel because there would be a lot of really funny stuff on there.

Where would you like to see your character go in terms of like next season?

Morales: That’s an interesting question. I don’t know. I think we have some incredible minds writing the show, and I definitely leave it up to them to create my character. Sometimes they don’t tell me everything in my character. For example, on the USA website it says that Lauren speaks eight languages, which I didn’t know until I read that so that might be interesting and hopefully coming in another episode in the future. I think I’d like to see her relationship with Neal, and maybe some of Lauren’s personal life and what she’s really like. We don’t really know a lot about her yet, where she comes from, who she is and what she does when she’s not at work so I think that would be interesting to see.

I think that would be interesting to see, too. Also, like the previous question about the fashion statement from the fashion episode, is to see more style because you look very FBI-ish, you know, the straight suit kind of person on the show –

Morales: Right.

– but it’s more about seeing the guys, because it is primarily a show about guys, and everybody’s talking about the bromance –

Morales: Right.

– but the women actually make the counterpoint.

Morales: Yes.

And to me it’s very much about let’s see where they can pull in the women more and showing you off fashion-wise because, you know, obviously Matt Bomer has got some great clothes.

Morales: Matt Bomer has great everything.

Yes. Compared to what I’m hearing from the comments of my readership is that everybody is in love with him. They want those blue eyes.

Morales: Yes. Well, he’s great. I think that they’re trying to find diverse ways to sort of, like you said, have his counterpart, the boys, and I think you’ll see a lot more of that coming up.

I wonder what you were doing when you found out that your role got extended?

Morales: I was on set, and my manager called me, and then I high fived everybody. It was great fun.

And what is it about your character that you like the most?

Morales: I like her snarkiness the most. I like that she is sarcastic and funny. That’s my favorite part about that character. Not only is she smart, but she can be silly, too. You know, she can have fun at work.

Now would you be interested in producing an episode?

Morales: Producing one?

Yes.

Morales: Well, I don’t know that I’m — yes, I mean I’d be interested in anything I’m going to do with the show. I’d love to direct some day. I don’t know if that’s in the future, but yes, definitely.

And do you have a favorite scene from any of the first three episodes that we’ve seen so far?

Morales: Well, I think one of my favorite scenes from the last episode is probably the scene in the file room with Neal.

Do you know when we’ll find out about your character’s back story? Probably in this season or next season?

Morales: I’m not really sure. We still have a few episodes to shoot in this season, too. I don’t know what’s happening.

For you, you mentioned, you know, obviously the chemistry between Neal and Agent Cruz. I know we don’t know that much about her back history, but what would you say is her fascination with him? Like what you think draws her to him, other than obviously work, because there are all these … things.

Morales: Well, I think there’s something about how intelligent he is, which is completely on par with how intelligent she is. I don’t think that Lauren finds a lot of guys who can keep up with her, you know? And Neal not only can keep up with her, but can sort of keep her guessing, and that’s rare for her, I think. I mean she went to Quantico; she went to Cambridge; she’s up there in her class. She’s a smart girl so I think that’s what’s interesting, and also there’s a little bit of a smooth bad boy thing that every girl likes, you know?

When you found out you had the role, did you draw any inspiration from previous films or television characters that kind of made you go, Ew, this is kind of like this character, the show, that drew you to the character?

Morales: That’s interesting. No, actually I didn’t really base it on anything. Immediately when I read about the character, I just kind of really got a sense of it, and I really related to it very quickly. I almost felt like I knew exactly what I should do. I didn’t really think about basing it on anybody.

Well, we just recently talked with Tiffani Thiessen, and she talked about the great chemistry on the set. I know that you haven’t had that many scenes with her, but are we going to see much more of the female relationships? Like interactions among each other, even though it’s predominately mostly about the boys?

Morales: Well, so far I’ve only had one scene with Tiffani in which I didn’t have any actual lines with her, but we just say hi to each other and then leave so at this point they know each other. The two characters know each other, but I don’t think that they hang out much because she’s just one of Peter’s coworkers. I’m not really a friend of Elizabeth’s. I think that you’ll probably see more interaction of each of us with the boys, but I don’t know that it’s that much with each other. We just are in different worlds, but who knows? Who knows what they’ll write the next couple episodes. I have no idea.

All right. And how far along do you think your character is going to get with – I know the ads between Neal and Agent Cruz romantically – but as far as storylines apart from the romance? Like how thick of a relationship are they going to build just as far as the dynamics? I mean, any interesting plot lines?

Morales: I really can’t answer that. I have no idea what they’re planning on doing. I know what they’ve told me so far and what you guys have seen so far. There is something there, but who knows what will happen?

As a fan of The Middleman and White Collar, I have to say that I think both shows are extremely smart, extremely witty and extremely funny; those are not always the same things.

Morales: No.

With the difference in the style and the more subtle wit of White Collar, was it harder for you to get into that than The Middleman or did it play to your strengths do you think?

Morales: You know, I think The Middleman being more of a comedy was sort of a little bit easier for me because it’s more of what I’m used to doing, and also The Middleman was sort of this crazy world so anything that I did could be explained. In this there are procedures for things. There are ways that FBI agents do things; there are ways that they say things, you know? So there are a lot more of a controlled aspect to the Lauren character and to White Collar than there was to The Middleman so in that aspect it was a little bit easier for me to get into Wendy than it was for Lauren, but yeah, I agree with you and thank you for the compliments.

Also, Jeff Eastin is always making a point of saying that when Neal and Peter are together they are the smartest guys in the room. Now, would you say it would be fair that if all of the main characters of the show, including your character, Elizabeth and Mozzie, if all five of you were in the room you would be the five smartest people in the room?

Morales: Well, yes. Like you said, “Smartest guys in the room.” I think that definitely all of the characters have their own strengths, and yes, I would agree with that statement. I think that Neal, Lauren, Mozzie, Elizabeth and Peter can all really keep up with each other. You know, they’re all playing on the same level.

You’re taking part in the cons more and more as the series progresses, I would assume, because obviously Lauren Cruz is good at that, as well as of being the traditional FBI agent. Are there any particular cons that you think were better carried off or are there any …

Morales: By cons do you mean like undercover things?

The undercover work, yes.

Morales: Well, if I don’t say so myself, I think I’m believable as a model so first one that’s pretty good. It kind of worked out the best. I think the last undercover thing you saw was where I played his business manager, and that didn’t work out so great, but not through any fault of mine or Neal’s, so yeah, I mean I think you’ll see more of those things, and I hope so. I like doing the undercover stuff.

I did want to know if any of your Middleman costars might be making a guest appearance on White Collar, or do you know of any special guests you’re going to on?

Morales: Oh, gosh. Wouldn’t that be great? I don’t know of any upcoming guests, and I don’t know if any of them are going to be on the show. I’d love it, though. They’re all fantastic actors.

Yes, but I mean we shoot in New York and they’re all in L.A. so it would be hard on that aspect, but yes.

I did some checking on your filmography to prepare for this interview. I saw that you just completed Boldly Going Nowhere, an ‘09 TV movie.

Morales: That was a pilot I did, actually, gosh, last year, right after The Middleman, I think, maybe almost two years ago. It was for FOX. It’s written by the Always Sunny guys, who are fantastic. I love them to death. I don’t really know if that’s going anywhere or what’s happening with that. I have no idea.

Could you tell us a little bit maybe about the plot of that? I was just curious what it was about.

Morales: It’s sort of like The Office in space.

Oh, space show.

Morales: Yes, it’s a space show, but it’s a comedy.

It seems like even though you play a bad-ass character, you have humorous overtones to all of your characters. Do you like being cast in humorous roles?

Morales: Absolutely. It’s so fun. It’s the best part of my job is to get to be funny, you know?

You did mention that you were hoping to get with the White Collar first season DVD set, the bloopers.

Morales: Oh, yes.

Could you tell us maybe one or two of those bloopers that you had?

Morales: I don’t even know what they’ve kept the camera on so I have no idea what could be in there. I just know we have a blast on set and we’re always laughing, you know. We have a lot of dialogue, and sometimes we mess it up and sometimes it’s really funny when we do.

I think that there are a lot of retakes and things like that?

Morales: Well, you know, not so much that as it’s just such a fun energy on set that, even though we all take the show and our jobs very seriously, we all have a lot of fun with it, too, so it should be a good blooper reel if there is one.

[Have] you made the transition, I guess, from California to New York? Has there been any changes that have occurred, I mean, with your lifestyle? Because the two cities are somewhat different.

Morales: Yes, they are. Well, it’s cold here now, and I don’t particularly love the cold being from Miami. I don’t really have a lot of winter clothes so I ended up just putting on a bunch of things that don’t match and looking a little bit homeless, but I’m sort of getting adjusted to it. I like living here because there’s always something to do in New York City, and it’s such an exciting place to live, especially at this point in my life so it’s fun to live here. I haven’t moved here; I’m just living here while we’re doing the show.

I had another question based on the fact that you guys are shooting in New York. You’re not really a cop show like the other ones that are seen these days.

Morales: Okay.

… but you really make use of the city as a real backdrop.

Morales: Absolutely. How could you not? You know, the city is definitely another character on our show, and in New York it doesn’t matter what you’re shooting; like if you’re shooting a trashcan, it looks amazing, you know? Because it’s like you can’t really fake this stuff. Honestly, sometimes we’re on sets, we’re in places, last week we were at this insane house on the Upper West Side. I was looking at the monitors and I was like, “This looks like we built it. It doesn’t look real. This is such a beautiful, enormous, unbelievable house that it looks fake,” and these things really exist in New York, you know. We shot off the top of 30 Rock, and we’ve shot in a million different places, and at Central Park, and you can’t fake that, and why not use it as much as we can? It’s so beautiful to shoot here. Every image is kind of ridiculous looking.

It is, I mean, because I recognize Washington Park and Washington Square…

Morales: Yes, yes.

…and I recognize other things that I’ve seen, and I sit there and think what must it have been like when you were in L.A., working there compared to working in New York, and the difference in terms of the mindset of how you have to shift.

Morales: Yeah. Well, we actually didn’t do that much location on The Middleman. We did a lot of stuff on set.

Right.

Morales: And here it’s mostly on location, except for when we’re at the FBI or when we’re at someone’s house, and those are on set, but everywhere else, like we do one episode in seven days, and we spend four of those days, at least, somewhere else.

How long have those days been?

Morales: Pretty long. They’re pretty long days. I am not one to complain because this is not like The Middleman for me. Matt and Tim are the ones with a crazy amount of lines and the pages to do everyday, so I’ve been lucky on this one, but yes, they’re very long days.

