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  • ‘Time After Time’ Stars Stroma and Bowman Embrace History On-Screen and Off

    Freddie Stroma and Josh Bowman in TIME AFTER TIME“Time After Time” stars Freddie Stroma and Josh Bowman have to deal with some serious history — as much off-screen as on.

    Not only do the two actors have to bring to life two of the most intriguing and legendary real-life figures from the Victorian era as they journey through time — the pioneering science fiction novelist and futurist H.G. Wells and the still-enigmatic serial killer Jack the Ripper, respectively — they also have to do so in the shadow of the two renowned actors, Malcolm McDowell and David Warner, who originated the roles in the 1979 cult classic film the TV series is based on.

    But the two British gents are more than game for the task, as they revealed in a candid chat with Moviefone — as well as disclosing the very specific time and place in American history where they’d both like to take a time-traveling vacation.

    Moviefone: I discovered the original “Time After Time” movie when I was maybe 11, so I’m very fond of it. How did it hit you guys, and what were your takeaways, seeing it now?

    Freddie Stroma: We read the script first. We watched it after. I read the first and then watched it. So for me, it was in ’79. So the first thing you notice, I think anyone would notice now, it was in a different time period of filmmaking. Certain aspects are a little slower. It was from the ’70s. It makes sense. And obviously the special effects [then] — that’s as it was.

    Josh Bowman: We’ve taken it and modernized it. Better or worse, I don’t know about any of that. We’ve modernized it and made our own version for television. Hopefully it’s a fun journey for the audience. We go on this crazy adventure. We’ve changed the setting Manhattan instead of San Francisco and it takes place over 12 episodes, so we really stretch it out.

    As you started building your versions of these characters, tell me where you started. What were the things that initially as you were analyzing it, knowing that there is an H. G. Wells to look at, knowing that there’s at least Ripper lore to look at, how did you start creating these characters?

    Stroma: It started with what we had on the page. I think they were both pretty specific on the page. The main thing that I saw from H. G. Wells that was definitely in Kevin [Williamson‘s] writing was his obsession with utopia. I think we really ran with that. I think that’s kind of his through thing, is his absolutely innocence.

    So he really believes in that utopia, and that plays every scene. He just constantly believes the best in people, and he still believes the best that he will own up, and he will come back, and he will do what is righteous, and that to me has been the biggest point of H. G. Wells.

    Bowman: Kevin definitely created these two characters, and I think they’re quite different from the movie. He’s very much the protagonist, and I’m the antagonist, and you see that. But you also see this relationship that’s important throughout, the relationship between these two characters.

    I’m playing a fictional character, effectively, so we read the novels of H. G. Wells. I read into some of these guys, types of people who did these heinous things, psychopaths. Kevin knows how to write for some of these things — he’s done it for a long time. There’s bits of “Scream” in this.

    Hell, there’s probably bits of “Dawson’s Creek.” There’s a great love story with these two. It’s really romantic and beautiful, and I’m in there to try and mess it all up. We had a lot of fun in New York. It was a great place to go and shoot. Like Freddie said, what was on the page. We try to influence whatever we could.

    By coincidence, I recently interviewed Nicholas Meyer, the writer and director of the original. One of the things that he said, in the way that Wells is struggling with this lack of utopia, the dystopian qualities of our society now, the Ripper had just come home, in a sense. Did you find that?

    Bowman: Yeah, definitely. He’s in awe when he comes across bar with women wearing revealing dresses, and cleavage is out, and they have all sorts of amazing makeup. Even the figures are different, and all sort of different shapes, and sizes, and colors. It’s honestly like a kaleidoscope of people for him. So yeah, he’s definitely taken away with that, drug use, alcohol. Everything is completely different. Yeah, he definitely goes into that world wide-eyed and taking it all in, drinking it all in.

    Because the love story is part and parcel of what “Time After Time” has been, Freddie, tell me about finding what you needed to find there — working with Genesis Rodriguez to get that spark and that rapport that you guys needed, and carry it forward past where we know the setup of the story’s going to be.

    Stroma: To me, it comes down to the fact that H. G. Wells is in such a place where he’s so upset about utopia not being in the future, and he keeps meeting people that don’t really help him. And then suddenly, he finds this woman who is kind to him, and it’s this weird glimpse I think into, “Wait, there can be a utopia,” and she’s this strong woman who shows strength and kindness, and feminism is something that he’s never really experienced before. I think that was key, really, to why he is so drawn to Jane, and then she’s intelligent as well. All those aspects which make her very attractive to him.

    Did you guys see any character bits in Malcolm McDowell’s or David Warner’s performances that you were like, “I’m going to remember that and keep it in my back pocket, and maybe use it to inform something here or there.”

    Bowman: I can’t compare myself to him! He’s unbelievable, so I did the best with what I could. I think they were great in the film. We try to do the best we could under all the circumstances, and also try and create something that’s different. It’s definitely younger, a lot younger than what they were.

    Stroma: I couldn’t steal anything. There’s nothing I saw that I was like, “Ooh, I’m going to save that.” But I would have done so if I’d suddenly seen something that would work for us!

    Bowman: The deep underbelly of it was very similar. He believed in this utopian society. I was a bit more of a realist and excited to see this new world, and ran amok. And like him, I shaved and changed my look. We went from quite a different look. We started in a very period look and went to a very, very modern look. But also the modern look now is different from the ’70s, right? It’s probably a bigger jump. It’s a timeless piece now, Malcolm McDowell and David Warner and Mary Steenburgen.

    Stroma: There was one moment: there’s a scene in the hotel where he comes up. I was definitely struggling with how much this man is in love with utopia, and he really believes the best in people. He would just walk up to Jack the Ripper and say, “All right, we’re going now.”

    I was worried about that level of wide-eyed, sort of positive belief, as opposed to just idiocy — it’s like, “You know he’s a killer. You must have that intelligence, social intelligence to understand that.” So it helped seeing it in the movie going, “OK, yeah, I can do that. That sort of makes sense. I have to play him as if he’s that sure.”

    Ever since the real H. G. Wells pretty much invented the time-travel story, it’s been a fascinating concept and it’s been great for books, and movies, and TV shows. Either in visiting an era that you never had access to, or the possibility of correcting a mistake in your own past, what is it that appeals to you guys most about the time-travel concept?

    Stroma: I think it’s a similar thing to magic movies and the rest of it. I think it’s power. People like the idea of going back with knowledge, and you can tell people things. And then the other aspect is someone will go to the future, which is just seeing what they would think of such things. Would they frown upon the things we do, or would they marvel at it? I guess we kind of do a bit of that.

    To me, I think it’s always the idea of knowledge. It’s exciting to know what the future has in store. Or it’s fun to have the power of knowledge to go back and know what’s going to happen. You’re almost a deity of sorts. You can tell the future. I think it’s the same as magic movies. People love, “What if? If you could cast any spell, what would you do?” Same with superheroes. If you had this power, what would you do? It’s that what if thing.

    For yourselves, for your own curiosity, is there an era that fascinates you? Is there a place that you would love to go and visit if time travel existed?

    Stroma: I think ’50s America —

    Bowman: Rat Pack!

    Stroma: Oh yeah!

    Bowman: Walk around with Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra, go to Palm Springs when Marilyn Monroe was there, Brando was coming up —

    Stroma: America in the ’50s!

    Bowman: Imagine rolling the dice in Vegas with them. Imagine smoking cigars, drinking Scotch. I always say I’d be there in a heartbeat.

    Stroma: Yeah. I said that at Comic-Con for my answer and [director] Marcos [Siega] and Genesis just kept laughing at me. I was like, “Why is that weird?” It’s an incredible time!

    Bowman: It’s a guy’s thing. It’s a classy time. I suppose that’s when America was at its greatest. For sure. We’ve all lost our [swagger] now, everyone. Not just America: the whole f*cking world. But back then, movie stars were movie stars. There was class. There was integrity.

    Stroma: It was an economic boom. Things were happening. There was innovation It’s an incredible moment in history in America.

    Bowman: Music is great now, but music was amazing. And acting, that’s what it’s like to shift as well from “the stage” to people who were just like embodying characters, inhabiting characters, and you’re like, how do they do that? Brando, James Dean, Monty Clift. All those amazing actors. Yeah. “[A] Streetcar [Named Desire],” to me, that was the time acting in movies changed — it was Brando in “Streetcar,” coming in and going, “Wait, he’s being real.” And you look and you go, people do that now. People weren’t doing that back then. He was so present.

    Really, the key relationship in this show is the two of you. Tell me about finding your give and take as actors as you started playing the role and circling around each other.

    Bowman: Straight off the bat, it was fairly easy, for me anyway. I think the majority of the time it was get what we need from the scene and why we’re saying what we’re saying, but we already had a rapport to do that. We had fun. It’s not uber, uber drama, but it is in a world that’s dramatic. At the heart of it, there’s a lot of banter, a lot of give and take, push and pull, and we both provide that I think — I hope — for the audience.

    Stroma: Also, we’re not just playing friends. We’re playing two people who every scene we have with any other character, they’re from a different time period. So whenever we have a scene together, we are finally speaking to someone who’s from our time period. So we can actually connect in the way that we are used to. That’s why I love those scenes with us.

    “You’re a psychopath, but you get me.”

    Stroma: “You’re crazy, but you know who I am.”

  • Even During the Current Culture Wars, Carrie Brownstein Says ‘Portlandia’ Will Put Absurdity First

    IFC presents Brockmire and Portlandia“Portlandia” star and co-creator Carrie Brownstein is still invested in exploring the absurdities of hipster culture — especially now that she feels we’re living in “the vernacular of the absurd.”

    At the ever-popular IFC Emmy and Peabody Award-winning sketch comedy series nears to a close of its seventh season, Brownstein admits that the show’s trademark off-kilter, often outrageous sensibility that both affectionately and savagely critiques a certain urban, socially sensitive lifestyle and philosophy may have an extra significance in the current historical moment characterized by culture wars marking the deep divide between left- and right-leaning Americans.

    But the absurdist humor, perfected by Brownstein and Fred Armisen, she promises Moviefone, is here to stay, because as she sees it, “it’s kind of the only way to make sense of everything.”

    Moviefone: So I’m curious: seven seasons in, I feel like maybe behind the scenes you do it either exactly the same as it’s always been, or you threw yourself some curve balls. Which was it this time around?

