Colin Hanks stars as goodhearted Fargo police officer Gus Grimly on FX’s latest hit, Fargo (Tuesdays, 10/9C). In the series premiere, Gus made a terrible mistake because he loves his daughter, Greta, and now he’s trying to redeem himself for the same reason.
Hanks took part in a conference call with a group of bloggers/journalists after last week’s episode to talk about the show and his role – which led to talking about fatherhood, Calgary winters and dining out and why actors really get paid.
Hi, Colin. Thanks for talking to us today.
Colin Hanks: My pleasure.
So, did you do any preparation or research for the part?
Colin: Really the only preparation that I did was just working on the Minnesota accent. That was really it. Gus is not necessarily—well, he is not a good cop really. He is sort of out of his depth, out of his element so there wasn’t really any police training that I had to do.
In fact, I sort of specifically did things poorly. You train, if you play enough cops, eventually you say I know how to hold the weapon, I know how to do this, and I sort of undid all of that to make Gus look a little bit more out of his element, but the only real preparation I did was work with the dialect coach to try and get a little bit of his accent down. We didn’t want to go too big on the accent, but we wanted to make sure that there were some subtle moments in his speech that would indicate he definitely has an accent.
What has made Gus an enjoyable character for you to play regardless of some of his shortcomings or was it kind of frustrating for you?
Colin: Well, at times it could be pretty frustrating. You try not to judge your characters too much, but there were definitely some moments where I was frustrated. I was frustrated at “Gus’” inability to do things—do certain things, I guess I should say, but Gus is as well, and so, that was really something that I sort of leaned on and drew from.
The thing I enjoyed most about Gus was the fact that there was an awareness to him. Oftentimes you see these characters and they know that they’re not good, but they’re just instantly beat down, but this is something that slowly eats at Gus. He makes this decision to let Malvo go and although technically he does the right thing, it’s the wrong thing. It’s not something he should have done.
It obviously leads to very bad things, and so, I like the fact that here was a character that made this mistake and spends his time, even though he doesn’t necessarily want to, atoning for it and trying to fix it, and he fesses up, to a degree, as to what he did and he actively tries to right the wrong. That really appealed to me. That was the initial kernel when I read the pilot, and then, as the show progressed, I kept trying to come back to that regardless of my frustrations of Gus not being able to get his act together, so to speak.
I’m not sure who you knew in the cast before doing the show, but do you feel that not knowing someone makes it easier or harder when doing scenes with them?
Colin: Well, it’s definitely easier if you know the person or if you’ve worked with the person before because you already have that shorthand, you’re already sort of comfortable. When I say working with, what I’m talking about is really when you’re not working, when you’re both sitting around in between takes and you’re basically just trying to pass the time. I had worked with Billy Bob [Thornton] before and spent a lot of time just hanging out with him. So, I was very comfortable with Billy Bob, and that was really sort of it.
Rachel Blanchard, I had also done a film with, but I didn’t have any scenes with her. So, in terms of the majority of the people that I worked with, the majority of them were new. But everybody was so great and so much fun to work with that I would jump at the opportunity to work with all of them again at the drop of a hat.
Nowadays, there are more actors making the transition from [indiscernible] to the television. What appealed you to make that transition into [indiscernible]?
Colin: Well, I think in this day and age now an acting job is an acting job. I don’t really see any difference between whether it’s a film or a movie in so much as a job is a job. Is it a TV series? Okay, great. How long will it be? Is it a movie? How long will it take? They’re both sort of the same in that regard.
The way that I find that they’re very different now is that the quality of television is so great, and now, you have television series that are not necessarily entrenched in this old—the old television rules. For example, our show is very different. It’s a ten-episode series. There’s a beginning, a middle and an end, and so, in that way, it’s almost like a ten-hour film. It takes its time to tell its story, but yet, it also doesn’t follow by the rules of you have to introduce the eight main characters in the first ten minutes. I’m a season regular and I don’t show up until about 40 or 50 minutes into the first episode.
