This week I had the opportunity to take part in a conference call Q&A with Mary McCormack and Fred Weller in support of the fourth season finale of their USA Network series In Plain Sight [Sunday, 10/9C], Something Borrowed, Something Blew Up.
There were some technical issues that made the call a free-for-all rather than the usual, well moderated discussion, but Mary and Fred were as personable and cheerful as ever.
Is Mary as dense as she seems about Marshall’s feelings. Does Marshall think she’s being dense?
Mary McCormack: Wait, I didn’t hear it. Sorry, Marshall – Fred, did you hear it?
Frederick Weller: She’s asking if Marshall thinks that Mary is as dense about his feelings for her as she seems…
McCormack: Oh.
Weller: …and the answer is, no. I – Marshall thinks that Mary is afraid of her feelings and that it – she’s got many layers of self defense over them.
McCormack: I agree with that.
Well, you said, Fred, in a DVD commentary that you and Mary argued over shooting a particular scene. What kind of things do you typically argue over?
McCormack: Do we argue, Fred? We’ve never had an argument while we’re shooting a scene, did we?
Weller: No, we’re – I think for the most part we are in (unintelligible)…
McCormack: When did we argue over a scene?
Weller: I don’t know. I think at some point you mentioned during a commentary some argument or other…
McCormack: Oh.
Weller: No, there are many times when Mary is callous and unfeeling and…
McCormack: Mary the character?
Weller: No, Mary McCormack, who…
McCormack: He’s evil.
Weller: …really makes Mary Shannon…
McCormack: Seem warm and cuddly.
Weller: …look like a sensitive woman probably.
McCormack: Oh, dear.
Weller: She (unintelligible).
McCormack: This is not fair. I don’t like where this is going.
My last question is Matt Nix of Burn Notice has said that romantic leads getting together only kill off a show if their only relationship question poses will they hook up. So, what kind of questions do you think also plague Marshall and Mary?
Weller: You – wait, I’m sorry, the…
McCormack: Matt Nix.
Weller: …their hooking up only kills off a show if they’re hooking up is the only suspense?
Right.
Weller: …is that what…
McCormack: There’s a lot of conditionals.
Weller: So, the point is that our show could survive hook up between Mary and Marshall because of what, other questions?
Exactly.
McCormack: According to Matt Nix.
Weller: What other sources of mystery? Well, I mean, I think that certainly Mary’s character is – I don’t think we’ll ever (plumb) those depths entirely. I think if Mary and Marshall hooked up they would not exactly – it would not exactly be a frictionless relationship, so that would cause drama. That’s…
McCormack: (Unintelligible)…
Weller: …and I’m not – you know, that’s – and I mean – yeah, I mean, a hook up would have to be, I think it’s just a temporary think that gave rise to other issues.
What do you think, Mary?
McCormack: No idea. It’s too big a question for me. I – it’s too big. I have no idea. I don’t know, I’m not good at that. That’s like a writer’s question.
Weller: There are a lot of questions.
McCormack: Good luck. Sorry, I’m useless on that front.
Mary, when is your baby due in real life?
McCormack: September 16.
Oh, well, wonderful.
McCormack: Thanks.
I hope that In Plain Sight goes on for several years. What do you think will happen to your characters if we were to visit them five years from now?
McCormack: Oh my Lord, I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m not very understanding today. I have no idea where I’d be…
Weller: I know – I think they’d have to be…
McCormack: …without giving anything away. I don’t want to…
Right, absolutely.
Weller: I don’t know. We are probably still arguing.
McCormack: I’d – she’s probably still in the same job, right? I mean, I imagine that’s a job that’s going to stick. She likes that job. Fred, (unintelligible).
Weller: Arguing about different stuff…
McCormack: Yeah.
Weller: …probably be having hooked up…
Older.
Weller: …and moved on to other people. She’s – I don’t know, she – Marshall’s trying to keep her from making her child a total wreck.
McCormack: (Unintelligible) child.
Weller: I don’t know.