Yes, because it would be interesting. I know that when Jeff Eastin was interviewed he commented about getting some input from Matt Nix from Burn Notice, and about how he’s kind of essentially one of the characters that he wrote, which is Tim’s character, and I really find it interesting to see how much White Collar is burning up in terms of people’s visibility; where Burn Notice took about a full season, this one seems to have skyrocketed right out of the gate.

Morales: Well, we’re very sort of lucky that USA totally backs us up and did a lot of advertising before our show came out, so it was very out there that our show was in on premiere, where we were very lucky, in effect, with them, and it’s great to have a network that really supports your show and backs you up like that. So I think that that might have been what happened.

And do you feel that you’ve been recognized on the street?

Morales: I have. You know, it’s also New York so when people look at me strangely I don’t if they’re recognizing me if they’re just looking at me strangely.

In the little free time that you have what do you do?

Morales: I mostly just sit around and play guitar, I think.

Really?

Morales: Yes. That’s most of my time.

What do you play? Are you self taught? Are you a musician?

Morales: Yes. I’m not very good. I just like to play it a lot.

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Burn Notice, but I see a lot of similarities with White Collar starting out. Just like I saw Burn Notice starting out with the two male leads, and then the female who becomes a stronger character as the seasons progress, and I almost see White Collar as taking that sort of bent, too, with a concentration of the two male leads, but I have a feeling over a period of time not only is your character going to be developed, but I think it’s going to be such that you probably will become the third actor on that show, and I think it works because of the comedy. In fact, a lot of shows on channels today work because of the comedy – Burn Notice on USA or Chuck on NBC. So I think the formula for success is there, so my question to you is this: As you’re going to get more popular, and it started with The Middleman, is it going to go to your head?

Morales: Oh, can’t you tell? My head is so huge. I don’t know. To be honest with you there’s nobody that scares me more than fame, and I know that’s really a stupid thing to say in this career. I just really love what I do. Hopefully I just get to be that weird character in a bunch of stuff that works all the time; where people are like, “I know that girl from somewhere. Wasn’t she in that thing?” So that’s kind of my goal.

Well, I definitely see this show taking off just like Burn Notice, and Burn Notice is now more popular than ever before.

Morales: I love Burn Notice. Burn Notice is one of my favorite shows.

Oh, yes.

Morales: Those guys are great. I’ve been on that set a few times, and they’re all awesome. I’m very happy for them.

That’s right, because they film in Florida. Right?

Morales: It’s only my hometown.

Taking part were: Jamie Steinberg [Starry Constellation], Joshua Maloni [Niagara Frontier Magazine], Erin Stranyak [Exclusivemagazine.com], Jim Halterman [Jimhalterman.com], Sarah Fulghum [Totallyher.com], Alix Sternberg [Thetvchick.com], Stefan blitz [Forcesofgeek.com], Kiko Martinez [Extra Chicago], Courtney Schinke [Raked Reviews blog], Amy Steele [Entertainment Realm], Concepcion Allen [Blast Magazine], Lena Lamoray [Lenalamoray.com], Latoria Ferguson [Blog without an Original title], and Damon Caparosso [BSC Review].

What made you want to be a part of this show?

Tiffani Thiessen: Ever since I read the script, which has been a little over a year ago now, I fell in love with it. I fell in love with the characters. I fell in love with the show, and more and more, when the cast was brought together, the more excitement I had for the show and wanting to be a part of it. This is really the first time I feel like in my whole entire career which has been over 25, 26 years of doing this that I finally feel like I’m kind of playing a role a little closer to home for me, which is kind of exciting.

Was there instant chemistry when everyone began working together? I know you’re very close working together with Tim and Matt as well.

Thiessen: We are, from day one. I of course had met Tim through the testing process of us being put on screen and doing our scenes together, and we had chemistry from day one. I absolutely adore that man and then met Matt, actually, after we had already started shooting the pilot. We actually were on the same flight going to New York to shoot the pilot last year.

Then Willie Garson I actually had known just being in the business for so long. We had met prior, and I’ve always really enjoyed him and loved him, so I was really excited to know that it was actually really kind of a special cast that we were putting together. I couldn’t be more thrilled with everybody I’m working with. It’s really a nice group of people. Being away from home, it makes it so much nicer when you actually like the people you’re working with.

It feels like there’s more to your character than what we’ve seen. I almost feel like maybe she’s hiding something.

Thiessen: Oh gosh, I’m so curious to know what you think I’m hiding.

What sort of background can we expect as we move along?

Thiessen: I think you’ll start to see background on all of our characters, especially the guys. Surely, this show is definitely the guys’ show. It’s Matt and Tim’s show, and Willie and I definitely play more of a supporting role, but you will definitely see much more of me in the further episodes as you’re coming along. Last week or two weeks ago you saw a little bit more of what I really do for a living and kind of my career, which is really nice to kind of see because we really never saw that in the pilot, and it was something that we kind of came up with actually after we shot the pilot.

They’re definitely putting more of what I do outside of my relationship with Tim into the show a little bit, and that’ll continue on even, hopefully, in seasons from here on out, which hopefully there’ll be five to ten years of White Collar. In general, I can’t give you exact specifics, ideas of what’s going to be happening, but I can promise you you’ll see a lot more of her.

What about any sort of action scenes. Do you get involved in any of the sort of cops and robbers element of it?

Thiessen: I don’t think so. It’s really not part of my character and my storyline in this show. Again, I’m definitely a supporting role, especially being that I’m the wife of Tim’s character, but you will see a lot of a triangle in a sense of what I can do and help with Matt’s character as well, especially, I think, when it involves the storyline of Kate. You’ll see that a lot as well.

I’m sure I’m the millionth person to tell you this, but it never gets old. I want to say congratulations on your pregnancy.

Thiessen: Thank you so much. We are absolutely thrilled.

Now, as a first-time mother, how do you think that it will play out balancing your roles and responsibilities of motherhood and your part on White Collar?

Thiessen: You know, that’s a very good question in the sense that I really don’t know being that I am a first-time mom, so it’ll be a very different kind of thing for me being that I’ll be working and being a mother at the same time. There are millions of people who do it. My mom did it herself, so I know I can handle it, but it’ll be a very new experience, so it’s hard to say what is going to be like. It’ll be all brand new for me.

The onscreen relationship between you and Tim’s character, Peter, seems to be loving, but also a bit strained by his professional commitments. Now, with the charming and charismatic Neal Caffrey entering the picture, how do you think this partnership will affect Elizabeth and Peter’s marriage as the show develops?

Thiessen: I don’t know if I would actually use the word strained. I think in every marriage there’s always the challenge of making time and making priorities in their relationship when people have careers, and what you will start to see more and more is my career, being that it takes up a lot of my time as well. I think it’s going to give a lot of, not so much looking into Peter’s career and how it affects our marriage. There’s also my side of it as well.

I think she is very understanding to that. She’s been living with it for so long and knows what he does for a living, and she knows what she married. I don’t think there’s a strain to it. I think there’s a challenge. I think probably the challenge is the word I could use for that. I think what Neal brings into it is that I think my husband on the show is very kind of black and white in the way he thinks, and I think Neal is definitely much more colorful, and I think he will definitely teach my husband a little more of the colorful side of being romantic and all those things that you do need in a marriage as well.

I know you did a short film a couple years ago that you directed, and I wanted to know is that something you still want to be doing? Is there a chance maybe you could direct an episode of White Collar?

Thiessen: I do. You’re so sweet. Yes, they definitely know directing is something that’s in my thinking of wanting to do more and more, and it all really just depends on time and all that. I wanted to make sure that when we started the show my focus was on my character and what I’m doing as an actress. Now with my new role coming as a mother, it’s going to be a little more challenging, but it’s definitely something I want to do more of, so yes.

You’ve been in the business for a long time since you were very young. If you weren’t in the entertainment business, what else would you want to be doing?

Thiessen: It’s so funny. Last year when we did the pilot, we really didn’t know what Elizabeth’s character was going to do for a living. They had some ideas, and they kind of changed it, and then I had come to Jeff Eastin, our creator of the show and said, you know, it’s funny. I think it could work, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do if I wasn’t an actor. I’d always wanted to be an event planner, and I think it could work really well for Elizabeth’s character being that she’s in New York City. We could really show the city in a different light, and they loved it. I have to say funny enough, that was my idea, and that’s exactly what I would do if I wasn’t an actor.

What would you say to those that haven’t seen White Collar yet to convince them to watch?

Thiessen: Oh gosh, well, besides having really cute guys on the show, it’s definitely the type of TV and movies that I like to see. I’m a huge fan of The Thomas Crown Affair and those kinds of feels of movies and shows and 48 Hours, which is so interesting, Catch Me If You Can, things like that. If people are really into those kinds of movies and those kind of story-telling, they have to watch this show. It is so absolutely entertaining. The characters are so rich and so fun to watch and follow.

As well as you see New York City in a completely different way. It’s shot in a beautiful way. It’s interesting, a lot of shows that are shot in New York City can be a little more dark and gray, and this show really, I think, kind of captures New York City in a really beautiful light, and it’s nice.

Switching gears a little, I read that your husband is from Houston, Texas.

Thiessen: That is correct.

I am actually calling you from Houston, Texas.

Thiessen: I love Houston. Houstonians are some of my favorite people.

That’s great to hear because I was going to ask you if he still has some of that Texas pride and if it’s rubbed off on you, which apparently it has.

Thiessen: He seems to think that we’re definitely having a half-Texan, of course, and we visit Houston quite often because of my in-laws who I really, truly have the best in-laws in the whole entire world, and I know that has a lot to do with the fact that they’re Texans. He definitely has Texas pride. Like I said, we go back quite often, and I feel Texas is definitely my second state.

You’ve played a wide variety of characters. How do you think these roles have prepared you to play Elizabeth Burke?

Thiessen: It’s funny. I think I’ve made this statement before a few times, but it is really true is that this is the first character in over 25 years of me doing this that I actually feel like it’s the closest to me that I’ve played in all the different shows and movies that I’ve done in my career. I think it’s more about myself and my own experience that I can bring to Elizabeth. She has this really solid wonderful marriage. I feel like I have that with my own husband. She’s career-driven, which I feel like I am. It’s all those things that you put towards a character like her that I feel that are definitely very much me.

[The] USA Network has some big hits out there right now. How does it feel to be a part of the network?