So, those sort of rules, while still in effect for some shows, are not necessarily—they don’t have to be followed every time, and so, I find that now storytelling is a lot more freeing in that regard in regards to television, and I kind of like that. I like the fact that now you can really spend time with these characters and get to know them and it’s not this sort of paint-by-numbers storytelling or paint-by-numbers acting. You really get to take your time as if it was a film, but you get to take nine more hours as opposed to just one. That’s kind of refreshing, but for me, it’s all about the writing and the characters. I don’t care if it’s a movie or a television series, whatever is best.
Obviously, the series has picked up obviously for obvious reasons. The audiences are loving it. It’s wonderful. When you read the first pilot, did you have an idea that this show would be appealing to audiences?
Colin: I wasn’t necessarily even thinking about that. I found it appealing to me, and I like to think of myself as the audience as someone that watches a great deal of some of the fabulous shows that are on TV now. For me, I was engaged, and that first pilot, that first episode that I read was so well done, I wasn’t thinking about the movie, I wasn’t thinking about how people would respond to it. I thought it was so engaging and I was so involved with it that that was really it. That was all that I needed.
The fact that people have taken to the show the way that they have, they love the show obviously is great and I’m relieved in that regard because you don’t want to spend all this time and energy doing something that then people go eh, not interested. So, it is nice to find that the same things that I liked about reading the pilot or reading that first episode, people are enjoying as they watch the shows. That’s always good to know. It’s good to know that there are like-minded people out there.
I’m assuming and hoping that you’ll have more scenes with Billy Bob Thornton’s character. Are you allowed to talk about that at all, and if so, what can you tell us?
Colin: I’m not really sure if I’m allowed to talk about any of those things. I don’t know if I can really talk about them to be quite honest. No one has said don’t, but I’m always of the mind of not necessarily wanting to say too much, but Gus’ and Lorne’s paths do intersect again, and it’s not necessarily what you think is going to happen, I think is the best way to describe it. I’m trying to be really coy. I’m not sure if I’m doing a good job.
I’m curious—as you were able to delve into this character, was there anything that you were surprised to learn about yourself as an actor or person?
Colin: Well, for me, I think it was much more of a liberating experience. I was talking earlier about the confines of television sometimes, the rules of TV, and sometimes I find that as an actor that can be very constrictive, and this character but more importantly the job as a whole and the writing really allowed for, I like to call it breaths; it allowed for a moment of really being able to sit with a character and see them stew with their decision and see their wheels turning and really become involved in their journey whereas most television programs, and I don’t mean to badmouth TV on the whole.
I’ve been on a lot of different kind of programs and they’re all great and they all serve a purpose, but as an actor I found this one to be very exhilarating and liberating because there wasn’t this incessant cutting from one angle, so here’s the coverage, here’s the close-up, here’s the two-shot and going back and forth and you sort of almost become dizzy from all of the fast editing, and here’s a show that really lets it lie, really lets you live with these characters and experience the moments that these characters are having, and as an actor to not have that be rushed while you’re doing it was great, and for me, I’ve always really been a fan of scenes with them and actor and stories in which you’re able to be as natural as you want, and so, really I sort of find that this show, Fargo, is really more about observing these characters and what they do as opposed to just watching the story and eventually the characters tell you what’s going to happen or tell you how they’re feeling or there’s that ambiguity there that I really enjoy.
Was the scene last night between you and Molly or Gus and Molly, I was wondering what it was like for you working with Allison [Tolman] and how you see the relationship between Gus and Molly.