McCormack: You’re implying though I keep the child.
We’ll have to watch and see.
Weller: I – this is – listen, we’ll see, right?
McCormack: Watch yourself now.
Weller: I mean, she’s just asking me to – I don’t know. I don’t know what happens next season anymore than anybody else does. I want just get – make that clear right now. I have no idea what happens.
Well, just – I thought this season…
McCormack: You sucker.
…(unintelligible) has been absolutely amazing and I think each of your characters have learned a lot. What…
Weller: Oh, yeah.
…do you think the one thing that Mary and Marshall are going to take away from this year, besides a baby?
Weller: Go ahead, Mary.
McCormack: Take away from this year? Well…
Weller: Pregnancy sucks?
McCormack: …I’m so careful about giving anything away because the Finale is so exciting…
Right, I understand.
McCormack: …and a lot happens. I mean, obviously in the Finale my sister’s getting married, so you know it’s Brandi so things don’t always go according to plan. And so, you know, I think she’s – probably she’ll use birth control from now on. She’s learned about that in a real way.
Let’s see, she’s learned AA seems to work, her mother’s still sober, which is a miracle. What else has she learned? I mean, that Marshall’s an even better friend that she thought, which is, you know, hard to believe because he’s really stepped up with the whole pregnancy thing and – golly, I don’t know.
I mean, I think for Mary this season, I think one of the things that’s been fun for me this seasons is that her family has sort of not been the mess ups that they’ve been traditionally. And so, she’s sort of had to figure out who she was when she wasn’t looking after them, you know?
And I think that’s been an interesting thing for Season 4 because for the first three seasons she’s been like bitching about how she’s the only adult in the family and she has to clean up their messes, and all of a sudden they’re sort of – she’s the one that – she’s the hot mess. You know, she’s the one who’s knocked up and single and they’re sort of getting on with their lives.
So, that’s been the fun thing for me this season, for me and, you know, the character.
Weller: Okay, I learned stuff.
McCormack: What’d you learn, pal?
What’d you learn, Marshall?
McCormack: What’d you learn, pal? People want to know.
I can just see you sitting in the back of the classroom raising your hand, ‘I learned. I learned.’
McCormack: ‘Oh, me. Oh, me. Oh, oh.’
‘Fred, Fred, what did you learn?’
McCormack: ‘Oh, oh.’
‘Pick me.’
Weller: No, it’s cool. It’s fine. It’s fine. I think Marshall learned that while he thought that Mary’s obstreperousness could not get any worse. He found out that there is no ceiling on it, having been with a pregnant Mary for a while. Look it up, obstreperousness, I’m talking to you, Mary.
McCormack: Show off. That’s a show off. Honestly, it’s unbelievable.
Fred, tell me, did you have to do an awful lot of research on all of these things regarding pregnancy, or did you know a lot of the things?
Weller: I knew.
You certainly are proficient in talking about it.
Weller: Yeah, I read…
McCormack: He doesn’t know that much.
Weller: …a fair amount of those books.
McCormack: Oh, please.
Weller: I mean, we reference a book in the script called The Birth Partner, which is one of several that I was forced to read for my daughter’s birth. My – you know my son, after you’ve had one you kind of feel like you know it, and then you forget everything.
But yeah, I – that – I have some experience with – I won’t say dealing with obstreperous or irrational pregnant ladies because sometimes my wife doesn’t – she doesn’t read my press, but sometimes somebody will point it out to her, so just being a birth partner that’s all.
To stay on the safe side.
Weller: Yeah. Yeah.
McCormack: I don’t think my husband read one book.
That was one hell of a Season Finale, really.
McCormack: Oh, you’ve seen it…
Way to rock it!
Weller: Oh, thank you.
McCormack: …oh you’ve all seen it?
Oh, yeah…
McCormack: Oh, thank God…
…way to rock it; cliffhanger!
McCormack: Thank Christ, I don’t have to worry about giving everything away. All right, let’s chat.
They gave us a link Friday that we could watch.