Thiessen: Absolutely exciting. I tell them this all the time that I feel blessed to be on such an amazing network. This is the first time I’ve ever done a cable show, and I’m utterly thrilled and over-the-moon with the fact that they’re so supportive and they’re so behind their shows, and they really do give such a great chance of us really trying to make it. It’s nice. It’s nice to feel like we’re really wanted in a sense and really have a lot of passion behind us. It’s a lovely, lovely feeling.

You mentioned that Elizabeth is the closest to your personality. Do you know if your pregnancy will be incorporated into the show?

Thiessen: I don’t know. That’s actually going to be up to the writers and the executive producers and USA and Fox and everybody involved. I’m going to be still somewhat not too pregnant along when we’re finally coming to the end of the season. We really don’t have too much more left, so it’s really up to them if they want to. I’m open to whatever they feel. We tried to time it to a certain degree so I wouldn’t show too, too much.

We’ve also grown up watching you as you’ve grown up in front of the camera. What’re the challenges that you have if any in creating a new character knowing that you have a career behind you?

Thiessen: Yes, well, it’s bittersweet at times. There’s good and bad. There are people who of course followed my career and who have loved the shows that I’ve done in the past and are always up to seeing something new of myself or any of my past co-stars, which is really wonderful. Then there’s always people who have opinions, and of course, that’s how the world works, and that’s A-OK.

Some people were really open and loving to the fact that I’m actually playing a role that’s quite different than what I’ve played in the past. Like I said, it’s definitely much more close to home for me, this character, but some people had a hard time with it. Some people didn’t believe the relationship between Tim and I, which is so funny to me because we had chemistry from day one, but that’s how the entertainment business works. That’s how people are, and that’s okay. Everybody has their opinions.

We’ve seen on the show that Neal has escaped from prison for love. What’s the most romantic thing a guy’s ever done for you, and then maybe what is the cheesiest thing a guy’s ever…

Thiessen: Oh, gosh. Well, my husband himself is definitely romantic. I mean, he is romantic almost every day whether it’s leaving me cute little notes somewhere throughout the house or the way he proposed to just the day we got married. He was amazing and romantic in everything he did, so I’m blessed to have a husband like that. The cheesiest, God, that would be really hard. I wouldn’t want to out anybody because I feel like anybody who wants to put themselves and their heart out there is a wonderful thing, and we shouldn’t put them down for it, right?

Nobody’s ever recreated a Caribbean vacation on the rooftop for you before?

Thiessen: No, they have not. No, that would be a first.

You’ve been on a few shows that have been a little short lived in your career. What makes White Collar something you think can surpass a couple of seasons?

Thiessen: Well, I think a few reasons. People are already enjoying it. We’ve had a lot of great feedback and a lot of great critics really loving the characters and the storylines and the show and us on it, which is exciting, the fact that we are on a network like USA. They are so behind us, and they really put us out there, and it’s nice to have the passion behind us because I think that helps a lot. These network shows, sometimes they don’t give it a chance, and it’s nice to know that we have somebody who’s really given us a chance. I think we, knock on wood, I think you’re going to see us for awhile.

On television, there tends to be a fine line between that perfect supportive spouse that’s believable and the one that is so over the top that you’re like, no one in this world exists quite like this, and you are actually doing a wonderful job being that supportive spouse that we definitely believe. How do you strike that balance, and how do you plan to keep it going?

Thiessen: Thank you so much first of all. That’s very sweet of you to say. That means a lot to me because I really try, and Tim and I both have long talks about this as well as our creator, Jeff, that we really wanted this to be a relationship that does work on TV, not one that has a lot of problems, not one that you constantly see drama, which you see a lot on TV.

Funny enough, Tim and I come from marriages that work, that really do work like that, so I think we really take it from just our own experiences. Tim’s been married for quite some time to a wonderful woman and has two great kids. My husband and I have this wonderful relationship and humor has a lot to do with it, communication, all those things I feel that are so, so important. I take those just being from my parents who’ve been married for over 45 years. My grandparents were married for 67 years. It’s important, so I feel like I take from my own life and really try to bring what I can to the relationship and the characters.

Have you had a favorite moment so far, either one that’s coming up that we can keep an eye out for or one that’s already been aired?

Thiessen: Wow, that’s hard. I think there are a couple episodes coming up that I’m definitely a little heavier in, which is kind of nice to really get to explore my character a little bit, but each episode is so exciting and so fun, and it’s such a ride that it’s hard for me to pick out one more than the other or one little bit more than the other. That’s a hard choice. I have to think about that a little longer, and I know we wouldn’t have time.

What is it like to work on such a male-dominated cast?

Thiessen: It’s great, actually. It’s not my first time, so I feel like I’m definitely, I have the experience. With past shows, I did a show called Fastlane that was literally me and two guys. It’s funny. I don’t know why, but I tend to gravitate to shows that have a lot of male co-stars. I grew up with two brothers, so I guess it’s just normal for me to be around guys. It’s fun. It’s where I feel comfortable, I have to say.

Then, being over 30 in Hollywood—

Thiessen: You can say it, over 35.

I just turned 40, so I still—

Thiessen: That’s exciting. I love it.

What kind of pressures do you think that women or you, yourself, still face as far as looks and beauty pressures and things like that?

Thiessen: You’re right. It’s all there. It will never go away. I don’t think our business and the entertainment business in general will ever just be okay with how people are. I think we’re in a business that critiques everything we do, and you kind of just take it with a grain of salt. I look at my grandmother, and I think she’s aged beautifully, so I hope that I could be a smidgen of how she’s aged.

There’s nothing you can do. All you can do is take of yourself and do the things that make you feel good and make you healthy and age appropriately, but there’s always going to be people out there are going to say something, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Like I said, you have to take it with a grain of salt.

You mentioned that you had some influence on the career of your character. That being said, are you going to be able to also provide future input into shaping and developing her as well? I know that the producers and writers have the job of carrying that out, but would you have a chance to put some input into that?

Thiessen: It’s interesting. We are very lucky to be on a show (and that’s all of us across the board) that our executive producers and writers are very open to anything we have to say, which is so nice because not a lot of shows are like that. They believe a collaboration always works best, and not that we are there writing the show, nor is that what we’re supposed to be doing, but they’re always very open to any time we have a question or concern or have an idea, they’re always open. It’s nice to be able to get on the phone or sit down with them and talk with them about it, and we all feel that way, which is really great.

Your character is one of the, obviously, highlights of this show. Will we have, I know you said that she won’t necessarily be doing the action.

Thiessen: No, I don’t see that unless something changes, but who knows. I don’t see it, though.

Will we see maybe a centered episode around her, perhaps, maybe?

Thiessen: I don’t know. That’s a question that really I can’t answer. Again, I say the show really is Matt and Tim. It’s their show, and it was from day one. I knew that coming in. I came in knowing that this role was supportive, which I was completely happy with.

It’s funny. I’ve been doing this for so long that I was actually okay not having to work every day and having the weight of a new show on my shoulders. As well as I really just fell in love with this character, and I fell in love with the cast that they started to put together, but you’ll see definitely, there’s an episode coming up that I’m much more heavy in, and you’ll see that every now and then that I’ll be a little heavier in certain episodes. It’s not something you’re going to see every week because, again, it’s not my show. I’m a supportive role on the show.

Did you ever think that your event planning skills would be useful to the FBI, and when will they bring you in as an official paid consultant?

Thiessen: I know, really. I don’t know. That’s a good question. That could actually be kind of funny. No, it was actually when we shot that episode, it was an episode we shot a little later, and they really enjoyed the episode so much, they pulled it up and made it a little closer to the beginning of the show, which is great. It was really fun to do, and it was really fun to work more with Matt and the guys in general, which was great. Again, like I had mentioned, you’ll see certain episodes that I might be a little heavier in, but the event planning thing is exciting because, like I said, I’ve always wanted to do that on the side or if I ever wanted to give up acting, that’s what I wanted to do. It’s kind of fun to live out a little bit of a dream of mine on my actual job now.

Now, what was the audition process like?

Thiessen: It was an interesting audition process. I’ll be totally honest. I went in and read for this before they even cast Tim’s role of Peter. I did great. I was put on a short list, and then months go by and didn’t hear back because they hadn’t cast the role of Peter yet.

Then, they finally cast the role of Peter with Tim, which I was ecstatic about because I was such a huge fan of Tim’s work that I was hoping to get called back again and be able to read with him. They actually had moved on and started looking at some other girls for the role. Funny enough, they were looking at girls younger than I was, which I thought was kind of funny. A month or so goes by, and they have not cast the role of Elizabeth.

I finally got a call again. They said they really wanted to bring me back again and see what the chemistry could be like between Tim and I, and we blew it out of the park. The moment I met him and we read, it just was right. It just fit perfectly, and so I read with him once for a chemistry read, and then I went in and tested for the show with him with a couple other girls. I was told that USA usually takes a few weeks to make decisions, but I was told later that night that I got the role, so I was very excited.

What specifically about the White Collar pilot script drew you to it?

Thiessen: It’s kind of the type of storyline, kind of storytelling that I really, really enjoy. The Catch Me If You Can, The Thomas Crown Affair, those types of movies are always on the top of my list as well as James Bond and things like that. Those are the kinds of movies that I really tend to watch and really see myself. When I read the script, I was like, oh my gosh, this is such a show that I would watch, and I can’t really say that about a lot of the shows that I’ve done in the past in my career.

Then, the more and more I got involved with the show and just watching how it was being cast, I was really excited when they cast Matt. I had seen some of Matt’s work and heard what kind of an up-and-coming, amazing actor he was. Willie, I had known, and I’ve always enjoyed his work. Then when they cast Tim, I was over the moon because I’ve always loved his work and some of the shows that he’s done, and then just the character of Elizabeth, like I had mentioned as well. It was kind of like the first time I read a role where I was like, wow, this is really kind of more me. I could actually be playing someone closer to home for myself, which was kind of a nice change for me.

I realize that you’ve been working a lot with Tim and Matt, obviously, because they’re the leads, but have you gotten to work a lot with Willie and Natalie who just joined the cast?

Thiessen: I haven’t. I got to work with Natalie once or twice, I think, a few weeks ago, which was fun, very briefly, though. Willie, I still have not worked with and I don’t know if we’ll ever see the two of them in the same scene together because their story lines are so separated, but it would be fun because I love Willie, and I’ve know Willie for years. On our off days, we spend a lot of time together. We’re actually quite good friends. It’s just funny how we don’t actually work together on the show.