Colin: Well, that scene was actually a treat because that was the first time I had actually worked with her. I had gotten to know her while we were shooting the first two episodes, but we hadn’t had a scene together. So, I had spent a lot of time with her, really enjoyed her company, but hadn’t worked with her, and so, to be able to finally get that scene with her was great because I was so impressed by her skill to be quite honest. She was so comfortable and relaxed and also so good in the role that that scene was almost sort of a relief not only for Gus and his character and his journey but also for me because I said, well, she’s fabulous, this is going to be a lot of fun being able to do more scenes with her. I hope we have more scenes together, and so, that really set off—it was the beginning of really sort of a very strong friendship between me and Allison whom I love dearly. She’s great, and in regards to Gus and Molly, this is the beginning of a journey of them together trying to solve this case and they’ll probably be spending a lot of time together, yes, but that’s about as much as I will say.
I was wondering if you’d tell us anything about working in the cold up there in Calgary and how that had any effect on your performance or working conditions.
Colin: It has effect on every single aspect of life. The cold—look, snow and cold temperatures, that’s a character within the Fargo universe and you have to have that, and it is a joke, but it really does affect every facet of your life when you’re living up there. I love Calgary. It’s a great city. I enjoyed my time there quite a bit.
Shooting and filming in that cold could be very difficult at times. When you’re shooting nights and it’s 3 in the morning and it’s minus 35 degrees, that’s hard. That’s hard to work in. The conditions are difficult for everybody, not just the actors but for the camera crew who wrap the camera in an electric blanket and the teamsters who have got to get these big trucks in and out of essentially snow fields.
So, it definitely becomes trying, but in terms of performance, look, it’s all part of the show. Again, it’s part of the universe. The irony is sometimes you have to play like it’s a little bit warmer. I know it’s cold, but remember, on the show maybe it’s not that cold, so maybe lower your shoulders a little bit, but it’s kind of hard when you can’t feel your face. So, you just try and do the best you can and you make sure that you become really good friends with wardrobe and they give you all sorts of hand warmers and body warmers and things like that.
I was wondering—you have great comedic timing. Is it something that’s natural to you or did you have to work at it at all?
Colin: Well, I like to think that it’s a combination of both. I’ve always been a big fan of comedy and sketch comedy and I like to laugh, and so, I’m constantly—I’m a big fan of comedy, but you can’t just be funny. You do kind of have to work at it, and you have to try and know what your role is and when you can insert humor or when it’s best not to, but oftentimes I find, especially in regards to Fargo, there was a balance to it.
Obviously, it’s not a straightforward slapstick comedy. There are realistic moments, but yet, there’s also levity and humor. As much as snow was a character in Fargo, humor is as well. So, you just try to play the funny moments as real as you can and hope that people get the joke, but it’s not necessarily dealing with punch lines or anything like that. So, it’s a little bit of a tight rope that you have to walk, but I remember when we were shooting a scene, I think it was in the second episode where Gus has to like fall and get the dog, Noah Hawley looked at me and says oh, so you can do like physical humor too. I go, ‘hey man, I’ll do anything as long as it’s right and as long as you like it.’ He goes, ‘no, that was good,’ and so, we only did one take and that was the take that was in the show, but I’m a big comedy nerd so I’m always looking at a chance to be funny, and for me, for whatever reasons, I always get this question. There are people that have only seen me in dramatic stuff and they go oh, I didn’t know you could do comedy and then there are comedy people that go oh, I didn’t know you could do drama. It’s like you want to try and do both, you want to try and do as much as you can.
I’m really enjoying the scenes between Gus and his daughter, Greta, and I was wondering maybe if you could talk a little bit about perhaps filming those scenes and what it’s been like working with Joey King in the series.
Colin: Well, Joey King is a force to be reckoned with. Within the first day of filming, I turned to Noah and some of the other producers and said wow, okay, she’s really good, and she’s still young, but she’s been doing this for a long time so in a lot of ways she’s probably more professional than I am.