What do you feel about Brandi [edited for spoilers]? I mean…
McCormack: Well, I loved it. I thought it was such a great – I know but I thought it was so great because it’s just, you know…
It’s Brandi.
McCormack: Nichole’s so good at playing that stuff too, and I thought she…
Oh, she’s fabulous.
McCormack: …did a great job in the scene. And yeah, like people say it’s hard to escape your nature, so I think that was a really nice scene. I love it. I loved (that scene because that was that)…
Do you think…
Weller: Especially…
McCormack: What?
Weller: Especially, when your nature…
Do you think that the writers…
Weller: …is crucial to the – sorry, go ahead.
No, go ahead, Fred. Go ahead.
Weller: I was just saying it’s harder to escape your nature, especially when your nature’s kind of crucial to the dynamic of the show.
McCormack: Yeah, that’s true, too. That helps us out. But also, it shows… it’s nice, it’s just a nice development…
…that’s why the writers did that or did they do it more to give Mary back the – as you were saying, you know, they’re…
McCormack: I don’t know.
…they’ve been so great this season that you really don’t have…
McCormack: Yeah.
…to watch over them, so…
McCormack: Yeah.
…now maybe this gives you an opportunity…
McCormack: Well, I don’t know, it’s also – you know, in the Finale you look for opportunities to make people come back, you know, and you look for opportunities of cliffhanger without things being cheeseball and like, you know?
Right. Yeah, exactly.
McCormack: So, I think that it added to the whole, you know, drama of what’s going to happen next season, and what does that mean for [spoiler]? And you know I just think it’s a nice – it’s a great bit of writing for cliffhanger quality.
And it really – it looks like that you might be heading towards keeping the baby. How do you feel about that if it goes there?
McCormack: If. Well, it…
If it goes there, how would you feel about that?
McCormack: …both ways both ways are dramatic. I don’t actually know what they’re going to do at this stage, I really don’t. But, I do know that I’m sort of excited to play it either way. I mean, I think giving a baby up for adoption would be incredible, in terms of sort of, you know, dramatic stories, and the keeping it obviously has, you know, crazy, you know, sort of opportunities for her to – I mean, the thought of her raising a child is – sounds fun also.
I saw you on the Craig Ferguson…
McCormack: Oh, I know.
…show the other night.
McCormack: I’m going to hell.
He’s so hysterical and you’re terrific.
McCormack: He is. I shouldn’t have trashed (Rose) that way though. Does that work, Fred?
I thought it was good.
McCormack: Well, thanks.
Tell me, your character is so opposite of who you really are because you love having babies in real life.
McCormack: I do love having kids. We’re a lot alike in other ways, but…
Yeah.
McCormack: …I like…
So, how difficult is it for you to play somebody who’s so totally opposite from you?
McCormack: Not so – oh, she’s so similar to me in other ways that I think it’s easy. I mean, unfortunately I am very grouchy and judgmental and…
No, not Mary McCormack?
McCormack: …opinionated and – I am. So, I – it’s not hard to sort of extend that to children for me.
Okay.
McCormack: That’s an easy way …plus kids can be annoying.
I missed how long you had been married to your husband.
McCormack: You know, we were trying to figure this out the other day. I think we’ve been married eight years or nine, probably nine. I should know that. I don’t know it.
You think?
McCormack: I’m not 100%. I think it’s eight…
Well, I have the opposite…
McCormack: …but I may be wrong.
…situation from you. You’re married to a Jewish man and I’m married…
McCormack: You’re married to a mix…
…I’m Jewish and I’m married to a Catholic.
McCormack: Oh, right.
He’s not a (mix), but he’s a Catholic, so…
McCormack: He’s Italian? What is he?
Yeah, he’s Italian – he’s Sicilian actually.
McCormack: Oh, dear. Well, that’s your biggest problem; forget the Catholicism.
Well, I was married to a Jewish man first, but I got rid of him after seven years, so…
McCormack: Right, interesting.
…what’s your secret for staying with your husband?