I have a question, and actually touches a little bit on Fastlane which you mentioned earlier. Now, in Fastlane, you were actually the badge-holding cop, and now on White Collar, you’re the wife of the man with the badge.

Thiessen: Right.

You mentioned that you’re a little bit closer to Elizabeth Burke from your own standpoint, but from an acting standpoint, which one of those two roles has actually been more difficult for you?

Thiessen: Definitely Fastlane. Fastlane was much harder for me to do. It was a very new thing for me to do that kind of role where I’m talking a ton, but I will say on the flip side of it, the action part of it that I got to do and the different kind of characters that I got to play inside my character was really, really fun. I can’t say one is more fun than the other, but I will say Fastlane was much more difficult.

I know we don’t have a lot of time, but can you tell us maybe a funny or interesting story that has happened behind the scenes of White Collar?

Thiessen: I can’t even mention one. That’s hard. It’s so hard to mention even one because the guys, Tim and Matt are two goofballs. I can’t even tell you, and Willie, too, but I just don’t get to work with Willie as much. I get to see Willie’s humor off set when we’re just hanging the two of us, but Matt and Tim, it’s always a singing-fest, dancing-fest, a joke-fest when we’re not literally in the scene working. It’s quite enjoyable, it really is. I feel very blessed and very lucky to be working with the people that I’m working with.

My favorite scenes in the first few episodes have been the watch, when you give him the watch.

Thiessen: Yes, I like those, too.

And also when you take away the watch, but that second one, can you explain to me a little bit about that? It seemed a little bit more metaphorical…

Thiessen: The second when I gave him his watch back, you mean?

Correct.

Thiessen: Yes, it turned out to be such a great scene, and it was such a nice story line to really see the intimacy and the realness between Peter and Elizabeth, which was really nice. I think Elizabeth’s character is always worried about her husband because of what he does for a living. I think she’s used to it, but I don’t think it takes the worry away from her, and I think it was her way of letting Peter know that she needs to know he’s okay. I do it to my husband all the time where I’m shopping for him, and I may buy him things that I think are great, but they’re not my husband, and I think it was her way of letting him know that I was wrong, and I totally took it in a wrong way, and I need you to be you, especially on such an important day. It was a really nice touch. I actually really enjoyed that scene.

Are you a fan of eccentric baby names, or are we going to get closer to something like Jessica and John…

Thiessen: We’re tooling around with a ton of names. We haven’t come up with anything solid yet. We do have some favorites, and I promise you, they’re nothing crazy. We’re very traditional people, me being from California and my husband from Texas. Yes, you’re not going to find any freaky names. I promise!

One of my favorite interviews during the Day of Days fan event at the CityWalk Universal Hollywood this past weekend had to be with two of daytime’s veterans, Louise Sorel and Peggy McCay. Their characters could not be more different. Peggy plays Caroline Brady, matriarch to the Brady family; she runs the pub where you can always get a piece of advice and a comforting ear with a smile and a cup of coffee. As for Louise, well, I have two words for you…Vivan Alamain. Those two words would send chills down the spine of anyone in Salem. She’s fierce, bold and down right crazy. Vivan is the type of woman who makes things happen and takes whatever she wants no matter the cost and we love her for it!

Having a chance to sit and chat with these two lovely ladies was an absolute treat. The only thing missing was more time! Don’t forget that by commenting on any of my Days of our Lives interviews will automatically enter you to win either the Brady’s Pub apron or the Kurth & Taylor (Wally Kurth’s band) autographed CD.

EM: You get the call to bring Vivian back. What was that like? Were you interested right away or skeptical?

Louise Sorel: Oh it was so annoying! I was in my New York apartment reading a book having a perfectly nice afternoon and this voice calls me and I said “Hello?” and it’s “Hi Louise, it’s Gary Tomlin!” whom I really have never spoken to on a phone. We just have Wheaten Terriers separately that’s the only reason I know him. I know he writes and he’s directed and I thought “OH MY GOD!” I couldn’t believe he was calling and I knew why even before he said anything. It totally threw me. It really threw me because I had settled into New York City and I was surprised because I was surprised when I left. So I was equally surprised when he called me and said, “We’re going to bring Vivian back what do you think?” and I said, “Well great. Is that me that’s coming back or just Vivian?” No I’m kidding. That’s how it happened. I was very surprised.

EM: How has been stepping back into that character?

LS: I was a little nervous at first because it’s been a long time and I felt pressure, pressured myself. It’s hard coming back to something after ten years but it’s feeling more comfortable. I’m getting meaner as the days go on! [we all laugh]

EM: You’re re-teaming with Crystal Chappell, which is fantastic.

LS: Yes!

EM: It’s wonderful re-teaming your two characters but you know we miss Ivan.

LS: We had a funny kind of connection. He annoyed me so much that it worked on screen and…[laughter and knowing looks] it just worked for whatever reason.

EM: Peggy, what has it been like for you playing the same character for so long?

Peggy McCay: It’s a strange thing. I came I think in 1986. There was a producer who had seen my work on another show and brought me in. I was at Marlena and Roman’s wedding, I had nothing to say, no contract, and I thanked him and I said, “I can’t do this. I’ve done this. I need a contract and to be paid…well.” So time went by and they had three Caroline Brady’s and they called me again. Then I came on the show.  There were great scenes then, which we knew. We didn’t know that I had a son. There were marvelous dramatic scenes. And then it just…stopped, which happens on these shows. I served coffee for a long time [we all laugh]. I had great scenes with the passing of my husband and it was written beautifully I must say the writers did wonderful scenes so I was very happy with that.

EM: With the state of soaps today, what do you make of it? What do you think of the situation?

PM: They’re expensive. The costumes, the actors, the writers, it’s an hour long!

LS: They’ve found out that these reality shows are so easy to do. They’re cheap (referring to the cost of the show) and they save themselves a lot of money. All My Children…ABC is selling those buildings. They are actually selling those buildings where those shows were sitting, making a fortune and all of those people are out of work. So they’re dragging the show out here to try to keep it alive but it’s the expense of these shows.

PM: Everyone has to work at top speed and technique because doing nighttime television, an hour, you get seven to eight days. We have 80 pages a day, the hair, the costumes, the actors, the writers, the directors; everybody’s working full out to finish in the day. It’s really amazing to think about doing 80 pages a day.

EM: Have you noticed a change in the industry in the last decade?

LS: They’re going to the internet! They’re making movies on the internet now. They’re doing things in not record time. The big blockbusters are not working, one or two work but the rest are going to die. The theater world is dying. Two Neil Simon plays closed simultaneously with good reviews. It’s the money, it’s the economy…it’s very bad.

Interview by Tiffany N. D’Emidio
Twitter: TiffanyDEmidio

EclipseMagazine: Who has the messiest dressing room on the set of Days?

Eric & Lindsay: James Scott!

Eric: And I have to wave my own flag, I think I have one of the cleanest.

Lindsay: So do I!

Eric: Mine is a little cleaner.

Lindsay: No!

Eric: I’ve seen stuff laying around.

Lindsay: I pick it up…well because I don’t have any furniture yet! I have to at least get some furniture that I can put my furniture in. I hide it in the corner but I am a clean freak. He is too; he’s a clean freak!

I felt it was only fair to bring these strong allegations directly to James Scott so he could set the record straight.

EclipseMagazine: So James, rumor has it that you have the messiest dressing room on the set of Days. Is this true?

James Scott: Absolutely!

EM: He admits it! What do you have in there?

JS: Well Brandon Beamer had the room before and he didn’t move all of his stuff out and I didn’t bother to move it so a bunch of his shit’s in corner. The couch in there is the couch they gave me but its not…if you go into Galen’s dressing room he took out his shitty NBC couch and put a nice couch in there. If you go into Eric Martolf’s dressing room he took out his shitty couch that NBC gives you and he put in a nice black one and I just left the one in there that NBC put in there. I’m not a tidy person at all. Organization is not something I do at all. Some people’s minds are very good at thinks like that. I’m not, I can’t. I’ve probably lost five times this year my wallet, credit cards, keys and I’ve lost them many more times but five times I have not been able to find them. I’ve been in my house six months and I’ve never used my laundry machine, I’ve never done any laundry, never ironed anything. It sounds terrible but I don’t do that! Give me a page of dialogue, wanna make some art that’s me. Want to do some painting that’s me. Want to do some gardening that’s me. Organization…that’s not me. It’s something I’ve completely given over to other people because I’ve tried it for years and I do such a bad job. I’ve come to realize that I just have to admit that.

So there you have it folks, it’s official! James Scott has the messiest dressing room on the set of Days of our Lives! And to be honest as far as I’m concerned, a man that good looking with a sexy British accent can have as messy a dressing room as wants!

Interview by Tiffany N. D’Emidio
Twitter: TiffanyDEmidio

It’s a pretty rare thing these days to come across such a genuine, professional, lovely couple as Bill and Susan Hayes (Doug and Julie from Days of our Lives). This couple has been married for thirty-five years and has worked in daytime for about as long. Recently at the Day of Days fan event I had the pleasure of speaking with this dynamic duo to discuss the future of soaps in an ever shrinking market and the love and devotion of their fans.

Don’t forget that by commenting on any of my Days of our Lives interviews will automatically enter you to win either the Brady’s Pub apron or the Kurth & Taylor (Wally Kurth’s band) autographed CD.

EM: You are veteran actors and of the soap world, how do you feel about the state of soaps?

Susan Seaforth Hayes: I’m hopeful because the ratings have held and actually grown with the new regime. I’m hopeful the young audience is as excited about our young cast as the producers are. A well-told story, I don’t think that’s going to disappear just because of the Internet and because television is the old medium now.  I think we will continue to find our audience. What I’m missing and keenly aware of because I started so long ago is that continuity and the family of the viewer. “Well I remember watching it with my grandmother and my mother and when I was just a little kid.” We’re not getting as much of that now because whole families are not joining together for their entertainment moment. That’s harder because when you inherited the show you loved it because it reminded you of your grandmother. I don’t know how we are going to bridge that gap but we of course have the benefit of that kind of love and affection for so long that people look at me and begin to cry because, I never met grandma but they’re reminded of the time they all spent together with our characters.

EM: What’s it like after so many years to meet your fans and having them love the characters still?

SSH: It’s the most wonderful thing in the world!

Bill Hayes: It’s a family! We are a huge family. All these folks standing out here are family. It’s wonderful to meet them.