For me, this was a great experience. It was the first time that I’m playing a father. I am a father in real life. I have two kids. So, it was nice to be able to act like I have an older child as opposed to a three year old and a ten month old so we can pretend to have conversations, but it was again, Joey is so good and so easy and their relationship is—Gus is the father but they really do learn from each other and they really do—she really does guide Gus quite a bit in regards to how he deals with this circumstance that he’s found himself in even though she doesn’t really know any of it, and so, I really enjoyed the beauty of that and the simplicity of that and look, that’s not too different from any parent/child relationship. You learn stuff from your kids every day. So, that was a really fun sort of world to play in and I think it brings a lot obviously to Gus’ character, and it really focuses him and really drives a lot of the action that Gus ends up taking throughout the course of the show. So, those were gems. Those scenes were treats to do.
So, for you, what’s the most rewarding part about being an actor and having the career you’ve had so far?
Colin: Well, I don’t think any working actor like myself, it may seem really sort of glamorous and all that stuff, but at the same time, we’re all still sitting here going when’s the next job, when’s that going to come. I think that’s an inherent thing in all actors regardless of where they’re at in their career. For me, I still really enjoy the creation of it. I enjoy the doing of it, if you will. I enjoy being on set. I enjoy working. I enjoy collaborating with people and trying to make the thing come alive, make it hum, and when you get an opportunity such as this, such as Fargo where the writing is so good, the characters are so good and it’s a challenge and yet it’s a challenge that you’ve been hoping for and waiting for. It’s really fun when you get that opportunity to be able to do it.
At no point did I feel like I had Gus nailed down. At no point did I feel like I knew exactly what I was doing. I was constantly trying to discover angles, discover facets of Gus and how to bring that across. I really, again, I talked earlier about that ambiguity of these characters and sort of observing these characters. I was really interested in the challenge of okay, well how do I make Gus not so—seemingly not so transparent, how do I keep a little bit of Gus a mystery so that people will actually be engaged and not just say well I know everything that this dude’s thinking and I know everything that he’s going to do, and so, he’s just this pushover character. Those sorts of challenges, that kind of stuff I really love doing. I loved having that opportunity to do that.
So, that, to me, is always something that I’m looking for, that sort of naturalistic performance. That’s always something that I’m wanting to do. So, I was very happy that I got the opportunity to do it and I really hope that I get the opportunity to do it again on the next gig whatever that may be. Hopefully, that next gig will come soon.
Maybe after doing Fargo, you can do another series in a warmer climate like Miami.
Colin: Yes, right? Then it’ll be too hot and too sunny and you’ll go can we shoot someplace else. The grass is always greener someplace else.
Exactly. I’m calling from Minnesota so I’m hoping everyone out here can understand my accent that apparently we all have. I really enjoyed your performance as Gus. I think there’s a certain sincerity to him that makes him extremely enjoyable to watch.
I’m wondering a little bit—you talked about finding who Gus is and constantly kind of learning who Gus is. How much input did you have in your character, or was it mostly relied on the writing and Noah’s kind of direction? How much freedom were you allowed to tweak with it and what did you do during your free time when you’re up in such a frigid temperature?
Colin: Well, really to be quite honest, I had a conversation with Noah very early on before we started filming, a few months before we started filming, just about sort of what the show was going to be like, not plot points or anything like that but just sort of the idea that this is going to be a miniseries with a beginning, middle and an end and here’s what we’re going to do and Gus is a very well-meaning guy that’s out of his elements and is not necessarily a cop to be a cop and save lives but to be a cop as sort of a form of community service, and that was really sort of all that I had to go on until I would read the scripts, and then, I would really just go off of whatever Noah had written, and oftentimes, you find out stuff down the line about why Gus is the way that Gus is or you get these kernels of his back story later on. I have no problem with that.
After my experience on Dexter in which I spent pretty much an entire season thinking I was actually talking to—thinking my character was talking to a real human being to only find out that it was a figment of his imagination, I now realize all I need to know is what the scenes are and what is talked about in the scenes and everything else sort of magically comes together within the magic of television or movies. So for me, I would just try and play the beats and play emotions and things like that and connect that way. I don’t necessarily—I didn’t necessarily know a lot about his back story or his history but I just knew enough and knew what his goal was that sort of righting the wrong of letting Malvo go, that was really sort of all I needed and then everything else I found was pretty much on the page.