McCormack: For staying with a Jewish man?
Yeah.
McCormack: Is that the question? Because he’s a great person, yeah he’s a great person. I’m pretty lucky to be married to him. So, I think the question should be directed to Michael. What’s his secret for staying with me? He’s the better player on this team. I mean, I think even Fred would agree.
Weller: No comment.
McCormack: I’m lucky to have him. I am lucky. He’s a saint. He puts up with a lot.
Fred, tell me, given that Marshall saved Mary, in essence, during that shootout, do you think there’s any possibility that he is ever going to realize what his true feelings are for Mary in the show?
Weller: I don’t think Marshall is in denial about his true feelings for Mary at all. I think he’s completely aware of…
You think it’s the other way around?
Weller: Yeah, I think so. I think he knows. I think he’s come very close to telling her.
McCormack: Saying it, yeah.
Weller: I think she probably knows too. I think she – I think he thinks that she reciprocates those feelings as much as she can. I don’t know – Fred doesn’t know if Mary McCormack agrees, but…
McCormack: No, I agree with that. I think she’s – I think Mary Shannon is able to be – to compartmentalize in an unhealthy way, you know, and push things out of the front of her brain and push them to the back of her brain for comfort and ease, so survival. But, I think deep down she’s sort of is aware of stuff, but it’s sort of – she’s able to sort of just push it away, you know, and make noise and fill her life with other things that are easier, simpler.
Mary, how uncomfortable have you been going to work as a pregnant woman in real life?
McCormack: You know, it was not easy, I’ve got to say. I think I’m pretty tough and I thought it would be easier than it was. It was really – it was hard. I’m old too. I forget how this pregnancy game is sort of a young girl’s game, so…
Yeah, it’s a little easier when you’re younger.
McCormack: …I’m a little out of my league. Yeah. It’s all right. It’s a small price to pay. I mean, it was a lesson in humility watching the episodes now. I’m like, “Wow, that’s a big back.” But, you know, you get on with it, (unintelligible).
Did you have any special changes for your dressing room or, you know, anything different to accommodate the pregnancy?
McCormack: No, no, I didn’t get that big. I mean, I got big, but they didn’t have to blow out a wall or anything. I am quite big now though. It’s where I’m in the final month, so it’s getting ugly, yeah.
Mary and Fred, when you found out they were going to write your pregnancy into the show, were you kind of hoping that Marshall would be written as the father?
McCormack: No, I wasn’t.
Weller: No, I don’t think…
McCormack: It seems that we’d missed so many fun steps if that were the case. I mean…
Weller: Yeah, it’s just – yeah, I don’t think…
McCormack: …I was already really pregnant…
Weller: …could happen.
McCormack: …when we made that decision, so it had to be someone – you know, we needed to – I think if it had been Marshall we would have skipped so many steps and I think the audience would have felt robbed.
Weller: Yeah, we’d have to hook up episode two or three of the season, and then what? You know…
McCormack: And that hadn’t happened. I mean, we’d already shot – we were already – timing wise that couldn’t have worked anyway, but I think also it would have been a – I just think it would have rushed – accelerated something that’s sort of fun to draw out.
Weller: I think that Mary and Marshall should and will hook up at some point, but it’s a little bit like the Escape from Gilligan’s Island. I mean, what comes after it is going to be tricky.
McCormack: Yeah, that’s true. That’s a good reference as well.
Weller: Cheers. I mean, it was before my time, obviously.
McCormack: Oh, yeah. Yeah, right.
Weller: I – you know, I barely remember Cheers, but…
McCormack: Right. Oh, bless your heart. Listen to them laugh, Fred.
Well, Fred, you spew out so many interesting details on this show, what have you learned?
Weller: Oh, gosh.
McCormack: You mean about all of his trivia?
Yeah, I mean like have you learned anything or is some of that you?
Weller: No, some of it’s me, yeah. I mean, occasionally…
McCormack: You can tell, yeah.