    Carrie Brownstein: I think there’s a bit of both, because I think we value a certain insularity in the process of the show. We know that it functions with a certain kind of specificity, with a certain kind of clumsiness, with a certain marginal outsider feel that we try to maintain.

    So yeah, we’re very nurturing about that, and kind of keeping that process the same in terms of writing and really trying to not take it for granted, because we do so many other things throughout the year. But then I think it’s important to have a sense of growth and dynamics, and bring a new perspective. You don’t want stasis.

    So it is kind of this balancing act of sort of keeping something that just feels solid, something from which to deviate, that is essentially your point of view or your sensibility, but then making sure that from that, that the choreography can change.

    At this point, what’s the ratio of concepts that are like, “That’s a version of something that really happened,” and “That’s just an idea that we ran with because it made us laugh just talking about the notion?”

    Often it starts with something that we’ve culled from real-life observations. But I think there is a real value that we place on imagination in the writers’ room, and being able to get to a place of absurdity or surrealism. So that kind of illogical, sometimes irrational thought, I think we really try to let that flourish in the room.

    I think there’s a checks and balances system. Some of our writers are much more logic-, story-, narrative-based, and then you have Fred, who is a real champion of the tangent, and champion of the oddities. So I think it works. We try to do both.

    Is there anything in the current season where the actual story that inspired it is maybe even funnier than the sketch version?

    I don’t know if it’s funnier than the sketch version, per se. You could talk about our men’s rights movement, and think that, I don’t know if the real life is funnier, I think it’s somewhat more tragic. That to me seems just almost stifling, and the reality of it is stifling and more dangerous, and kind of more far-reaching than I think anything that we were even grappling with.

    And a totally opposite thing, Laurie Metcalf, who’s such a brilliant, funny actor who did two sketches on our show, which is amazing — that bathroom soundproofing thing, which is a weirdly relatable office culture situation, that was based on the office that we wrote in. Only Fred would get a writers’ room with a bathroom in the middle of the room. So I think that in some ways was funnier.

    I think if you could see inside of our brains, I bet we were thinking about the bathroom like three hours out of the day, just out of discomfort. Anyway, I don’t even really love bathroom humor, but that really was ridiculous.

    Over the course of the season, when you were working on writing this, we’ve seen all these crazy socio-political divisions that have come up. Certainly, people want to put “hipsters” and “liberals” and whatever they feel about that culture into a certain box. Did that affect the way you were writing in this particular season? Is it going to affect the way you’re writing?

    It’s definitely something that Jonathan Krisel, our writer/director, brought up earlier. I do think that we’ve always thought of the show as having an earnestness, and not being mean-spirited, because we see ourselves within these characters. To me, it’s an exploration of identity, exploration of place, and the ways people discord.

    We do feel, I think, protective in some ways of just who we are and sort of seeing this weird, highly partisan kind of culture war right now, and you I think are more aware of vulnerable populations, and what people are fighting for, who feels disenfranchised. So I think there’s that as kind of a thinking, feeling person, but in terms of comedy, I was just re-reading Sontag’s “On Camp” and thinking about dethroning the serious, and just getting to a place where you can be serious about the frivolous, and frivolous about the serious, and it’s OK to get in there.

    And to be honest, I feel like we are in the vernacular of the absurd right now. So, to me, I don’t necessarily want to let up on being pithy or let up on pointedness for the sake of sincerity, because we’ve always incorporated heart in the show. But perhaps the characters, through them we can elaborate on some of our own fears and anxieties right now. But I don’t want to forego humor or absurdism now, because in some ways, it’s kind of the only way to make sense of everything.

    I imagine with that affectionate satirizing that you do of the “Portlandia” culture, you don’t want the affection that you have to enable somebody else’s anger towards it.

    No, not at all. It’s really hard to sort of keep that in consideration. I think in some ways, we just have to keep approaching it from a creative standpoint. Our mission is to make a good show. I don’t necessarily think that we can completely upend what we do. I’m excited, I guess, for the journey.

    With the guest stars you’ve got this season, how many were recruited by you guys, and how many came to you and said, “Can I please come play?”

    It’s always a mix of both, and unfortunately, it just comes down to logistics. I run into people all the time that say they would love to be on the show, and that we would be honored to have them, and then everyone’s busy, everyone’s on three shows. That’s not even hyperbolic.

    Yeah, but we’ve always been lucky in terms of guest stars and collaboration, and people wanting a milieu in which to improvise and play. We continue to just be fortunate in terms of who we get. Someone like Claire Danes or Laurie Metcalf. Or we have like Damian Lillard from The Blazers, or the band Run the Jewels. It’s all over the place, but they all sort of make sense in our world.

    Is your collaboration with Fred, is it a safe constant, or does it evolve? Have you found an evolution in the way you guys work together?

    I think any partnership has to evolve. Change has to be part of the equation. I don’t know. Stagnation just feels pernicious in terms of oneself, or any kind of relationship. But again, I think you’re always trying to sort of solidify the foundation.

    So you kind of have to go back and make sure that’s solid, and then from there, I think it’s a real trust fall to get to experiment and grow with someone. So we definitely try to evolve, but only because we kind of keep going back and making sure that we’re good. OK, there’s solid ground there. It’s an interesting balancing act.

    Is there something that you know you can do to make him laugh hard, and vice versa?

    Yes, any time I raise my voice or scream, he finds that very funny. I don’t know — I feel like Fred can make me laugh almost all the time. But he has some fallback bits that he does, that I think he knows I laugh at because I’m half annoyed that they still get me to laugh, yeah.

    What’s been taking up your time away from this show? Has there been something front and center on your plate?

    I wrote a memoir the other year, and now I’m writing a series of essays. And I’ve been directing more. I just finished one TV show, and I’m about to direct “Casual” at the end of this month. So I’ve really been enjoying that process as an extension of what my sort of writer/producer sort of skill set or interest. Directing to me is really wonderful and challenging.

    Have you ever gotten any hint that you might come back to “Transparent”?

    I don’t think so. Who knows? I feel like the Pfeffermans, they really bring people through their meat grinder and spit you out the other side. Who knows? But I would love to. But I also feel like Jill [Soloway] and all the writers are all so good at being true to the narrative of that show, and the growth of the characters. Sometimes I think when they say goodbye to people, that’s a permanent door-close.

    Have you had much room for music?

    Yeah. Sleater-Kinney put out a record I guess in 2015. We did a handful of shows in 2016, but mostly now I’ll just start writing. So I always try to keep that as part of my life.

    Is that a simple pleasure in your creative life?

    Oh, it’s definitely not simple! Playing live maybe has a sort of ease to it, even though the stakes always feel high. But writing is just as challenging as anything I do.

    “Portlandia” airs Thursdays on IFC.

  • Why ‘The Detour’ Fits Natalie Zea to a Tee

    2016 Turner UpfrontIt’s a detour Natalie Zea is very glad she took.

    The actress has always been known for making adventurous and diverse choices in her TV roles, from her breakout stint on “Dirty Sexy Money” to extended stints on admired series like “Justified,” “Californication,” and “The Following,” but it was the offbeat TBS comedy “The Detour” — produced by “Full Frontal” host The Daily Show” colleague — that Zea’s gotten to truly show off her flair for comedy … and really edgy, borderline inappropriate comedy at that.

    As the series — which features Zea and Jones as hapless and often hopelessly misguided parents on an extended and constantly ill-fated family vacation when Jones’ character secretly loses his job — returns for a second season to once again blend bawdy antics with sophisticated sitcom subversion, the actress joined Moviefone to reveal just why the show fit Zea to a tee.

    Moviefone: These poor, well-meaning people, who make such questionable decisions. Tell me what got you excited when you heard the plans for the second season.

    Jason [Jones] has, I hope he doesn’t mind me saying, but he’s pretty much got the first five or six seasons mapped out already. So this is something that we kind of knew about early on. We didn’t know exactly how it was going to take shape.

    I knew, I guess, around the end of the first season, that Season 2 was going to focus a lot on my character, and because I’m an actress, we always love that. So I had a long hiatus to gear up for it. I’ve seen the first three episodes, and it’s even more ridiculous. I don’t understand how that happened. It’s way edgier, I think, even than the first season.

    Tell me a little bit about what we’re going to see with Robin. I know that the landscape’s going to change and we’re going to learn a little bit more about her backstory. What can you say about what’s around the corner?

    This season, Robin has a defined waist, because the actress playing her isn’t pregnant anymore — so that’s a really big deal! In addition to that, there’s a lot of costume changes. There’s one episode in particular where you get to see the genesis of the past that’s coming to surface to haunt me. You get to see kind of the genesis of how that comes about. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say there’s some flashbacks. We like to do that on the show.

    We’re kind of all over the place. It’s not necessarily about New York. It’s still about mostly mine and Jason’s characters as a couple, and how we, like you said, we’re very well-meaning, but we’re just big f*ck-ups. You just get to see more of us f*cking up.

    That, to me, is the amazing trick of the show: keeping these characters likable while they make really bad mistakes and questionable decisions.

    It’s so hard. It’s so hard. I give all the credit to Jason Jones, because he makes it look really effortless, but really, it’s just what’s on the page and the characters that he’s created.

    For you as the actor, what’s the fun of finding that edge to teeter on, and to play her with a certain reality, but also be able to get away with the more outrageous stuff?

    As a woman working in television, something that we have to contend with a lot is the “likability factor.” There are a lot of executives out there who get very scared when they feel as though the viewers are going to dislike a female character. It’s really ingrained into the TV zeitgeist. And Jason doesn’t care. He doesn’t worry about that. He doesn’t need her to be likable.

    I think with that freedom, I don’t think she’s less likable because we don’t care, I think we’re just not worried about it. And not being worried about it, we tend to be able to find really interesting, fun, creative ways to just let her express who she is, and not worry about, ooh, is that going too far? Who cares? It’s cable. Nobody cares.

    I feel like, too, from the choices you’ve made throughout your career, you’ve never cared too much about it. You’ve been real willing to leap off the cliff with characters.

    Yeah, I’ve never really understood it. Obviously, I feel it’s a double standard. I’ve just been sort of perplexed about it from the beginning. I don’t know. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know when we got caught up in making sure that women characters needed to be — I mean, relatable, yes. And I think that may have been where we got a little mixed up. I want the characters I play to be relatable. I want people to understand them and to be able to recognize themselves in them, but they don’t necessarily have to be parts of themselves that they like. That’s I think what draws me to the characters that I choose.