Obviously, we, as an audience, don’t know how the scene will end, but hypothetically, if Gus makes it out and if it’s possible, would you be open to participating in a second season if the show got picked up?
Colin: Of course. I’m always open. Anytime Noah calls, I will always take the call and I will be there with bells on if he ever needs me. It would be great.
And that’s all I’m going to say.
I know you kind of touched on this, but I was just wondering if you’d go into more about how you think being a father kind of helped you get into Gus’ mindset and understand some of the motives that he has for the things that he’s doing.
Colin: Well, it’s all there in that first scene. The reason why he really lets Malvo go is because of his daughter, and not even necessarily because Malvo threatens his daughter, but if something bad happens to Gus, what then happens to his daughter. Once you have kids, it sort of makes you re-evaluate things, and all of a sudden, you’re important but only to a certain degree, and so, really in that scene, he decides to make this decision to let Malvo go because he needs to be there for his daughter because their mother is not there. Gus is all Greta has, and so, that right there, that tells you a lot about Gus and tells you a lot about the way that he sort of looks at things, and then of course, in the subsequent episode, he pretty much says so, like look, I have two jobs.
Gus has two jobs, and his first job is being a father. His second job is being a policeman and really what that is, is getting the dogs when the dog catcher isn’t there and doing the sort of menial cop tasks, and so, those two scenes together really as a father, I just went oh, I totally understand that, I get that, and that really said I felt that that told me everything I needed to know about Gus and the way that he sort of looks at things. In comparison to the way Lester looks at things, in comparison to the way Malvo looks at things, I understood where Gus’ mindset is within this universe. Do you know what I mean?
Did you ever talk to anybody about why they gave your character such a cartoonish kind of name? You sound like a Scooby-Doo villain or something, Gus Grimly.
Colin: I never brought it up. I just dig the name. I think it’s such a great name. I feel like that’s maybe not Scooby Doo. I think it’s like the cool guitarist in like a 60s surfer band, Gus Grimly and the Grimtones or something like that and I kind of dig that.
Well, that sounds like the type of movie that Tom Hanks would make, so you might want to talk to the family and get that going.
Colin: Yes, exactly.
Do you think that in the grand scheme, in that first scene that we set up with your character, it speaks to me as to what is a hero because we’re used to entertainment presentations as heroes being these sort of Rambos, never look back guys, do or die, like it’s always very clear. Do you think that it speaks to the question of what is a hero because he has different things to worry about in his life? And also, we have to believe that your guy is nice enough and cares about his daughter enough that he has that stuff going on in his mind and plus Billy Bob has to be threatening enough that we have to buy it that him just looking at you would have all these things going through your mind.
Colin: Well, I think it’s an interesting point. Obviously, with Gus, you definitely don’t think oh, well here’s a hero. He doesn’t necessarily hold himself in a heroic stance. He doesn’t necessarily speak in heroic tones or anything like that, but again, in approaching this in as realistic a manner as we can, and that was a goal for all of us with the show, oftentimes, your real heroes are not necessarily six-pack abs and huge biceps that come and save the day.
They’re people that maybe don’t want to be heroes. The thing that they’re doing, they don’t want to be doing, but they have to do it because they’re compelled to do it. Oftentimes, I find that the people that you really call heroes, they’re just doing their job. They’re doing what they’re supposed to do because they have a sense of duty, but it’s not this super queue the music telling the audience how to feel, here’s our hero moment. They call them hero moments for Christ’s sake.