Weller: …you know, like the fact that there’s a layer of porcelain and (conk) shells is me, but anything medical science involving, you know, giving myself a tracheotomy, or whatever that was on Season 1, that’s something I’m Googling right then and there. And I did…
McCormack: Yeah.
Weller: …learn a few terms that I remember for a few days, but it’s gone now.
McCormack: So, Fred’s a big reader. A lot of the times the literary quotes and stuff is your ideas.
Weller: Yeah, like the humanity stuff…
McCormack: The writers are very…
Weller: …the literature stuff, yeah.
McCormack: The writers are really sweet about being collaborative and Fred will often say – and you know we had different showrunners come through, so they’re very trusting and smartly. I think they’re very trusting of Fred’s sense of Marshall, you know, because it’s not – it’s a really – Fed and I talk about this a lot, but it’s a really tight – it’s sort of a tightrope, his character.
You know, he can’t just be filled with – I don’t know, how would you describe it, Fred? I mean, it’s not that he’s just nerdy.
Weller: No, he can’t go to that cliché. I mean, he’s…
McCormack: Right.
Weller: …a complicated guy. He’s very curious and he’s interested in everything.
McCormack: Right. But, they’ve been very sweet about – I mean, if Fred has an idea, like I think he would have read a lot of this guy or if he has a better idea for a line they’re really collaborative, which I think is great.
Weller: Yep.
Can you both talk about what Mary’s pregnancy did for the show and the characters?
McCormack: Oh, you know, I mean, when I – I knew I was pregnant. Obviously, I got pregnant sort of right before I showed up for the season, but I couldn’t really tell anyone. I told Fred of course right away, but I didn’t tell anyone else because I was afraid at my age, you’re, you know, it’s obviously really risky.
And so, when I told the President of the Network and then the showrunners, we told the showrunners together, it was further along and we had to make a decision fast about what we were going to do. And Jeff Wachtel, who I think is really – has such a keen sense of story and drama, he’s the President of USA, he sort of said, “You know, this is, in a weird way,” I mean we discussed first my wishes and whether I was willing to write it in, and I was.
And then, we started talking about the pros and cons story-wise and character-wise, and he was sort of excited about it, you know, as long as I was comfortable with it. He was excited about the opportunities that it would create for Season 4, because I think, you know, shows have to – his point was line in Season 4 he looks to – he looks for showrunners or he looks for the creator to shake things up, because otherwise things can get pretty stale.
So, it timed out that it was a nice moment for something really big to happen, you know?
Weller: Yeah.
McCormack: And so we all decided to do it, and then we had to move fast, story-wise. I think the writers had a ten-day hiatus already scheduled, which worked out great, because they rewrote a bunch of stories and came up with, you know, Mark being the father of the baby and what it would mean, and how it would change the shape of the season, so they had to work really fast and they did a great job.
Mary, I also wanted to know, in what ways have the storylines been a challenge for you in terms of your own views of motherhood?
McCormack: You know, I don’t find it very challenging to her point of view on kids. Even though I love having kids and I – it’s the one thing in my life I always knew I wanted to do was be a mother. And I mean, so I’m different than she is that way, but I relate to her I think so easily in so many other ways that it doesn’t feel like a leap for me.
It just doesn’t feel like a leap for me. I sort of feel so comfortable playing her and I know exactly what her – you know, even David Maples when he created the show, I think in the second episode you have me looking at newborn and going, “What’s with babies?”
You know, I – so from the start I’ve always known her point of view. She just doesn’t like kids. She doesn’t see the upside, you know? So, it’s been very clear for me and I’ve tried to sort of touch on that at least once a season throughout. So, this is a perfect development – character development for Season 4 because it’s – she’s just the least maternal person in the world, so for her to be faced with this thing growing inside of her is excellent.
Fred, what are you looking forward to with Marshall in the future? What would you like to see him do or get into?
Weller: Well, I’d like to see him get into some kind of romantic relationship with Mary, but not something that’s too cozy or long lived. I just feel like it’s got to happen at some point.