    With this show, have you heard feedback from the viewers about the ways they do relate to Robin?

    Yeah. People are like, “Wow, Robin’s such a …” — “people,” meaning the status quo. You’re supposed to say Robin’s a really bad mom, but at the same time, there are women and men who relate to these people as parents. I certainly do. I’m a parent. Maybe I shouldn’t be saying this out loud, but I don’t think that all of what she does it questionable. The decisions she makes as a mom are all very earnest, and good-intended. They’re sometimes wrong, but I think that’s kind of what parenting is.

    So I think people really relate and really respond, and I think people are very surprised when they watch the show. It’s not what it appears to be initially, and then once you kind of delve deep into it, you realize that, yes, it’s hilarious, and there’s a lot broad comedy, and it’s ridiculous and gross. But at the core of it, it’s about these two people that people can very much relate to, even on a kind of sentimental level even.

    I love the notion that you’re playing this mom finding her way very awkwardly, just as you’re becoming a mom yourself.

    I know, I know! It’s very strange timing. It’s good. I think it’s certainly important for the character. We were shooting a scene early on, and we were on a really busy New York street. We were kind of in traffic. After we were done with the scene, the director yelled cut, and we were walking back to the first position, and I found myself wrangling the kids. Sort of getting in front of them, between them and the traffic, and Jason looked at me and said, “You didn’t have that instinct last year.” I was like, “Yeah, I know, I didn’t care.”

    When you’re a mom, you just relate to children differently. So I think that being able to do scenes with these kids, even though they’re much older than my daughter, I think there’s a depth there. It can’t exist unless you’ve experienced it.

    Not just as a mom, but as an adult, what kind of reaction have you had when the kid actors are exposed to some of the raunchier material that the show is doing? Has there been a weird like, “Um … ?”

    They’re so cute about it. They’re so good. Because they are older this year, they’re teenagers now, so they’re in a very different place than they were when we met them in the pilot. By the way, of the cast, of the four people in the cast, the kids are by far the most mature. Jason and I are just 11-year-old boys, but these kids, they handle it really well.

    They don’t shy away from the fact that they’re maybe a little embarrassed, maybe a little uncomfortable, and they’re very open about that, and humble, and sort of upfront, and yet they’re able to kind of just shrug it off and let it be what it is. They have great parents, and they’re handling it so much better than I think I would at their age.

    Now that you and Robin have a waist, are you going to be the subject of more of the blurred-out-nudity burden that Jason has carried through much of the first season?

    When I told him I was pregnant, before we shot Season 1, I saw his mind. He was like, “OK, that’s great, that’s great …” But I could see in his eyes, I could see him going through, because he’d written the entire season. I could see him going through, “OK, that’s not going to work, that’s not going to work …”

    He’d written all these stunts for me to do that I couldn’t do. So I just assumed in Season 2 I’d be doing massive amounts of stunts. I don’t do all that many, I have to admit, which I can’t believe he didn’t take advantage of. There are a couple, though. There are a couple things that I would never have been able to do last season. As far as the nudity goes, there’s not a lot. He knows I’m up for anything. I actually did more nudity in Season 1 than I did in Season 2. Because he’s a pervert.

    You have the boss in for a guest spot: Samantha Bee stops by for a fun role. What was that experience like having her be able to join you guys for the fun on set?

    I didn’t get to go — I wasn’t there! That was one of the few days that I wasn’t there. She was on the set for the entire pilot. Then, for Season 1, she definitely made an appearance throughout. This season, she’s, like, busy saving the world. So we didn’t really get to see her much. So I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t in that day. But we feel her presence.

    Were there some more fun guest stars that you’re able to talk about that you did get to directly work with?

    Laura Benanti is doing a big arc on the show, of Broadway fame. She’s extraordinary. Who else can we talk about? James Cromwell — he’s in the previews, so I can talk about him: he’s a legend and wonderful. Daniella Pineda, who’s not really guest star, who plays my sister. She’s a regular on the show, but she makes a couple of really funny appearances.

    General Hospital.” Big fan favorite, and he and I did a film together a few years ago, and we were looking for somebody to play this part, and I said, “I’ve got the guy.” So it was fun to be able to work with him. So those are a few to mention.

    Even with your gameness to go wherever the show wants to go, has anything given you at least a moment’s hesitation just figuring out how you’re going to pull it off?

    Every day. Every single day we show up and I say, “There’s no way we’re going to be able to do this.” For various reasons, whether we’re not going to have time, or this is way too big, or the network will never let us do this horrible, disgusting thing. Or I don’t know how to act my way through the scene.

    I had a really, really tough issue this year that I didn’t have last year, about breaking during scenes with laughing, and not being able to control myself. And I got really mad at myself. I remember I came home one day. I told my husband, I’m like, “I’m not good at this, this thing that I’m doing. It’s really unprofessional, and it’s not how I do things. I’m really upset with myself.” I talked to Jason, and Jason was like, “I hadn’t really noticed.” So he’s not paying attention.

    Yes, I had a really hard time with that. Everything else we somehow ended up pulling off, and if we didn’t, we found a solution that was just as gross or raunchy or edgy or naked, that was even better than the first idea.

    What’s your favorite edgy comedy? What’s the thing that shaped your sense of humor to the point that you could easily do a show like this?

    I really love “The Larry Sanders Show,” from way back in the ’90s.

    One of my very favorite shows of all time, ever, period. Love that show.

    Right? Yeah, wonderful. It covers all the bases. I think it was way ahead of its time, even though, when you watch it, it’s dated, but the concept of it is so modern, and the humor is so dry, and yet sometimes so big, and you can’t believe it’s working. It’s sort of the perfect comedy I think.

    What’s left on your bucket list? You’ve had a really great career with both regular series, with films, with being able to pop into shows for a while or for a one-shot. What’s still on the bucket list for you to accomplish as an actress?

    Oh God — geez, that’s such a great question. If you had asked me that a year and a half ago, I would have said, “I just really want to do a comedy, man. I just really, really want to do a comedy.” So now I have to think about that. I appreciate you putting that bug in my ear, because I don’t know. I don’t know.

    I think you’ve got a while to keep going with the comedy. I think this is working out well for you right now.

    Thanks. I really enjoy it.

    You’ve got time to think about the next thing.

    OK! All right, good!

    “The Detour” Season 2 premieres tonight (February 21st), on TBS.

  • The Importance of Being Ernie Hudson

    ENTERTAINMENT-US-FILM-PREMIERE-SPACEMANErnie Hudson‘s been at this acting thing for four decades now, and it’s certainly paying off.

    Not only has Hudson racked up credits in projects that are acclaimed (“Oz”), beloved (“Grace and Frankie,” Epix’s “Graves”; Showtime’s upcoming “Twin Peaks” revival; and, most recently, Fox’s offbeat crime procedural “APB,” playing the grounded voice of an experienced law enforcement veteran who is nevertheless intrigued by the plans of a tech billionaire (Justin Kirk) to introduce some innovative crime-fighting tools to a crime-ridden district in Chicago.

    It’s the latest addition to the array of cop types played by Hudson, who shared memories of his own volunteer service and points out some of his favorite roles in conversation with Moviefone.

    Moviefone: You’re busy all the time … always! What was it that you saw in this character and in “APB.” that made you want to be a part of it?

    Ernie Hudson: If I’m honest, I love the fact that they liked me enough to offer me the role, and to not bite me for what I asked for. I read the script, loved the script. I thought it was really wonderful. I was a fan of Justin Kirk, but my character, I wasn’t sure what it was in the beginning because it just wasn’t really clear. I had so many questions, that have been since answered very well, very nicely, so I’m really excited.

    I love this character, and I love this guy who I’ve sort of discovered as we’ve gone along. About the third episode, they begin to really write and bring the character forward. I was sitting there going, two guys, “What am I doing here? I know they’re paying me a lot of money” — or they’re paying me a fair amount of money! — but yeah, I get the importance of this guy, and I get this character, and it’s probably one of the most enjoyable roles I’ve played anywhere. But it took me a while.

    I can’t say that’s the reason I took the part, but I always appreciate when people say, “OK, we like your work and we want to work with you.”

    I like the energy that you brought to Conrad, the voice of reason in this high-energy, turn-on-a-dime scenario.

    Yeah. I think so much stuff is going on, some of it I don’t totally understand, certainly the character doesn’t understand. But I think he’s a guy who has to say, “Wait a minute, we’re grounded in something and we can’t lose that. We can’t lose our place.” I think he wants to support this change. It’s a big change, but he also recognizes that the old way doesn’t work, and we’re losing ground every day. So the idea of something new coming in, but also doesn’t want to just sort of let everything just go.

    So he’s the guy who has to say “no” sometimes, and he’s the guy who brings things back to the reality. And there’s a reason why we do procedure the way we do, and it’s important, so we can’t lose that. But on the other hand, we have to go to a different place. And this guy has some ideas and things that my character’s feeling is, if it works, I want something that works. He’s never been in a position to be able to say that.

    Before [Justin Kirk’s character, Gideon Reeves] comes along and I’m made captain, I’m sergeant, and I’m following orders that I don’t particularly agree with, seeing things happen in the department that I don’t like. He also lives in the neighborhood that is least served, having seen it fall apart over the last 50 years, but he still lives there. So it’s personal to him, that my other captain and a lot of the other people did get why it was so personal. So this is a chance that he never thought he’d have.

    He was really ready to throw the cards in and go, “You know what, I’ve been here, I’ve seen it.” He’s been passed over, and has to work out in his head, why I didn’t get that promotion. And I think there’s a resignation. And when [Gideon] comes in and everybody’s up in arms and doesn’t want to work with him, there’s a part of my character who goes, “Wait a minute, maybe this can be the difference that we need.”

    You’ve seen stuff that you had to turn and look another way. To my wife, who’s about to have a stroke with this whole turn of events and the political scene, I keep going, “Let it go, because we know what we had doesn’t necessarily work. We need something, whether this something, but maybe this something will lead to something else. I don’t know. But sometimes things turn, and that’s OK. I’m going to have to be OK with that.”

    So that’s kind of where my guy is, and to me it’s a wonderful character because he’s in a different place, and a place that he never, maybe on some level he thought he’d be, but it’s a chance to do something radical.

    Did they bring you anybody like him in real life to talk to or study?