But for Gus, I feel like he doesn’t want to be doing what he’s doing. He would much rather have not pulled—I think if you ask his daughter, he says, I probably wish I didn’t pull Lorne Malvo over, if you ask Gus, but he’s doing what he’s doing out of a sense of responsibility because it’s the right thing to do because he’s trying to set an example for his daughter and I think it’s fair for you to say that that’s heroic. I don’t know if it’s fair to me to say it, but I think Gus is a good guy trying to do the right thing, and sometimes—and clearly, in that scene, sometimes doing the right thing is technically the wrong thing to do, and so, he tries to right that. If that’s heroic, then yes.
Do you think he can cut himself a bit of—there’s a bit of cutting of slack a little bit too in the sense that in this situation, it’s almost like a referee in a football game or a basketball game. He actually has a split second to make a decision, and then, it’s easy for him to regret it after or think about it or for everybody to criticize him, but your character had a split second to make this decision, and you have Billy Bob staring at you with his evil eyes and he’s thinking about his daughter. So, I know he’s tearing himself up about it later, Gus is, but does it speak also to the fact that this is actually more complicated? This was a hard decision and he had about three seconds to make it.
Colin: Well, and you can even argue that Gus didn’t even make a decision. You can argue that Gus just was so scared and had so many things running through his brain at that time that that caused a paralysis in him in which he didn’t even let him go—he tries to make a move but he ends up not making a decision and Malvo just leaves.
Yes, he just rolls up the window and it’s over.
Colin: So, for me, again, I really—that scene, you’re lucky if you get a scene like that as an actor. You’re lucky if you get one scene like that, and I remember some people are like God, that must be a bummer, you’re only in one scene in the pilot, and I’m like look, if you’re only going to be in one scene in the pilot, that’s the scene you want to be in because there’s so much going on within that moment, within that moment between those two characters, within that moment just within Gus, and I think that that scene, everything is at work there. You see Malvo and the way that he plays people and the way he manipulates people with fear, with intimidation. You see Gus completely out of his element, not sure what to do, and his indecision is in a way his decision, but that eats at him and it will eat with him for the rest of his life. That is a decision that he will have to live with forever, and so, man, that kind of complexity within a scene, within characters, as an actor, you salivate for that stuff.
So other than that scene that you just talked about, do you have another favorite scene that’s aired so far? I mean we’ve seen further.
Colin: Well, there were a couple of scenes. The scene with Gus and Molly was one that I was very excited about, and also the scene with Gus and the lieutenant if only for the creation of the word dipshittery, but also the way that Gus has to—I mean, those are great scenes, the way he’s stepping up and making that decision to go forward and admit this mistake that he’s made while also covering his tracks a little bit to try and lessen the blow, but the scene actually—the scene that actually kind of surprised me was the scene between Gus and Greta at his desk where “Gus” is wrestling with trying to—how to initiate this, how do I go and tell a cop from another precinct that I’ve made this horrible mistake and let this guy go that could be responsible for some serious, serious, serious crimes. To see him wrestle with that and then to hear the simplicity from his daughter, there was a connection there between Gus and Greta that I was not aware that we had done, and I was really pleasantly surprised by that scene and impressed that they let that scene linger as much as they did because you really got to, again, you got to live with Gus at that moment. I really enjoyed that scene tremendously, watching it.
I actually was going to ask you about the scene with Billy Bob Thornton but I think we’ve definitely covered that. While you do seem to play a lot of clean-cut characters, I mean even on Dexter when you were this homicidal character, you were very clean cut, do you ever wish you’d get a character where you can grow your hair and get a scruffy beard and get down and dirty?
Colin: If you know of someone with that role, will you give them my name and my headshot? Yes, oh gosh, yes. For me, sort of along the lines of comedy or drama, I always want to try and do different things, and I’ve had an opportunity to do it a couple of times and I’m always looking for a chance to do something different and always trying to—I don’t necessarily want to repeat myself at any time, and I don’t want to just do the same version, the same guy over and over and over again. I want to be able to do different things and to evolve and constantly trying to find those roles, but also at the same time, trying to find characters that on the surface may seem like that but have things underneath that maybe come to light that are revealed later on, and I’m constantly trying to find different things, different angles, but yes, there is a part of me that is desperately wanting to not necessarily be this cute, endearing, heart on his sleeve type character that just wants to be liked because that’s a part of me but not all of me, so to speak.