SSH: It has always opened the door. You know you’re not really a celebrity; you’re closer than a celebrity. For example, we talk about it in our book “Like Sands Through the Hour Glass” sometimes a door opens to you because the people think they know you and in fact they do. We visited a Native American reservation years ago places where in order to get television, they only got NBC at that time, they had to plug in the television set to the truck turn on the truck to get the power to get the electricity to watch the show. Well my God those were devoted fans!

EM: Do you want to give us a little info about the book?

SSH: It’s still available online. We showed the book before it went to print to Ken Corday to make sure he was satisfied with it. We showed it to Deidra Hall to make sure she was satisfied with it. Deidra was the most supportive, loving, enthusiastic reader I have ever experienced.

BH: I wish you could have seen the copy of the manuscript. Deidra went through, had some post-its she had like 100 post-its all through the book. She said “Oh you shouldn’t have said that” or “Oh I cried here” or “Oh this made me laugh out loud” I wish we had kept those it was so wonderful.

For more information about Bill and Susan Hayes you can visit their website http://www.billandsusanhayes.com.

Interview by Tiffany N. D’Emidio
Twitter: TiffanyDEmidio

Last Friday I visited the Set of Law and Order. As I mentioned Friday, they were video taping the entire event, I’m assuming for an DVD Extra. Now we have the video from that event. You can take a gander and see me with my bad hair weave pepper the cast with questions while trying to hide from the Camera.  The clips include most of the Q and A including Anthony Anderson and Jeremy Sisko singing Rolling with the Homeys, my brain fart moment where I tried to ask a question and totally forgot, and there’s this hysterical moment where they struck a couple poses in the hallway.

Check out the Law & Order set with your two favorite detectives! Take a sneak peek with Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson as they give a
fun guided tour around the set of Law & Order!

Jeremy Sisto, Alana De La Garza, and Anthony Anderson think about being on the 20th season, past actors, guest stars, fans, and Benjamin Bratt.

Jeremy Sisto, Alana De La Garza, and Anthony Anderson talk about working together, improvisation, being role models, and character development in the 20th season

Whether you’re a devoted fan, casual viewer, or jumping in for the first time, this week’s episode of SUPERNATURAL is NOT to be missed!  In perfect Supernatural style, it offers an extraordinary balance between the comedic and dramatic, the light and the dark, and confidently places its tongue firmly in cheek in an excellent parody of iconic TV shows of the past and present (such ‘Knight Rider’, ‘CSI’, and ’Grey’s Anatomy’, to name a few).  TV aficionados will immediately recognize all the references and have a terrific time laughing along as demon-hunting brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, are dropped from one alternate reality into another.  And the supernatural entity to bring about all this pandemonium?  None other than that wise-cracking, candy-loving, demi-god, The Trickster.

But if you think this episode is setting up to be nothing more than a light and comedic romp through TV-land, then think again.  What sets out as a joyful diversion, complete with laugh track and a theme song highlighting the brotherly bond that is the heart of Supernatural, takes a dark and chilling turn.  When it appears this episode will nonchalantly bypass the issue of the impending Apocalypse, it brings it right back to the forefront when you least expect it, as Sam and Dean are once again forced to confront their respective destinies and the theme of family loyalty.  And in true Supernatural style there is yet another surprising reveal that was comfortably hiding up the writer’s sleeves, which ties all the current themes together and makes us go back and re-examine what we think we know from the past.  Sheer absolute genius!!

The Trickster, causing this mayhem, is easily one of the most fun and most favored guest characters on The CW’s Supernatural, now in its fifth season.  This character is best described as a cross between the mythological Norse god, Loki, and the Greek god, Pan, with an added demented twist that is the trademark of this excellent series.  The eighth episode of the season, airing Thursday November 5 and titled “Changing Channels,” features the return of the trouble-making Trickster, played to delicious perfection by Richard Speight, Jr.  Through Trickster’s magic powers, Supernatural will once again take a detour and offer us a wonderful parody, this time by spoofing classic and popular TV shows. 

The first time we met Trickster (in the season one episode “Tall Tales”) he was bringing to life those unlikely stories found in tabloids.  Stories such as alien abductions (complete with probing!) and alligators in the sewers.  The second encounter (in the season three episode “Mystery Spot”) resulted in the brothers being trapped in a time-loop reminiscent of Groundhog Day, where the same day simply kept repeating itself.  The day would reset when older brother Dean would meet an untimely death, often shocking, often amusing and unlikely, and always painful and grim for his younger brother Sam to witness.  You really have to hand it to Supernatural, though; there aren’t too many series that can find a way to kill one of their main lead characters, over and over, and actually get away with it. 

Each season an episode is dedicated to something totally unique and different.  Season three had “Ghostfacers” which offered a respectful wink at “Ghosthunters”, complete with the look and feel of shaky hand-held cameras.  Season four served up “Monster Movie” filmed entirely in black and white, as a perfect homage to the precursors of today’s horror/thriller genre, the classic monster movies of the ’30s and ’40s.  And now season five offers us “Changing Channels” where, among other situations, Sam and Dean give new meaning to ‘McDreamy’ and ‘McSteamy’ in a spoof of competitor “Grey’s Anatomy” (although we will leave it to each of you to argue about who is Dreamy and who is Steamy).  And as if the sappy music and misplaced make-out sessions aren’t enough, there is a simply scrumptious jab at the return of a particular ghost patient, who just happens to resemble a certain dad that the Winchesters hold dear.

The laughs continue when the brothers are thrown into the middle of a Japanese game show.  Just the name alone is good for a few laughs, as are the consequences to providing wrong answers.  And the two questions presented to the brothers?  The first is the pivotal reason that a rift was created between Sam and Dean going into season five, although the way they work together in this episode one would easily forget about this rift.  And the second offers a philosophical hypothetical that fans have been discussing since season one.

As the Winchesters jump realities some more, there are additional spoofs and tongue-in-cheek moments too numerous to mention, but absolutely fun nonetheless.  There is even an awkward parody of a commercial!  And the way that each element is woven together is simply flawless.  Once again, series stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki demonstrate how well they can balance comedic deliveries and timing, along with heart-breaking dramatic moments.

In preparation for Thursday’s epic caper, I had the opportunity to talk with Richard Speight, Jr. and try to get a little insight into what might be in store for the handsome demon-chasing Winchester brothers, who seem to be a favorite target of the mischievous demi-god.  I tried very hard to get Richard to spill some info about his upcoming appearance.  I wanted to hear directly from him what brings about this visit of Trickster, whether he is working alone, and what lessons he is ultimately trying to impart on the Winchesters this time around.  But apparently the fear of the Wrath of (Executive Producer Eric) Kripke was greater than any bribery I could impart and Richard adroitly avoided those questions.  Despite that, we still had an interesting chat.

ECLIPSE MAGAZINE:  Ok, let’s veer off into a different direction away from the details of the episode since we don’t want to get anyone into trouble.  The Supernatural set has a wonderful reputation of being a fun and pleasant place to work.  Can you please share any strange or funny stories from your recent time on set?

Richard Speight, Jr:  They really are a great group.  Everyone I’ve met there, from the folks in the office to the folks on set, from the lowest paid P.A. to the top dog producers, are as nice as can be.  I will say that I got carried away during my most recent costume fitting and allowed the ladies in the wardrobe department take some fairly risque photos of me posing in a skin-tight rubber suit.  If they ever post those pictures on the web, my dreams of a career in politics are shot.

EM:  I know you’ve had this question before, but if you had Trickster’s powers for one day, what would be your ultimate prank? 

RS:  I’ve suggested this at a few conventions and think it would make for some cheeky fun – I’d love for the Trickster to slip former President George W. Bush into full battle fatigues and drop him into the middle of a battle in Iraq.  I’d also like to go back in time and morph into Brian Jones, founding member of the Rolling Stones, and play a couple of concerts with the greatest rock band of all time.  That’s not really messing with anybody.  It’s just the Trickster having some fun.

EM:  If my math is correct, your episode is right around the 90th of the series and thus coming up on that magical milestone of episode #100.  Has there been any talk or ideas about doing something special to celebrate that when the time comes?

RS:  I think they are planning a big shindig in honor of #100.  I should hope so.  That’s a heck of an accomplishment.  I hear there is a band made up of crewmembers that are planning to play the party.  Word is, several other folks are going to sit in, including Jensen and executive producer Robert Singer (apparently he blows a mean harmonica).  Should be a fun night.  I’ll be watching the mailbox for my invitation.

EM:  Hey, if you get invited to that party, just don’t forget to take this friend along!  Now, you’ve been in some amazing series such as HBO’s Band of Brothers, and CBS’s Jericho.  But it seems like your brief appearances as Trickster have really made a fan impact and you’ve become a favorite guest at Conventions.  How do you explain the fascination, and what has the response been like?

RS:  The fascination, I can’t explain.  But I sure love it!  I suppose the Trickster is different enough from your average, everyday Supernatural demon that he comes off as a refreshing change of pace.  And he loves messing with the boys in clever ways, which is fun to watch.  All I know is that playing the Trickster has been one of the high points of my career.  To have the character so well received is icing on the cake. 

As far as conventions go, they’re a blast – and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.  Because of “Band of Brothers,” I have had the privilege of visiting soldiers at numerous military bases in Europe and the Middle East.  But that’s different – these soldiers are stuck somewhere far away from home, so we go to them.  These conventions, on the other hand, are these enormous ‘happenings’ that attract people from all over the globe.  It is amazing to see the community that has built up around this show and how much effort people put in to being a part of it.  They travel great distances, share hotel rooms with other people they’ve only met online…  It is incredible.  In your question, you refer to me as ‘a favorite guest at conventions.’  I don’t know how accurate that is, but I am certainly welcomed warmly every time I attend one.  And I love going.  I really enjoy the interaction I get with to have with the fans there.  Two years ago, it never occurred to me that I’d ever be involved in a convention for anything.  Now, when I find out that a Supernatural Convention is in the works and that I’m not on the guest list, I feel left out – which is ridiculous, of course, because there are countless guest stars that the fans want to meet.  But that’s how much I’ve come to enjoy them.  As long as I keep getting invited, I’ll keep going. 

EM:  You’ve played quite a range of characters over the years.  Do you prefer playing the comedic or the dramatic?

RS:  I lean towards comedy, but I really enjoy both.  They both bring their own challenges.  But it’s not always an either/or situation.  Sometimes I have the freedom to combine both – like I’m able to do with The Trickster.  That’s really the best of both worlds. 

EM:  Is it ever strange watching yourself in the different roles?