    I met some of the other police people in Chicago, a couple of captains. In fact, we had a couple people working on the show. But I haven’t really met anyone. When I did “Oz,” I met the warden who I kind of based my character on, but I haven’t met anybody like this guy.

    I’m in Chicago, I don’t know if you saw the “60 Minutes” report a couple weeks ago, about the police there, arrests have been dropped by two-thirds. The shootings — and I’m standing on the streets, I’m there — it’s definitely a disconnect. So yeah. We’re shooting in Chicago. Part of it is just how I reason or imagine, but I haven’t met anybody yet quite like that. I’ve done police roles, and did the ride-alongs. I think if I were a captain, this is how I’d feel.

    Tell me about those ride-alongs. I used to cover police and crime and used to go out with the undercover guys. What’s fun and maybe scary about a ride-along for you?

    Yeah. The hardest part for me in doing the ride-alongs, I did a television show called “10-8” a few years back. We were in Compton, and then we were — a couple different ride-alongs over the years. Also, I was with the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department. I was a volunteer Sheriff for about 20 years, actually. It’s interesting. It’s not the kind of work I could do.

    Also, it’s part of a system. It’s not just a cop who makes a decision, but it’s a cop who’s doing his part of the job, but then once you introduce this person to this other part, then it can get out of control. It’s a very complicated business, and I could not do it. I’ve talked to a lot of cops. I used to, because I’m not with them anymore, have to go and qualify. The choices that they make, yeah, I don’t totally understand it. It’d be a little hard.

    It’s interesting. There’s something, especially in Chicago, because the possibility that something can go wrong, and suddenly, what seems like a typical thing turns into a life/death thing. Yeah, it’s not a life I want. I appreciate those who do.

    You’ve had such a busy career, and everybody knows you from “Oz,” everybody knows you from “Ghostbusters.” But if people are fans of that work or find you on this show, what are some of your favorite jobs — projects that you’d say, “Hey, check out this movie? I really like that movie. I really like what I did in that movie.”

    Right. Maybe that’s a good thing, because people don’t always connect the characters — big fans of “The Crow,” but didn’t know that it was the guy from “Ghostbusters.” Or “Oz” or whatever, “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.”

    There are a few movies: I love “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” and I love “Congo.” I love “Congo.” “Congo” was so much fun. People either love “Congo,” or really hate it. I thought, “What’s the hate? I had a great time!” “The Substitute.” There’s been a few.

    I’d like to do more feature stuff. I’ve got three TV shows going right now. But it would be great to find a great feature to kind of get in. It’s a whole different kind of work. Yeah, but also, I’m at a point now I’m not worrying about it. It’d be great if it happens, but I’m good.

    Justin Kirk brings such a fun energy to anything he does. What’s fun about taking your guy’s energy and bouncing it against Justin’s?

    I love Justin. I will say this. I don’t think I’ve ever told him this, so it’s kind of odd saying in public: what I like about Justin is he brings this unique energy to his character, which makes, obviously, my guy is a kind of grounded guy, so essentially to play off of that kind of reminds me of my kids in a way. So that’s all well and good.

    What I really admire about him, two things: he’s always on point. We’re working, people come in and they’re kind of not — Justin is always prepared. I’ve never seen him not on point. That’s kind of unusual, especially for young people. I do “Grace and Frankie.” Those guys are always on point — that’s the old school. You better be on point when you show up there. Justin is always there.

    But what I really like most about him? I like the way he treats the crew and the extras, and just people in general. He’s just such a nice person, and not because he has to be. I don’t know how that sounds. I’ve worked with a lot of people. Some people have a different approach. Some actors feel they can’t talk to anybody or whatever. I like the way he carries himself, and I appreciate it, because I haven’t seen that in a lot of people I’ve worked with. To me, it’s important.

    When you’re the first guy on the call sheet, it sets the tone.

    Yeah, absolutely. I’ve worked on some shows that people are like insane. I’m like, really? But you’re right. It gives everybody else the excuse to be, and he does it. He’s there, he’s 100%. Yeah. I don’t normally say that about many people, but I do appreciate him. But it’s a great cast. Everybody is. But he does set the tone.

  • ’24: Legacy’ Star Miranda Otto Is as Big a ’24’ Fan as You Are

    '24: LEGACY' Premiere Event - ArrivalsAn aspiring First Lady who also knows how to break a confession out of a terrorist cell member? That’s the kind of FLOTUS Miranda Otto could get behind.

    For “24: Legacy,” the Australian actress (“Homeland,” “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King“) has taken on the role of Rebecca Ingram, the former head of the shadowy and clandestine Counter Terrorist Unit who now finds herself in the very public political spotlight of her Senator husband’s presidential campaign — just when her valued CTU operative Eric Carter needs her help the most. And, as she tells Moviefone, as much as she’s reveling in the intrigue, she’s also hoping to see a little “24”-style action, too.

    Moviefone: Where did “24” fit in your head, in your life prior to getting involved with the project? Were you a fan of the show? Did you binge the show?

    Miranda Otto: Yeah, I binged the show when it first came out. My manager was actually also Kiefer [Sutherland‘s] manager. So when the show first came out, I was staying with her, and she had it on the TV — or she had DVDs; I can’t remember what the format was then that she had it on, but she had it all there. I think it was somehow on the TV, and I could pull it all up.

    I was meant to be studying for auditions, but it was so addictive, I couldn’t stop watching it. Then I went out and bought the DVD set to take home to Australia with me to show my friends. I was a big fan!

    It was really a turning point of bringing a cinematic style to television.

    Yeah, and that was the beginning really of the whole kind of change in television, I think. Like you say, to bring that filmic quality. Also, the format was so compelling and strong. To take on something that was so challenging to write.

    You’ve had your experience with “Homeland.” You knew the production team, you knew that territory. What did you want to bring to “24: Legacy” when you got involved in this project? How did you see how you were going to fit in and what you were going to be able to do with the property?

    I read the script, and obviously I’d worked with Howard [Gordon] before on “Homeland.” I was looking for something else to do after “Homeland,” but I didn’t want to play a mom. I wanted to play another role that was intelligent and challenging. So when this came along, I liked the script so much. I’d been a fan of the show, but I felt like this script seemed to be very current. It didn’t feel like it was the show that was on then. It felt like it was the show of what’s happening today in the world of terrorism. It had a fresh, new look at it.

    And I was very keen to work in the world of intelligence again, because I found that fascinating and challenging to work in. I just found it intellectually invigorating, and enjoyed that about it. It was great that they’d written a female character who was, or was just leaving, being the head of an intelligence agency, because that doesn’t really happen very much in real life. It’s men. It’s always men. It is kind of the man’s world. There are many women who work in it, but there’s something very masculine about that world.

    So I was interested to see what that would be, and I thought that it was great that they’d set it up that it was that part of her life, but the other part of her life is that she was potentially about to be a First Lady, where traditionally still, as a First Lady, I think you’re seen a someone who has to bring this femininity to the White House, and bring female concerns, and what would that transition be like moving from the world of CTU, which is a very masculine world, into a very female role, an iconic female role, for this country? How do you become that? How do you put aside your past and some of the more brutal aspects of your past, and transition into being a female archetype?

    It must have been fascinating for you, while making the show, to watch what was happening in the American political system.

    Hell yeah! Being from Australia, I’ve always read about American elections, but I never really, truly understood the election process, because the election process in Australia is very similar to the UK — it’s the Westminster system. It’s pretty easy to understand. Your system is, like, so convoluted. It goes on for so long.

    I’m fascinated also by how many Americans I would talk to who didn’t truly understand the way the system worked. I’d say like, “So who decides who the delegates are? These people have a lot of power.” Nobody seemed to know who decided who the delegates were. How do you get to be the delegate?

    Yeah, so living here, I thought it was a great chance to actually follow that. But yes, of course, for the show as well — but whoever was writing that election, they’re very complicated writers, those ones!

    For your role, to imagine that here’s a woman who’s worked in the shadowy underworld of operations, to being in the white hot glare of the spotlight and the media — that has got to be pretty daunting, in some ways, for her to make that shift.

    Yes. I think like all those things in life that are huge transitions, you kind of have an idea of it, and I think she has an idea of it. If that happens, if there’s a Season 2 and that happens, I think it will be, like I don’t think anything can ever prepare you for being at the White House. I don’t think anyone could ever tell you. It’s like being president. I don’t think, as smart and wise as you could be, I don’t think anyone could prepare you for what it would be like to be in that job.

    You’ve worked on some pretty epic-sized film productions. Coming to “24,” which is the Maserati of television productions —

    That’s true! It’s super fast.

    How did it compare? You’ve been in films where they have all the resources at their disposal, and now so does this show, on a TV scale. Tell me about the comparison between the two. What was surprising getting into the “24” way of shooting things?

    It was interesting, on the pilot, Stephen [Hopkins], when he was shooting the show, he very much likes to keep takes going. There isn’t a focus on, like on a film, you will more do a wide, and then we’re really going to be more in close-up for that. There’s a part on films, where you’re kind of pulling it apart into sections, and you kind of know as an actor, “Well, the money shot for this will be when we’re in close-up. What they’re really grabbing from this is the entry into the door.”

    With this, you never know when they’re going to cover what, and you never know, in the way that they cover it, who exactly they’re going to be on at what time. So in that way, it’s a little more like … not theater, but it’s a little more like you rehearse it, and then they’re going to swing around and catch different things. You kind of have to be on your game all the time. It’s faster than film, definitely, particularly with this show.

    No matter what position somebody’s in on this show, there’s always the potential for action. How does she feel about the potential for action? She’s probably figured that she’s seen those days before, and how did you feel about it?

    I really like the idea of action. I want to be involved in action, and there will be some stuff in there. I actually really enjoyed that part of it in “Homeland,” where it got a bit dirty. I found that really fun to do, so I’m keen for that kind of stuff.

    For her, I think there are probably certain parts of action that she’d like to leave behind. I don’t think people in the intelligence world ever retire. I think that once you’ve opened your eyes to that part of the world, and you have that awareness, you can never be unaware. So I think there’s a strong allegiance between the people who have worked in it, and I think they’re still drawn together and still very much have a lot of friends within that community, and I think they always walk into situations thinking of all the worst things that can happen. Once you become aware, you can’t become unaware.

    How crazy is it that “24” is coming back right at the time we’re having this big national discussion about intelligence?