Well, maybe if we put this out there you’ll get flooded with scripts like that.
Colin: Well, there you go.
So, setting aside Fargo, what would you say is your favorite project that you’ve worked on over the years that didn’t get the love that you thought it deserved?
Colin: That’s a tough question. Nowadays, everything seems to live forever. When I started out, a lot of things had a relatively short shelf life. You’d be on a television show, it would be on that night and then maybe you’d never see it again, and now, you can pretty much find everything. There’s a way to pretty much find it all, but I don’t really know. I’ve sort of—I’m always pleasantly surprised by the amount of attention that Orange County gets. I’m always very proud when people say they’ve seen The Great Buck Howard because that was a movie that I was very proud of, but overall, I try not to think about that too much. I really just try and focus on what the next thing is.
There’s all this pressure riding on Gus to kind of right his mistake in the eyes of the law and take down Malvo. I’m curious to know what your career equivalent is. What’s the most pressure you’ve felt working in this business as an actor?
Colin: Well, it’s different. I think more than anything else, you want to do good work. You want to serve the project in the way that it needs to be served. There’s no point in signing on for some job and you’re off making some other movie or TV show in your head that’s the complete opposite of what everybody else is trying to do, and so, I always just try and bring whatever I can to an audition. Hopefully, it’s in line with the vision, and then, I try to support that as best I can, and it’s different for every job, but the pressure is always there. Obviously there have been some times where I feel like pressure has gotten to me a little bit more just because—I remember on King Kong, I was like, the entire world is going to see this. Better be good. That led to a sleepless night, more than a few actually, but really you just try and focus the best you can on the work and let that be both the pressure, accept that pressure, but then also have that be the pressure release. I would much rather be doing the work and try to do the best you can and then forget about it and not worry about anything else. That is really sort of the pressure that I put on myself. No one puts any more pressure on me than I do myself. So, I would much rather just try and feel like I am okay and then move on and try and find what is next on the call sheet.
So, working with such an eclectic cast, Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele included on that, I’m not sure if you had any scenes with them, but I’m just wondering what you guys did for fun during your down time up there. Any like Canadian sports or anything?
Colin: Yes. Someone asked me this earlier, and it was probably you. Look, I have my tried and true things when I go on location. I always find it’s good to have an excuse to get out of the hotel and/or apartment and go do something that is not just drinking, and so, I travel with a portable turn table, and I don’t bring any records with me and I go out to all the record stores in town. It’s a great way to get the lay of the land, and then, I label the city that I buy the record in. The irony is that eventually I’m going to have so many records that then I have to stay indoors and listen to them because it’s of course not necessarily a portable media.
But the biggest one, and it was the thing that I really sort of drilled Allison on is where are we having dinner tonight, what are we doing, what restaurant are we going to go to because I am not just going to just sit at home and make toast for dinner. I want to feel like a normal human being and go out and talk and try and have a good time and make the best of it and have a good time. So, that to me was the big thing, and luckily, Calgary has a slew of fabulous restaurant so we were all good there, and I’m a big hockey buff, and so, I always like shooting in Canada because they love hockey there. I went to a few Flames games, and there was always a hockey game on TV.
The pilot TV series is one of the best that we [indiscernible] and one of the [indiscernible] casting is fantastic. How do you feel to work in such environment and do you feel that you have to up your game to be on par with such great actors?
Colin: Well, I mean we were all so blown away by how well the show was written. It was all—pretty much the first thing out of everybody’s mouths were, hey, can you believe how lucky we are that we get to say this dialog, that we get to be involved with this, and that’s everybody, that’s Billy Bob. Billy Bob and I talked about that the first time I saw him up there in Calgary. I said the same thing with Martin [Freeman] and pretty much said that with everybody, and I remember saying that to Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key about that. Just like, hey man, I so glad that we all get to do this because this is a really rare thing to be able to be in something this good on the page.