RS:   No, not really.  Although in “Open Water 2″ I show my bare butt.  That was weird to see at the premiere on the big screen in a theater full of people.

EM:  Oh my!  A 20-foot bare Richard butt!  Not sure the world is ready for that one!  Speaking of movies, are you able to sit back and enjoy a movie or show, despite knowing so much of the technical aspects involved in creating it?

RS:   Absolutely.  That’s the amazing part of the business.  So much goes into making a show or movie work, but when it’s done right, it looks effortless. 

EM:  In reviewing your acting resume, it appears that you have been working very regularly since 1984 (when you were 14!).  How did you get started?

RS:  Well, both my older sisters started taking dance when I was a little kid.  And since I’d have to go with my mom to every class, I decided to join in rather than just watch.  So I started taking tap dancing when I was five.  The teachers of those early classes were involved in local theater and got me involved in that.  My sisters and I all studied acting and did a lot of performing in high school and local theaters.  I just happen to be the one to pursue it as a career.

EM:  Ok, let me take a moment to make a note to myself to ask you to tapdance at the next Convention.  Now, can you tell us a bit about your family?   Do you have siblings or relatives in the same business and if not, what do they think of their Hollywood connection and have they ever taken advantage of it?

RS:   I was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee.  My Dad was an attorney for most of my life and is a published author – two courtroom dramas (‘Desperate Justice’, ‘Triple Jeopardy’) and three books of religiously themed inspirational short stories (‘The Pancake Man and Friends’, ‘Second Helpings: More Stories From The Pancake Man’ and ‘Fried Egg Sandwiches and Other Comforts of Home.’).  My mother runs a high-end antique furniture consignment store called The Clearinghouse.  Everyone, including my two sisters and their families, still lives in Nashville.  I’d say we’re a close family.  I don’t get back there as much as I’d like, but we all talk all the time.  As far as my showbiz career goes, it’s a good thing they havent tried to take advantage of their ‘Hollywood connection.’  They would’ve been pretty disappointed with the results.  I have to pay to get into Universal Studios and wait in line at Disneyland just like everyone else.  Although my sister did get to meet Taylor Swift at a movie premiere I took her to, so now she owes me. 

EM:  Supernatural is well-known for its excellent inclusion of classic rock.  What is your music of choice?

RS:  I’m a huge fan of both classic rock and indie rock.  I’m also a big fan of bluegrass.  Odd mix, I know.  What can I say?  I have eclectic taste. 

EM:  For quite a while now you have been promising fans that you will catch up and watch all the episodes of the series.  Your neighbor, who is a fan of Supernatural, even went out on a limb and loaned you the DVDs.  How are you coming along on that promise?

RS:  Um… not great.  I’ve seen all of season one (thanks to that neighbor you mentioned), then I’ve seen several episodes from last season and this season.  I’ll say this – the show is really good (I’m betting you and your readers already know that).  I record it every week now – and not just to see myself. 

EM:  I feel the need to quiz you!  Here’s an easy one: what was the secret that papa John whispered to Dean concerning younger brother Sam? 

RS:   He told him that Sam had pec implants.  Am I right?

EM:  Absolutely!  And that’s why you now get the extra cookie!  Are there any other projects you are involved with currently, for which we can offer a gentle plug?

RS:  I have completed work as a recurring character on a series for Showtime called “Look.”  It will air in early 2010.  And I am about to go to Detroit to work on a film called “Crave.”  Look for that at film festivals in 2010 as well. 

EM:  And for the last question we go deep and philosophical with one of my favorite questions.  How would you define success, and do you feel you are successful?

RS:  To me, success is achieving a balance between professional accomplishments and personal happiness.  I make a living in an industry I dreamed about being a part of as a young boy.  Plus, I’ve got a super cool wife and two outstanding sons.  If all that doesn’t equal success, then I don’t know what does.

EM:  Richard, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to share with our readers.  We wish you the best of luck in all your projects and we are anxiously looking forward to your appearance in episode 8 this Thursday.

Official Description for “Changing Channels”: When Sam and Dean find themselves living their lives on what appear to be TV shows, it makes for a whole new style of reality television and they wonder if the Trickster (guest star Richard Speight, Jr.) is to blame.  From a sitcom to a soapy hospital drama to a Japanese game show to a crime procedural, each new experience they encounter is more bizarre than the next and they want out. But is the Trickster really the mastermind behind the madness? Also starring Misha Collins as “Castiel”.  Written by Jeremy Carver and directed by Charles Beeson.

Supernatural can be seen on The CW, Thursdays at 9:00 pm.  To catch up on past episodes or get more information on the series and its stars, visit The CW at: 

http://www.cwtv.com/shows/supernatural

This Saturday, November 7th, is the Days of Our Lives “Day of Days” fan event. So as a special treat to gear up for the event we have an interview with Peter Reckell (Bo) and Crystal Chappell (Carly). Earlier this week they participated in a roundtable conference call with various online media groups to discuss Carly’s return, Crystal going head to head again with Louise Sorel and the new Bo, Hope and Carly triangle.

Below is the transcript of that call. If you are in the LA area be sure to stop by the “Day of Days” fan event where you can meet the cast of Days of Our Live. There will be autograph signing, a Q&A session and so much more! See you this Saturday, November 7th at the CityWalk at Universal Studios Hollywood!

EM: You know, in the time that – since you left Days of Our Lives originally, you know, going to different soaps is there – are each one of them different? Is it a different feel? And how does it feel to be back on the Days set?

Crystal Chappell: Oh, you know, they’re all different. I think between my husband I we’ve done six, seven or eight soaps. Yeah, so every environment is different. But the process is pretty much the same so with the exception of Guiding Light the last year and a half that was very different.

But, yeah, I mean it’s all good. It’s all what you make of it. And as far as coming back, I mean, I’m thrilled. I’m having probably the best time that I’ve had in years. It’s really, really been fun to play this character again and work with everybody again.

EM: Well that’s great. And, you know, the soap audiences are changing as far as, you know, Guiding Light going off the air and do you think Internet is kind of the way to go? I mean you’re doing your show Venice; is that kind of you think where the future is?

CC: I think daytime will be around for a very long time. I think it’s going to have to adapt to the changing, you know, economy and changing viewership. But if it can do that I think it can have a long life. I don’t want to see it go away because I find comfort in knowing that they’re there to be able to turn on my TV during the day and follow some, you know, my favorite stories.

But, yeah, I mean, with that there’s the Internet and that’s – that’s moveable, that’s immediate. You can tune in any time you want. So, yeah, it’s a different way to watching, you know, TV shows or shows. I don’t know if that answered your question.

EM: It did, yeah. Thank you. I’ll come back when Peter joins.

CC: I think there’s room for everybody. Okay.

EM: Okay, thank you.

EM: When you were first on Days what were your first reactions to Bo the character and to Peter Reckell?

CC: You mean 19 years ago when I…

EM: Yeah, sure, sure. Because I’m trying to say it’s kind of the, you know, because we’re returning to this character now.

CC: Well Peter was – Peter’s just a kind guy, so, you know, it was very easy to work with him. And I think we have a nice easy energy with each other and learned to trust each very quickly out on set.

And the character of Bo is just that classic, you know, hero. He’s the guy you want around. He’s the guy you want as a friend and as a romantic partner. And, you know, he’s that perfect guy. So…

EM: And now you’re returning to the show in very imperfect conditions because you need – your help – you’ve killed someone is that right or tell me the thing that kind of throws you together again.

CC: Yeah, she kills someone.

EM: Yeah.

CC: She knifes her husband but let’s no – that was really an accident. No, she, yeah, she obviously that’s not who she is, she’s a doctor, she’s someone who saves lives. But so something major – there was a major threat for her to do something like that.

And she knew that Lawrence would be the person to follow through on his threat so the only way she could save someone that she loves is to eliminate him and get out of there.

He basically held her captive so she had to get out of there, it was the only way for her to get out to go find someone to help her protect that person that she’s trying to save. So, yeah, Bo and Justin were the two people that she thought of.

EM: Yeah. And so returning to Carly and Bo and the situation like this and there’s such peril and so forth, I mean, what’s that like? What’s it like to play the character now?

CC: Well I love that she’s come back and she’s imperfect. I love that she – she seems to be really, really good at the doctor thing and then just a total loser when it comes to relationships. So I appreciate that about a soap character.

But, yeah, as much as she would like to think that she can handle everything on her own. She needs Bo and knows that they’ll come through.

EM: Crystal you’ve mentioned that it’s kind of been nice coming back. Has it been really easy to get back into character or have you had to try to kind of work your way back in?

Peter Reckell:  Now tell the truth.

CC: Tell the truth, it’s hard. You know what it is I wanted to come back but I wanted her to be different. I wanted her to be different so I sort of still finding my legs a little bit although I sort of feel now like I’m getting it. But everyone’s so nice and even just working my way back into this format has been kind of jarring because we were on hand-helds for a year and a half on Guiding Light so but everyone’s been great.

EM: Oh that’s great. And Peter how has been having her back, this love interest that you have a history without Zach coming back.

CC: Be honest.

Peter Reckell: Yeah, there you go. There’s two levels, first of all just Bo and Hope have been together for so long and the writers have found it difficult to make our stories interesting. And bringing Carly back just – the character of Carly back makes it – obviously makes it a lot more exciting and interesting on a lot of new levels that, you know, when Crystal was here before we didn’t have, you know, because Hope wasn’t here.

And so there’s a lot, you know, there’s a lot of history with both these women and so it’s pretty intense. And then on the other level of, you know, working with an amazing – two amazing actresses it’s – it makes my life fun.

EM: Yeah, I bet. And Crystal are you worried at all of becoming like the most hated woman in America or something because the whole Bo and Hope thing they’re so like…

EM: …they’re Bo and Hope it’s like they’re so perfect for each other, they’ve been together for so long and then here you come churning up the pot.

CC: Well first of all who could hate me I mean really, it’s just ridiculous talk. No, you know what, I spent ten years on Guiding Light and never getting to die. And I could really – it used to bother me – people used to come up and just say nasty things to me. And I played a nasty character. I mean she was just mean and evil and bitchy.

PR: How much fun is that?

CC: So, it was so much fun I guess that’s my point is that I’d rather be the girl who loses. I’d rather be, you know, the one who stirs the pot. I have no issue with that whatsoever. And the fans are smart, you know, they’re really, really smart; they know that this, you know, ultimately Bo and Hope are going to live happily ever after.

But it gives them stories, it gives them a chance to, you know, watch a great story with their favorite couple.