    I know. I have such a respect for the intelligence community and the work that they do. So much of it they can’t talk about, so people take it for granted, the work that is done, and the passion, commitment, and devotion that the people within it have to do this work, because it’s not financial …The rewards in it are not financial. They’re definitely about service to the country.

    Did they bring you one or two people that are similar to her to talk to as you prepared for the role? And did they bring you any women that have been in that world?

    When I was on “Homeland,” there was a consultant for the show, a guy called John McGaffin, who is retired from the CIA. When I was doing “Homeland,” I used to speak to him all the time about the scripts. So he’d read all the scripts, and he would give me advice on stuff. I’d ask him lots of questions. We created a backstory, all of that. And I still speak to him, and I was recently in Washington with Howard, because “Homeland” was winning an award. I met with John, and he connected us for lunch with a number of people in the intelligence community. And there was one particular woman there who was very inspiring.

    It was great to hear her perspective — not as a woman, but her perspective on what’s going on today, but to see it from a woman’s point of view, just hearing that. Those kind of experiences have been really helpful. That’s a very special thing about being an actor, is you get into rooms and meet amazing people that I wouldn’t have gotten to meet otherwise. We’re very privileged in that way.

    Without spoiling anything, are you able to tell me your favorite day on set?

    It’s so hard! I have favorite scenes, but favorite day on set? It’s tricky with spoiling stuff. We’re still shooting, and we’ve still got stuff to go. There was a particular scene with Jimmy [Smits] that I really enjoyed, because I thought it was a really interesting argument, and really at the crux of what the show is about. I was trying to convince him about something that was very personal to him, had really personal repercussions for him. But I was on the side of what the country needs. I found that argument really compelling, and I really enjoyed that scene.

    Tell me that moment when you found out Jimmy was going to be your guy.

    They were looking for someone for president, and I was thinking, “Gosh, I hope they find somebody who you could believe could be president, who has the charisma, and the weight, and the gravitas to play that.” I’ve seen some presidents in some shows, and I think, I don’t really believe that they would have made it all the way through. There have been some actors cast as president who seem to me bland, or wishy-washy, or I just don’t believe that they’re defined enough as a person. I was thinking, “Who are they going to get? Who are they going to get?”

    Then when they mentioned Jimmy, I was like, “Oh my God, he’d be so perfect!” Because he just has that strength of character as a person. He’s such a beautiful person to work with. And he’s so physically big and has all that strength, but he’s very gentle as a person. I could see people voting for Jimmy for president. That’s like, “Jimmy, run. Run for president! Please!”

  • Director Gore Verbinski Had a ‘Cathartic’ Experience Making ‘A Cure for Wellness’

    Gore Verbinski‘s “A Cure for Wellness” (out this weekend) is a bold, visionary horror epic that’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s the kind of gonzo masterpiece that will be studied over and picked apart for years to come, and it’s clear, from almost the opening frame, that it’s a movie that only Verbinski could have made. And beyond it being a new Gore Verbinski movie, it’s a wholly original film –one that has scope and scale and visual complexity. That’s almost unheard of!

    The film follows Lockhart (Dane DeHaan), a young Wall Street operative with questionable moral fiber, who accepts a job from his superiors to retrieve one of the founders of the company, who has been holed up in a mysterious German spa (the founder, Lockhart is told, is necessary for an important company merger). But this spa, as anyone who has seen a trailer for the movie (or looked at its ominous poster) can attest, isn’t quite right … Saying anymore would be downright criminal. But just know that this is a genuinely creepy movie that will stay with you long after you leave the theater.

    I jumped on the phone with Verbinski to talk about the creative rejuvenation “A Cure for Wellness” represented (his last film was the outrageously underrated “The Lone Ranger“), where the idea for the film came from, what his “Bioshock” movie would have been like, and how excited he was to be scaring the hell out of people again.Moviefone: Where did this idea come from?

    Gore Verbinski: Well, Justin Haythe, the writer, and I were walking and talking about different ideas. We’re both fans of the novel by Thomas Mann, “The Magic Mountain.” That was a jumping off point. We were also talking about genre pictures of the ’70s and, in our favorite movies, there was always a sense of the inevitable — like a hidden, unseen force. And what if that was a sickness? What if the narrative is this illness that the protagonist doesn’t know about? It’s the black spot on your X-ray. So it’s the sense that he’s being drawn to this place that maybe has been there, above the clouds, watching mankind from industrial revolution and the advent of personal computers to our obsession with cell phones, and offering a diagnosis. And it evolved from there.

    What were your influences? It seems a lot like an old Vincent Price movie.

    [Laughs] Well, certainly. I’m an [H.P.] Lovecraft fan. We are firmly rooted in the Gothic. But cautiously, because with those movies the curtain closes and you go, “Well, that was then.” Because when movies really creep you out, they tap into some kind of contemporary fear. I think we’re living in an increasingly irrational world. The movie is more prescient now than it was when we made it in 2015. But if you try and tap into some feeling, I like to think the curtain closes, and because we’re diagnosing the modern man if you will, that it resonates when you think about it in a few days.

    There are a lot of unanswered questions in this movie. Do you and Justin know the whole history of the facility and everything?

    Sure, yeah. There’s a whole map. But I think letting it remain slightly enigmatic has value as well. I think, when you watch it the second time, you’ll see that it does add up. We really wanted to say, “OK, there’s this guy and as he gets closer to this place his cell phone stops working and his watch stops.” He’s entering the world of dream logic. It’s not a waking state. If we can get you nibbling at breadcrumbs rather leading you through the narrative, I think you prey upon your motivation to discover. If we just put things close together, it’d be easier to say, “Oh, that’s related to that.” But in a way, things can make sense in a dream.

    It seemed like this movie was an effort to get back to basics, but then it winds up being two-and-a-half hours long and looks like it cost $200 million.

    It’s the same budget as “The Ring,” it’s just that we had a really great tax incentive in Germany. I deferred my fee completely and we don’t have big movie stars, so there’s very little above the line. It’s all going on the screen. We are certainly not risk averse. It’s all up there. Look, if you can stay the right size you can stay mobile. I went to Germany in the winter of 2015 looking for castles and found this one. So it was great for exteriors but the interiors wouldn’t work. On the other side of Germany we found this abandoned hospital that had graffiti all over it and vines. So we tore the vines off and repainted it. So we’re getting a lot of production value from traveling. If you can stay mobile, you can pick up a lot of production value from hitting the road.

    Did you feel creatively reinvigorated by the experience?

    [Laughs] Yeah, this was a reboot. It’s cathartic. I do think that it’s healthy to go to Germany and know nobody. It was a great chance to start over. You just grab a camera and make a movie.

    Was there any pushback from the studio for an original movie of this size?

    Well, the movie was produced by New Regency, which has a distribution deal at Fox. So they’re kind of a mini-major. They were very hands-off. We had a bag that was a quarter full but we had autonomy. So we had to figure it out. That’s the best way to operate if you want to try something different.I was on another set of another movie and your costume designer was saying that this was the weirdest movie she’d ever worked on, which I think you should wear as a badge of honor.

    You know, it’s good to be a little nuts. There’s just something nice about … Like the scariest part for me was on “Pirates 2” when the studio wasn’t nervous anymore. They’re smiling at you and going, “Just doing that thing you’re doing, we love it.” And you just go, “Holy sh*t.” So trying to find the brink of uncertainty. That’s where you want to be. You’ll find it. Certainly “Cure” is way out there on the horizon.

    Are you excited to scare people again?

    Yes. It’s a really great genre, in the sense that, in this case, you’re following Dan’s character as he reluctantly becomes a patient in this place. But really you’re the patient — you’re in the darkened room and we’re using sound and image and composition and performance to slow cook the audience. I think there’s something beautiful in that.

    It seems like the kind of timeless movie that people are going to be watching for a long time.

    It needs to find its core, you know? That’s harder and harder to do these days. We’re out there, we’re finding them, one by one. If it finds its champions, it’ll be OK.

    Can you talk about your composer, Benjamin Wallfisch? He seems to be part of your longtime collaborator Hans Zimmer’s crew. The music in the movie is so great.

    I’d never worked with him on all the movies I’d done with Hans. But I called Hans and said, “I know you’re not going to be able to do this but I don’t want to temp score this movie. I want somebody who is going to be with me for nine months.” That’s clearly going to take Hans out of the running. He recommended Ben and I really liked him. He’s very classically boned. We never put a piece of music against the picture that wasn’t original, which is really liberating. It’s like crack. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, especially if you’re using a composer’s other work against a movie. It’s inevitable you get close to that temp score. So it was really important to say, “We’re not going to go there.”

    Did you import any of the stuff you were working on for “Bioshock” into the thought process for this?

    You’re not the first person to ask me that, and I’m sure there’s something subliminal. I think most people are reacting to the big isolation tank. I wanted to build something that really felt real. This is a strange meta-science that is happening here. This place is old but it’s also operating in a kind of dream state. I needed the scale and I needed the pressure of all of this water and a place to put a camera and move around. So I went for it. And people said, “Oh, that looks really steampunk” or whatever. But the narrative is so different from “Bioshock.” We’re taking the tranquility and calm and purification of a wellness center and corrupting that, which is something else entirely.

    How cool was your “Bioshock” movie going to be? Just level with me.

    Well, we were going for it. We were going to push it all the way. There’s no half-measures. It was a letdown.

    Is there any chance of it being revived?

    I don’t know. When you’re eight weeks before shooting, that’s right in the transition; you’re no longer the architect, you’re the contractor. It’s like, “Now I just need to make it.” You enter triage mode. Most of the creative thought process takes place up until that moment and then it’s the forces of gravity and physical reality and weather and all of that comes to bear and you move and you dance. Part of me is like, “I made it.” That’s the hardest part. We’d need a new financier willing to take the risk. But it would take a lot of work to get to that point, before you’re ready to bite into it.

    You have a few things on the docket.

    You know that IMDb stuff is so out-of-date. That stuff is just ancient. There’s a few things that have been on the backburner because “Cure” has been all encompassing. I’m not sure which one is going to go yet. I don’t think any of them are on the Internet. That’s so funny. You ask questions and I go, “Where are you getting this? Oh, I should go online.”

    Is there any inclination for you to return to animation?

    Well that’s one of the back-burner projects that is hopefully going to get going. You’ll be the first to know. But I’m excited about doing animation again.

    “A Cure for Wellness” is out this Friday.