Without the danger of the Gilligan’s Island theme?
Weller: Without the danger of – yes, I don’t want to jump to shark. I mean, I think that the more drama would ensue as a result of that. I don’t think that they would – they’re certainly not going to start getting along better than they do now, which is pretty questionable already, you know what I mean? And there’s plenty of room for conflict and trouble.
Fred, I was wondering, aside from Mary, can you tell us about another In Plain Sight cast member who you really enjoy working with and who really inspired you this season?
Weller: I like Maury – oh, you mean regulars or guests?
Either one.
Weller: Well, in terms of regulars I think Mary will agree with Paul Ben-Victor is…
McCormack: Yeah, we love PBV.
Weller: …just astonishing to watch. He’s a great actor and he’s just really lovable funny and. he’s amazing. In terms of guests, I like Maury Sterling who came on – who made a second appearance, I think based on the quality of his first appearance, right Mary?
McCormack: I think it was planned all along to have that…
Weller: Oh, it was?
McCormack: Yeah, characters come back, but I think he came back in a much bigger way, because Maury was so good, you know? And actually, I mean, I’ve heard rumblings of maybe he surfaces again just because everyone enjoyed him so much, so who knows.
Weller: He’s funny. And then…
McCormack: He is really funny.
Weller: …Bryan Callen’s…
McCormack: And fun to work with.
Weller: …great too.
Mary, just in general how do you think of the average woman watching In Plain Sight this season can relate to your character, and in what ways do you think that she’s an inspiration to women?
McCormack: Well, I mean I think like women – I think part of the reasons she’s always been appealing to women is that women are – you know, we know the truth. We are grouchier and meaner and more judgmental than I think we’ve been allowed to be, you know, that we’ve been portrayed over the years. I think women are – you know, it’s like even the success of bridesmaids, I think women have – you know, we know we’re gross and angry.
And I think – you know, I think it’s just sort of been our secret for a long time, so it makes sense that it’s – there’s something cathartic watching a woman say what she feels and be, you know, ambitious and angry and sort of grouchy once in a while, because I think you know we are that way.
So, have you started Season 5 yet?
McCormack: No, no.
Weller: No.
McCormack: I’m not sure when we’re starting yet. We don’t really even know – we don’t know anything yet. We’re sort of in – just been promoting the Finale.
Going back to something you said a little bit ago, so was the character of Mark, then that whole relationship had already been in place before you got pregnant in real life or…
McCormack: Oh, yeah…
…I was little confused with the…
McCormack: …there was a – I know the story was planned and we were – yeah, he was definitely coming back and we were probably going to hook up, but it work out timing-wise that when I told everybody that I was pregnant we were like, “Geez, Louise, who could it be? Is it Faber’s? Is it,” and then we thought like, “Oh, no timing-wise maybe it works out perfect if it’s Mark’s,” so it worked out great.
And it’s kind of, I think – I think it worked out even just story-wise because it sort of, you know, a pure accident. You know, there was nothing really deeper and, you know, with Faber it might have been sort of confusing. He had that wife and kids and it was the whole thing. It just would have opened up a whole other set of really dramatic stories, whereas with Mark it was like, “Oh,” you know, it’s one of those things that happens in life that you just go, “Oh, my Lord.” You know, it was lighter.
I was going to say, Fred, you’re so – looking – at least going by the characters I’m kind of surprised Mary didn’t on the show, but the – you know, real Mary wasn’t – when she was pregnant does she like boss you guys around and make you get stuff and – or does she not make your life miserable?
McCormack: That’s a good question.
Weller: I’m sorry, I didn’t understand. You’re asking if…
McCormack: What – did I make your life miserable because I was pregnant or was I easy? Careful.
Weller: You know, no. Interestingly, while I made a comment earlier that Marshall was surprised to see that Mary Shannon was capable of getting even more obstreperous than she already was, I find that Mary McCormack is maxed out on that front. So, she really can’t get anymore abrasive.