PR: Yeah, it just makes a perfect love story when the circumstances are what stirs the pot; it’s the circumstances more than the characters because the, you know, Carly was here when Hope wasn’t here. So there’s, you know, it’s kind of, you know, it brings in a whole different level.

CC: Yeah, Bo and Hope are fighting their way through something anyway. And so it’s just the timing of it that all this is happening at this particular time. But it’s a good story.

PR: Yeah.

EM: Definitely.

EM: Crystal, you know, last time we saw Carly she had been buried alive.

CC: Oh that.

EM: Are they going to play ramifications of that? And also you just mentioned that her husband was holding her captive so what is it with her that people want to imprison her?

CC: That’s a really good question. She’s just kind of a wild thing isn’t she? I don’t know why they want to hold her captive, lock her up in little boxes. We do talk about the buried alive thing. The relationship was Carly and Vivian is so delicious, it’s so much fun to do.

And they joke about it, you know, the two of them. So it’s certainly going to be discussed. But, you know, they’re on to a whole another…

PR: Was Vivian responsible for you being buried?

CC: Oh yeah, she’s buried me alive.

PR: Oh nice. I wasn’t aware of that.

CC: Yeah, yeah. And Lawrence dug me up so there you go. I know isn’t that funny?

PR: …body bag or something.

CC: No, no. And, you know, it is going to be dealt with but in a humorous way.

EM: Okay. And Peter, you’ve been on the show quite a while, now do your fans – your current fans remember Carly or what kind of response are you getting from them about this new storyline?

PR: I actually was really surprised of the response because the news came out when I went to New York on a – sort of a publicity tour for the Emmys and so I got to speak to a lot of fans and people like yourself. And almost everybody I spoke to was really, really excited about Crystal coming back to the show.

You know, mostly because it would bring some interest to the Bo and Hope storyline.

EM: And isn’t Louise back didn’t I hear that too?

PR: Oh yeah.

CC: Sure.

PR: She’s been back for a few weeks and she’s just as fun as ever.

EM: You’re both such wonderful artists. Both of your characters are very powerful with great leadership qualities and a well conveyed sense of independence. But who is the one person in your opinion who would have the most influence over your character? By that I mean another character.

PR: I’m pretty strong headed so probably my daughter because I want the best for her. You know, I want my life to go in a way that will not hurt her. I was just thinking out of my own life on the way here.

CC: Yeah definitely. I don’t know, I’ll have to figure that out. I’m not quite sure yet who that person would be. I think she’s been pretty isolated for a long time so…

EM: So do you think that Carly would turn mostly to Bo for advice or is there anybody else she might turn to?

CC: Sure, I mean, yeah, I think that she, you know, sort of being new to Salem again that he’s the person that she would go to because she…

EM: Yeah.

CC: …knows him and she trusts him and he knows her and she’s aware of that, that she can tell him anything. And, yeah, probably, that would be Bo.

EM: Yeah. And for Peter who do you think would be the one person that Bo would turn to for advice?

PR: Right now it’s kind of cool because there’s really nobody. I’m helping Carly so it’s – actually today we’re doing scenes about that where I’m, you know, Carly comes into town and she’s kind of a mess and so I feel good because I can help her but…

EM: Yeah.

PR: …but at the same time I’m frustrated because I usually go to Hope and our – we can’t have – we can’t talk anymore…

EM: Yeah.

PR: …so right now I’m kind of up in the air, kind of in limbo.

EM: Oh sort of relying on yourself.

PR: Yeah.

EM: Yeah but you’re such a strong character, I mean, it works.

PR: Yeah but we all – no matter how strong we are we need somebody, you know, that go to person and…

EM: Yeah.

PR: …kind of leaning towards Carly right now.

EM: Do you think that Carly and Hope could ever become friends?

CC: Sure.

EM: Yeah.

PR: Yeah.

CC: Sure.

PR: Both very powerful women and strong characters so, yeah.

CC: They’re not…

PR: If that Bo guy wasn’t around to make…

CC: They’d totally hook up…

EM: He might just be out.

PR: Yeah.

CC: Yeah, I mean, it isn’t a mean spirited group – there isn’t the, you know, the evil interloper, it’s just like Peter said it’s the circumstances of their lives right now.

EM: One of the things that always has intrigued about your character is not just the Clary and Bo interactions but also the Carly and Vivian interactions as well.

One of the things that I’m wondering if you would like to have addressed on the show is I believe Carly has a son, Nicky, right?

CC: She does, yes.

EM: Yeah would you like them to maybe have Carly’s son come back into the forefront which could kind of elevate more of the Carly and Vivian relationship?

CC: The more the merrier.

EM: The more the merrier.

CC: The more the merrier. Yes. Although, you know, at least at this point it’s perfect that it’s just Carly and Vivian. They have some catching up to do.

EM: Oh really?

CC: Yeah. There’s some issues to resolve.

EM: Yeah, that issue of being very alive. I think they have to settle right?

CC: I know, she’s so strange. She must have been (unintelligible) too. That’s what I’m thinking. Yeah, it’s a really fun relationship, Vivian and Carly. And it’s very serious, Vivian is a real threat. So – and, you know, as strong as Carly likes to think she is, you know, she’ll start to crumble; she’ll start to break down under the pressure and we’ll be there to help her.

EM: Peter, last time we talked – if I can ask this – I know we talked before about your guest stint on 30 Rock. Do you have any idea who you’re playing yet?

PR: Oh yeah I’m playing Bo, you know.

EM: You are playing Bo?

PR: Yeah, it’s – yeah. It’s – one of the characters on the show 30 Rock likes Days of Our Lives. And so that character turns on Days of Our Lives and they see Bo and Hope do one of their, you know, do a scene.

EM: So is it a scene that they specifically written for that episode, it’s not…

PR: Yeah, yeah.

EM: Okay.

PR: It’s a scene that they wrote for the show. It’s kind of tongue in cheek. It’s really cute.

EM: Oh…

PR: Yeah.

EM: Looking forward to seeing that. You have any idea when that’s going to pop up on our screens over here?

PR: Sometimes in the beginning of February I think is when they said it’s going to air.

EM: Great. Looking out for it.

PR: Yeah.

EM: Crystal, so Louise Sorel we saw her first on air, the audience, on Friday ripping up your picture, Carly’s picture. Have you actually taped scenes with her yet? And also when you were brought back in and you were going to sign your contract with Days and come back did you know that they were going to bring Vivian back to be a nemesis of yours?

CC: Was it a good picture first of all?

EM: What I’d say?

CC: No. Yes, we’ve had scenes. We’ve had some really, really great scenes. They’re writing it – with a lot of, I mean, it’s intense. But there’s humor in it too. So it’s – these are two – these are – they’re good adversaries, you know, they’re both strong women and, you know, Carly has got a murder under her belt so she’s…

CC: Oh that silly murder. So she’s not the same woman that she was. So it’s a pretty evenly matched relationship. And no I didn’t know – I didn’t know – I signed my contract in June and then Louise called me, I don’t know, four weeks later or something like that, six weeks later and said they want me to come back.

And that was great, it’s like perfect, you know. And especially I knew what the beginning of the story was so it made sense that Vivian would come back and, you know, avenge her nephew’s death.

EM: And also you had scenes with Galen Gering when you helped him – medically helped him. Could we see that possibly she might become involved with his character as well?

CC: Well one can hope.

EM: I know, one can only hope for you. All the men…

CC: He’s just so ugly, God help us. I don’t just poor thing; poor thing. Yes, I mean, I actually have scenes this week where we cross paths again. I don’t know where it’s going to go but…

EM: Right.

CC: …they’ll be friends.

EM: They’ll be friends, okay, in quotes.

CC: I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know, I have no clue.

EM: Peter, you’ve got Crystal back and – Kristian back and what do you think – previewing Bo’s kind of thoughts – would he let himself truly – would he ever admit to himself he’s truly fallen in love back with Carly or will that be really hard for him to do if that comes to that because of Hope? Would he allow himself to feel what he’s going to feel? Is he going to be all conflicted and not know what to do eventually?

PR: Oh yeah, it’s a perfect soap opera story. There’s all that conflict and turmoil and, you know, which direction do I go because, you know, when Carly was around before Hope wasn’t around so I’d let myself, you know, I totally fell in love with her.

So the – it’s a huge – between a rock and a hard place – my problem here. You know, the fact that Bo and Hope are having problems makes me and Bo lean, you know, obviously the feelings for Carly just start to come up.

EM: And then for both of you, you played – how long were you on with Crystal, the time you were on, and then Robert Kelso Kelly was on, right, so there was like a whole – did you guys have to figure out like what you were – where you were in the story with each other or the past when you were going back to these characters?

PR: Oh yeah.

CC: I’m still confused.

EM: I’m confused.

PR: And I’ve actually got a DVD sitting here on my desk reminding me of what our relationship was. You know, it was the whole wedding ceremony down in Chichen Itza and stuff.

EM: Right.

PR: So it was pretty intense. So, yeah, it’s powerful stuff.

Mike Hughes: I read about how this coming weekend you’re going to be at that fan event (in Lansing, Michigan). And I remember way back when you came back and did a hometown concert and one girl drove 650 miles from Montreal to see the concert and so forth.

So if you could kind of reflect on first those early days and nowadays too as far as what – what are the fan reactions like? What kinds of reactions do you get when you just meet them at random like this?

PR: Well I’ve been very fortunate, you know, it’s changed over the years because at first everybody’s screaming Bo, Bo, Bo and now it’s, you know, I’ve been around for so long that people now know my name and so they say Peter, hey, Peter and stuff.

And that – I have such fond memories of that event that my mom kind of helped put together and, I don’t know, I’ve just been very fortunate. I don’t know if Crystal has experienced this but the fans of Days of Our Lives are very passionate and loyal and they’ve put up with an awful lot over the last years but I think the show has really come together in this last few months to give them what they like.

And so a lot of the fans that had left the show from the 80s and 90s are starting to come back and loving the kind of show that we’re giving them.

EM: Yeah, it’s interesting to get an Emmy nomination after playing this guy for so long. That’s cool. First of all what was your first reaction when they first gave you the Bo character. What did you – because he was so different from TV standards then. And how is it that you think he’s evolved into this character now that, you know, has different layers so on and so on?

PR: Well in the beginning I was just a naïve actor doing what I do and thrilled to have a job. And, you know, dove into it head first and did everything I could and just – and just having a blast.

And the thing is is it really hasn’t changed that much, you know. I know the system a little better obviously these days. But the work we do it’s the same thing, I mean, you know, we go in and just play and have a great time.