  • Go Behind the Scenes of Disney’s ‘Moana’ With Lin-Manuel Miranda

    On February 21st “Moana,” Walt Disney Animation Studios’ wind-swept adventure, splashes down on Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere (it’s out on Blu-ray on March 7th). And to celebrate this release, we’ve got an exclusive look at some of the features; this one takes you behind-the-scenes for a look at the film’s unique songwriting process.

    In the clip, you get to see Mark Mancina, a composer who has worked on such animated Disney classics as “Tarzan” and “The Lion King;” Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playright behind “Hamilton” (and an Oscar-nominee this year for another “Moana” tune, “How Far I’ll Go”); and South Pacific songwriter Opetai Foa’I, collaborate on “We Know the Way.” If you know and love “Moana” (and if you’ve seen it already, you love it), you know how important this song is, both in terms of setting up the movie’s central theme of finding your own calling and forming the narrative bedrock for Moana’s journey out to sea. And the song is just so good too.

    So seeing how it was formed, with three musicians from wildly different disciplines, is both inspiring and educational. Who else is ready to go on an adventure?“Moana” is on Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere on February 21st and on Blu-ray on March 7th.

  • ‘Training Day’ Stars Bonded Over Real-Life Street Gang Encounters

    2017 Winter TCA PortraitsThey’re not exactly playing a buddy-cop dynamic in their new CBS police drama “Training Day,” but Bill Paxton and Justin Cornwell have already bonded off-screen after some edgy ride-alongs with real-life cops and a shared love of classic films.

    The relationship between screen veteran Paxton — who plays the morally ambiguous, ends-justify-the-means detective Frank Roarke in a street-level LAPD crime unit — and emerging star Cornwell — whose rookie cop Kyle Craig has been assigned to infiltrate Roake’s team — is hardly the uneasy alliance their characters share. Off screen, the two actors enjoy a relaxed chemistry they cultivated in both the back seats of police cars and shooting the breeze about their favorite movies in between scenes.

    Paxton and Cornwell showed just how simpatico they are in a freewheeling chat with Moviefone, in which they recalled sharing some of their tensest moments researching in the streets of Los Angeles, and those performers that inspire them both — including original “Training Day” film star Denzel Washington.

    Moviefone: As actors, you do these ride-alongs with police to prep for roles like these. Tell me about those experiences — not even necessarily for the research, but just what you’re going through when things get a little freaky.

    Justin Cornwell: For me, it was just keeping my wits about me and not showing any of that fear. I feel like if you’ve got that, they’ll know it. I didn’t want to be like, “Oh, I’m afraid to talk to this person because he’s tatted out and he looks like he might …”

    Bill Paxton: This guy, Bob Deemer, he’s been working out of Newton division for 28 years. I went out with him a few times. He knows everybody. First thing, he pulls us into a park, and there are these OGs there, hang out in the park, play dominos, drink those 40s and stuff. They all knew me from films and stuff like that.

    Cornwell: “Weird Science“!

    Paxton: Yeah, “Weird Science.” We start talking to them, and then we went down another street, and there were these guys sitting out in front of a classic Hollywood stucco court. And he was saying, you know, “They did a drive by here. They shot about 100 rounds here. You can still see all the bullet holes and everything.” You see this one guy, and Bob’s in the car, he goes, “Yeah, man, you can tell: somebody’s marinated.”

    Cornwell: “Baked”?

    Paxton: Yeah, “He’s baked.” I don’t know what he said — whatever he said, it was weird. But it was weird because he was talking as if looking at this guy in the third person in a weird kind of way. Then he wants us to talk, and this guy wouldn’t talk to us at all. We’re seeing the other guys are kind of wary like, “What the hell is this?” And Bob tells them, “We’re not here to roust you or bust you or anything. They’re just actors and they want to talk to you.” I was like, “Oh hey, Mr. Gangster! Me and my partner, we’re actors.”

    “Help us workshop a scene.”

    Paxton: That makes me uncomfortable. I’m more the kind of guy that just kind of wants to just be the fly on the wall. I don’t want to interact with these guys. It was interesting. Bob was using my celebrity in terms of breaking the ice. But he knows everybody there. These guys spend all their professional lives — well, this guy did: 28 years in the same community. It’s a big area. It’s finite to them after a while. It was strange, but interesting stuff. Then we went over and those guys gave us those funky food, remember? Those Cambodian guys.

    Cornwell: Yeah. Beef jerky.

    Paxton: Yeah. That stuff was nasty! You’re trying to eat it, kind of look like they’re bonding with you. Again, it was cool that these Cambodian guys, ended up in this Bloods controlled neighborhood, and how they initially fought it out, but then earned each other’s respect. Now they all interact. Some of the Cambodian guys are in Blood gangs and stuff like that. It’s a whole other culture out there. It’s tough. It’s a hard part of town, man. Everything’s barred. It’s tough. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a cop every day like that.

    How do you take what you see out there and apply it?

    Paxton: This is what you do as an actor. You’re asked to take on a role, so you’ve got to go out and see how that role in the real world exists and how it works. So it’s skill of observation and research, then you add your imagination to that, and you build a character. And at the end of the day, you might find all kinds of stuff, great stuff, but that’s not what they’re doing in the show.

    Cornwell: Sometimes, also, going back to script stuff, you said, “Hey man, I heard this really great piece of lingo that they use. We could use that in the show,” and then it becomes a little more authentic.

    Paxton: Yeah. “Hey, how’d that cop say that when he made that call?” That’s the kind of stuff I’m making notes of. Just that stuff.

    Cornwell: Devil’s in the details.

    Paxton: Yeah. That work helps give the actor conviction of character. When you’re watching it, you believe that guy’s in that world. Everybody works differently.

    What’s interesting about this take on “Training Day” is that there’s so much middle ground to cover: It’s not a story of Justin’s character, Kyle, getting corrupted or Bill’s character, Frank, getting redeemed just yet. They’re sort of meeting in the middle, and we’re going to see where this goes. Tell me what that means to you, to be able to go in any different direction at this stage in the game.

    Cornwell: It’s fun for me. I love being able to take a character and find out what he’s doing. This is a brand-new situation for me. I’ve always done theater where my characters had a completed arc. You can imagine what they did, but you never really explored it. Here we get to explore that. We get to imagine what could happen.

    Paxton: Look, it’s a heightened reality. But we have to ground it so it’s not so heightened that it’s just like, “I can’t buy this.” Obviously, if we shot off that many rounds, and had that many round shot at us, I was saying, we would be not only Swiss cheese, but we’d be completely suspended or banned from working near any police force on any planet.

    It’s exciting stuff. It’s Jerry Bruckheimer bringing that kind of “Top Gun” sensibility to an hour drama on CBS. I think, for CBS, it’s kind of pushing the envelope a little bit. The networks, they’ve got to compete with a lot of good cable shows now that they never had to years ago. But when I said, I said something in there, I started to go off on it, I dig the idea of being in a populist show that is going out to places where they know they don’t get any kind of elite TV package or anything. They can’t afford it.

    It’s free TV stuff. Yeah, we’re going to be selling a lot of Viagra and everything else. It’ll get out there. These stories, at the end of the day, they have a moral. A lot of it is rough justice, but you have to sometimes fight fire with fire, and you have to stand up, and you’ve got to look out for the people who are your family. It’s about loyalty and compassion, but also having to do the hard thing … Here we’ve got a show that I feel is fun, it’s entertaining, there’s some moral issues involved, and let’s go.

    I’m sure you didn’t imagine, when this project got off the ground, how polarized this country was going to be by the time the show comes out. Here we are now, and I’m watching the show thinking there’s going to be a lot of people watching the show that are 100% with Bill from the first episode — “You’ve got to get the job done” — and the others are 100% with Justin going, “You’ve got to play by the rules.”

    Cornwell: I tell you, I saw the polarization. I’ve seen it my whole life.

    Paxton: I’m sure you have. He came from Louisville, Kentucky. He’s seen polarization.

    Cornwell: So I felt like the show was doing something where it could service a lot of different communities. It wasn’t just serving one side of that pole.

    Paxton: You’re right. These guys are integrating. They really are. They’re working in an integrated world, which a lot of people need to get with the program. Look, not getting into politics and all that. At the end of the day, is it entertaining? Is it at all informative? Is there a moral to it? It is a weird time. It sure as hell is.

    Is there a moment when you guys realized you found your level together? You’re going to be in this for the long haul, presumably.

    Cornwell: I know the moment, for me. The exact moment. We were at the table reading. It was the first time I met you. We didn’t test. We didn’t do any camera reads. It was at the table read, and I had memorized this speech, it was from the audition. And so I gave it to you off book at the table read, and you kind of had memorized your response, and you gave it to me back. And we had a moment where we had another line we forgot to look at the page. We had connected. That was the moment for me. I was just like, “This is going to be fun.”

    Paxton: Yeah. We’ve become good friends from this experience, because it’s an intense experience. You either bond fiercely, or it’s like, “Just let me out of here!” He’s a first class guy. He really is. He comes prepared to work, he wants to do a good job, there’s no bullshit, actor bullshit. It’s, how do we make this better? That’s all I’m about man, at the end of the day. We want to make good work, and that’s it.

    Bill’s got some pretty classic movies of his own on his resume. Justin, did you have a thought or feeling about Bill in your head that you had to get over the first time you met him?

    Cornwell: I told him a lot on the pilot that it was a big honor to work with him. Every single day, working on the show was a big honor. But you have to understand, being the movie-head that I was and that my family is, it was like doing a job with your uncle or something you’ve been watching your whole life.

    Paxton: Very quickly, too, he could see. I struggled to get through my day as far as trying to get it right.

    Cornwell: Demystified himself!

    Paxton: Yeah, I completely demystified myself pretty quick. Some of these speeches are tough. You’re trying to find them and doing them. But one thing is that he got from me — and we never talked about this — is you see I never throw in the towel. I keep going. And he does too. It’s a hard schedule. Just getting your rest and being ready for the next day. Obviously, if you’re rubbery on the stuff, it’s going to be a hard day for you.

    Cornwell: It’s a fight. But those days, some days when you’re on, I’m on, it’s just a great day. Smooth day, we got rest the night before. I think that’s the hardest part is sleep.

    Bill, who was somebody that was an icon in your head that you worked with or encountered that was like, “Whoa!” And then you got to see what he or she was as a person?