So, when it’s that—when the material is that good it makes your job a little bit easier. When the person you’re acting with is good like Billy Bob or Martin or Bob Odenkirk or Allison Tolman, that makes your job a little easier as well. Not to say that it’s a cake walk, because it’s still a challenge and you still work hard and it still can be frustrating, but then, it’s not, hey, how do we make this good; it’s how do we make this the best that it can possibly be. Look, when they say action and you’re working, that’s the best part of the day. That’s the part that we all want to do.
That’s the part that they don’t pay us for. They pay us to wait around. They pay us to go on location. They pay us to do all that stuff , the acting stuff we all love to do. When you’re surrounded by as many talented people as you can be, and I think everybody on the show is incredibly talented from Billy Bob all the way down to the two boys playing the Hess kids, literally everybody. It’s all fun, and it’s been a treat. It was a treat to make it, and it’s been an absolute treat to watch it and see what everybody does.
In this age where there is Twitter and Ask.fm and Facebook and all the stuff like that and the show is encouraging people to live tweet during the show, do you find yourself in social media as a thing you like to do or just a necessary evil that comes with what we have to do now?
Colin: As someone that was once, let me—this will be the only time I will really name drop. As someone that was once voted Time magazine’s 140 people to follow, I clearly tweet and clearly am pretty into it. I was really against it all sort of at first, that sort of more of I tend to be the grumpy old man quite a bit, but I initially got into it as sort of a means to be able to advertise and publicize things that I was doing that did not get necessarily the advertising and publicity that I was hoping it would, and I ended up finding out that it ended up being this really great fun thing that I actually enjoyed quite a bit. Obviously, it can very helpful for the very reasons why I started doing it, to publicize things that I’m into, voice, to be able to voice concerns that I have about issues, to be able to talk about how crappy the weather is or how delicious this pie was or how beautiful that sunset was, any number of things. I still wrestle a little bit with this concept of live tweeting a show or anything like that. Me, personally, I like to watch the show –
Yes, me too.
Colin: – without any interruption. I’m so glad that I can now pause things because if someone else comes into the room I can pause the show and say what, do we need to have a conversation right now because I am in the middle of watching a television show. We didn’t have that luxury a long time ago.
That said, a lot of people like to watch and tweet at the same time. That’s a different kind of, that’s another level of enjoyment, and I am not—who am I to poo-poo that? Who am I to say like, oh, well you’re enjoying it wrong? Enjoy it anyway you like. If you like it, by all means do it. It’s not hurting anybody. As long as it doesn’t hurt anybody, I think is the best thing I can say.
And so, look, I think it’s all part of the world we are in. Clearly, it’s been great for me with this experience with Fargo because it’s instant feedback as to people loving the show and people digging the show, and it gives me a much better understanding of what people like about the show and their involvement with it and I get to sort of interact with people in a new way and that can be a lot of fun when people like the show. If they don’t like the show, and there haven’t been too many people in regards to not liking Fargo, but when it’s something else and they don’t like it, well, you have to deal with that. Don’t check Twitter first thing in the morning unless you don’t mind people chirping at you. The sword cuts both ways.
It’s nice. That said, I will be live tweeting an episode this season. I don’t know, I am trying to remember, I don’t have it off the top of my head which one, but I sort of made the decision like look, if people really want to hear what I have to say about those things, I will be happy to tell them. So, it is what it is.
That will be good. We will be tweeting away back at you.
Colin: Beautiful, sounds good.
Thanks, Colin, for the whole day. Thanks for the call.
Colin: No problem. Thank you to everybody. If everybody can still hear, thank you, everybody, for participating.
Photos by Matthias Clamer and Chris Large/Courtesy of FX