You know, Crystal coming back we’re building a new relationship here because obviously we’re more mature characters and actors and so the love relationship we had 10, 12, whatever many years ago it was is obviously, you know, going to be on a whole different level.

So it’s, you know, we – I think Crystal coming back, man, we get to go in and have a blast.

CC: A lot of fun, a lot fun.

EM: Do you get to sing in public much anymore and how often do you ride your bike to work and how long does it take you to do that?

PR: Well on the first part of that, once I married Kelly and found out what real singers are and what real musicians are like I sort of went…

EM: Yeah.

PR: …yeah, I had fun with that but I guess I’ll just stick to the acting thing because I’m – I do a little better with that. And riding my bike, I don’t do it quite as much. I had a pretty bad accident a couple years ago riding to work actually. So that part I stick to riding my mountain bike on the weekends and if I get lucky I’ll get out for a couple times during the week but it’s only like once a week now that it ride my bicycle into work.

EM: Peter, how would you characterize the differences between Bo’s relationship with Carly and Bo’s relationship with Hope like overall?

PR: Well the Bo Hope, you know, that whole relationship started when we were both pretty young. And it’s kind of a first love – the depth and, you know, weight that that carries. And then the Carly relationship, you know, it was more of adult relationship and, you know, it’s kind of really. I guess that’s it, you know, there’s the first love and then there’s the love that comes after that.

EM: Crystal which fan base is harder core – the Days fans or the (Otalia)…

CC: Oh you’re going to get me to answer that question.

CC: Yeah, it’s not going to happen. I will say this, I’m very aware of how passionate the Days fans are. And what better fan to have than a passionate fan; you want that fan base. The (Otalia) fans are incredibly loyal and supportive. And I’m just happy to have fans damn it.

PR: And they seem to have all followed you over to this show which is cool.

CC: They’re all – they’re all terrific so, you know, I’m just happy to be here and, yeah. I’m happy.

EM: Since Lawrence is played by your real life husband, Michael Sabatino, what was it like killing him on camera?

CC: Well, you know, dreams – no I’m not going to say that. You know, it’s weird – it was so weird. It was weird. And, you know, it was one of those things where you go, oh, of course, you know, it’s nothing that ever crossed my mind but he was such a good sport about it because I completely stuck a plastic blade into his gut and totally missed the stunt pad.

And – but no it was weird. And I would never let my kids – if my kids saw that that would just scar them for life so mommy killing daddy. That’s terrible.

EM: The rumors are the show has been renewed which is wonderful. Can you comment on that?

PR: Wa-hoo.

CC: Yeah, I’ve heard the rumor, is it true?

EM: I was hoping you guys could verify because I…

CC: I know nothing.

PR: That’s the first I heard so.

CC: I’ve heard rumors but I know nothing.

PR: Cool.

EM: I just want to ask a general question about the medium overall. I think Peter, you have played a top cop, Crystal you’ve played the top doc, do you ever think that you – oh God I’m star struck here…

CC: Sweet.

EM: Do you ever, you know, just go in and say could this really happen in the real world? And then for my second question I would just like to know one thing you think that never happens on a soap that happens routinely in real life.

PR: Well, let me start with – I never mix up reality with what we do on TV. And it never really – it doesn’t even come into my thought process about reality and what we do here on the show; it’s, you know, they’re obviously two very, very different things.

So and that gives me the freedom to just be human and the only reality is as far as I’m concerned is just the reality of being a human being. But the circumstances and the things that we do reality doesn’t come into my consciousness.

EM: Oh well sure.

CC: You know, I’ve kissed more people – my baseline career, it’s weird being an actor sometimes, you know. But, yeah, it’s all suspended beliefs and that’s what makes it fun. You know, we touch upon little real things, you know, relationship…

EM: Oh definitely…

CC: …conflict, love…

EM: Definitely.

CC: All of it, it’s heightened, it’s distorted and, you know, hopefully makes for better story than real life.

EM: Exactly.

EM: I have a question for both of you, maybe Crystal you can go first. If you had your wish and you let your imagination run away with you, something that I actually try not to do unless there’s a dinner in it first, but anyway, let your imagination run away with you and if you had your way what would you like to see happen for Carly coming up over the next six months or so?

CC: Oh, I don’t know. I, you know, I like telling a love story. And, you know, with real good conflict and – I don’t know maybe some adventure. I wouldn’t mind going back to Mexico and shooting there.

PR: Dreamer.

CC: I have a big budget right, in my imagination. Huge budget, so, yeah, I mean, I would love to go on some kind of location and do some kind of adventure story. It’d be a blast.

EM: Sounds great. How about you Peter, what would you do?

PR: Right along the same lines, you know, we used to do some pretty outstanding things when we could go out on locations and stuff, I mean, for example the Bo and Carly thing going to Chichen Itza, that was like what the heck. I’ve had some great adventures while working. So, yeah, something like that would be astounding, yeah.

EM: If you guys have any shout-outs to your fans what would you like to say to them or share with them about your, you know, current Carly and Bo storyline? Crystal, why don’t you go first.

CC: Oh, you know, I’m just – I’m so grateful for their support and just how lovely and passionate they are.

PR: Oh I think, come on by on November – or next weekend and say hey, that would be perfect.

CC: Yeah.

PR: You know, talking to the fans is really, really great. And to look in their eyes and see them one on one and hear what they have to say it’s great so come on by.

EM: Crystal, how would you describe Carly when you played her before and how would you describe her now?

CC: Oh she – before, you know, she was younger, I think tightly wound and just (unintelligible), I don’t think she had a real good sense of who she was other than the doctor thing. You know, she only used that part of her brain.

But now it’s, you know, she’s kind of had years of life experience, raised a child and just ended up in a very, very bad marriage and so she’s a little harder around the edges. And she also has a sense of humor about it so it’s much looser, a much more fun experience for me this time around.

EM: Yeah. Peter, basically the same question for you; you played Bo all this time, how would you describe Bo now as opposed to the renegade that you started playing him as?

PR: Yeah, back then, you know, when I came back to the show a couple years ago and Bo was a cop I was like what the – that’s the furthest thing from my mind; I never thought Bo would be a cop, you know, because his relationship with Roman was Roman was the cop and the white knight and rebelled against that and here I am a cop and now I’m one of the top cops. And it’s like what the heck? How did I get here?

And but it’s been a natural progression. And, you know, maturing, having a family and being responsible but there’s still the – I think that renegade is still in there. And I’m hoping and thinking that with this storyline with Carly that that might come out a little bit more again.

EM: Now that it’s already November which is kind of crazy and Thanksgiving is coming up what are you guys most thankful for this year?

CC: Oh, wow, I have a great family. And I’m – got lots of work.

EM: That’s always good.

CC: Well, no, especially these days where people are really, really struggling I’ve got just an embarrassment of riches in my life and I’m hugely thankful for that.

EM: That’s fabulous, Peter.

PR: Pretty much the same thing, yeah. My little girl just turned two last weekend and I’ve got a beautiful talented loving wife and I’ve got a job that is exciting and I love. So, you know, life couldn’t be any better.

For more information about the Day of Days event click here!

**Interview by online media roundtable.

Tiffany N. D’Emidio
Twitter: TiffanyDEmidio

Did you know that Law and Order has been on the air for 20 years now? To celebrate this unique television milestone the Producers of Law and Order held a little Press Event for Online Media today. When I walked into the production offices I was attacked by a vicious dog, of course the owner was like don’t worry he wouldn’t hurt a fly. Yeah, right, this beast was ran up on me growling and everything. After that little bit of excitement the rest of the morning went really well, we did a really fun 50 minute Q and A with Jeremy Sisto, Anthony Anderson, and Alana De La Garza.  The three had a really good time and it seemed like there was great chemistry with them.  They were fun and down to earth, after the Q and A. I think today’s Q and A will be on the DVD they filmed it. The cast took us on a tour of the set, but there wasn’t much to see, we saw the interrogation room, but couldn’t see the squad room because they were filming.  I will be posting the full audio from today’s Q and A sometime in the next few days – it’s very funny and a transcript wouldn’t do it justice. Be sure to check it out Friday nights at 8am. Pictures and Some things that I found out during the Q and A can be found after the break.

• It took years for Jeremy to live down his role in Clueless and he wasn’t happy about being typecast.
• Anthony Anderson has “people” and he keeps track of what people are saying about him and the show.
• The big news is Benjamin Bratt is returning to Law And Order for a story arc.
• Each character this season is getting a character specific Arc, Alana is excited about her upcoming back-story episode.
• Alana spent a few days with real female ADAs when she first started and found out the best weight loss program is to try a case.
• Jeremy recently started Twittering you can follow him at #JeremySisto
• Jeremy has a man crush on the guys from Mad Men.
• None of them are happy about the Jay Leno situation.

• Alana likes to keep her men (the Anthony and Jeremy) in check, they wouldn’t be able to function without her.
• When the three of them walk down the street, Anthony is the one who holds court, Kangaroo Jack!
• Anthony didn’t know that the Clueless song was Rolling With the Homies (Funny moment). Now I  have to watch Clueless again this weekend.
• There’s a funny Pigeon reference coming up where Anthony improved a line about the “Bird singing.”
• Everyone said that they are completely different from their character.
• While the writers take stuff from the headlines, there have been occasions when they’ve been ahead of the curve. For instance here in NY/NJ the big story was a Woman who drove drunk with 8 kids in the car and crashed. L & O was filming an episode with this theme on the day this happened.
• Anthony has no fear of losing his job because he’s friends with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (he’s kidding…)

• In addition to not liking other people’s bad kids, I think I’m coming around to not liking other people’s bad dogs.
• Law and Order is filmed at New York’s Chelsea Piers and they charge $52 a day to park (Luckily L & O validated)!  It’s a beautiful location right on the Hudson River with a Gym, Bowling Alley, Golf Course, Restaurants and other fun stuff. It’s open to the public but was empty while we were there.

• Once again the iPhone’s lack of multi-tasking ability was annoying, I twittered from the set (twitter.com/eclipsemagazine) but I couldn’t record the interview and tweet at the same time, very annoying.
• 90 Percent of New York’s Broadway actors have appeared in at least one episode of Law and Order
• There’s not much cast competition between the various Law and Orders.
• Law and Order Criminal Intent is also filmed in the same facilities.
• This was one of the better organized set visits. Only a 15 minute delay, the only drawback was there wasn’t much to actually see since so much of the show is filmed on location.

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