    Most of them I never really got to see what they’re really like. Jack Nicholson was the guy that I boiled down from. Jack — and why he’s so entertaining to watch — was he doesn’t just portray the character, but he relishes the portrayal. And in that relish, you as the audience are kind of relishing it, too. I try to bring that relish to Frank.

    And Denzel of course. Nobody can shuck and jive and f*ck around [like him] — and I worked with Denzel on “2 Guns” a couple years ago. I do my biggest scene in the movie with Denzel my first day. I was ready. It was a movie part, so I had time to prepare the role. But again, this guy would throw stuff into the scene as we started improvising a little bit. And boy, he’s quick. He’s fast. His mind is agile.

    Do you remember the first time you saw the movie “Training Day”?

    Cornwell: Yes!

    Paxton: That’s, like, his second favorite film.

    Tell me how it hit you. I’ve seen a million movies, but that hit me like a freight train.

    Cornwell: I watched it with my family for the first time. Being movie people, my family is the kind of family that watches all the movies. It doesn’t matter what’s in the movie. We’ll sit down as a family and watch that movie. When we watched it as a movie, it was just like, “Oh my God, did not see that coming!” Denzel, to African Americans, to anybody really, is this heroic guy. He automatically becomes a hero when you put him on screen. It’s like, “Oh my God, there’s Denzel.”

    Paxton: I hear you.

    Cornwell: That’s what it is. So once he’s on the screen, “Yes, Denzel … What’s he doing? No!” That’s what it becomes. You felt like you were betrayed by everybody who made that movie. Then you had to watch it again. Then you realize that this is a masterpiece.

    They knew what they were doing when they cast Denzel. Not only was he a great actor, he was an actor that people had already loaded their preconceived conceptions of what he does and who he plays inside of him. So when he comes into this character, they see it’s Denzel, but they didn’t have to suspend disbelief, by the end of the movie, you forget it’s Denzel. It becomes Alonzo Harris.

    That’s the magic trick, to be in front of somebody and be somebody else. And Denzel can do that, even when he’s already Denzel. He already has so much weight on him, already an Oscar for “Glory” and all these other movies. He can still take it off and put it back on.

    “Training Day” airs Thursdays on CBS.

  • From ‘Rogue One’ to ‘Powerless,’ Alan Tudyk Has Mastered His Comedic Voice

    NBCUniversal Press Tour - 2017What do a dryly witty, reprogrammed Imperial droid, “Moana‘s” oddball chicken Hei-Hei, the weaselly Duke of Wesselton, and, now, a clueless Wayne family scion have in common? They all either look, sound, or move a lot like Alan Tudyk.

    The past year marked a significant career high for the actor, who’s best known for his roles in fare ranging from “Firefly” and “Dollhouse” to “Suburgatory” and “Powerless.”

    Tudyk joined Moviefone for a look at his recent phenomenal run, including the perks of being a Disney voice and his notion to put K-2SO back on the big screen.

    Moviefone: Here you’ve steadily built a career as an actor, you’re working all the time, and then all of a sudden you have a year like the last year that you’ve had. Tell me a little bit about what it’s been like to have this very special moment in your career, walking into “Powerless” along with all the great things that have just happened.

    Alan Tudyk: It’s great, now that we’ve started 2017, that a lot of things — “Star Wars” came out, and I finished “Con Man,” and it is now about to be all fully released and the season will be out. Obviously, “Moana” is out — I can focus solely on “Powerless.”

    It was all very thrilling and dizzying, and now it’s great to be here just focusing on “Powerless.” I don’t know that, I guess, because it was so busy and so many things were happening at once, I really understood what was involved — I also got married, so that was a fun thing to put in the middle of it all. It was actually the best thing last year.

    Yeah, you’re right. It was a very full year. And now, I can’t wait for people to see “Powerless.” I love that it’s part of the sci-fi world, and sort of in keeping with so many things that I’ve done now. It’s nice to have some continuity.

    The genre field has been good to you, and you have been good to it. So tell me what was creatively exciting about being able to probe for the comedy in the world of superheroes with “Powerless” — and especially playing a character that we’ve learned is related to Bruce Wayne himself.

    I think it’s a blast! DC tends to be a little bit more serious, I think, than Marvel, absolutely. To be able to do a comedy and have the supers from that world as objects of humor is very exciting to me. When there’s anything that’s really serious, it’s fun to turn it on its head and poke fun, and compare it to a regular world. The stakes are really high when you have such a fantastic world happening alongside office work. That’s exciting to me, and it’s been really fun to play.

    Who is this guy, Van Wayne, to you? How are you perceiving him as you get to know him a little better?

    He’s a broken character. He’s a broken man. He’s a product of being spoiled and growing up with the promise of being a Wayne and that everything’s going to be handed to him, and he doesn’t really have everything handed to him that he wants. He has a lot, but he doesn’t appreciate it.

    He’s not, definitely, the most clever person in the office, but he thinks he is, and those are really fun characters to play. He has girlfriends, he’s his own worst enemy, he’s a child. He’s a baby-man. He’s a baby-man with parents that are cold, and that’s what broke him.

    You know how devoted the fans of genre entertainment are, more than anybody else out there. What are you excited about them coming to this show and getting to see what you guys are doing there? You know that you’ve got fans that follow you from project to project and are always interested in what you’re doing.

    I hope that they do follow, and come and check it out, and laugh. That’s what I hope people do, is laugh. While this is on on my mind, I saw the director of a movie I did called “Tucker & Dale [vs. Evil]” today, which was a genre movie. It was a horror movie, but it was a horror comedy. People who are fans of horror movies watched it, but it’s a comedy. It not only caught the horror audience, it went outside of that just to people who like comedy. So I guess the answer is, I hope that sci-fi fans come in and find it funny and that it grows from there, because it isn’t just meant for sci-fi fans.

    But also, sci-fi fans love comedy in their superhero world. Joss Whedon does that really well. “Firefly” that I did in 2003, and whenever I have seen those episodes again, I’m always taken aback by how funny they are. I think that the writers have done a great job, and I’ve been having a lot of fun, so I hope that’s what people take away from it, that it’s funny, and it’s just as much fun to watch, it sounds so trite, but it’s true: it’s just as much fun to watch as it is to make.

    I got to sing a song last week. I’ve sung two songs, a blues song on a guitar that I can barely play. I had a harmonica. They give you a lot of freedom to play. It’s what you want as an actor.

    It really does sound like an actor’s holiday, in that they’re throwing you the opportunity to do all kinds of stuff to get a laugh. I’m sure you’ve got to keep it within the confines of who this guy is, too.

    Oh yeah, absolutely. Luckily, the character is a classic comedic character, that he’s someone who’s full of himself, who’s not very bright, who will get himself into trouble. So the things he does that are extreme or really fun come from that. So his character drives that.

    Tell me what it was like for you to be the comedic voice of “Rogue One” — an otherwise very serious-minded movie — with as deadpan a touch as possible, and create this really distinctive character.

    K-2SO! It was great. We had so much fun. I don’t know — I didn’t really think of him as being this — I don’t know why — droid in the long line of droids. It’s about within this serious movie being the comic breath that you can take inside of all of the high-paced drama.

    It was a blast. I would go on set and have fun. Some characters just have a lot of room to play around, and you kind of don’t know which ones those are going to be. K-2 was one of those, and they let me really play around with him. I’d do the lines as written, and then I would do some of my own. “I want to say a thing here, in addition to what’s written,” and they were game for all of it.

    It was great, and I’m so happy they used it, because it all just came out of the fun I was talking about. It was a blast, working with Diego [Luna] and Felicity [Jones] — I mainly worked with the two of them most of the time. We were standing in the rain in London most of the time, so it kind of became that I was the smart-ass anyway on set. Although Diego’s a pretty good smart-ass.

    When you saw the reaction to that character — people didn’t know what to expect and they immediately fell in love with K-2 — what was that like for you to see how instantly he’s been embraced, and he’s now going to be an iconic part of the “Star Wars” lore?

    I’m really happy people like him. I didn’t think about doing a droid in the “Star Wars” universe, like how important it is — at least to how important the other droids are to me, that I didn’t think of myself being one of them until, I guess, I saw it in some people’s reaction.

    I don’t know — it’s humbling. It’s hard to get your head around still. I haven’t been able to go to a Con yet. I can’t wait to go to another Con. Yeah, because I feel like that’s the sounding board I need to meet fans, to meet them.

    Do you hope that you can return to that character — or a variation on that character, in some way, given that he’s a droid? We presumably could see him again in the past, or another version of him in the future?

    I would jump at the chance. He seems very dead, but if somebody wants to revise him in some way, I wouldn’t disagree, I wouldn’t ignore it. Again, I would have a blast.

    I have my own take on it. I have a way to do it: It’s doing a prequel where we follow Cassian and K-2 before they join up on this mission to get the plans of the Death Star. So you kind of see the two of them being spies. I think that would be fun. Would just get a different mission, and it’d be like “Mission: Impossible,” I don’t know — maybe not that.

    I would buy a ticket to that. I would also buy a ticket to a K-2 and BB-8 road movie.

    [Laughs] I’m there! Let’s do it! That’s great.

    Tell me what it’s been like to have this great ongoing relationship with Disney on the animation side, and to be given the kind of creative opportunities as a voice artist that they’ve given you over the last several years.

    It’s ridiculous! It’s another thing that I can’t make sense of. I’m so happy. I’m so happy they’ve embraced me. It all started after “Wreck-It Ralph,” which was one of my favorite roles I’ve ever had a chance to play. Then right into “Frozen,” and then they decided to keep it going.

    I realized I was a bit spoiled when there’s this great dinner that happens when a movie is about to come out and all of the voice actors go to Disney, and John Lasseter and everyone who worked on the movie that were the heads and the directors, and the animators, and the writers, and all of that, get together and watch the movie. It’s usually about 20 people, you watch the movie at Disney in the animation building before it comes out, then you go upstairs and there’s this amazing catered meal, and they present you with a drawing — a pencil sketch of your character done by the artist who drew your character — and it’s amazing.

    I think it was for “Zootopia,” I was like, “These things are always fun.” It was always like, “What are we going to have? What did we have last time? What was the dessert? I remember the fish was underdone.” It’s this magical gift of a night. It’s a beautiful, rare occurrence in most actors’ experience. And my wife and I were like,”Oh, right, the fish wasn’t good. Are you going to order the steak this time?” I’ve become spoiled, and they’ve given me the opportunity.

    Tell me a little bit about, in the midst of all this, having your own project in “Con Man,” trying to keep that on an even keel as you’re doing all these other great things.