McCormack: That’s it. Even pregnancy doesn’t make it worse.
Weller: It’s redlined. Yeah, it’s redlining.
All right, and what’s something for both of you that people would be surprised to know about you?
McCormack: Oh, my gosh. Holy Toledo, I don’t know?
Weller: Geez, surprised to know about me?
Hidden talent maybe, or something like that?
McCormack: A hidden talent? I can palm a basketball. Not for long, but I can palm one. I have crazy drag queen…
Weller: Yeah. Well, you’ve done on that show…
McCormack: …I have like drag queen hands. Yeah, but people thought it was a stunt on the show. I can actually do it.
Weller: Is that right?
McCormack: I have man – I have crazy man hands. There you go, I’m done. What do you got, Fred?
Weller: Oh, God. Geez, I don’t know. I’m…
McCormack: Fred speaks German, fluently.
Weller: That probably wouldn’t surprise them who watch the show. You know, I’m not a fast reader and Marshall’s, I think, probably a very fast reader, so that’s…
McCormack: That is such a boring answer. I’m like…
Weller: I know. I know.
McCormack: …are you serious. That’s it?
Weller: I – give something.
McCormack: That’s your big confession? I said I have drag queen hands and you said I’m not a fast reader? Oh, call TMZ. I’ll teach you how to read.
I love your sense of humor.
McCormack: (Unintelligible). I mean, see what I’m dealing with?
Has there been any deleted scenes that you guys would have like to have seen stayed in the show?
McCormack: Geez, that’s a good question.
Weller: That is a good question.
McCormack: I’m trying to think. No, I don’t…
Weller: Stuff that…
McCormack: …I can’t think of any that I – I mean, sometimes once in a while I’ll go, “Oh, shame that scene’s gone.” And then – but now in the moment I can’t think of any, so obviously nothing that was so upsetting that it stuck with me.
Weller: I think we have lines that we’d like to see in the show; lines that get cut from the script even occasionally, or stuff that we ad-lib on the on the set…
McCormack: Yeah, but actual…
Weller: …that doesn’t line up.
McCormack: …scenes I don’t think so.
So Fred, how do you think, since Marshall’s not in denial about his feelings, how do you think he justifies his relationship with Abigail with himself?
Weller: Well, it’s a bit of a – I think he’s sort of licking his wounds with her a little bit. I mean, he likes her. I think he’s surprised that he likes her. They get along. They have fun times. But, I think that – I think he knows there’s something missing. I think – I don’t think he’s always aware of it, but I think he’s a romantic at heart and I really – I feel like he’s got this undeniable longing for Mary and I think that it’s always lurking there.
But, he’s got to move on and he’s got needs, after all, so – for companionship and so forth, so…
McCormack: Don’t say needs.
Weller: Needs? Don’t say needs?
McCormack: I’ll throw up. Oh, my God, I’m going to throw up.
Weller: He’s got carnal urges…
McCormack: Oh, stop.
Weller: …can I say carnal urges?
McCormack: Just stop. Can we stop, please?
Weller: I mean, you know, he can’t be a monk forever.
But you think he feels like it’s unfair to Abigail on a certain level?
Weller: What’s that?
McCormack: Yeah? Do you ever think of that?
Weller: What? What’s the question?
McCormack: That it’s unfair to Abigail on some level?
Weller: Yeah. Yeah, I think probably so, yeah. But, she’s – yeah, she’s young.
McCormack: She’s young.
Weller: Yeah, sure. It’s complicated. It’s messy. Can you all hear me because I’m hearing weird stuff?
McCormack: I don’t know, there’s something weird. Yeah, everything is echoing now.
Weller: Is this interview still taking place?
McCormack: I don’t know, Fred. It’s you and me. I don’ t know.
((Crosstalk))
McCormack: …there?
Weller: Are we – I think we’re just being interviewed by robots from here on out. I just hear weird shit.
[Edited for non-show related blathering…]
Photos by Cathy Kanavy, Robert Ascroft and Michael Muller/courtesy of USA Network