    Oh, my God, man! Yeah. There’s a lot of hats! I’m wearing a lot of hats on that one. It truly, with all these other things, it is the thing that takes up most of my focus because of that.

    But it’s amazing when you push the boundaries of yourself, any artist I’m sure, but I’m an actor primarily, and I am writing on “Con Man,” and directing, also wearing a producer hat, you change, like as an actor, I’ve changed now. I see projects differently. So even though it’s work, and it is a tricky thing to balance and to juggle with the rest, it fuels the other projects in a way that I couldn’t have anticipated before doing it.

    And having something at the end of it all where you can point to it and say, “We made that” — it takes a lot of work to make a thing, and to have it to share is a really extraordinary feeling, that I always hoped to make something, and I’m really proud of it.

    “Powerless” airs Thursdays on NBC.

  • Jimmy Smits Talks ’24: Legacy,’ ‘Rogue One’ Changes, and His Impressive TV Track Record

    2017 Winter TCA - PortraitsFew actors have enjoyed a television legacy like that of Jimmy Smits.

    For more than 30 years, Smits has played an integral role in the TV landscape, beginning with his breakout role on “L.A. Law” as attorney Victor Sifuentes, effectively stepping into a leading role in the second season of “NYPD Blue” as Det. Bobby Simone, joining the final seasons of “The West Wing” as presidential candidate Matt Santos, an Emmy-nominated turn as D.A. Miguel Prado (and a serial killer’s unlikely bestie) on “Dexter,” more recently, he enjoyed a late-series run as self-described “companionator” Nero Padilla on “Sons of Anarchy,” and appeared in The Get Down” as a Bronx politico on Netflix.

    And did we mention that among his trips to the big screen he played Princess Leia’s adoptive dad in the “Star Wars” prequels?

    Now, Smits is taking on a literal bit of dynastic television as he jumps onboard Fox’s hotly anticipated reboot series “24: Legacy,” and he’s looking presidential all over again, playing John Donovan, a Senator aspiring to occupy the White House who also happens to be married to the current head of the Counter Terrorist Unit. Smits joined Moviefone for a look at the new series, his perspective on how his television career has unfolded and, oh yes, playing Princess Leia’s dad one more time — but maybe not the last? — in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”

    Moviefone: Where did the original “24” fall on your radar? Were you a regular viewer? Did you discover it at some point in its run?

    Jimmy Smits: I’m a fan of the show. I’m a fan of what that television show did, I think, for TV. I talked about that a couple of times in interviews: I really think that the visual template of that show changed the way people watched TV.

    So yeah, I love what Kief did with the show. My kids, nephews and nieces, extended family, they were all really huge, huge, huge fans of the show. I watched the shows, and I check in. I’m not a binge watcher of any particular show, but definitely a fan. Much respect for what they did.

    When I heard that they were kind of doing this reinvigorating of it and making a choice, like with Corey’s character. Howard [Gordon] is somebody that I’ve known, because I’ve been on the Fox lot for a number of different shows. I like what he brings to the table as an executive producer. So it felt good.

    You’ve been part of not just one classic show, but a few classic shows. You’ve been part of ensembles; you’ve headlined your own shows; you’ve worked in a lot of different genres. When you work on television now, what are your benchmarks that you look for? Because you’ve got such a tremendous legacy yourself on television.

    There’s that element of commitment-phobia from the Smits Department there. [Laughs] Just in terms of what comes, because you always have to put it into perspective in terms of what comes to your desk. I wish I had the pick of [shows] — there are very few and far between that people have that luxury.

    I just want to keep being versatile in terms of my work as a performer, as an actor, and keep mixing that up. And then, since I’ve been around the block a couple of times, I can make a choice — like supporting that Netflix project that I did because of the thematic thing that interested me, or a particular writer that I want to work with.

    But here, the genre to me interested me; what they had done with the show visually; the fact that Stephen Hopkins, who directed the original pilot episode, did this. It seemed like there was a continuity, but there was going to be a big difference, a shift in terms of the way the engine of the show was going to move.

    When we went to that second Comic-Con in New York, that group who was very kind of vociferous if they’re not with a kind of genre piece. They’ll tell you if they don’t like it. It was great to hear them actually be won over, and to love the fact that Anna Diop‘s character is like a badass and picks up a gun in the first five minutes, to give themselves over to these characters, and to the story, and then realizing what the engine is of the template.

    In this action-orientated show, you’re the statesman. You’re the politician. Are you going to get some action? Are you hoping for some?

    I actually had to take a couple of Aleves this morning, because last night, in Atlanta, we were doing a little bit of running around. Yeah, it looks like it’s taking that turn. So that’s good.

    What does it mean to you to be playing a man eyeing the presidency in this world that we live in right this minute?

    Right. The difference between what I’m doing here and what I did on “West Wing” was that the nature of that particular show was very kind of political in the way it lived and breathed. This is a genre piece in the way it lives and breathes. So there’s a big, big, big difference there. Yeah, that’s the main difference.

    Tell me about finding the rhythm with Miranda Otto, to play the chemistry that you guys need to have for the show. How easy was that to get there with her?

    Really, very, very easy. Surprisingly, very, very easy. I think it has to do with the fact that I am a “Homeland” fan. I checked in with “Homeland” a lot, and I love what she did on that show. The fact that she has a theater background I think helps a whole lot in terms of the way the two actors broke the ice with each other.

    We kind of talk the same language about how important to establish a good relationship to be the springboard, since you’re dealing with one day. So to have that backstory between us, we were really on the same page because we like to talk about character stuff. It helps nuance it. That’s been fun. That’s been really fun.

    What did it mean to you to be in “Rogue One,” to have that opportunity to reprise the character of Bail Organa and venture back into the “Star Wars” universe?

    Thanks for asking that. I’m so happy that it did so well. I love what Felicity [Jones] and Diego [Luna] and all of them did. I think Gareth [Edwards] was a great choice as a director, because he brought something different to the “Star Wars” kind of universe. He used the cinematographer who did, like, “Zero Dark Thirty.” So that little jerky-ish, in certain scenes, there was almost a documentarian kind of feel — it added to the edge, so that when you had those stately kind of “Star Wars” grand space scenes, it energized it in a way.

    So I’m happy — because I was concerned about, now that George [Lucas] is not as involved, how Disney is going to monetize it — that it actually will be good for the franchise in terms of the standalone films.

    So having said all that, what disappointed me was I wasn’t able to like go back to finish the work that we had to do — because there were some changes. Because of that, my stuff is a little bit chopped up. When I look at it, I feel a little artistically unfulfilled. But that doesn’t have anything to do with the way I feel about the importance of the film. That was unfortunate the way that went down.

    I actually had to make sure that we stepped in with George’s camp to know that they were behind this. I got calls from them that they were totally with this. It wasn’t just like a Disney thing that’s happening. They were doing all kind of different incarnations of it. So I’m happy for them.

    I thought it was just such a lovely note, using your character to bridge the sagas.

    Yeah. I’m glad it was in there. I’m nitpick-y, because that’s what I do. I just wish there was a little bit more clarity. Maybe schedule-wise, if I was able to go back, we could have done that. I’m happy with the film.

    Would you play that character again?

    Absolutely!

    We don’t know what what happens in that little window of time between “Rogue One” and “A New Hope,” before Alderaan goes…

    Absolutely. Absolutely.

    Tell me what you feel about your television legacy at this point.

    You’re scaring me! Makes me feel old. I was flipping through channels the other night, and there was an episode of “[NYPD] Blue” that aired, and it was about Sipowicz’s character, and he kind of falls off the wagon. Of course, the Simone character, they were partners on so many different levels. I just marveled at the character detail that [creator David] Milch was able to achieve, so that you knew that all these kind of characters that all had ghosts in their closets, you knew that they were dysfunctional, but you wanted to see how they would react in that particular situation. So he changed the bar in terms of the way you watch quote-unquote, a “procedural,” a cop show.

    I just feel really fortunate to have stumbled upon Mr. Bochco and company during the first round, and maybe spoiled me in a lot of ways, but he kept the bar high. Because of that, I got to work with some really great writers. And it’s all about it being on the page, especially in this genre. I think when you’re doing a film, the script, there’s a certain magic that can happen sometimes when you can elevate something. TV’s really so quick. It’s a producer’s medium in a lot of ways, a writer’s kind of medium. It’s got to really be on the page there.

    Down the line, to be able to work on “West Wing,” and to have characters that are kind of substantive, those are gratifying for actors in a lot of different ways — I just try to keep doing different things. Right now, this is the kind of genre piece, and I’m liking the vibe between this cast and the work that Corey [Hawkins] is doing. So I’m OK. I’m OK in this lane.

    You yourself have kicked in a lot of doors when it comes to diversity as well. Tell me about that aspect of your career, to have been able to lead the charge in a change in the way we see our TV characters and how representation is altered.

    It’s just about finding ways to give audiences characters, so that you can open the door a little bit for the audience to realize what’s really out there. I’ve said this before: just as a young person watching people that I’ve admired, it gives those young people permission to aspire. It’s good when you’re able to do something like that, in fulfillment of this other thing that you want to do in terms of performing.

    What haven’t you done that you’re still dying to get a shot at? Is there a type of genre or a type of role you’re looking for that would be one more box you could check off?

    That’s interesting. I think I wouldn’t mind testing out the waters in a period piece, just because it was one of the things that one of the handles that made me realize that this is what I wanted to do. I wasn’t a great student, but when I related it to acting, I could spend hours in the library researching why ruffles were used, or why a wardrobe thing, how it related to the social.

    So for me to be able to find that was really important. So I would like to do something that would require, I think I want to check that box and do something that’s very like a period piece that would require a lot of going back to that research thing.

    What’s a lesson you learned as a young actor — either something you discovered on your own, or something another actor set as sort of an example for you — that you have kept to your entire career? Something where you’re like, “That’s stuck with me this whole time.”

    To always keep yourself available and open to new possibilities with characters. Once you think that you have it down, that’s when you start relying on tricks. One of the great things about working on the Netflix project that I did with those kids was there was a lot of adversity because of the music and the scripts not coming in on time. And they were just there to work — they were, like, unjaded. They didn’t know. They were just there to do the work. They were always trying to solve character problems, and that was like, “Don’t forget that. Don’t forget that. Stay open.” It makes your life as a performer more fulfilling.